Goodbye 88e .18 Apr 2020 17:29
I have been a shareholder and a champion of 88e since 2015 . I mentioned some six months ago that as far as I was concerned I was drinking at `The Last Chance Saloon` . If the PMO drill failed , I would sell .
I was shocked on release of the failure RNS , and sold out as quickly as I could .
My decision to sell on a Charlie failure was based on ; A poor record of shareholder return over a long period , A growing disillusionment with dilution , Competition from better located less complex oil explorers , Long timescales and a strategy that was becoming variable , costly and less coherent , Too much blind faith on my part ~~~ there are many other points I could list .
These are my personal reasons , I`m not going to run down the Company but after reflection over the last ten days , I will make a few quick observations which persuaded me that I have been right to sell , all be it at considerable loss :
Yesterday I posed some Q`s ~~~
~~~"Could PMO have known , but as the costs had already been paid were unable to withdraw ?"
My feeling is that they knew in advance that failure was likely , and most certainly as the drill progressed . I regret not identifying the clues at an earlier stage , but I am sure that as many were buying on Spud , those in the know were selling . When these `Suspicions` arise in a Company , imo it`s time to leave .
Unfortunately 88e has been hit by a whole series of negatives , the latest , and I believe the most devastating are the consequences of Covid 19 and its disastrous effect on the Global economy , particularly the oil industry .
Even when these metrics change for the better , stronger financial and better established businesses are likely to take up any slack in demand , and demand is likely to be suppressed for a very long time . With the Oil `Glut` remaining for many years to come ; industry , travel and consumers are going to feel dramatic change . They are unlikely to have the funds to immediately switch back to their previous preferred life style once given the `All Clear` . Millions of people will be without work , (in the USA currently c. 20 Million ! ) without funds and tragically many without a future . The impact for people in Third World Countries just doesn`t bear thinking about .Thousands of small businesses will have disappeared with no hope of rescue or possibility of recovery . The possible implications of this tragedy are so severe people are rightly only able to focus on today , who knows what could happen tomorrow . The global priorities will have changed , interaction between Countries and Continents will have changed .
I think these changes are absolutely monumental .
I don`t think this is armageddon , I am simply giving my own views on a set of circumstances that will surely translate into dramatic International and Social change .
The World Has Changed . ~~~
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