Cobus Loots, CEO of Pan African Resources, on delivering sector-leading returns for shareholders. Watch the video here.
Lol touched a nerve did I? Maybe save your misplaced aggression for the AFC directors who are mugging us all off rather than picking fights with strangers on the internet. Makes you look rather immature and somewhat inadequate...
You stalking me again Notes? You make me laugh, running up your gums on here for how many years about what you’d do to AB with a pitchfork after the AGM if no game changing news? And then the next AGM. And the next. And the next....you’re all mouth! At least I’m trying to encourage an element of shareholder proactivity, unlike you firing off passive aggressive posts about me whenever I pop up, you little keyboard warrior you x
BB, I was only asking whether people would be prepared to give AB more time if there is no commercial deal, no positive PLACE update and no manufacturing deal....if the Southern deal goes ahead then it's a moot point, as any one of those happening buys him some more time, but what if none of those happen?
My fear is we go into Jan with nothing and then have to raise funds at a painfully low price. And if they end up raising at 5p then new investors will likely be selling every time it doubles i.e. 10p/15p/20p etc which will create resistance making it even harder for long term holders such as myself to ever see real value return to our holdings.
Do you not feel that someone with a background in commercialising new tech could have done a better job? Or that someone with a fuel cells background would have had a better handle on the electrode development that was being taken in the wrong direction for so long? And who's to say someone new coming in now wouldn't breathe fresh life into the technical team? Or inspire enough confidence in a potential customer that they commit to an order?
The reality is we don't know what will happen, so all we can do is base our decisions on what AFC tell us (which is not a lot) and recent past performance (which has been poor). This is not about patience, and I am prepared to accept delay after delay as that's part and parcel with R&D, but I expect AB and the board to be honest and forthright about the company and its prospects for success, which I don't think is unreasonable.
Oh, and the hydrogen panel RNS was clearly not material as it had precisely zero impact...
Why nonsense? I agree some things are out of his control, but other things aren't, like the words that come out of his mouth.
Is it nonsense to expect the CEO to provide a realistic view on deliverables and associated timescales rather than mindlessly optimistic ones?
And if they do end up delivering nothing having already gotten it badly wrong past few years, is it nonsensical to hold them to account?
Is it nonsense to expect people to learn from their mistakes??
All I want (along with others no doubt) is a realistic indication of where AFC will be in 12 months time and to then be kept updated on progress in a timely fashion. If things are going badly then I want to be told. If things are going well I want to be told. See how this works? They keep us informed and we then use that information as a basis for whether to buy/sell/hold. Or is that nonsense as well....?
In the event that AFC fail to deliver on the Southern contract, a positive PLACE update or manufacturing agreement before Christmas, how many of you would be prepared to commit your shareholding to calling an EGM to remove AB as director in the new year?
And for those of you who wouldn't participate based on the above, at what stage would you feel it necessary to take action?
Given the timing of the week in Australia (15-21 October) I wonder why this wasn't released when the SP was being trashed and we were all so desperate for an update. It doesn't seem like much has happened since the week of the meetings, so why the delay in releasing this update which seems like a non-event and precisely the sort of RNS that JR said they were moving away from? My guess is they've released this in an attempt to steady nerves as it sounds from the wording that there might be a delay in the order being confirmed.
On the other hand, it could hopefully mean that they have listened and reconsidered the news/update policy and we can now expect updates on several other fronts soon too, but we shall see. There's not much time left for them to deliver what they said would this year so here's hoping.
I won't be going round for makeup sex any time soon Notes. It's nice to have such a blue day but hard to get excited when we're only recouping some of the recent heavy losses. A few more 50%+ increase days (ideally off the back off some solid news) and I'll feel much more positive! :)
Notes, I've said before that I'm not able to discuss the reason for my departure from AFC, but if I didn't have a holding then I would not be here voicing an opinion. I have never disclosed any details relating to my employment other than to confirm that I was there on a non-technical basis. All I have stated are valid concerns as an angry/anxious shareholder who believed what Adam said only to find out it was not the case.
Your suggestion that the company was right to hold back SP-sensitive news (relating to leaking stacks) is crazy and a breach of AIM rules, if true. If the system had fundamental issues then we as shareholders had the right to know in a timely fashion so that we could base our ongoing investment (or decision to sell) on the basis of reality, and not what Adam wanted us to believe.
