I agree that we don’t want fluff announcements now or ever. But let’s not forget that David Frances received ~$1.2 million worth of share-based compensation on top of his substantial annual salary from PRL last year alone (enough to attract the attention of the company auditors). And PRL is not his only gig during working hours. Plus we all remember the million dollar pay day for our mute chairman Pat Burke too, who could forget that! Meanwhile the share price - an investors only measurable form of sentiment - slides from months of no communication or visibility, meaning the base from which a re-rate will come is inevitably going to be lower, costing existing shareholders not only a reasonable return on current investments but a significantly increased likelihood of a higher level of dilution necessary to fund PRL’s share of the JV. This is a real concern and not one that I can ignore just because David is a nice guy.
The operations of PRL at present are hardly complex. We have a shed in Carnarvon from which the business operates and some masts collecting data and lots of negotiating and lobbying taking place. With a market cap of just $72 million largely from retail (I note we still have no notable institutional investors of note, new or otherwise, on the share register). I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect more than just blind faith in him or the other multi-entity multi-hat wearing directors & staff on our payroll.
I am under no illusions about what negotiations with TE entail, but I do think we also need a touch of realism here as well. It’s absurd for PRL to have announced an 8 week timeline to completion of the shareholders agreement in August if there was no realistic prospect of that occurring. The company has made no further formal statements on this delay to date (the informal AGM comment about “hopefully by Christmas” proved to be wrong too) and here we are now in mid January. Long term investors must weigh opportunity cost too. I think it is incredibly dismissive - and actually quite amateurish - of PRL for us still to be waiting for a result or an update. Maybe this week...??(!)
PRL Price at posting:
6.1¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)