Perhaps it is worth keeping in mind — the outgoing IR Director...

Perhaps it is worth keeping in mind — the outgoing IR Director is a human being. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore the serious shortcomings in how the company has engaged with shareholders under his watch. Am I satisfied with investor relations? Not at all. The problem isn’t just that it’s been ineffective — it’s that the company either fails to see how damaging it is, or worse, doesn’t care enough to fix it.

At the same time, a much broader issue remains — the disproportionate influence held by the founder. That level of control continues to shape key decisions and, at times, it’s clearly had a negative and lasting impact on how this company is run. This governance imbalance needs to be addressed just as urgently as the IR failures.

I attended a couple of meetings with Tony Dawe, and also met Sean Hehir during a visit. The so-called “secret meetings” some people like to reference. It wasn’t secret — and it certainly didn’t reveal anything reassuring. In fact, it left me more concerned. Sean didn’t come across as someone confident in front of investors. He struggled to answer questions directly and relied heavily on others to guide the conversation. That’s not the kind of leadership I want to see.

I fed that back to the person in the company that I was in contact with and clearly it wasn't taken seriously or addressed.

So I think we need to stop pretending these meetings gave anyone a strategic edge. If anything, seeing how the company presents itself behind closed doors only raised more questions than it answered.