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What do you think now ASI?

Pecten11 - your last statement is true but the real question is whether that smaller proportion of the company will be worth more or less than their current proportion. And that depends on Market Cap, doesn't it!

Do your own sums, J224 - I'm keeping my Market Cap guesses to myself, I'm afraid!

I'm trying to work out what the most likely sequence of events will be... given this move, I don't think the diamond issue is going to be resolved before the GM and I expect the creditors will want their money so I think we'll see the issue of new shares and the consolidation., despite the RNS suggesting that this is unlikely.

The debt would then be repaid and, at that point in time, we've still got the diamond issue to be resolved (both the return of the diamonds and the possibility of re-starting ops in Zim). There's cash coming in from PGM and Taj and things should be improving at BP. Plus, there will be at least £2m in the bank

At that point in time, what could the market cap be?

Assuming the diamond issues are resolved (with an extra few million in the bank), what then could the market cap be?

One would hope/expect that the market cap would be substantially more than today with the debt having been repaid.

Working out how many shares will be in issue is tricky because we don't know the sp when the shares will be consolidated/issued - taking the RNS figures though, there could be around 2.3 billion once consolidated.

I've done a few sums (guesses at market cap) and this ultimately could be good news for holders. The creditors may well be doing us a favour!

As for the Swiss Investment Company - they clearly think that there's potential in VAST if they're willing to lend and invest. What do they know about what's coming down the platinum line?

There's a lot wrong with VAST and AP (AP should really do the honourable thing!) and this news is a bit of a shocker but I'm relatively comfortable now. AP should've bitten the bullet on this last year!

I don't like this and it was probably a bullet that should have been bitten a while ago. It is what it is so looking at the company in a month or two's time and it could be debt free with diamonds on the way, an improving picture at BP and fingers in a couple of other pies!

Very strange (manipulated) day of trading followed by an oddly timed RNS.

I reckon there will be good news for holders at some stage tomorrow.

The sum total of all those small trades is less than 30,000 (hardly a major holding that needed to be dealt with in hundreds of small trades)... for me, that was clearly manipulation to get the sp down.

Well done, Coxonopolos. I could suggest what you should do with your profit but civility costs nothing!

The sp is still more than double the lows of the last couple of weeks of January - sp's don't move in a straight line.

Coxonopolos - investing in shares doesn't sound like your thing. Put your money in a building society if you want to protect your capital!

Hi neil777 - found your way here too! Of course, some are going to sell on drops (and possibly take profit... no argument with that) but have to ask why invest in a company in this scenario if you're going to be scared into selling. There will be all sorts of shenanigans going on by MM's and, of course, day traders and shorters - if people are throwing in money expecting a smooth run up to £1.30 then they're sadly mistaken... has that ever happened?

mm's will be s********* into their afternoon tea... nothing has changed except they've scared a few into selling.

They're hoovering up all the sells. Manufactured drop!

Just my tuppenceworth - SDRY has long been on my watchlist and I've added a few since the announcement on 2nd Feb. Like others, I reckon it is way more likely that JD will make an offer than not. He clearly sees a bright future for SDRY and will know the company inside out. As for those who are saying that shareholders will be wiped out, this is quite a different situation to other situations - for starters, the RNS on 2nd Feb would have been written in a different way and there would be a massive warning that shareholders could lose everything... it's just not that scenario. I think that JD is making a move now because he sees SDRY being a beneficiary of the continuing improvement in the economy for retailers. For him, it's now or never... or, at least, he'll have to pay a whole lot more if he doesn't move now.

One never knows, asi, about the posturing and positioning intended with public statements especially where AP is concerned. It does appear that some talks have been happening so I'm assuming that the diamond issue has been 'settled' if I was to take AP's statement as read. However, I do wonder if 'settled' might mean something different to what we are all expecting. If I was in AP's shoes, would I be cheeky enough to say to the Zim authorities that the value of the diamonds is worth less than when they were 'taken into safe custody' so I'm expecting the higher value or would I be bold enough to say that I'm expecting to be compensated for the loss of interest, etc, etc. As you've highlighted, AP hasn't actually said much about either the diamonds or re-starting mining in Zim and I've got a habit of filling voids with nonsense!

On your last point - I'm of the same view!

Wow... just looked in ahead of the new week and I see that there's some ping pong on the diamonds yet again.

Whilst the value of the diamonds is a factor, I'm of the strong opinion that they're wrapped up with VAST getting back to doing their thing in Zimbabwe... which is absolutely more valuable than a bag of diamonds. If there are or have been negotiations going on then, for me, it's more likely to be about re-starting ops in Zim.

On confirmation that the diamond issue has been resolved, the sp will rise - I don't know by how much but it will rise. If there is also news about re-starting mining diamonds in Zim, then we're in multibag territory.

Oofy - there are a number of reasons that the diamonds have been held up... apart from due process (we can have an arrogant attitude towards the timescales that our Zim friends work to), the diamonds have become embroiled in the politics between the courts, RBZ and the Zim government... add to the mix the potential for VAST to re-start ops and a local community who may or may not want VAST back... one can see the complex nature of the situation. It isn't as simple as AP turning up at the RBZ vault with a wheelbarrow.

Oofy - hope you don't mind me saying that yours is a rather cynical characterisation.

There's nothing gained by RBZ by not complying with the court order.

There's zero evidence that Mrs Mugabe took the diamonds (lot's of speculation but no evidence) - we've been reassured repeatedly that the diamonds do exist.

There are plenty of companies who will steer clear of Zim but I do agree that those who are there know the score. And, yes, there is still corruption but give them some credit for trying to clean up.

Dilara - don't know where you're seeing the contradiction!

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