ann out, page-67

Kezza,

"If we do see a SP weakness could we see a trading halt be used to protect the SP until the relevant announcement is released"

The simple answer is no. Trading Halts should never be used to protect a share price, under any circumstances. They can be used if the company reasonably believes that the market is trading on an uninformed basis, ie that certain information which cannot yet be announced might be floating around. In such a situation a halt may be called for until an announcement can be made but this isn't the current situation.

The market sets the SP, not the company. Based on information that is available, shareholders that think the SP is cheap may buy, those that think it expensive may sell and the rest of us just hold on for the ride. A company that would even consider requesting a halt in trading because they didn't agree with the martet pricing mechanism is one that should probably be avoided.

There is probably no time where it is more important to have the market actively pricing a stock than during a CR. Halting trading wouldn't "protect the stock" but rather devalue it. In order for investors to have confidence to participate in a CR they must be able to fairly compare the offer price to what they would pay for existing stock on the open market. Shutting down the open market obviously destroys this. The price the market set before the offer was made is obviously not current is not relevant to the valuation once an offer is announced.

A Paloma announcement could be forthcoming at any time and certainly I would be expecting one during the offer period. Such an announcment could easily impact the SP. If trading were halted until the SPP were completed how could anybody determine how cheap or expensive the SPP offer was based on this new information which couldn't be tested against the market?

I hope this helps answer you question. Your last statement almost answered your own question, ie "perhaps prudent management don't care too much on short-term movements". Its not managements job to worry about the SP, as the market will do that itself. Its management job to raise the necessary cash to maximise the value of the company through its operations. With increased value hopefully comes increased SP. Management have to consider how the market is valuing the company if they intend to raise cash but that doesn't extend to stopping the market pricing if they don't like what the market thinks.

PS. I'm looking for a topup at or around 30c. Don't care if its via SPP or onmarket. Personally hoping to pick some up at 29.5 just so that I can get a better deal than the SIs.