Agreed, consolidation doesn't add a single dollar to the...

Agreed, consolidation doesn't add a single dollar to the companies Market Capital (only...maybe psychologically) I'd rather them invest any spare cash into growing the company's assets, which will build market capital, rather then "buy back" which seems a more passive way of stengthening the Market Capital... you need to spend money to make money... particularly when the company has so many leases, injection of cash back in to become established... and maybe investors one day can enjoy dividends from profits raised from a much larger company... I do understand your reasoning though, it's usually more defensive play, to enable a company to have more control.