out of africa

With people changing their sentiment over talk of more acquisitions and moves into Kenya, Mozambique and beyond I thought I'd begin a discussion on what shape people expect CCC will take over the coming years.

It seems there is a core group here who would prefer CCC to be less than the name - Continental, implies. IE get Penumbra and DeWitterans up and running, then Vaalbanks, and forget about Kenya, Botswana etc. Seems like a sound, short-mid term strategy. Conti Coal is still a small company - and there's no point in stretching out too far as it could all end in tears. Does that sum up the sentiment for this group?

There are others, who suspect they have cottoned onto a much larger strategy that will reward shareholders who are prepared to hang in for the long term - say three years and beyond. They look at the new acquisitions as an exciting portal into the future ie a multi-billion dollar coal miner exporting out of several African countries - thereby becomming a dominant energy supplier out of Africa.

To be honest, I am torn between the two. The team at Conti could be stretching their (our) resources a little too thin already. But I'm also in the camp that sees (suspects) larger forces moving this company beyond South Africa, in particular EDF, and perhaps friends from Korea, or India.

I can't see Continental going at these much larger projects alone - it defies belief. We have friends doing some back seat driving here imo. One hopes we get to benefit too because that's the course we are on, whether we like it, or not.

cheers DJ