So I went to the Brisbane office today. At first the office looked empty but I rang the doorbell and someone came to the door, I missed her name but I believe she said the was the assistant financial controller. I introduced myself as a shareholder and after a couple of minutes, Matt Beattie (CFO) arrived and he invited me to a meeting room to chat. I thought that was very considerate of him to set time aside to speak with me face to face.
Here is a summarised recount of our discussion. Words are mine and my interpretation, not direct quotes from Matt.
I said that as a shareholder and participant in the HC forum I just wanted to make sure that people actually worked from the office and that it wasn't empty. I also expressed my (and my fellow shareholders) dissatisfaction with the lack of communication from the company. I said that there were concerns about the blown out timeframes for financing and offtakes and I asked about the status of the investor relations person.
I said that we (collectively) don't need fluff announcements, but regular check ins on the twitter account would at least calm some of the discontent in the forum about the company not caring about shareholders.
I also said that the news that Lake dropped yesterday had shaken the HotCopper forums and that as both Lake and Anson are DLE focused it might be helpful if ASN puts something of an update out so that we are not put in the same bucket as Lake.
Matt firstly said that my concerns were not unfounded and that I am not the first shareholder to contact the office about the communication. The office is staffed everyday unless there are meetings elsewhere. Without going into detail, he said that many of the delays are due to things outside the control of Anson, ie waiting for other entities to go through their own processes. Matt then said that he was very aware of Lake and the recent announcement they made and had already had discussions with people about it. He wanted to convey that Anson is using a DLE provider that is not experimental and is currently used by other companies, and that Anson is working towards updating their published DFS. He also said that the twitter account used to be updated by other people in the company but they have been so busy over the past year that they haven't been able to give it the right attention.
I acknowledged that hold ups were part and parcel of trying to organise any project, but at least update the twitter account weekly or provide non-sensitive progress announcements so that shareholders aren't left their imaginations or fearing the worst.
Matt said that the investor relations person would be starting in the US imminently and that person would be responsible for the investor communication strategy, including the twitter account. In particular, being a US based relationship manager, that person would also work towards building the A1 Lithium presence in America.
Overall, I walked away from that meeting feeling reassured that Anson was absolutely working behind the scenes to achieve great things and that the company was conscious of it's need to provide regular communications with investors.
Here is a photo of the front door:
(20min delay)