Utilico Insights - Jacqueline Broers assesses why Vietnam could be the darling of Asia for investors. Watch the full video here.
Good article today in Australian Financial Review
https://readnow.isentia.com/Temp/126004-71404911/1380746140.pdf
You are correct Shipright. BHP does not have a director on the board. But Kevin O'Kane has a long history at BHP (and a recent one). His linked in profile shows numerous endorsements from his colleagues at BHP
Iceberg, can I ask rhetorically, why, if Nick's position is now so good, and this has been a great result out of this AGM, did the share price remain stagnant after the meeting? Why didn't it jump up to 50p? That is because the market has interpreted this as a company that does not know what it is doing and has realised the obvious, that powerful shareholders have voted no confidence in the CEO
Iceberg, without the support of your major shareholders, management cannot have the confidence to follow a coherent strategy. If it is at odds with the main shareholders then the board is liable to an extraordinary general meeting being called any time and being rolled. Companies operate efficiently when the shareholding base, which provides the equity that is put at risk in its operations, is right behind the strategy. What we have now is a CEO who is at war with two very large shareholders which are very experienced miners. He also, one infers, lacks the support of the board around him (one of whom works for BHP). That is a recipe for uncertainty, in fighting, and unclear signals being sent to the market. None of that helps the share price
Addicknt, there is also a misconception on this BB that BHP made a big mistake yesterday in voting against NM' re-election unsuccessfully. I don't agree. BHP and Newcrest have made him a lame duck, particularly with resolutions 13 and 14 withdrawn. It is correct that BHP and Newcrest would want this as cheaply as possible. I considered my personal interests more aligned with Nick's and voted for him. But people invoking Barrick and the Chinese as saviours of the private investors are deluded. The problem that no one wants to face is that Nick is obviously not able to maintain good relationships with important stakeholders. He has let hubris get in the way. He has succeeded in cutting off shareholders from an opportunity to work with two very large miners on the share registry to a mutually beneficial outcome. That opportunity may not have worked out long term. But it was part of his job to work hard at it to keep on good terms with two major shareholders who are word leading miners. Why does anyone think that he will get on better with Barrick or with a Chinese (government owned) company? There is no logic to this. They will have the same problems with him. Chinese companies are ultimately controlled by the Chinese communist party. Australia has been feeling the wrath of China for months now and being punished by trade sanctions for having the temerity to ask for an inquiry into the origins of the Covid disease. Why would anyone assume that BHP and Newcrest have behaved wrongly but a Chinese company will do the right thing by shareholders of Solgold? BHP has duties to its shareholders. It obviously disagreed with Nick Mather's strategy. He has managed to get everyone that matters at Newcrest and BHP on the wrong side. So they voted against him. He does not look that powerful right now. He looks wounded. If there is no offer soon this share price will languish.
The other thing is that the fact that there was nothing said at the board meeting by the chairman and no review, which is very unusual, signifies that the board is not with him. There was no rallying around him by the board so we can assume that there are problems at that level. He needs to take your advice or do some succession planning so that a new CEO can come in
Well written addict
I don't understand the view that this is the result of a brilliant strategy by Nick. I voted for him. But he has obviously antagonised powerful shareholders and he has lost a lot of bark in this. Colonel calls people ignorant for not sharing his views. But Nick is not the Messiah here. He's just a guy who has not been able to work with the major shareholders. So now an option has been lost to us shareholders; namely a collaborative way forward with BHP and Newcrest. Not sure why people are celebrating that we are now reliant upon a hostile takeover as the apparent only way to realise value in our shares. Nick can't get on with people he works with. Don't put it down to genius or brilliant strategy
We have a CEO who is an exploration / start up expert who is at war with two major shareholders who are miners. They have no confidence in him
He has got back in by a very slim margin, so slim that in any ordinary situation a CEO would have to think his position was untenable
BHP and Newcrest would have wanted the company as cheaply as possible. But they can also produce mines. They don't believe in Nick's vision.
Can't see how this will send a reassuring signal to the market or any kind of stability. A landslide either for or against Nick would have been a better result.
An obvious reason for the hostility is that perhaps BHP and Newcrest cannot deal with Nick. Personal relationships matter at board level. One obvious implications is that Nick does not have good relationships. I voted for Nick. But this is a house divided. Normally impossible to see a CEO continuing with such a large proportion of shareholders opposed to him. But he will.
Solv93, as a matter of interest, what price did you buy into Solg at? I am just wondering what constitutes a 5 bagger for you.
all the best
Thanks Colonel
I think a loss at the AGM for NM will be bad for private investors and SP unless a new player comes in with an offer. Hard to predict but as addicknt says the markets don’t like uncertainty. BHP and Newcrest would want this as cheaply as possible with NM out of the way
Zoros, I think your post is very good.
