All quiet on the eastern front20 Dec 2013 14:20
I should have realised when Arip sold only 29.99%, as mentioned in these blogs already, it surely was a massive red flag waving right in front of my nose! My concern is that it might happen again as any suggestion of an offer, only to be whisked away again, will drive the price down even lower. And why wouldn't they do that, it's worked once and it will worok again. Their end game must be to buy the lot as cheap as they can. I understand the massive trades that started all this were done off exchange so how do we know what money, if any, actually changed hands. The true value of the shares must be at least £4 but the eventual takeover price could be significantly less and probably less than todays price.
What I also think is very odd is the way the board has reported all of this. How can they be pleased if their intention was to see investors right. One way they could calm the waters and put the price where it should be is to start paying dividends. I know they want all the cash they can to continue their development objectives but a 3% annual div would only cost £8m. which is a small fraction of their revenue.
There's more to this story!