re: Is CEO Ted a Saviour or a Shyster? to Piyush To piyush, My...

re: Is CEO Ted a Saviour or a Shyster? to Piyush To piyush,


My "gripe" is three fold:

1. Lack of complete information, almost as if vital info is being withheld and released to suit WPL/HDR game plan.
Half true. Information is being released to suit the WPL game plan, not the HDR game plan. WPL saved themselves a couple of million by allowing HDR to sink prior to the placement. HDR has hinted through clenched teeth that they are not happy with the information vacuum imposed by the joint venture partners. Ted is playing as well as he can with the cards he has been dealt.

2. As Pokerboy said , we want a level playing field. This does not appear to be the case.
This is a wider issue accross the whole market which should be tackled by ASIC and the ASX. The whole Australian market is filled with shonks and unethical directors. Directors who mislead the market should have their personal assets seized to reimburse shareholders. I would start with the directors of OneTel, OTT, HIH, LIB & ASC. But don't expect Ted to be the champion of corporate form. I think he has his hands full with Mauritania.


3. Whilst " Ted has built a $400m ASX company", please remember that it is the discovery which has pushed the price up. That Ted's faith in Mauritania has paid off is good for shareholders who got in early, but it could have easily gone horribly wrong. These events are far and few ie., chances of a bit hit like Mauritania. An average punter has to have a few lemons in his bag to get one like this. Yet the full benefits are not flowing on.
Not yet. The shareprice oscillates but in the long run it is drawn towards the underlying fundamental value of the company. Long term shareholders will reap big rewards since HDR is worth 2-10 times the current price, depending on how optimistic your assumptions are.


Specially annoyed after the recent 2 wells - more so Banda. I would have thought a price hike was more in order rather than a 30% retracement. If you maintain the share price retracement after a find is justified, is in shareholder interests, if there is share placement at 70c (clearly insiders had advance info), then I have really not much to say.
Look at what we got from Banda: proof that Chinguetti was not a one well wonder, 100+ million barrels of oil, commerical quantities of gas very close to the capital city of Mauritania in shallow water, increased the POS on numerous stratigraphic trap leads. The share price should have doubled. The knowledge of an upcoming placement should not have been enough to overwhelm the positive news of Banda. The fact that it did, shows that the market is stupid. I think we have too many short sighted day traders playing with the stock. I wish they would go and find the next ASC and leave HDR alone. We don't need this volatility.

All set and done, the research by you has been good. However, I doubt we have any idea, or you could have forecast, behind the scene actions which I suspect are taking place with HDR.
Nope. We don't have a chance. Thats why buy and hold is better than active trading. We simply can't compete with the insiders. The real battle is being fought in the oilfields. The market is a diversion. As long as Ted continues to clock up success after success in the oil patch, nothing else matters.