hi all - significant U.K. holder here. Response received from my (rather arsey) email copied below. Responses in Red
Hi Richard,
I hope you are well. Thank you for your email.
Please see response from the Company to your questions below.
Please can you provide an update as to what on earth is happening with the company’s share liquidity?
Holding statements were sent out via snail mail from Link in Australia (registrar) to all previously ordinary shareholders (the majority of whom are custodians). Essentially they receive a welcome letter confirming the holdings as well as an SRN. This will then need to be converted to a broker number. The registrars will inform us as the conversions come in and we are anticipating the first conversions to arrive this week.
The company, now only on the ASX, has zero liquidity - one cannot sell or buy anything…
What will you be doing to rectify this?
It will take a little time for the custodians to process but once this has occurred and the Company starts to see some depth of selling on the order book we are in communication with several brokers to assist with providing liquidity. It is of the Company’s opinion that there will be several looking to take advantage of the arbitrage that exists, and depending on the price individual shareholders look to sell, this will provide some liquidity.
Given the dire state of the market cap and the fact that shareholders can’t even sell a single share… why not wind the company up and distribute the proceeds… the discount to NAV would be realised and shareholders allowed to exit a totally illiquid stock.
The market cap is very close to the Company’s last published NTA (NAV). The Company firmly believes that the liquidity issue will be capable of being solved in due course. The Company has engaged a new IR Company based in Australia to facilitate investor updates and communication, and we are in the process of rebranding- an announcement will be coming out shortly to this effect.
I presume that option is a no go - so what will you do? The new PR agency you’ve hired aren’t doing anything, as far as I can see.Why don’t you engage a bank to provide liquidity and market making services? Why don’t you merge with a bigger ASX company and MTR shareholders can take liquid shares?
The Company is assessing a potential Complementary Investment under the new investing policy- as previously announced. In terms of brokers, the Company is speaking to several, of course most brokers are interested in a fundraise, although the Company has strong relationships with the dealing desks of several prominent Australian brokers.
The CEO will be conducting an Australian roadshow, planned for May. MTR (soon to be Strata) will also be participating in Rick Rule’s conference in June to promote the new brand and strategic direction of the company.
Please please please keep us retail shareholders updated. It’s incredibly frustrating.
We will be providing an update to shareholders very soon with details of the new name change and also some further information for AIM shareholders regarding the trading process.
Also, you should know that virtually no brokers allow proper trading for U.K. holders. Eg - Hargreaves Lansdown only allow you to sell at the best available price, with no limit order, via a third party bank that charges a fortune. Essentially, if you hold MTR shares with HL (the UKs biggest broker), you are totally shafted.
Please kindly consider opening an Australian broker. We would be happy to introduce you to appropriate options.
I can also assist with setting up a call with the CEO.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Warmest,
Jessica
(20min delay)