Hi Steve,I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to express my concerns regarding the recent performance and declining sentiment of our company, as well as its impact on shareholder value. As an investor who has heavily invested in the company, I believe it is important to address these issues in order to ensure a brighter future for both the organisation and its shareholders.
Firstly, it is evident from recent reports and financial statements that the company's tangible results have been underwhelming, especially Kambale's MRE. The declining trend in our key performance indicators, especially around meeting proposed activity deadlines around Australian based projects is concerning. This decline not only raises questions about our ability to meet our targets but also undermines investor confidence in the company's potential.Equally concerning is the decline in sentiment surrounding the company its share price has experienced a significant decline over the past 15 months.
This decline not only affects individual shareholders like myself but also reflects a lack of confidence in the company's future prospects.I'm hoping to get a better understanding on your thoughts around the underlying causes of the share price decline and what you believe will reverse the current trajectory and bring back the investor confidence?
To address these challenges, I would like to propose a few broad suggestions (I'd like to know if any of these are possible or feasible to undertake or improve upon):Conduct a comprehensive review: Initiate an in-depth analysis of the company's current strategies, operations, and market dynamics to identify areas that require improvement and uncover any potential bottlenecks. I'm particularly interested in why you've placed such a strong focus on Kambale (outside of what is already in the announcements) and whether this is due to license and exploration limitations here in Australia with other base metal projects?
Engage shareholders: Establish a communication channel or forum where shareholders can express their concerns, ask questions, and provide suggestions. This will foster transparency and demonstrate the company's commitment to addressing investor interests.Review leadership and talent: Assess the capabilities and effectiveness of our leadership team and evaluate whether we have the right people in key positions. It may be necessary to make changes to drive innovation, accountability, and performance.Do you have any support further down the chain, such as internal operations, finance, strategic, and marketing personnel?
Develop a strategic plan: Formulate a clear and comprehensive strategic plan that outlines short-term and long-term objectives, along with the specific actions and milestones required to achieve them.I would love to know more specifics around the gold projects and what is being done to divest or to establish exploration partnerships. Does the company have a plan to produce, sell and make revenue this year, or is the focus on just exploration? The concern around solvency is real given that approx 1/2 a year of funds is left.
Enhance communication: Implement a proactive and transparent communication strategy to keep shareholders and other stakeholders informed about the company's progress, challenges, and initiatives to address them. Regular updates through newsletters, press releases, and investor conferences can help rebuild confidence and demonstrate our commitment to improvement.I do appreciate that this is being done to some extent, but there is also a sense of ambiguity around the specifics and timeframes on a number of projects especially here in Australia.
Thank you for your attention and consideration. I look forward to your response and a constructive dialogue.
@Change-focus.com.au>
This was his response
Thanks for your extensive email and I appreciate your interest in and concern for the well-being of Castle and it’s shareholders. I am in the field in Ghana and unable to attend to it in full. Suffice to say we are across most of what you suggest and the website should tell you everything you need to know re the projects.I won’t address the other remarks on performance and management other than to say I don’t agree with some of these and that is an issue for the Board and shareholders at large. You also need to be cognisant of the broader market trends and lack of liquidity. We are building a quality long term project and believe shareholders will be rewarded accordingly. These things don’t happen overnight.
Regards Steve
And I back to him
Hi Steve,Thanks for taking the time to respond given that you're busy and away in Ghana, hope this bodes well and looking forward to some good news out of Kambale. I'm however somewhat disappointment by the generic response, given the specifics I raised. This is exactly the concern I have. I know you have obligations under the Corporations Act around continuous disclosure and what you can and can't share. I was seeking clarity on multiple fronts and was hoping you could have picked up on one of these in more detail to inject some confidence as to how the company is likely to turn things around.I do invite you to comment on the areas I raised that you didn't agree - I'd love to hear your perspective. I was also wondering whether anything of significance came about from the last two trips you had in South Africa and Singapore? I appreciate you're busy and have multiple things to attend to, but I would love you to engage more meaningfully into the conversation and the information I raised.