Hi Sabine,
My views in that post are from the point-of-view of an outsider just connecting the dots from a handful of clues we get from Simon in his presentations/interviews, from the commentary of
@Undaunted, and from a couple of actions at the corporate level. This is what we have so far (I don’t have the time to find and post the links but shareholders can verify for themselves):
1) Simon has actually mentioned that there is a cohort of shareholders not happy with the company’s direction. It didn’t sound like he was talking about you or I;
2) In another presentation or interview, Simon has, in passing, stated that the plant wasn’t optimised in its original incarnation, recoveries were poor. This is why they will be modifying the plant to reduce grind size;
3) The inclusion into the company’s constitution (I guess), some months back, that the Director’s will consult and seek the express approval of shareholders prior to any takeover. Is there a group of shareholders worried about a hostile takeover, or Simon and the team supporting a takeover at a significant discount to the company’s true value. Presiding over a share price which has 15-bagged in a couple of years doesn’t seem like good tactics if the goal is to offload the company cheap.
4) Greater than 25% of shareholders (these are the ones I’m referring to) voted against the remuneration package at the latest AGM. This gives rise to the dreaded first strike rule under ASX code. A second strike at the next AGM and a vote can be called to remove all directors;
5) Simon’s move to Managing Director (or Executive Director - too tired to look for announcement) is a move which, I believe, protects him from being removed under the two strike rule at point 4;
6) Undaunted’s incessant posting about the terrible direction the company has taken - I believe he knows what’s going on behind the scenes;
7) The unusually high number of likes that original post received. Is that validation from some people in the know???
That’s all I got, the rest is intuition. Make of it what you will.
(20min delay)