Marula Mining Share Chat (MARU.PL)

Boom there it is.

For all Jason’s promises coco the clown has got us suspended again.

Please Andii and fpoo put a good spin on this, tell the market how this time it’s not a red flag and it’s a positive.

And also where’s that warren buffet chap timmit, please tell me how serious investors feel about a suspension that Jason said wouldn’t happen again.

I can’t wait to see who Jason blames this time.

The man is a walking failure.

Well at least I don’t have to put up with you deluded fools telling me if I don’t like it then sell up.

No one can sell because coco the clown strikes again.

Did you look up the meaning of Ad Hominem, HoofHearted?

I’ve already stated that my comments go to the directors themselves rather than barking at the moon on LSE.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that there is an ongoing broader issue with a restricted numbers of auditors being able to audit listed Plcs. I think there are 13 or 14 such announcements today…

We got suspended last year and Jason said in fact promised that it wouldn’t happen again. He had a year to make sure it didn’t. It should have been his priority but his incompetence has shined through and he has shown that he is a serial failure.

He has been questioned on the TG but because of the deluded idiots on there the messages have been deleted.

Jason needs to be questioned on his failures, all of them and he needs to take responsibility.

I see everyone is quiet, trying to put a good spin on the suspension

AIM suspended list and # of RNS's in 2024

HARL - 15 RNS

SEEN - 13 RNS

ZIOC - 9 RNS

ADME - 8 RNS

FA. - currently undergoing de-listing

AEG - 12 RNS

MBO - 9 RNS

KIBO - 35 (RNS released every time company they have a share holding in has an update)

DCI - 16 RNS

EUA - 7 RNS

SND - 31 RNS

CASP - 12 RNS

TOM - 12 RNS

MARU - 46 RNS

From Jason on the 700 member telegram group:

We kept Price Bailey as very few auditors are willing to take the risk of auditing a main board listed company which was the focus.

Very few audit companies want to take on the work for junior companies on Main Board or to be truthful on many boards.

Crowe were willing to do the work but at a costs and timetables that was not acceptable and multiple times what was quoted elsewhere.

With the NSE, JSE and UK listings we are of course reviewing where our finance function should be based out of - clearly London does not work. Hence one of the changes to observe in coming weeks.

One of the key areas of review is the valuation of Belsberg and the stockpiles. Nothing else really to say.

We missed the deadline. It’s not good doesn’t get close to the words to best describe and yes I’m sure all of you can come up with others.

We are working it through and will get it out along with the news too.

My take:

Jason was in hospital. Then there were power cuts and internet outages in Nairobi during political riots and the team were all working from home. Then there was an almost total shutdown of road transportation in South Africa which likely delayed the first shipments from Blesburg (QGC only made 1 rail shipment last month out of a 15 planned)

From a poster Chris on Hive telegram group:

#MARU

Last summer Marula was suspended from trading for a month due to late lodging of accounts (RNS 03 July 2023). Today, the same has happened again.

While I acknowledge the wider pressures and lack of resource in the auditing profession, to be suspended 2 years in a row for failing to fulfil your statutory obligations is a bad look for a company, particularly when plenty of other junior miners have not had similar back to back suspensions.

There is further background to this suspension however for anyone interested to read on.

Last summer, CEO Jason Brewer, laid the blame for the suspension squarely upon the auditors and stated repeatedly in the Marula TG group that new auditors would be appointed.

Come December 2023 at the AGM we shareholders were being asked to appoint the same auditors again. I queried why. Here is the response I received from the CEO:

“We are reappointing the same auditors, as the new auditors, Crowe are taking their time in completing the onboarding process. No issues with this but just the process to get it done because it is quite a far reaching appointment. We are appointing Crowe to not only do the parent plc audit but to also complete the audits of the subsidiaries in Tanzania - 4 opearting projects / partnerships / comemrcial / technbical support agreements - and also the audit of the Kenyan subsidiary too, where we are expecting further progress in the coming weeks on activities.