One needs to have great patience with this share. It has been a long haul and a lot of people have continued to believe in it. It also has remarkable resources as you point out. But I agree with you that the status quo won't be moved until there is a DFS, a mining plan and funding for it. Or an offer. If an offer is made the price will take off.
One glaring issue with Solgold is that it has been unreliable with deadlines and news (even allowing for the problems caused by Covid). Indeed, the news flows were hit and miss before the advent of Covid. it is exciting to get flurries of RNS' at times, as seems to be happening now, but then they stop unexpectedly and we have had long periods of silence in the past. It seems as if the Board is putting everything out that can be got out before the AGM but even this seems a bit haphazard and ill thought out, given that a lot of voting would have occurred and that the big shareholders would not be deciding how they are going to vote based upon late news about new holes being drilled.
I have never heard of a listed company canvassing individual private investors to vote at an AGM. Maybe others have seen this happen but I have not. I think there must be a lot of tension for NM as to how the votes are going to fall out.
My view is Nick is under pressure
He has many great skills. I doubt the diplomatic skills of keeping BHP and Newcrest on side and mending issues with Cornerstone are among them
I see my interests as aligned with Nick’s not with the majors. BHP would want this as cheaply as possible. I will vote for Nick
I think (this is conjecture) that NM could be under serious pressure for his position at the AGM. We know Newcrest got thoroughly annoyed with him and took a director off the board. But Newcrest still sees the value in the company and has not sold its stake. If BHP were to have the same view, and one adds in Cornerstone, then the rough numbers show NM could be in real difficulty, unless every private investor votes for him. Again, this is conjecture.
It seems a bit odd that the company released an RNS yesterday about how to vote. I assume this is because everyone's vote is now important. And for stability the company needs private investors to vote.
There has also been an odd transition in the last weeks from a blitz of RNS's about where drilling was up to to relative silence. If NM is intending to release a great amount of good news leading up to the AGM he is now cutting it pretty fine. I hope great news is released. But this company has been slow, or at least hit and miss, with releasing news in the past and no one has really explained why. I believe that the interests of private investors are aligned with NM's personal interests. Don't take this as negative. I believe strongly in this company. But I am not sure that the delay with the PFS and the lateness of news is due to a great plan. And I don't rule out that NM's position on the board could be in trouble.
I agree with Addicknt
Can’t see what a Cornerstone placing has to do with a delay in Solgold’s PFS. In law we say that if there is a choice between cunning, sinister design and garden variety stuff up it is 90% of time a stuff up. I think the delay with the PFS is poor management. We have seen this before. Over promising with deadlines and under delivering
I don't think the solgold share price is of great relevance to any forthcoming bid. This share is tightly held by those who value it. Those who value it include BHP, Newcrest, Nick Mather and associated entities, Cornerstone and many private investors on this board. The volumes that are typically traded are very low. So we have a share where those who are not day traders but long term investors see the real intangible value in the company. That will not be reflected in the share price until the gun goes off and a bid is made. I don't think it really matters whether the bid is 1.5 times or 2 times or 3 times the current share price. It will move upwards quickly once a real bid is made. The current share price is just not a true indication of value. People might disagree and say that the market always indicates true value. But it does not indicate true value if you do not have a sufficient number of willing sellers and willing buyers. Here we have long term holders who are holding out (as I am ). BHP is not trading its shares for the same reason that the people on this BB are (for the most part) not trading their shares. It has been a long wait to get here. But patience will be rewarded. Good luck to all
The RNS would be fairly pointless, except to imply that Nick Mather is not running this show on his own. The experience emphasised is that of the new independent directors.
Thanks Redknight. Helpful and interesting. I am not sure the election result in the USA will be accepted, as distinct from "known", by Thursday. I think there may be real uncertainty in the markets for the next week (depending on how the result goes and whether there is civil unrest in the USA). So all in all, I would prefer for the sake of the western world to see a stable and peaceful result accept soon in the USA and don't mind if the Solg news is held back until people can concentrate upon it. I think it is very unpredictable at the moment the way things will turn out
Thanks Novice. Sounds right. But this SP does not reflect anything like the value that is there. Also agree that today is not a great day for an RNS. It would be drowned out.
Does anyone have any insights into why the share price has been tanking over the last week? It can't be the US election. The ASX went up sharply today as did some junior miners. Would be interested in any thoughts. This share price baffles me.
EasyP that sound right to me. Others on this board know about the logistics of assays but I would have thought they must have some results coming through from the first hole at Porvenir. I also wonder if they are waiting to release a set of results which prove it is a massive find