* yesterday (Dec 21) looked at thirteen companies under...

* yesterday (Dec 21) looked at thirteen companies under the heading Monster or Mouse, no prizes for guessing under which category Jupiter fell! I picked up a few more at 19c, and it's slowly climbing back up, all the best to holders for 2022. "

Market Cap: $421 million
% Change: -34.85%

It has not been a good year for Jupiter, prompting a shareholder revolt led by US coal and iron ore group AMCI to roll former BHP boss and chairman Brian Gilbertson and managing director Priyank Thapliyal off the manganese miner’s board.

The battle was messy. Thapliyal claimed it was an attempt by the Americans to secure board control by stealth, while AMCI argued Thaplyal had been unable to arrest the falling share price and grow the company.

The mutineers won out.

Jupiter still made a $27.5 million profit after tax on income from its share of the Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa, but its yields have fallen sharply in recent years as the prices paid for its manganese ore, not entirely within Jupiter’s control, have dropped and shipping rates have increased.

The company paid out $78.4m in the first half of FY2020, a yield of 11.9%, but saw that fall to $9.8m in the first half of the 2022 financial year, or 2.1%.

Currently chiefless Jupiter dropped out of the ASX 300 group of companies for the first time since its $240 million listing in 2018.

Jupiter demerged its iron ore assets in WA this year into Juno Minerals this year, which has been working through major tenders on its Mt Mason hematite project, but put off an investment decision after the iron ore price fell in the second half of the year.