good or bad?, page-44

I accept that this game is not easy - technically difficult and prone to unforeseen issues. What I struggle with is crap announcements - the form and content of announcements is generally pretty dire has been for a while. In a lot of cases they create more uncertainty than they relieve. It is managements responsibility to keep their shareholders informed. So many small caps (and the occasional big one) are so appallingly bad at that aspect - they fail time and again to appreciate the importance of clear, concise, accurate and timely comms to shareholders. Its a vital component of any business but especially at this end of town.

In the speculative end of the market, perception and emotion around a stock alone can be the difference between its success and failure from a CR perspective and the ability to tap into funds. Management's credibility can live or die on their communication skills. It does for me anyway as it tells me a lot about them.

I think what we are seeing now is largely borne of uncertainty from this latest set back. Trouble is - whatever about the actual set back itself - if the comms / confidence issue isn't effectively addressed it will (and appears to already to) become a big issue for this company.

Say what you like about PM and the guys, the nature of the business etc - fact is every single shareholder who participated in the CR is now down 17% on their investment a mere few weeks after closing and whether PM and the company realise it fully or not that is largely due to their inability to instill faith in their shareholders. So many company's out there looking for money, the faith and money of shareholders should be treated like gold dust in these capital markets and right now I am not sure I see that here in the way they are handling the announcements.