Bond's reputation27 Nov 2021 09:16
December is a big month for Bond. He has stated, via the RNS service, that AFC is in dialogue with many companies and that he expects multiple orders in H2. Whatever excuse is wheeled out if that does not happen will undermine his credibility in a very fundamental way - who will believe any of the outlook guidance in annual reviews and accounts in future? Some have opined that his position would be untenable, and in deed the loss of confidence in the company could be such that the Chairman might feel similarly.
This would not be a good situation for Bond as his CV for the last decade is not exactly overflowing with commercial success. He was a key figure at Linc Energy, and we all know how that ended up. During his time at AFC he has not as yet signed a single commercial deal for an available product.
The solid cell is clearly the way forward for AFC and is likely to be massive on the presumption the scaled-up technology works. Maybe there will be solid cell-related orders this month, similar to the ABB one. Maybe others will take the liquid cell. Bond will already know the answers and I guess either looking forward to releasing the news he knows is coming, or he knows he has a bumpy personal road ahead.
I remain fully invested as I still believe that there is news to come this year. If there were not I don't think the very recent Zeus SP review would have been so bullish - something had to underpin it over and above a single sale to ABB.
Good luck all, and let's hope the advent period rewards us as it did last year.