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More sour grapes again. The SP is down. Very unsporting to keep bringing up old nonsense again.

Maybe they should take a more leading role, with Colin in the background.

*Do you (not use). Mine was autocorrected. Were yours?

Colin has been stymied by the bureaucracy and politics in Slovenia. He has had to tread very carefully. Many on here are interpreting that as being ineffective. That may be correct but would anyone else do any better? I think only a local, politically savvy person could do so. A Northern Irish CEO may not be the best choice in a Slovenian / Croatian context.

Scott, do use drop your 'h'es in normal speech as well? If you mean 'his' then say so. You always drop the 'h'.

When I originally invested in AST I saw a company with a large gas reservoir, with wells that just needed reopening and in a country under European Union law. I felt the perceived downside was the ex Eastern European nature of the beast which would be pushed aside in time with Slovenia being in the EU. That has not happened. Colin has been frustrated by this and political influences have weighed heavily on AST and the opposite extreme of Slovenia dealing with the perceived EU rules resulting in extreme delays with the IPPC. Some of these rules are also being used as an excuse by those who don't wish it to happen and are using them to cause delays. There are Slovenians who don't want a British company taking advantage of their resource. I therefore believe that what happens from now on will be down to how effective Colin has been with his softly softly approach to not antagonise the Slovenian bureaucracy and how the strategic review can get local companies to get more involved to get this moving. Things are on a knife edge now and we need INA and others to get involved to open up the bureaucratic log jam.

Full value �160million joshua? Can't see Colin managing to convince anyone of that right now with the current MCap. The current MCap of about �20million will drag down any bargaining power Colin has against the reservoir valuation of �200million. Then you also have to consider the JV partners and what AST's valuation can then be. I have said all along (with bank loan discussions here in the past) that the BoD need to take notice of the SP as a low one will drag down their negotiating power. Currently it is very low and I would think CAD could buy in to 50% (not 25%). Even then that would be an SP equivalence in excess of 3p and nearly 4p. Currently a pipe dream. I wouldn't be surprised that companies like CAD or INA have made offers of that or lower, making the point to the AST BoD that they have little choice with the current company valuation. Wouldn't suit Colin, Clive or any of us but they would have a strong case.

Tomorrow's Wednesday.

Gary, you really are antagonistic today. People on here are trying to be proactive in asking the BoD questions and all you can do is criticise from the sidelines? Of course we all got caught out by the way the Slovenian government has played this one. Who would have thought they would have delayed this to the country's detriment, and are still delaying it? Nobody can criticise those who bought in here thinking the Slovenian government would do the best for their own country when the opposite has happened. Don't be so absurd in constantly telling people to take responsibility for their own actions when those people had every right to believe the Slovenian government would do what was best for their country.

Reaction to the RNS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHzyLANlGNY

There aren't any trades. They need trades to make any money at all.

Good results, but just up to the end of 2017. The recent Cobre client problem is spooking the market currently. Once that is sorted the full realisation of these results should be appreciated.

Heard it all before with Sepura. Many on their forum were looking at a takeover price in excess of 100p. The reality was 20p. AST are in trouble, not the same trouble as Sepura were in, but in trouble. The SP shows it. Like Sepura the SP for AST has reduced to below 1p. At this rate we may be lucky to get 1.5p back. Colin needs to get his act together and get some regional players in to deal with the politics and bureaucracy. INA would be a sensible choice. Colin referred to the 'penalties' for going below the minimum supply figure to INA being negotiated in away which seemed to indicate INA being involved in a JV or takeover.

Little reaction to the SP. Small rise up to 1.69p but has since dropped back, and 1.69p is still very low for what it had been at above 2p and with the placing price at 2.25p last October.

Has Clive gone missing? He only seems to appear at AGMs, and then he puts the audience to sleep. Milnrowmug, 3p seems cheap when compared to the value of the gas reservoir but the BoD is making life difficult for themselves by the lack of explanation of exactly what is going on in a manner where the market responds favourably. Whoever would look at buying up the company will have to look at the difficulties AST have faced with the bureaucracy and apparent lack of cooperation from the Slovenian government to get things expedited for their own benefit. In which case 3p may become a good price rather than a low one. We'll see with the answers to the questions drawn up in the letter as sent to the BoD whether a full explanation comes to light and things become clearer to the market.

Read the whole sentence Pipster.

Just read through a few posts, including my own. Of course the last sentence should read: "If the questions go unanswered .... "

There is another problem. I don't believe Colin or the Board now have the ability to do much about the problems themselves. They can't push too hard for the IPPC. That could annoy the bureaucrats and is unlikely to speed up the paperwork the bureaucrats believe is necessary before it may be issued. It now seems the Primary Bid October placing to get PG11a up and running was over ambitious. It has certainly turned out that way with PG11a giving trouble and the placing giving trouble with shareholders. Whether they can afford this problem or not is becoming irrelevant as the lack of information to shareholders is giving them cold feet and many have pulled out resulting in the current SP below 1p. They can't get institutions interested in investing in AST. Partly because of the above and partly because of the unexplained delays and the apparent politics involved. Why has the IPPC not been issued yet? They may well ask. Why aren't big oil and gas companies not flocking to buy out AST Slovenia when there is such a significant known gas reservoir with wells just needing reopening? All very tricky. So Colin and the Board are now in a difficult position where many big players are staying on the sidelines because they don't trust what is going on. This letter may remove many of the unknowns if the questions are answered properly. If the questions go answered or the Board prevaricate then the status quo will continue with the AST share price stuck below 1p.

Neebaj, the only problem really is whether the Board believe the figures given to them and whether the figures are genuine. The point of not being genuine? I suppose some may try to big up their holding and that may well be a legitimate reason why the Board don't take them at face value. I sent an email to Colin last Thursday early morning. I have yet to receive a reply. Possibly they are busy with many emails now. However I did divulge how many shares I have in the email to show how serious an investor I am. Seemed to make no difference though as I am still waiting for an answer. So whether they believe any numbers given to them is an issue.

You and Monarch have done exactly the right thing. Unfortunately there are always a few who will spoil it and this may go off half cock. However there is now some urgency to getting this sorted out which Colin and the Board don't seem to appreciate. The natives are getting restless and the politicians in Slovenia seem to be deliberately delaying this or even preventing it happening. 'It' being the IPPC and / or a UK company progressing their own gas supply. There is every reason to expedite the IPPC and getting access to their own gas. That is not happening and is instead being delayed on various pretexts.