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100% HarChris. Couldn't agree more.

Saluc - I think he did a good job in building the mine but he's done a terrible job at actually running it.

Why would a lender provide funding to a business which is run by a management team with a poor operational track record? Financiers don't take punts and they need evidence that a borrower can repay a loan.

So the only option is a dilutive equity raise, which again isn't a sure thing given the struggles they're having in the capital markets. Plus they now don't have Optiva who were largely successful for them in the past.

Plaza - most people with a negative view don't have any agenda's.

For me, I simply believe that the company needs new management given the dire state it's currently in - which is a direct result of the decisions made by Shishir over the last 12-18 months. There's nothing controversial about that and it happens in most companies which are struggling.

Fundamentally, the business desperately needs cash and no one is going to invest in/lend to the company while the current board remains. If they can't raise cash then the business will be in administration within the year. It really is as simple as that.

Completely agree with HarChris and his earlier comments. The company is on the brink and keeping the same management isn’t going to change anything. Time to let an independent board look under the hood and at least check that there’s a viable business here. The Poddar’s will still own their shares, and who knows, the business might actually start to recover!

The inability of Shishir to let go of the reins is one of the biggest problems the company faces, so a refreshed board will at least restore some market confidence.

BOOM in 4th place is quite an achievement given the three names above them. Wondery is now owned by Amazon and has a range of highly popular podcasts on its roster, while NPR and SiriusXM are major networks with huge audiences.

So they are right up there with the best in the business but only have a valuation of £40M...

For BOOM, now it's about driving sales and fully monetising it's advertising stock (as the ad market recovers), while also continuing to reduce minimum guarantee obligations. I'm very interested to see what impact the new Sales VP's have on the business, as I'm hoping they can grow annual revenues into the $80-$100M bracket.

Time will tell and I'm looking forward to the Q2 numbers in mid-July.

Just released this afternoon - https://tritonrankers.com/rankers/us/networks-weekly-users/2024/4

Audioboom maintains 4th position by Weekly Avg Users and 5th position by Weekly Avg Downloads.

So Optiva finally resigns which is quite the blow for the business, as they've been working with TGR for some time and I believe arranged their IPO.

It's all a bit sad really and it's difficult to see a way out for the business. The capital markets will be closed until there is a resolution on the governance issues, and even if that gets sorted it will be some time before TGR's reputation can be rebuilt and fundraising opens up in a meaningful way again.

Overall, there's a few key factors which have got the company to this point:

1. Shishir's reluctant to dilute shareholders (including himself and the family) when the business desperately needed working capital.

2. Acquiring Mozambique when the Madagascar assets where not yet fully operational.

3. Paying for a large portion of the Mozambique acquisition in shares, to a cash strapped junior miner who promptly liquidated most of their holding and drove the share price into the ground (making it even harder to raise without massive dilution).

4. Consistantly overpromising and underdelivering, which over time has eroded investor confidence and the SP.

Fair to say, it's going to be an uphill battle to get the company back on it's feet and I personally think changes to BOD are required in order to do so. Carrying on with business as usual just isn't an option (IMO).

GLA.

404x - how can a purchaser be “saddled” with prior losses?

You do realise these can be carried forward to offset future profits? So it’s actually an advantage until these are used up.

The company has no debt so there’s minimal risk in the balance sheet for any purchaser.

Hi BBB - my target price is around £12.5 (~£200M market cap) which I think is achievable in time.

I think it's important to remember that FYE21 was the first year that BOOM really started to grow in terms of revenues - with $60M booked during that financial year compared to $20M in FYE20. Then we had FYE22 at $75M before the ad market downturn caused everything to slow down.

So we haven't actually seen how the business can really perform in more favourable market conditions. Personally, I think we will see $80M+ in revenues this year with this continuing to grow in FYE25 as the advertising market begins to recover. As the CFO detailed in the Q1 earnings call, they don't need to increase OPEX to hit higher revenue numbers and therefore we should see a gearing effect on EBITDA as revenues grow.

If the company can get to $100M+ in revenues (in a few years) then we should see a healthy bottom line which will justify a much higher SP.

All IMO and GLA.

It's a fair point re: the earnings and I think these will start to flow through later in the year. They're tracking towards a record year revenue wise with reduced minimum guarantee obligations (which should improve gross margins) and an improving advertising market which should see higher ad spend/pricing.

