I'm thinking that the suspension of construction of the San...

I'm thinking that the suspension of construction of the San Quintin project in Mexico has impacted the share price more than any other issue. SQ is actually worth more to the company than the Ivory Coast project - construction cost $US48M + $US10M a year for 30 years at a much higher margin than IC.

From the Q3 2018 report - "Fluence has commenced the construction phase for the US$48 million San Quintin, Mexico project. Revenue will be recognised over the 20-month construction period of the project starting with the commencement in Q3 2018." More than 15 months have elapsed during which we must have incurred costs, but have received no revenue. The plant was supposed to be finished by the end of Q2 this year, but work has barely started and progress has stopped. Most of you will be aware of the delay being due to our partners not having the funds to contribute to the joint venture (they didn't know this before they committed?) and the need for Fluence to raise funds from Generate Capital to make up the deficit.

From the Q3 2019 report -

"San Quintin, MexicoFluence enjoys a very strong relationship with the customer, the State Water Commission of Baja California (CEA),and the local municipality and has been working to accommodate a slight change in project schedule requested by CEA. The change relates to the timing of construction expenditures and resulting draw downs on the project finance facility. There is no change to the tariff that will be paid to Fluence for the delivery of potable water, but the commencement of construction has been delayed until this change can be formalized by the incoming Director of CEA. The Director of CEA is a position filled by appointment by the state Governor. After the recent elections, a new incoming state Governor is taking office on November 1, 2019 and is expected to immediately appoint a new Director of CEA. Due to the short time period until hand off to the new administration, the exiting Director has decided to delay formalization of the contract timing changes to allow the incoming Director to take such responsibility. As a result, we expect to have the contract amendments completed by year end and for construction to commence in early Q1 2020.In the meantime, Fluence is planning to increase its ownership by 43%, resulting in a total equity ownership by Fluence of 94% and ensuring that Generate Capital completes its due diligence on the project for the corporate term loan facility being negotiated."

So it seems that after his appointment 10 weeks ago we are still waiting for the incoming Governor to appoint a new Director of CEA and for him/her to approve the "slight change" to the project schedule. After being told over 3 years ago how critical this project was for the San Quinton community I find it astounding that the politicians seem to be unable to find the time to sign a document, a simple formality!

Notwithstanding the potential of China, San Quinton is currently the single most important project as far as securing sustained profitability is concerned. The lack of progress and the total silence is disappointing and rather a worry.

Just my opinion - would welcome comments from some of our more learned posters.