Member Info for workingstiff

I sent my slip back to the share dealer but I seem to remember £11m worth of shares on it. Is there anywhere it can be viewed online? Thanks in advance.

The market seems to like the announcement. The shares have been edging up since it came out.

UDF - the problem is that by skewing the playing field with last year's CB's Pav opened Pandora's box and left the company vulnerable to something like this. Why wouldn't the other big boys say "Me too"?

“Ahead of forming a new board at a general meeting to be held within three months, the board is seeking to engage with all of our shareholders, including our largest shareholder Uzhuralzoloto Group of Companies, to understand their interests with respect to the group's future strategy.”

Let us hope that the spirit of transparency (much vaunted by Sir Rod yesterday) applies to these engagements and we don't wake up one morning to find that in UGC we have another "stakeholder" awarded special privileges.

Thanks for the info below Kenj. On this subject my feeling is that Pete and Pav are still tight. Which would mean that there would be someone on the board (albeit a non-exec) who will be interested in mounting a defence.

"Well this coup de dat clearly has something to do with the merger or am I way out here? "

I think you are right. We've heard nothing from UGC today which suggests their intentions are hostile. Although it may be that they are a bit stunned themselves. In any case all the momentum is with them at the moment. The old board are reeling from the shock of the voting result. 180m shares were traded today so you would imagine UGC will have picked up some more. Who knows how it will play out but two possibilities occur to me -

1 UGC come in quickly with a quick cheeky offer - say 35 - 40p while panic reigns, they get to over 50% and take control of the company.
2 UGC get greedy and decide to wait in the expectation that they will be able to pick up the shares they need from the panic stricken market. POG gets its defence together and see UGC off at the next general meeting.

Kenj - you said a while back you had a go at reading the T&C's of the convertible bonds. Do you happen to know if the bonds have voting rights? Thanks in advance.

If Hambro can persuade the convertible bondholders to convert now the board will have an extra 30% shareholder support and should be able to see off the oligarch challenge - if that is what this is.

The old management will need to come up with something to unite and enthuse the 60% shareholders behind them. If they can't afford dividends now then perhaps a special scrip share issue - one that excludes any supplementation of convertible bonds. I believe it was the convertible bond deal that made them vulnerable. They need to recognise this.

I emailed investor relations about the dial in to the AGM. This is the response I got -

Apologies John, we had technical issues a new call is taking place at 12pm with the same number and a different PIN: 86545910#

The volume of trades doesn't suggest institutional dumping. Not at this stage anyway.

To our more recent posters / investors - consider this your initiation ceremony. It will be fascinating to hear what UGC and their allies have to say. I hope the company's establishment don't try to buy them off with some special privileges like those given to the convertible bondholders.

A feature of this action is to give the tree a mighty shake. I wonder who is buying?

A number of aphorisms apply here - "Chickens coming home to roost", "Those who live by the sword ..." etc. At least in 2018 we had an alternative management team waiting to step in. I shudder to think that Peter Hambro is the long term option this time. I notice that the RNS has disappeared from the list above (on my screen anyway). I wonder if there is some furious horse trading going on as we speak?

Totally agree.

Companies operating in Russia need some political cover to be able to conduct their business safely. In the case of HGM Ibramovich used to be and perhaps still is a major shareholder. My guess is that he would still have some clout in Moscow.

"Anyone got any thoughts ...." It's a bit of a conundrum. They are a low cost producer with a track record of turning a profit in good times and bad (an uncommon trait amongst gold miners) . They have a healthy resource and reserve position, solid plans for growth and pay great dividends. They trade unhedged, so can take maximum advantage of the recent advances in the gold price. They are carrying some debt, but at a reasonable rate.

There are things they could do to work up the share price - a main FTSE listing, a dual listing in Moscow as previously mentioned, but they seem content to go quietly about their business, leaving others to kick up the dust. I have held these for years, dipping in and out occasionally to take advantage of spikes in the sp. Of the gold miners I hold (including CEY) I consider this to be the most dependable. I have a substantial lump in POG which I will be looking to exit in the not too distant future. If these are still languishing then I'll use the proceeds to up my holding here.

As you say, this reads entirely differently.

Any shareholder in any company has a perfect right to be critical of the management on any forum he or she chooses to do so. Let's face it - over the years Pete and Pav have given us plenty to criticise.

To balance the ledger it is also fair to say that they had a long term vision which has come to be, and, aided by the rise in the gold price over the last year this has benefitted shareholders - the shares are now worth three times their value 12 months ago.

So there are pluses and minuses, and you could argue that at this stage the pluses now significantly outweigh the minuses. However, I don't think it follows that this or any other forum has to become some sort of cheerleaders echo chamber.

I think you might be confusing the non convertible bond issue due in 2022 with the convertible bond issue due in 2024.

This issue has come up because S&P (or someone else?) said something about POG "proactively refinancing the 2022 notes" or words to that effect in their recent upgrade. This has left us mystified, since those who have been through the T&C's of the 2022 bonds believe that there is no provision for early redemption.

My nightmare is that they replace them with more mates-rate convertible bonds.