Auto,Yes we care about the sp, but can do little about it,...

Auto,

Yes we care about the sp, but can do little about it, unless we have spare cash.

When a stock is so illiquid, and fundamentals so sound, we really (those of us with quite a few) have no choice but take the classic Buffet line of assuming the stock market is closed for three years (or at least assuming the semi-rational one is closed for at least 6 months).

EPS, last year 16c, this year maybe 21 to 22 c. Next year who knows? maybe as low as last year, although I suspect a another record. A lot of the OPEX cost base is proportional to oil, plus the low A$ helps on both revenue & profit translation.

In the post bubble poo environment, however I do wonder whether drilling in economically marginal regimes like Tunisia is worthwhile. In contrast I think the IPM business model is imminently more robust to falling poo, and capital for farmouts etc drying up than is the COE model. Low CAPEX, low risk, self funding has to be the way in the new era. The typical ASX oiler business model is dead imho. It never delivered, it never churned out the cash for the punters to reinvest.

COE can't buyback it's own shares atm, as it would be market manipulation. I suspect IPM might be under some constraints also.

EL