Expecting the onboarding process to be completed late this year / early in the New Year and then we will proceed and replace and hold the necessary shareholder meeting to approve.

Richard Lloyd and Angela Greenwood in the UK, know Crowe very well and the head of audit, so just gettign that finalised now. As to using Price Bailey to get the audit done, that is well in hand and I am extremely confident that it will proceed far speedier and more effective than last year.”

So…. what has actually happened? Post AGM and Crowe have never been appointed despite the ‘no issues’ claim from Jason Brewer, Price Bailey remained the auditors and another suspension has now occurred despite Jason being “extremely confident” the process was “well in hand” and would be more effective this year.

Note- I’m not personally casting any aspersions towards Price Bailey in this process. We shareholders never know the full details of the back and forth going on between companies and auditors. The buck, however does stop with the company CEO and board. They have statutory obligations to comply with in terms of lodging accounts and they choose who to engage with externally (auditors) and who to deploy internally to ensure those obligations are met.

continued next...

Sadly for Marula holders, their money is now frozen in the company for an unspecified period due to it being unable to meet its statutory obligations for a second year in a row. This is a risk of being an investor, true, but Marula is certainly not demonstrating itself to be a less risky investment with it being suspended for a 2nd time.

Just a bit of background - this is the current list of firms of approved auditors that can audit listed companies in the uk.

https://www.frc.org.uk/library/supervision/audit-firm-supervision/pie-auditor-register-firms-list/

Long story short, just 37 firms listed which represents 683 “responsible individuals”. 6 of these firms are associated with another firm listed. 3 of the “firms” are registered at the National Audit Office so I’m not sure they are available to do audits for listed companies. Thai leaves a real choice of 28 firms.

PWC has 141 of the responsible individuals

Deloittes has 124

KPMG has 109

Ernst Young has 104

BDO has 73

Mazars has 30

PKF Littlejohn has 18

RSM has 11

So, 8 of the 28 firms account for 610 of the 680 available responsible people. That’s less than 4 average for each of the 20 smaller firms. That’s a real problem and, unless addressed by regulatory authorities, will only get worse as auditors leave the profession. Several firms of “normal” auditors have withdrawn from audit work as they are directly in the firing line in cases of fraud/bad directors especially since Carillion and Patisserie Valerie etc and it’s not as profitable as it once was.

Talking to another CEO recently whose shares were suspended a month or two back he explained that a smaller firm with say just 2 to 5 responsible persons might be 25% of the cost of one of the biggest firms.

Marula currently use Price Bailey which has just 2 responsible individuals. The auditors they were thinking of using was Crowe with 10 RIs but I gather they wanted to charge significantly more and weren’t as well placed to assist with a Main Listing, which was the focus until recently.

Hopefully this is helpful just in case some wondered about the audit process for listed companies and why at the start of each month there are several companies announcing suspension for non filing of accounts.

Thanks Tim. That adds up and makes sense.. Hopefuly nothing sinister and wont be too long. Some real positives here. Time will tell.

Thanks for the thanks!

I’m not concerned about this suspension. I don’t wish for it to happen but Jason has (correctly) taken responsibility for it . It’s an irritation for those who wanted to trade but, as I mentioned previously, I’ve invested in a business not a share price.

Let’s all pat Jason on the back for a job well done and for being awesome.

Andii your take is from a naive investor that really hasn’t got a clue.

Warren timmet I don’t need to see a list of auditors as marula had one and if Jason was such a failure in every goal he sets himself this maybe would have got done on time. It’s not like he had a week to get it sorted. He had 6 months and after last year you would have thought he would have learnt his lesson. Made it a priority, got it sorted so he doesn’t look like a clown again.

It would be so refreshing for Jason to actually achieve something on time.

But when all you fools praise him for his failures he doesn’t have to care what he does.

