Cheers ontarget just reading9 Jan 2017 16:02
Resolution 1 – Adoption of New Investing Policy
In May 2013, the Company’s then Board secured shareholder support for a strategy to create shareholder value through the investment of the Company’s cash assets in the natural resources and energy sectors, with a focus on oil and gas. As a result of investments which were subsequently made, the Company was deemed to have implemented its investing policy for the purposes of Rule 15 of the AIM Rules. In March 2016, given the challenging outlook for the natural resources and energy sectors, the then Board secured shareholder support to extend the policy to make investments in the financial services and financial services technology sectors.
In October 2016, the Company invested £600,000 for a 16 per cent. interest in Mobile Wireless and Satellite SAPI (“MOWISAT”), a newly established Mexican company in the financial technology and payments industry. MOWISAT intends to be the first provider of fintech solutions for unbanked communities in Mexico which it plans to deliver as a mobile virtual network operator.
In addition to the investment in MOWISAT, the Company has a number of natural resources and energy sector investments, the principal of which is its 35 per cent. interest in Viet Energy Ltd, an unquoted company with two coal concessions in the Bac Giang Province of Northern Vietnam. The concessions are based in the Quang Yen Basin, which currently provides 80 per cent. of Vietnam’s coal production, and are just 10 kilometres apart, potentially meaning they could be linked into a single exploration area. The Company has been notified that the project will be going in to production in the first quarter of 2017, and that Viet Energy intends to pay its shareholders a dividend of 50 per cent. of its profits.
The Company’s two other investments were fully impaired in the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2016. Further details of these natural resources investments are in the Investment Report in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2016 which are available for download on the Company’s website. Assuming the New Investing Policy is adopted, we will formulate our strategy with regards to the Company’s existing investments once we have completed a detailed review thereof.
A key part of the Board’s proposed strategy going forward is that the Company, as an AIM investing company, adopts a new investing policy in the Technology, Media and Internet (“TMI”) sectors. During the past several years, I have increasingly focused on investments in this dynamic market segment and particularly on businesses that are capable of developing into future category leaders. I strongly believe that, in order for this new investing policy to succeed, a number of crucial elements are required