Member Info for addicknt

just hadlunch in London with a recently widowed spouse of one of my best friends and am therefore not entirely on the ball. Nevertheless, this is extraordinary.
Our relationship with our biggest shareholder has collapsed. The entente cordiale lasted about six months and is now over. The game is up.
We are now in play and all talk of production etc has been exposed for the guff it always was.
If you take a major on board as shareholder, you pay the price.
The directors should accept the inevitable, put the company on the market and get the best price. End of.

Rk, I made my views pretty clear to him last week.

Fair point, LM. Mind you, we're fast running out of Q4!

I agree The Italian, we are guilty of projecting too much, so here's my attempt at this latest message.
"If necessary" means "if we find anything untoward". In the absence of any nasties they'll simply progress to releasing the PFS, as per the original intention.
So to my way of thinking, I really don't want a pre-PFS announcement...it would be bad news and I wish they hadn't mentioned it at all.

It's interesting to note that our board are not employing the traditional tactics used by companies whose share price is under pressure; in other words they're not releasing any information designed to bolster the market. It's almost if they don't care. I can't think why that would be.

sunny, that's a possibility, but two years of stasis would be unforgivable and I'm sure our main shareholders would have something to say about it. Who knows, maybe they are saying something, hence the roadshow.
Personally, I find it totally unbelievable that the board would have wasted all this time. I'm wholly convinced they've been working their backsides off to make progress across many areas of the business and that all will be revealed shortly. At least I hope they have been; otherwise they should start looking for new jobs right now.

RK, three months to negotiate terms? That's stretching credibility, isn't it?
I know people don't like to draw comparisons with GGP, but they took no time at all to find a replacement for their CEO...and they're a similar size business with an equally exciting future.

RK, agreed. I can't help but conclude it's because there will be a "Grand Reveal" fairly soon which will cover many of the issues we've been talking about all year.

Bozi, in effect the writing was on the wall from 17th December and it's therefore nearly eleven months. Indeed, it was obviously the case that there was significant disquiet some time before the agm and noises were being made throughout most of last year. The chairman should have prepared for this, but clearly did not.
But you are right, there have been challenges presented by both covid and geography, but I'm struggling to think of many examples of companies of similar size which have taken this long to find a replacement. I'm sure that this issue has been near the top of the agenda during the recent conversations with our main shareholders and I'd love to have been a fly on the wall during those conversations. How have they explained it?
For any credible candidate our situation presents an interesting picture. Their own dd would reveal the competing forces and perhaps shareholders who have interests which are totally at odds with those of the board. How do you square that circle? This combined with a dominant NED lurking around the boardroom table, may make them think twice.
Whichever way you look at it, the position we find ourselves in is less than satisfactory.

I know it's not to your liking Bozi, but each individual has differing investment strategies and goals and it's perfectly reasonable that they feel free to express them.
As for your comment about people 'not deserving' their gains - I know you're better than that.

Bozi, a lack of patience?! Many of us have been here for years.

For those of a nervous disposition, just listen to the McDonald interview...again and again. He gives all the guidance you need as to what's going to happen here.

Jerry, couldn't agree more. I've never considered NCM a likely bidder for us.

Good find, Mogg and a very interesting interview.
'Everything's on the table', which confirms what most of us thought after the release of the June RNS.

LM, those trades are likely to have been one shareholder shifting its holdings between two funds it owns. The trades are completed at the same price and therefore do not contribute to the price determining process.
Yesterdays UT was at 27.80 and the Stock Exchange reports the closing price at 27.30 bid.

Someone asked earlier if the company ever reads this page. Yes, Fawzi does. Whether the comments get fed back is another matter.

Interesting to note a couple of car manufacturers were involved in the bidding process. I thought vertical integration had gone out with the Ark.

CD, unlike you to post this sort of thing. A reliable source?

Jerry, in the past and in my previous incarnation, it always amazed me when we managed to persuade a board to do it.

BBG, I don't. They will sit down and negotiate, which is the way things are done.