dead donkey, page-19

I guess D that a favourable outcome is probably less to do with NS or the management winning the fight. A favourable outcome would simply be the market being given reassurance that the books either (a) haven’t been cooked and NS are simply causing problems due to the financing arrangements putting NS noses out of joint or (b) the books have been cooked and the management are subsequently shown the door immediately … what’s more they are stripped of their performance rights. People might be just positioning themselves on the assumption that any resolution will inject some confidence into the market for this stock and that this could see the price recover.

Having said that, the worst outcome (in my opinion) would be NS’s case being thrown out on a point of law and no clear cut confirmation of the state of play with the company. Frankly, I have my suspicions that the lack of any information making its way into the market can largely be tied to the pending court hearing. One would imagine that if the case is resolved without any ambiguity a degree of confidence will be instilled either (a) into existing management if they are vindicated in their position against NS or (b) into new management installed by NS.

As I have said before, I couldn’t give two hoots who rows this boat as long as it gets somewhere. We all know that the existing regime have only their own interests at heart and this really is the case with any management team (anyone who thinks the management of their stock is altruistic really is a fool) … it has concerned me over the last year that the interests of the management seem to be decoupling from the interests of the shareholders. If the existing management can establish clearly that we (shareholder and management) interests are in alignment then I think we are better with the devils we know. If not, well the sooner we line them up against a wall, hand out blindfolds and cigarettes and get some management in place who have common interests with us the better.