Shareholder value has been completely eradicated in this company and management seem to think its okay just to forge ahead as if nothing has happened.
In my opinion, this company has had one major weakness all along which has become particularly apparent to me now and that is limited capability on the capital management aspects of running a business.
The reason I say this is because the previous capital raising last year also caught us shareholders by surprise (I was a shareholder at the time). They issued something like 100 million shares at 50 cents, when:
1) they never had anything to spend the money on (they said acquisitions and to purchase vessels, but most of the capital raised was never spent); and
2)Neptune shares were trading significantly higher than 50 cents and we all expected them to move higher as good results from the company continued to be released.
This capital raising was hugely dilutive and was basically incompetent.
It was then strange that Neptune's CFO walked out just before the FY 10 annual results were to be released. I reckon that was a strong sign he and Christian never saw eye to eye. Basically, the CFO should be responsible for the capital management of the business, but its possible Christian has an "an either my way or the highway" type attitude.
This latest capital raising has now succeeded in virtually eradicating all shareholder value for current holders.
I don't blame Christian for the business performing poorly as it has been a difficult environment, but there is no excuse for the capital raisings (this and the last) which no one saw coming when everyone was led to believe by Christian that the business was performing solidly.
NMS Price at posting:
8.4¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
