Below is a link to an excellent YouTube documentary where some of Americas top CEO's and COO's are interviewed regarding the fallout from covid & the impact it has had on their business.
It's scary, the first thing every business did was put a complete stop to spending.
The CFO's of every company and senior management overnight were forced to assess based on the liquidity available, how long they could survive in austerity measures, usually based on multiple models that continued to progressively get worse as the pandemic deepened.
That constantly meant cutting all but absolutely critical expenditure, laying off staff, at times putting a stop to payment of due invoices, cutting inventory levels which created a chain effect.
What do the people on this forum think the impact of covid was on Jinan Hi-Tech & it's subsidiaries? On Tritons financing? I can safely say I doubt Ancuabe financing has been their number one priority this year. That however does not mean they deliberately caused distress to our shareholders or don't intent to still assist with financing Ancuabe. It means they put themselves and their survival/business needs first, they stopped moving to take stock of what was going on around the globe and how that effected them now and moving forward.
My guess is that meant a complete stop to all but the upmost necessary expenditure by Jinan & subsidiaries like Jigao, at the very least until the company had a better understanding of their ability to survive the pandemic & the risks the pandemic posed to any capital investment.
We definitely now know Jinan decided to review the entire business model and undergo a complete restructuring, the results announced a few months ago to their shareholders.
I think financing went from close to a signature in February to a complete grinding halt by April.
I'm guessing Jigao have stalled Triton management throughout 2020 on an investment decision, concurrently working on arriving at the best possible financing package structure and trying to occupy our management team whilst conducting their internal review.
I'm guessing Peter had the tough decision of what to communicate to shareholders at the height of the pandemic & throughout.
If Jigao were very allusive or thin on giving Peter any indication of when an investment decision might arrive there is a good chance Peter gave those targets for financing as a method of trying to manage the share price and market sentiment during the height of a pandemic, effectively stop the bleeding during a once in a century event.
I'm guessing Peter probably had no idea when Jinan may approve financing and if he did not set those targets perhaps the outcome for the sp may have been devastating with mass exits? It's not a lie for a CEO to set a target, it clearly frustrated the hell out of shareholders but equally may have saved their portfolios some significant damage? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
On reflection of my own work place experience, which absolutely mirrors the video link I provided, I think financing dried up around many projects and Jinan was no different in respect to the likes of Ancuabe.
What I'm hoping now is Jinan have restructured, found they have a strong business model and are well capitalised/resilient and are ready to start considering letting the flow of company capital back into market projects like Triton Minerals, we know as of months ago they still maintained a AAA credit rating.
The last announcement seems to indicate Jinan are now again serious about financing vs damage control during a pandemic, I doubt Jigao would have passed the package forward to Jinan executives otherwise.
I really don't think politics has had anything to do with the delays, I think covid scared the hell out of every business in the globe and liquidity was gone.
Like him or hate him Peter is no longer with Triton from February the 1st with the exception of his role as non-executive director, we need to all look forward.
Like him or hate him David Edward is the INTERIM-CEO & nothing is set in stone, this means we can wait for an investment decision from our major shareholders and then pending the outcome our directors can take the time to arrive on a more permanent company structure, be it with David as CEO going forward or not.
I don't think financing is a 100% done deal just yet, the volume doesn't suggest that certainty and I don't believe anything like financing is that air tight. When I start seeing directors buying on market I'll be more certain and that remains my biggest personal red flag.
With two exceptions to Peters performance, the first being the WGX consideration and underdone communication this year, on balance I stand firm that Peter did a good job for shareholders.
I thank Peter for pivoting the business away from certain death in Nicanda Hill/fine flake to Ancuabe expandable, SYR are in survival mode so you could imagine our prospects if we remained set on targeting the EV sector the past 5 years.
I thank Peter for taking Ancuabe from the development stage to completed DFS, with all permits secured and favourable binding off-takes for 52% capacity.
Peter has left Triton with Ancuabe financing/construction ready and I give him a B+ for taking us 85% of the way until a pandemic struck the world, if Jinan had of signed 6 months ago he would be a Triton celebrity right now. I wish him the the very best and have no doubt he will make a very good CFO for DEG.
After speaking with David last week it sound like we have a lot to be optimistic about in the coming months.
Let's hope the world can get these vaccines rolled out broadly & successfully over the coarse of 2021 giving lenders & markets confidence.
Please take the time to watch the video in the link because as straight forward as it is, it probably paints a plausible reality why we didn't see financing last year, why Peter set targets and probably didn't know how to handle communication that both protected the share price and appeased shareholders equally.
Please acknowledge my post is only my opinion of how events have possibly unfolded this year and may be different to actual events or others opinions respectfully.
Basically what a nightmare of a year...We can only hope this year brings the news we wanted last year.
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