my post from yesterday, page-7

I note the unusual venom in the criticism by 618 in his recent post

A combination of losing my beloved Hardman, and a few things I have learnt about the current management talking to various people. I suspect a lot of cr*p will reveal themselves once Hardman is gone and Potter and his team of dipsticks are out of the country. For their sake, I hope they are out of here anyway.

At the end of the day, he talked up his plan to deliver us value-add deals (like Guyane, two undisclosed deals which were very close and were to be closed "shortly", etc) and extract values from our existing assets has turned to one thing.... a 50% reduction in the share price (which I can more than accept since this is an investment afterall) and selling us out to Tullow (he wasn't approached by Tullow, he initiated the it).

Anyway, in 12 months time, he would be somewhere else shafting some other poor shareholders elsewhere and pocketing his annual millions, and we'd be sitting here surfing the net following the progress of all the Hardman assets within Tullow. I know I would be.

By the way, I fully agree with your thoughts on the cashflow situation, as per posting on TMF the other day...

...IMHO, the price does not truly reflect the long term potential of their acreage and prospect inventory. However, it is more than adequate if one considers the cashflow problem Hardman would have faced in the next 12 months. Hardman has much oil in ground and very attractive acreages, but with Chinguetti haemorrhaging, the significantly reduced cashflow have already hamstrung what they do in terms of developing their other assets. With a 1-well remedial program this year, and no additional production coming onstream in the next 18 months, Hardman would have been back to the pre-Chinguetti production days of counting every penny they had and working out when they needed to go back to the market for more money again. I believe this has adversely affected their negotiation process to get a better deal for Guyane.

Is this simply bad luck, or bad management? Personally, I believe it's a bit of both. No doubt we've experienced one heck of a bad run with the drillbit in Mauritania. However, when I think back to what can only be described as full-blown bullsh*t and lies that Potter told to our faces at the Melbourne roadshow, the way the RNS's/announcements have been worded and released in recent times, and the way in which Potter achieved the 2.34 placement price, I can't help but feel that they have contributed somewhat to our recent poor performance/demise. If I can make a choice between Ted and his crew versus Potter's, I'd pick the former everytime – and that's not just because the share price actually went up while he was in charge. It's because Ted was genuine, truthful, open and a pleasure to be around. I am not sure if I could say the same about Potter....

There will be one large empty void in my life come January, which will no doubt be filled by another share - but it will never be the same. In love with a stock? Yes. So what!? :)

618