HNo, I don't work for HDR, but I do sympathise with Simon's...

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No, I don't work for HDR, but I do sympathise with Simon's position. I agree that he could communicate the positives to the market better, but in this case what's he going to say. If he comes out and defends the shareprice by saying "No, we don't think Chinguetti will decline further" and then it does, he will look like a prize twat. He has already fallen into the trap of playing down the Ching declines and I think it has had a negative effect.

I think Simon's approach, rightly or wrongly, is to let the facts do the talking and not try to apply spin. It may not be good for the share price in the short term, but in the long term intrinsic value is rewarded.

My background is in IT, and I started out with IBM. One of the first things I learnt was the statement "IBM does not comment on unannounced products". It was a mantra within IBM and is also common in companies such as Apple and others. It is for good reason. The thing that messes up your share price the most is speculation, and releasing incomplete information before time is the best way to reduce speculation is to stick to the facts.

I still maintain it was Woodside's responsibility to report and inform Hardman and the market about Ching in a better manner than they did, but that is Woodsides job, they are the operator. As I said, if we should be emailing and complaining to anyone, it should be Don Voelte. If he was in front of me now I would give him a good kick in the ar se.

Rather than go to the next HDR AGM I might go to the Woodside AGM and ask some hard questions. Maybe a whole lot of us should go and really give the WPL board some stick.