Good question Durslowe and congratulations on making a decision about your investment, what matters is personal conviction on the risk/reward. I was thinking of drafting a fairly detailed response but thought better of it, conscious of boring you all. So summary:
1. read biographies of the board and management team on Newsat.com
2. I believe those people with their pedigree and relative experience know what it will take to pull the company round
3. I believe people mistake a challenging economic environment for poor performance
4. we hear most from David Ball, I like what he says, I like how he presents himself - he seems upstanding, I don't believe he would be party to a company that is allegedly run so poorly
5. we have a renewed governance policy complete with new non-exec directors
6. I note the mudslinging is coming from people now left the company and a certain Rudd engaged by same people - hardly surprising there is bad blood, a fact of life at junior level and senior level in any company when someone leaves under unpleasant circumstances
Comments regarding lavish expenses:
Of course expense accounts will get the heckles up when current performance is poor. However, show me a company that doesn't entertain its senior executives and customers. I don't work in the satellite industry but it is not too much of a stretch to believe that perception is extremely important in winning the favours of powerful potential customers in a global market. Naive to think otherwise
So why are we doing so poorly when promised so much? We have been hit hard by the current demand in the market place - we clearly have to manage that carefully. J2 was committed and may well turn into the bit-part success we expected. It is not easy to openly say we are struggling to win customers - again perceptions count and covenants in or funding arrangements are critical. People/Business in any walk of life gravitate towards what is perceived to be succesful 'success breeds success'.
In short we need to convince all that we still have a viable business. I think the team are doing everything humanly possible to achieve that objective. I will lose faith if I see some of those quality people on the board/executive decide it is time to go.
Amateurish biased reporting doesn't help the cause but in an odd way it may well strengthen their resolve in the long run.
NWT Price at posting:
11.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
