meeting yesterday23 Jun 2016 18:38
Well the vitriol here is as expected. I went to the meeting as a very small shareholder. The reason it has taken me this long is because at my age I need 24 hours to recover from visiting the filthy City of London! Ordinarily I would not have gone, as the amount of paper loss is about what I could earn in a few minutes had I beeen still working, however I was in London and the times suited me between appointments. My other motive was that I did not understand what the company was about till yesterday. As a former (yes I was the old git there) IT specialist on top flight market data systems, I am interested in the app doing well and making me a buck or two. By the way I was not a plant by the BoD and taker offence at any suggestion that it may have been the case. I didn't suspect any of the attendees of being in that position either.
We questioned the board on the history of the company and the future for it and the app. There seems to be these two threads to the company. App development and as an investment company. It is hard luck I think, that caused AIM to have it delisted for not having the correct investment strategy. There's nothing to be done about that now, but build it up again.
I can't make any statements about the two members of the BoD that attended other than they seem to be the typical directors of small companies trying to make a go of a particular business. Having run several businesses myself, I identified several similarities with my former small companies and have empathy with what they are trying to achieve.
Could there be a way forward? We discussed what the results of a vote next week would mean, but no decisions were made. I suggested co-opting a shareholders member to the board, but no decision was made either way. The shareholders' group representative said they had discussed this before, but again no decision was made then either. I decided to not vote against them, but as my investment is tiny, it would make no odds either way. My decision is based on my gut feel only and my empathy towards small company directors. I think they have made some mistakes in the past, but we all do that from time to time.
I see a good future for an app of the nature of the one discussed. It remains the best part of the business from a technologist's viewpoint. Whether it is what makes the company in the future is anybody's guess. I came away with the notion that the BoD need four weeks to put forward a deal with the investor via a circular, etc., and that the vote next week gets in the way of that. I have to say, if it was one of my companies, I would feel pretty ****ed off to, but that's life in a company with multiple shareholders. What the shareholders have to do is make a judgement based on the known circumstances. There must be some substantial corporate shareholders in this one, so the outcome for next week is not guaranteed either way.
Good luck to the BoD and to the shareholders group in their endeavours.