I've been watching from the sidelines for a while, however, I...

I've been watching from the sidelines for a while, however, I thought this might be an apt moment to weigh in once again, as I feel I possibly might be able to shed a little light onto some topics that have been mooted here over recent days.

Based on what I've been reading in the industry media, I have a suspicion that the dearth of announcements from the company over the past few months might be explained by a certain well-known upcoming industry event in Milan.

Earlier this week, I noticed one Italian moto website that featured an interview with Graziano Milone, the CEO of the local branch of the company and the president and head of strategy/business development in the group.

The response from Milone to the final question from the inteviewer, who asked about about upcoming developments from the company, is the main item of interest in the interview (below, translated from Italian):

'...For sure, there will be new smart tools for urban mobility, alternatives to scooters*, with a particular eye on safety, because moving around the city is a great risk. As for the product range, we will see the power of our motorcycles and scooters increase, and then I anticipate a major announcement, that we will see a dirt bike at EICMA... very cool!...'

_{*The word used here is 'monopattino', the Italian word for what is clunkily called in English a 'stand up scooter'.}

Is this 'dirt bike' related to the Rimba, that was discussed in a few posts earlier? Maybe the vehicles provided to those rangers was a kind of trial run, in preparation for a wider launch after a showcase in Milan next month ? Or maybe the 'dirt bike' referred to here is something else entirely again?

In any event, I suspect the company will not be making any announcements in relation to possible new bike models until after the 8th of November, when EICMA begins, as I suspect they will be aiming to make as big a splash as is possible when they unveil their new products at the event.

The other question that was raised here recently, namely the possibility of a dividend, is something of a vexed issue.

I agree that the lack of share price momentum is frustrating, if not entirely unexpected, in the current environment.

I remember there was one poster who was here for a few years who would would often call for the company pay out a dividend. I didn't really agree with him at the time, however, I am more receptive to the idea now, given the flatlining tendency of the share price over recent years and the increasingly robust financial position of the company. Against a backdrop of rising interest rates, as we are seeing lately, any share price surge will likely run into a wall of sellers.

That said, I agree with Footmax that companies are walking a tightrope when it comes to the dividend question. If a company pays out a maiden dividend, only to junk it within a few years, trust goes out the window, as do many of the shareholders. So if Vmoto are going to pay out a dividend, they need to be sure that they are going to be able to maintain it over the long run.

In the meanime, we have EICMA to look forward to. In the current climate, VMT probably needs some bolt out of the blue for the share price to charge higher, and it is possible that the event in Milan next month might well serve as the 'lightning rod' for the aforementioned bolt.