I do think Adj. EBITDA is the right metric to measure the business as it strips out the share based payments (which are non-cash) and other one-off costs to get a more accurate relfection of performance YOY. The company has no debt so there's no interest costs and depreciation is minimal given they don't own any fixed assets, therefore operating earnings is basically NPBT.

In terms of the business model, the CEO stated that they're much more diversified in terms of key podcasts so there's less risk that shows leaving will have a significant impact on performance (i.e. Morbid). I would realistically put the business in the digital advertising space which, after a quick google, appear to have average price-to-sales ratios between 1.5-2.0x in the US.

As a takeover target, I do think other players would be interested in the company given the high eCPM, ~8000 brands on the platform, and their position as the fourth largest podcast network in the US (by weekly average users). Once the profits start to come back then I wouldn't be surprised if a larger network comes calling. But even if they don't and the company is profitable, the SP will be well north of where it is today.

Fair to say I'm bullish on the outlook for BOOM. IMO it's a well-run company (which is somewhat of a rarity on AIM) with good cashflow management and a strong position in the growing podcast market. Once we start to see improving profits and a few months of positive cash generation, then the SP should move up sustainably from there.

GLA and DYOR.

Interesting RNS and looks like things could get messy here in terms of legal battles and shareholder disputes.

I'm no longer invested but will be watching with interest. If the current board is replaced with strong independent directors, then the shares could be in for a sharp recovery. Alternatively, a new board could uncover some skeletons in the closet which would be bearish for the shares.

Let's see how it plays out and GL to those invested.

Nice to see that the company can produce a high quality product which is in demand by European customers. However, having a board composed of Shishir, his daughter, and a recent graduate is not a sustainable position for a listed company with ambitions to be a major player in the graphite space.

Shishir needs to get quality NED's in ASAP and to keep them for more than a few months. What the issue is here is beyond me, but I suspect he may be difficult to work with or isn't paying the non-execs for their time.

This is also particularly important for obtaining debt finance, as corporate governance is a key aspect for lenders when looking at prospective clients.

It’s all just a real shame as the company has so much promise. Difficult to see the way forward right now but I’ll keep the stock on my watchlist to see how it plays out. GL to those invested.

I’m currently on holiday but sold out at 9p once the previous director jumped ship. I still don't believe there’s any malicious behaviour here, but the inability of Shishir to maintain a functioning and committed board is a major red flag for me. It doesn’t matter how great the asset is, if it’s poorly managed then it’s doomed to fail in my books. A tough loss to swallow but onwards and upwards to greener pastures for me. Good luck to those that stick it out.

Suspect there's a few buyers waiting on the sidelines until there's an update on production numbers.

Once the business starts to generate free cashflow then I think we will see a sustained re-rate on increased volume. The ability to self fund new capex in Madagascar will be key to get to 30,000tpa, which should then help to unlock the debt finance for the first module in Mozambique.

So everything will flow from getting to that ~15,000tpa breakeven number. Then any future equity raises will be for value accretive transactions and not to cover working capital.

To be honest, I'm glad the team is in Madagascar trying to get everything running at capacity. Rather that than answering emails from Mumbai.

On the flip side, they probably need to invest in their corporate infrastructure so there is always someone monitoring investor emails. It would go a long way to rebuilding the brand with PI's.

I get that they are trying to run a lean operation but sometimes it can be too stretched and it starts to become an issue for the business and for us as shareholders.

I’m not sure there’s anything to debate about the family ownership - they currently own 26% as per the recent RNS. If you want to look up the definition of the concert party - take a look here https://tirupatigraphite.co.uk/pdf/TirupatiProspectus.pdf

I'm also going to jump in with another tranche but just want to wait for the next update first. Happy to lose a few percent on the way up given I've already got a fairly decent holding (for me anyway).

New post from the company showing processing at Vatomina: https://x.com/Tirupatiuk/status/1757434639302418724?s=20

Clearly operations are ongoing and hopefully they're putting the recent equity raise to good use. Just need to be patient and wait for the next update.

What are we discussing here? The ownership percentage of the family?

This was confirmed at 26% via recent RNS, with their peak shareholding being around 43% when the business was listed.