Point 1: Agreed. (I did say "principal", not only). I agree the directors were/are in breach of duties to shareholders and the ASX. It's highly annoying. My narrative (speculation) is, and this runs with BobF, you have a research company being funded with just enough money to do what it needs to do, it's taking way longer than hoped, it has no extra funding for PR, management, compliance control etc etc. We have a single secretary for all that, and a grumpy director. Then, and here's where I think BobF is right, they thought in early-mid 2023: "We are going to have this in October-November." They set up all their ducks (negotiated orders, issued convertible notes, made announcements). Then, they didn't have it.
Point 2: Agreed. It was and wasn't in the company's control. They gave the ASX the heads up re the coming change in the auditor's report. They knew it was coming. I believe, they (Fred) decided the next funding was not coming from the market, it would not be third-party convertible notes, it would be him. He wasn't going to front that before he had to or more than he had to and he didn't care that late, or casual, timing meant the stock was going to get suspended. In the tight situation, the SH were hung out to dry. (all speculation because no explanations were given).
"They were unable to raise funds to guarantee ongoing solvency. It showed there was little support for their project" - I don't agree. Two parties had considerable sunken cost in the project and were always going to keep the lights on if it came to it, Fred and the SH. Fred just knew it wasn't the time to go to the SH and he wasn't going to do it. So, he did it the way that suited him. Theoretically, whether the stock comes off suspension doesn't matter to Fred. The value of the company is in the IP. The vast majority of shares are not on the market. The price of the company will be negotiated based on the IP, not the current share price. It matters to SH who want to trade the stock a LOT. Many have been trapped, in or out, by him and are not happy about it. Though most, admittedly, will likely be happy to wait out their current positions. It's not what you are supposed to get when you buy a supposedly liquid asset though.
AKP Price at posting:
$6.20 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)