Member Info for Millfield

It would appear that I am not the only one to misread the press release. As I now understand it the old board got advance warning of the concert party vote, and appointed an interim board (headed by Peter Hambro) prior to the AGM vote. Although the old board was voted out at the AGM, the interim board is in the driving seat until an EGM which should be held in about three months time, and at which shareholders will be asked to vote again in the full knowledge of what is at stake.

This is going to be a re-run of 2017, but I hope this time POGholders will appreciate the success of Pavel (and Peter in absentia), and make sure they support the interim board by voting with the Chairman by proxy. As most of us hold our shares in nominee accounts this will involve liaison with the nominee broker.

This is our company. Let us ensure it stays that way.

It would have been nice if the periods of coup and counter-coup were over, but alas it appears not to be. On the face of it, this is a mess, with Pavel, the man credited with turning POG around being ousted, seemingly with the collusion of Peter Hambro - his friend and partner of many years.

Had Peter not been involved, I would certainly have sold out at the earliest opportunity today. However PH is old school, and I believe completely honest and full of integrity, and I will certainly hold for the time being.

It will be most interesting to find out the reasons for this shocking event, but will the real truth ever emerge?

Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF has a substantial weighting in HGM, which must be seen as a quality endorsement of the stock. It is my second largest holding after POG, and it has paid a generous dividend in all the years I have held it.

I don't think it is plain sailing just yet. The Coronavirus is still not under control in China, and the effect on the economies of the Far East might be significant, leading to a much reduced demand for base metals. This will surely effect the debt rating of IRC and thus make any attempt to monetise the POG holding and/or exit the loan guarantee that much more difficult.

The problem is that shorts usually have a measured reason for their action, as shorting is inherently dangerous, with limited downside in the share price against unlimited upside liability. Thus the shorts have to be pretty confident to take such a risk. They are of course not always right, but history shows that on balance with UK stocks their judgement proves correct.

In view of this I have reduced my holding considerably - just in case.

Don't forget the rotten mess the Scottish banks (RBS & BoS) made in 2007, having to be bailed out by English taxpayers.

It would be interesting to see if if breaking up the most successful union in the world (until the USA took that title) would be of more benefit to the rest of the UK than the Scots. My own view is that an independent Scotland could be a disaster for both sides, and only a benefit for Scottish politicians . I wonder why the SNP is so keen to exit the UK, but remain in the basket case EU. Perhaps they misguidedly think the handouts would be greater.

I wonder who sold the 4.5%?

It is disappointing to see that IRC could not even manage a profit despite the recent iron ore shortage forcing prices upwards.

One must be apprehensive of the results should Fe prices begin to normalise when shortages caused by the Vale disasters are relieved by alternative sources of supply.

This company has one of the best, if not the best, trading platforms in the industry. It also has a solid reputation for regulatory compliance and supporting favourable client trading outcomes.

That European trading has been hit by the extreme regulatory hurdles introduced by our EU masters is no surprise. However, IGG is establishing it's reputation worldwide now, thus business outside the EU will be unaffected by MIFID 2 and other ludicrous restrictions recently imposed. Also. the new regulatory environment might prove more damaging to IGG's competitors.

Providing the recently appointed CEO proves a good choice, then we can fully expect growth to restart and, more important, the dividend to be maintained. In the last depression (1930s), pubs and bookmakers were the best placed for survival, and the next, possibly due shortly, might prove no different.

L3

The POG net debt figure is unaffected by any IRC repayment if the IRC debt was on the POG balance sheet as a cash receivable asset.

Although the break even point for bond conversion appears to be c9.6p at the current rate of exchange, this assumes that a holder could convert and get whatever bid price prevails at that time for all, or a great part of their holding.

Bearing in mind that these bonds were, if memory serves me well, sold in lots of $200,000 at par, conversion would land the bond converter with a substantial quantity of stock. As bond purchasers are usually a different breed from common stockholders, I would assume they would not want to hold the shares for investment, and only convert if they had already lined up a buyer at an agreed price.

Thus I would not think it worth their while to risk conversion with a POG SP bid of less than 10.75p, assuming c$1.30/£1.

I have just discovered that POG have pulled out of next week's Investor Show.

Anyone know why?

IR seems a bit confused.

The transition from profit to loss after the coup last year might explain why Renova and M & G ran sold out soon after they got their change of management. It would appear that those who voted for the change shot themselves in the foot.

Unfortunately those of us loyal to the old/new management suffered the collateral damage.

It is interesting to note that at the AGM the Sothic representative assured me that if the vote ousted the Renova et al nominees, they would be selling their holding. To date there has been no notification of any reduction whatsoever.

If the leaks earlier in the year regarding key staff churn and low morale are true, then this might explain why Renova and M&G decided to sell out before too much damage was done. In that case the new BoD were quite muted in apportioning blame to the usurpers of last year.

Incidentally it was announced in the podcast that Mr Alexey Dubynin had been appointed as CFO.

I use Explorer in the main because I do not like Edge. The intercepts I have encountered have been with Explorer.

Thanks for the reply Rusty.

Of course I never fell for it by clicking, but I wondered if it was LSE specific, or something elsewhere on my laptop.

It would appear that LSE have a problem, and as MS copyright is also being breached, it should be reported to both parties, so please someone report this post to bring it to LSE attention.

Anyone else here experiencing occasional page replacement by a message purporting to be from Microsoft (complete with genuine looking logos) and warning of dangerous viruses detected?

Still here Contrarian? I thought you would have sold out into the SP rise this morning.

Or are you hanging about to heckle us ignorant and doomed souls who have kept faith with the old regime? Not that I mind of course, it helps to amuse between meals.

It might be worth pointing out the obvious that the reason PH got no votes could have been because he did not put himself up for election. It is also worth noting that there is nothing to stop the new Board appointing him as a NED in due course.

Hi Lawrence, nice to meet you in person at the AGM.

Yes indeed, last year there was a sort of wake at Le Pont de la Tour, just East of Tower Bridge, and not far from the 2017 AGM venue in More London. A much nicer venue than this years effort, and better acoustics too.

I did manage a quick chat to PH after the close, but as I was not expecting the opportunity and was consequently not prepared, I missed the chance to ask some of the many questions we must all now have as to the future strategy of the new (old) Board. This is assuming of course that he will accept a board seat should one be offered.

I did however ask if he might again front a POG showing at the Investor Show next Spring, and he replied that he would hope to do so. The IS provides a great opportunity for us small investors to meet the people managing our interests, and ask them in person any questions on topics which might be of concern.

That Sir Peter Hambro has been willing to stand up for himself and his Board, and to face downtrodden shareholders in such a public forum is the main reason I have been most happy to support him though the Company's trials and tribulations. Lesser men would have favoured keeping their heads down and hoping to stay out of harm's way.

To my mind, there are two important points that small investors should have considered carefully prior to choosing which side to support.

1. In 2016 and 2017 POG, represented by Peter Hambro himself, attended the Investor Show to meet existing (and potential) shareholders, and to answer any questions posed. The current board either failed to book or cancelled the 2018 booking well before the counter-coup was announced. One must assume that they were not prepared to answer any questions on developments within the company. Suddenly, and under threat of imminent retirement, they are communicating like a charity call centre.

2. Why did Renova, then M&G, and now (we are told) Sothic decide to cut and run after they achieved their aim of installing a new board? As they had board representation we might assume they knew something not in the public domain at the time Renova sold, or even now unless it is the alleged trouble with the workforce. Let us hope it is only the latter.

Let us hope also that we get some answers next week, unless of course the current board survives. In that event I would not expect much bar the half year announcements for the rest of this year.