It is exactly this selective approach to what they update the market on that has led to the shares being marked down so badly. The SP is collapsing because the market don't trust AB, otherwise it would reflect the fact that we are supposedly on the cusp on commercialisation and great things. Like I said before we have a long way to go in terms of rebuilding credibility and the task is made harder with Adam in charge.
Call me a bitter ex if you want but there are lots of others expressing exactly the same view who didn't work there!
Oooh, bitchy Notes! x
So why as recently as a year ago was he telling us that deals were a near term likelihood in a proactive interview?! I kept some of my holding on the strength of those comments. And there are many others like me. It is this along with his poor approach to investor relations that has led to the SP being where it is today. At best he has hopelessly mismanaged expectations at worst he deliberately mislead us. Either way he should go because rebuilding credibility with him at the helm is an uphill struggle that we simply don’t need. As to your comments about the HNW investors all backing Adam I will just say that I disagree entirely and leave it there. Oh and perhaps you could point me in the direction of something to support your assertion that he is a world class salesman...?
Adam was a non exec for a couple of years before he became CEO. He was present for board meetings, received update papers with technical reports and had access to every detail of the business. If he took over with a remit to deliver contracts and then discovered the company was not in a position to do so what does that say about his level of diligence while he was a NED? What does this say about his understanding of the technology? What does it say about his knowledge of R&D and associated timescales? Remember his claim that he’d stripped about 18 months from the development plan? What a joke that was! Given all this, what makes you think he knows how to get us out of the mess that we’re now in?
You can think whatever you like Notes, but I will continue airing my opinion until he delivers some value or f***s off. I spent over a decade working for the good of AFC and it sickens me to see someone being rewarded for failure. Ian Williamson wasn't given this much time or money. Neither was Ian Balchin. Neither was Gerard Sauer. So what makes Adam so special that warrants keeping him on at such expense?
I have nothing much against him personally, but his mismanagement of a business that I have a vested interest in and shoddy treatment of shareholders (like myself) angers me to the point I feel compelled to vent publicly (as well as privately), particularly as I have had first hand insight into his work ethic and how he views shareholders. My opinion is that someone else could come in for far less money and do as good a job if not better...so why keep him on? Every month that passes we have less money and are therefore more in need of a placing, a placing that we will struggle to get away when you have a CEO with a track record like Adam's and negligible newsflow. If the placing fails to happen then it's game over!
Will you continue to sit impotently until your shares are worth nothing? If that makes you a bigger man than me then I'm happy for you, but I'm not the sort of mug to sit in silence while I get shafted. Maybe if we all start shouting the odds on here, and at AFC, and at Cantor then they will finally start to take notice and start treated shareholders with some parity. Do you think that the Russians are being kept as blind as the rest of us? We own this company, maybe not as big a chunk as Roman, but that doesn't mean we should be treated like second rate shareholders!
Maybe I do sound like a jilted lover, but Adam would have been punching well above his weight....hard as that might be for him! :)
No 'big guys' want in. If institutions were busy stake building the price would be in an uptrend not on its arse. There is no conspiracy here, the MMs are marking down the price because investor sentiment is atrocious, and that's directly attributable to Bond and more recently Rennocks too. Look at what happened to Intelligent Energy!!!
But in the main we are where we are because Adam has ZERO credibility. He has no track record in business to suggest he is the man to turn this around, and the market is tired of his b******t. If he had an ounce of dignity or honour he would walk, but he's understandably happy to grind out month after month because it's all £££ for him while we get poorer (on paper).
An absolute joke!
This pair of clowns have all but destroyed what little shareholder value remained. It's disgraceful behaviour and their management of this company has been nothing short of reckless and negligent. That AB has been so massively overpaid at our expense is testament to the incompetence of the BoD. Absolutely shameful!
I will be keeping my remaining shares because a) they're worth so little now; and b) I will happily form part of any legal action taken against Bond and Co for their actions whilst in charge!
