Emil Ozer: With that quality of analysis it's almost not surprising that you would not only be happy to throw money at AEB, but also defend the decision after being proven to have been completely wrong. Congratulations and have a splendid day! Just don't do anything too expensive, you might want to be frugal after your AEB losses.
Steven: This one was very predictable (And I very publicly predicted it). To look at the history, this company started based on a lie. The lie was that they had revolutionary energy technology which could produce algae oil of similar quality to crude at half the price, regardless of the price of crude. If that was true it would have literally been the most significant technological development of the century, worth many billions of dollars. That supposed secret technology at last mention was sitting mothballed, unguarded, in a paddock next to a public car park. This was after the same directors did a similar thing with a previous company. If that doesn't answer your question about whether this was a failure with good intentions or a con, nothing can.
The price drop below 3c is easy to understand. Capital raisings generally drop the SP to around the value of the newly issued shares. That's just to be expected. If there is obvious substance to the reason for the capital raising, it eill increase shortly after. In this case the company is effectively acknowledging yet another failure to deliver on previous promises by taking an entirely new pie in the sky project in a completely different direction. The energy aspect appears to have been completely abandoned, blatantly confirming their lies and many people bought in foolishly hoping for success there and believing in the story. Not only do they now feel disillusioned about the thing they were interested in being abandoned but they no longer trust the company. Obviously this will cause many people to sell. In moving from energy to health supplements to marijuana, they alienate the people who bought in because of belief or interest in the previous projects, and they need to establish a new investor base. The longer that goes on, the more ridiculous it becomes. This marijuana con is likely the last leg for AEB, and they'll probably start up a new company after this or one more proposed idea. The new company will appear fresh and without the dodgy history. With all the money they've made in AEB they should have no trouble funding it. Either that or they'll run away with their dirty money and retire, which would probably be smart, because if anyone ever properly investigates there will be plenty of trouble, and the longer they go the more likely that is.
But in a nutshell, people started out for the energy, some stuck around patiently believing the promise that the nutriceuticals were a short term way to make money to fund the energy project (that claim was so insane it's difficult to type it), and now they're blatantly making it clear that isn't what's happening. More people are choosing to sell out of a failed (fake) energy company than are keen to buy into a marijuana company spawned from a fraudulent energy company. It's stupid that these people waited until the price dropped before selling, but, these are people who chose to buy into AEB so it's not surprising, and the price drop after the capital raising will be what is finally making them wake up to what's happening.
AEB is in a bit of a hole now. If they hype the energy side of things it looks ridiculous and highlights what is going on, but there's now too much swept under the rug for it to sit flat.
AEB Price at posting:
2.1¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held