I thought today's article by the ABC was not a bad effort at communicating all dimensions of the situation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12...energy-sailed-into-a-financial-storm/10571298
The full and complete story would require much more space than they obviously have available to them. Of course shareholders are upset. Their wealth can only have been reduced, due to the low shareprice at the moment. Very few of us bought at lower prices than the current 0.7c.
What has not been mentioned anywhere is that the Board has to manage with the cards in their hand at the moment, they have to go forward from here, no matter the pressure to explain how we got here. This is not to dismiss questions about anything that has happened in the past, or to deny the right to answers to those question. It is simply to remind everyone in the boat that we have to keep water out of the bottom of the hull, and we must set sail for where we decide we need to be, or go under.
We are somewhat like the Irishman who asks a resident of Galway how to get to Dublin, only to be told, "Oh! I wouldn't start from here."
The Chairman is new. The CEO is new. The Board is down to three, Stinson, Mooney and Fitzpatrick, and from the tone of what was said at the AGM, they intend to maintain that number for the immediate future. Executive salaries have been reduced.
Also, not reported on as far as I am aware, was Stinson, as Chair of the meeting, asked his fellow Directors to speak briefly to the meeting. As I recall it, and I was down the back where it was hard to hear clearly, we were in a shed after all, that went like this.
Mooney said he had been with Carnegie for a long time, (true), and he was Company Secretary, and was prepared to work hard for the future.
Fitzpatrick spoke a little longer. He mentioned his shareholding in CCE. Next he mentioned that through his former company Hastings and its interest in Pacific Hydro, he had invested in hydro power and wind generation of renewable power. He brought that experience to his investment in Carnegie. (He did not refer to his recent loan of $2 million to CCE, but I doubt there were many in the room who were not aware of it.) While recognising that recent performance was unacceptable, he expressed the opinion that CCE was fortunate to have Terry Stinson and Jonathon Fievez in place and leading the company forward. He supported them. He also supported the focus on wave energy from here on, but we needed to remember that we had solar and other assets in hand that we needed to manage in the best possible way. He was for the long haul.
Jonathan Fievez took most of the questions, on direction from the Chairman, and also projected that he accepted the challenge of moving Carnegie forward from here.
Clearly there were questions they did not wish to go into detail on, but they did not seek to diminish the degree of the unsatisfactory performance in recent times, either. I felt they were not exaggerating the difficulty of winning back shareholder and public support, nor were they ignoring the need for it. They were clearly trying to avoid making claims they could not deliver on.
I left feeling they would be working hard to bring better results to next year's AGM, without telling us another good news story.
For what its worth.
