Since the cornerstone investment of September 2017 was made, there have been a number of corrective announcements that have had to be made to the ASX. All have concerned concerned governance, compliance or investor relations issues. Some have also gone to reporting matters.
For example:
1)
correcting the Jimmy Crow statue substantial shareholder notices of September 2017;
2)
correcting Hacketts change of interest, directors interest notice of November 2017;
3)
separately correcting (this time) Havkett’s change of interest, directors interest notice of January 2018;
4)
correcting the Appendix 3B (Skene share issue) of July 2018;
5)
advising of the AGM webinar technical issues (not subsequently overcome) of October 2017;
6)
errors featured in the annual report and, more particularly, in the H18 report.
Examples
-
net financial position table on p8 (the columns repeat 30/6/17 rather than 31/12/17 and 30/6/17)
-
confusing the financial statements (profit & loss comparing 31/12/17 to 31/12/16; balance sheet comparing 31/12/17 to 30/6/17; cashflows comparing 31/12/17 to 31/12/16; changes in equity comparing changes from 1/7/17 to 31/12/17 and comparing this to the PCP;
-
reporting the cornerstone investment as 17/9/17 instead of when it actually occurred which was 7/9/17.
These governance, compliance, reporting issues all point to a deterioration in the corporate office functions (especially since the Jimmy Crow demerger) including from an executive management perspective.
For the amount being charged on account of administration, executive and board salaries, such errors should be diminishing (not increasing). Indeed, they should be showing as nil reporting.
Something seriously awry is happening here.
Is it - tyranny of distance; separation anxiety (ie: distance wise); or persons being MIA (some directors are being quite active whilst others are being quite silent)?
2y ago, announcements were being regularly headed by Rowley and by an external management /PR agency, but not much so since then.
So, what’s changed?
Certainly, the higher corrective actions behaviour of the last 12 months suggests that something has changed (well beyond those who are preparing, proofing or authorising the announcements). So, what is it?
