european energy security, page-4

G'day hatmo ,

In for a penny, in for a pound mate. I've held these shares for so long now that to offload them seems harder than it was to offload the other half! Apologies to anyone who may be offended by that comment.

You are right in my opinion when you say that nobody who holds this stock holds because of Oz operations, who in their right mind would buy into it (other than existing holders ), we only continue to hold and hope in the event that shale gas exploration takes place in the U.K., then and only then will we possibly see some flow on action down here.

I'm not wanting to sound negative because I actually believe in the business space we are in, but I honestly think the market perception of ajl is that caustic that any turn around in operational performance will be met with scant regard. The simple fact is ajl are a very big risk at the moment, negative cash flow like you mentioned, coupled with loss of market share and a very big debt to a "boss" who at anytime could call the debt in, it all makes up for a very cautious and possibly dangerous investment option for prospective investors.

I know this may sound stupid but in my view we are not in control of our own destiny, and that is 100% due to past piss poor management, most of whom are still there in control. Yes there have been replacements I acknowledge that, but nowhere near enough. The past strategies of those in control have been, well to use the word negligent wouldn't go anywhere near defining their actions as accurate, has seen us lose total control of our future. We as investors are pinning our hopes, our existence, on an event overseas that has no guarantee of getting off (or out of ) the ground. It's fair too say that we were once the market leader here in Oz with regard to our business activities, but not anymore. We've been forced by past management decisions to let that opportunity to dominate go, and we will never get it back.

Companies like WDS are kicking us around like a tin can. They are professionally run now, have a committed and focused management team who put their shareholders first, who are cautious, yet brave, who have completely turned that company around, so much so that they now pay a quarterly divvy in an effort to reward holders, and who appear to have the boys from the big end of town as their major clients.

Our annual report which is always now produced at the very end of the allotted time frame for presentations, the end of August, will make mention of major restructuring, refocusing on spread of clients rather than numbers, reducing overheads, making in-roads into accountabilities, all jargon that management seem to think will appease the masses, but in spite of all that crap, the bottom line never, ever seems to change, we are cash flow negative.

Hatmo, it's hard to get enthused, but harder to off-load. Sentiment huh, it has a lot to answer for. I guess at the end of the day holding ajl is like going into a TAB and betting on race 2 number 12, all purely a big gamble.

Good luck to all.