Try first initial plus surname (no fullstop) @afcenergy.com
I wouldn’t waste my time for several reasons BB. I was there for over 10 years so know how the game works. Adam Bond doesn’t reply to shareholder emails as a matter of course, and certainly not ones from me criticising his management. It’s far harder for AFC to ignore what shareholders are saying publicly. And as we know they monitor this board I am happy enough to voice my opinion on here in the hopes that the BoD/NOMAD are embarrassed enough to take action, if for no other reason than to preserve their own reputations (rather than that of the company).
SP is dropping on fairly high volume yet again! If there's no placing going on how can they justify silence when the SP is being decimated on a daily basis? I thought he was supposed to be improving the quality of corporate governance at AFC but this borders on reckless and negligent!! Surprised someone of his standing is taking such an impotent approach. Same for Cantor Fitzgerald. Why aren't they helping to preserve shareholder value?!
WAKE UP FFS!!
I wasn’t able to get onto the investor forum BB, I emailed admin repeatedly to get my registration approved but never heard back. Happy to take your word for it though, particularly as rtw never posted any research type info which was something FC was good at on here. I agree that there are bashers on here (and elsewhere) with questionable agendas (I would say that 4444 is one!) but I don’t think it’s helpful when people dismiss posts like mine as nothing more than bashing when I included a full justification for my opinion, and nothing I said was particularly controversial given the situation we’re all in. It just comes across as a little ostrich like! John Rennocks has already given us an indication of his approach to shareholder relations, so I am not expecting much in terms of an “all is good and here’s a bit of an update” RNS to reassure the market but who knows. Hopefully the NOMAD will insist on it. Either way we must be due some kind of technical bounce from being oversold or something but I’m no chartist so have no idea! My feeling is this policy of Rennocks’ is completely inappropriate for a small prerevenue company without a finished product and who will potentially need to raise equity based money again at some point soon. If we see a placing at these current levels I think most people will be furious and rightly so. If the near term is so rosy then let’s have some newsflow and raise funds at a higher price. Alternatively, if DeNora agree a manufacturing deal and take a massive stake in AFC at 5/6p and we then rocket towards £1 I will gladly take my hat off and say I was wrong! :)
Peterperfect, I don’t know him but he hasn’t disappeared, he’s still about on ADVFN as Ride the Wave. He’s gone pretty quiet recently so may have sold out but I doubt it. He was also on iii under various names from very early on. I think he was banned from this site after multiple confrontations with ‘bashers’ and naysayers hence him dropping off the map! His predictions were ridiculously optimistic at times but to be honest I think many of us have been hoping for £1 by Christmas for several years. This was largely based on what Adam Bond had been saying but also because if the tech HAD worked and contracts flowed then that SP and more was easily justified and in a very short space of time. Problem we have now is the market seems to have lost all confidence in ABs ability to be transparent/honest about realistic timescales for delivering value, or even in his ability to deliver value at all. This is clearly evident from the 9-year low SP which is in contrast to the positive position that AFC is now in (we hope). Personally I don’t think he should be given the time/opportunity to try and rebuild that confidence, mainly because it’s an uphill struggle which we just don’t need. He doesn’t bring anything particularly beneficial to AFC in terms of doing deals (no blue chip background or links to serious energy/industry players etc). He doesn’t know how to work the city to gain institutional appetite for the AFC story/shares. So why persevere with him when someone else could easily be brought in? As a shareholder who feels he mislead us why should he be shown any loyalty or given more time? For that sort of money we could have a much higher calibre CEO which is why I would like a change. The SP is already on its arse so not like we have much to lose in trying... Apparently all the above makes me a basher. I thought these forums were for people to research new stocks, exchange opinions, vent went things go badly and celebrate when things go well. In the worst case scenarios they help facilitate shareholder action groups. It is also a certainty that AFC monitor this board so it’s an indirect way to get your point across and also engage with fellow investors. Bashing is defined as spreading false or exaggerated information about a company with a view to lowering the price or damaging the company. I am simply an angry and frustrated shareholder putting forward what I feel is a fairly reasonable view considering what has happened to date. If anyone can point out where I have mislead or distorted anything then I would be grateful. Anyway, apologies for the rambling post, here’s hoping for a better day tomorrow! :)
Lol if you don’t mind being treated like a mushroom then you do you fella. And the FCA are welcome to inspect my IG account any time they like....they better bring some tissues though, it’s a real sob story! :)