Your money invested, you should make coco answer for his failures.

See comment on Zaks traders Cafe, RNS Hotlist July 1st. Increasingly common problem. Not an issue for me.

Hoofhearted, I wasn't aware that I had praised Jason in my comments.

I was adding some context for why several companies lately are being suspended due to non-filing of accounts. After all, some here will have invested in other companies and have the same experience. Not everyone is here to score points at others' expense.

I think my responses to you have been measured and helpful but, looking at your comments going back to 2020, I can't see anything worthwhile that you've added to any of the groups you've commented in. I hardly ever block/filter people in groups (less than 5 people in 25 years) because, just occasionally, they may offer a different insight or some genuinely fresh thinking and that considering that contribution could make me a better investor. I'm prepared to make a rare exception in your case as I think you're one of those people who is "always right" and just enjoys winding others up and, frankly, I can't see any benefit reading your posts.

Genuinely wish you well, HoofHearted , with your investments.

To other posters: if HoofHearted ever posts anything at all that is genuinely enlightening and even slightly helpful to others please feel free to copy into a post as I wouldn't want to miss it...

Will the suspension be across the release of blesburg numbers or can they be released as information for when suspension is lifted.

The hold up is likely to be either in valuations (the extra wrinkle that complicates the listed company audits) or the After Year End events. Don’t think it will be the going concern section as the QGC arrangement was already announced early in the year.

There is a biztec video out discussing company suspensions apparently there are 16 companies suspended because of these accounting rules.Marula is a very complicated company accounts promised but not delivered .I think blesburgh has thrown a spanner in the works trying to pin down the numbers.very disappointed can only look ahead.

Some expected events whilst we are waiting for suspension to lift:

News due out about now:

>Tomra in transit,

>Blesberg sales finalised (revenue due 8th/9th/10th),

>Larisoro interim payment for manganese due this week Wednesday to Friday.

Jason was in Johannesburg Sunday to this morning so would think there is progress being made at Blesberg.

That's what is annoying biggest changes in marulas history and suspension for accountants rules.

Do you not think that Jason knew the accounts would not be finalised when he did the zoom call last week.

I think he did, in fact I would put money on it that he did.

It’s funny when we got suspended last year when it was only meant to be a few days but lasted a month the share price was higher than it is now.

So for everything that Jason says he has achieved in the past year the market, not me does not believe him. The market thinks Jason is a liar which has kind of been proven anyway.

Just like Neo Jason is screwing them into the ground.

And you don’t think he should be questioned on his failures.

Of course he knew so did every other CEO cannot say anything as this would effect sp

Share price was 0.1euros last suspension with less shares so actually around the same market cap. Lithoum was double actually almost triple the price back then too. Share price rose almost 70% when suspension was lifted last time. Maybe a similar rise this time and hopefully it will be sustained with two sources of revenue days away from landing in the bank with production rates at both due to ramp up significantly over the next 10 years.

Average around 12p. S.P around the 7p mark isn't too bad considering what can happen to a companies share price in the small cap space. I'm still up from my investing profits over the past 7 years thanks to a stellar 2020/21.

This is the second time you have poked fun at how a girlfriend or wife of mine might react to my loss here. Your lucky i'm in no way distressed here financially, but what if I was?

Why are you making this personal Hoof?

I have never once crossed that line with you. Seriously, LOL

Hitting new lows there buddy and I don't mean the share price

I really try not to react to you now but are you willing to take this offline? Reach out to me and I will be pleased to oblige. Here is my linked-in, you can message me personally and we can discuss. I am assuming you are a professional and have a job yes? Good day.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mathieson-75755840/

There was a share rise at 13p and Quentin's option at 10.5p should be supporting the sp.It hasn't bit puzzling????????

Jason brewer is incompetent and has now had his stock suspended.

This will tank on opening after all the hype pump on stock box.

Andii I told you.

Avoid.