RE: Who is disaster for Tullow Dorothy/Oil Price/Coronavirus?10 Mar 2020 11:28
BigBear2 - This may help explain the lack of updates / RNS
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, we have indeed had many similar discussions with private investors recently.
The Board and management of Tullow have been very active before and since our 9th December announcement. A number of actions have been taken, including the departure of the CEO and Exploration Director, the formation of a reduced sized interim management team and a material restructuring of the organisation, which has led to over 35% reduction in headcount. Other actions are also underway to progress portfolio management activities, such as the sales process to reduce our stake in Kenya, continued discussions regarding Uganda are underway, as well as considerations of other portfolio management activity. You will understand the sensitivity of these activities and why they can’t be discussed in detail yet. The recruitment of a new CEO is progressed well and remains a priority for Dorothy Thompson (Executive Chair).
We also continue to focus on running the material day-to-day operations of the business. We have started the year well, with production in line with expectations and a number of improvements made in Ghana.
I understand it feels like time passes with little news at the moment, but the actions mentioned above don’t happen over-night and I can assure you that the Board, management and staff are working hard to complete these actions and stabilise the company as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring that the actions are appropriate.
The next planned update to the market is 12th March, when we will report on the key outcomes of the Business Review and the 2019 Full Year Results. In the meantime, we continue to engage with small and large shareholders. What we cannot do though is put out RNS releases in reaction to share price moves which have no substance or news. I know this is frustrating or appears that we are not reacting, but please be assured that the Board is extremely aware of the need to repair trust and rebuild from the solid asset base the Company retains.
I hope that is helpful.