In business i have come across bank guarantees quite regularly...

• In business i have come across bank guarantees quite regularly and they are intended to demonstrate or rather guarantee a firm's ability to quickly provide funds should the case arise. they come up in lease negotiations and customer supply agreements where there is a degree of risk sharing. i am not directly familiar with the details of Dubbers contracts with its customers but the CEO comments on the last 10m cap raise webcast were in the direction of customers wanting confidence to deal with them on some of the new initiatives which all sounded plausible to me as they were at that time (and still are) a negative cash flow business with limited balance sheet strength. i am not familiar with the origin of the initial 30m held in trust but it may be that those funds were never to be accessible for daily working capital hence the 10m cap raise to bridge the business over to cashflow neutrality then positive cash flow before that 30m needed to be accessed. as the dec Qtr cash flow statement indicated they had already needed to tap into the 30m call deposit (it dropped from 30m to 28.73 as at 31dec23). Of course that may have created a temptation for its misuse by the party holding the funds with or without authorization or knowledge of Dubber personnel which is the situation that is playing out.
• So going forward there are three scenarios i see: 1 where they get access to some or all of the call deposit and get back on track. 2 where they don't and have to raise more capital (that's a whole discussion) 3. where there is a takeover where the assets are held in hands that can better nurture their development. I guess the board will be working in that order to find a way forward. As shareholders we have to make our judgement on what happens next but i guess the risk has stepped up significantly so we may be left as a brave few.
• Personally not happy and thanks to the other posts have a better sense of the situation and people involved here.