half yearly report, page-14

To all who have responded, I'm absolutely serious.

Like most, I'm not a dealer. I have a day-job, but I love investing. I've taken the activist route in the recent past, having helped thwart a takeover which was pitched at a miserable 50 cents in the dollar.

I understand the time pinch, but if one is driven, and most importantly understands the intrinsic value of their holding, the words will just flow out. Two weekends, and a few nights' work in between, together with last-minute support from your family to do the actual mailout, should see a successful 500 letter campaign which will have the takeover merchants on the back foot.

I was staggered by the number of telephone responses and emails from shareholders thanking me for putting them in the picture. It made me realise that most shareholders are inherently trusting of Directors, but whilst not sophisticated, are certainly not stupid. They virtually all changed their voting intentions, and we won, in spite of the Directors and 3 of the next largest 4 investors having done a deal with the Directors to agree to the takeover price.

I've also come to the surprising conclusion that shareholder activism in these low market cap situations is better than David vs. Goliath - the analogy is more like warrior (shareholder) ants acting in unison to bring down even the largest beast.

[Regarding the Essa takeover, I hold no opinion, other than being surprised that an Independent Expert wasn't commissioned]