any questions, page-6

  1. 11 Posts.
    Hi Again,

    I am thank full for the opportunity to provide my thoughts. Please remember that they are my thoughts. I am not speaking for the company. I am answering from the perspective of how I would approach the issues if I have the opportunity to influence the direction of the company.

    Remuneration:

    The remuneration committee would be independent. I believe it should only contain non-executive directors. I have reviewed the numbers from the annual reports over recent history for the senior executives including directors. The non-executives have reduced their remuneration by approx 36%, and the executives have increased by about 22% since 2004/5. Does not look good, particularly when the EPS has gone from $1.08 to -0.47 over the same period.

    Shareholder value:

    My business philosophy is simple. If I spend money, I am either creating an asset that can generate revenue, or it is a direct cost to a revenue generating activity. I don't think we use the assets we have effectively, and would do more to unlock the assets of the company. My background is the IT services business, and I think we could do more in the corporate/wholesale market in ways that compliment our business. I wrote some briefs earlier in the year on these topics but there was not much interest shown at the time.

    Obviously this is a big topic. I have given it a lot of thought, and would be happy to share them in he appropriate forum.

    Opportunities:

    There are opportunities every day, and a lot in our industry. I don't think we did enough with the ones that came our way over the last few years. I note some of our competitors that have grown significantly over the same period. It is difficult to give you a precise answer on this one, but invariably it is a balance between risk management and return.

    Brand recognition:

    My ideas on this one change regularly. The company has been successful with acquisitions, and the EFTel branding has not been a significant issue. On the other hand "who is EFTel" is a disturbing question. With the new VDSL project, we have an opportunity to bring an identity to the organization. So I guess the answer is in our timing and our message. I am confident the marketing team can produce the goods now that we have unique identifiers in the market.

    FTTN etc ..

    I am guessing short to medium term little impact, but currently am not close enough to the inner workings to make a specific comment. I can however pass on my own personal observations. I lived in Japan during the explosion of ADSL. We went from 8MB to 54MB (i think it was that fast) in a period of about 3 years. I skipped the lot and went straight to fibre. So since about late 2005 I had fibre to my home 100MB. The challenge in Australia is a social issue and not technology. Personally I think it was a mistake to sell all of Telstra due to the unique geographical challenges of our country. But not use crying over spilt milk. I think the transition from what we currently have to fibre is a few years away for Joe and Josie Bloggs, and other alternatives may come to light in the interim. Although BPL has not delivered the goods to date, I wouldn't give up on it. I am also very excited about our new project as I think this is the right way to go from A to B. The Japanese have a word Kaizen, this means constant incremental improvement, that is probably what we should concentrate on for the time being. We are well positioned to capitalize on the hard work done to date. There is so much history regarding the early adopters in a technology space being the losers in the long run.

    Dividends etc ...

    I am partial to share buy backs, as I have seen it succeed in another company in the technology space whereby all shareholders have enjoyed a long term healthy share price that has to some extent smoothed the ups and downs and given investors long term confidence. I cannot see room for a dividend today based on the Annual Report. It depends on how you view our company. You mention speculation and that is the natural thought, however it may be possible to run it as a utility and produce a consistent revenue/profit over a longer period and hence dividends would flow. Personally I think this is not making the most of the space we are in, and would like to generate a little more excitement. If we have profit, then it is incumbent upon the board to utilize the capital in the best way possible. It would be foolish to pay a dividend and then not have the capital to pursue an opportunity. I think a dividend coupled with a rights issue is probably a good answer, as it gives people the opportunity to take a return or increase their equity. I have suggested this on a number of occasions.

    Ehrenfeld's:

    I don't know them well enough to be able to comment. I would assume that neither of them would use the company as a forum to address disagreements.

    Your feedback is most welcome.

    Regards,

    Greg





 
Add to My Watchlist
What is My Watchlist?
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.

Currently unlisted public company.

arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.