Lets dont forget NMS is serving the oil / Gas industry, you have...

Lets dont forget NMS is serving the oil / Gas industry, you have to know the industry before you invest. When crude oil price was around $45 US per Barrel in Feb / March last year, GFC was hitting hard, no sign of economic recovery, what would you do if you were the oil / Gas producers ?? You cut cost, stop exploration, defer development projects, slashed spending even including maintenance works, and just fighting for survival. But this wont happen over night, activities would gradually slow down in few months time lead into second half of the year 2009, and after that, all major oil / Gas producers were holding their developments until they seem signs of recovery and certainty of the economic. It was a hard time for all oilfield service provider like NMS, you need to cut the price and drop the margin for just winning the works and keep the company running. That was why this had significant impact on NMS earning in last 6 month.
Now crude oil price has been steady above $75 US since September last year, economic condition is getting better, and oil / gas producers have been restarting their exploration and development projects, again, this wont happen over night either, from decision to action and contract negation would take few months. Check the anns from NMS and you would see most of award contacts came out in late last year. There were 5 awarded contract anns in last 2 months, compare to only 2 for rest of year..
These new contacts would contribute to the earning in second half of FY2010.
The pattern of contacts anns reflects what Christian Lange said in the AGM

Project deferrals and delays have continued into the new financial year,
At this stage we are projecting a weighting of earnings to the second half of the financial year, however, our first half year result is predicted to be well below that of the corresponding period last year

Also in the recent ann
We also anticipate a significant turnaround in profitability in the second half of FY2010 with market conditions


There were lots of acquisitions last year for NMS, Personally, I dont against these acquisitions as long as they are profitable businesses, they fit the business model and we have enough funding on hand. For me, acquisition its not a bad ideas to growth the business especially when the industry is quite, and not much new jobs around. You generally pay less for an acquisition during economic down time compare to say few years later when the economic and industry are running hot. You need to have the big picture in mind.

Now, I believe most of the acquisitions are done, the company is geared up, getting new contacts and works, and the generate industry condition is getting better. I can see a better future is coming to NMS.

PS: I bought NMS at 30c back in March last year, but havent bought or sold any in last 10 months, now start to buy more again. Not sure when is bottom, but will definitely buy more if the price getting lower After all the business is still sound.