Interestingly EGO are able to manage a junior O&G explorer with a ten times higher market cap that *also* has to manage production and actually has income for almost half the management cash burn - $603,000 to OBL's $1,036,650 pa.
In 2010 when OBL were actually drilling Backreef and had all the same Cyrano, Vic assets management got paid $256k TOTAL cash between all management. They took another $257k in shares making it $513k in total. That's a doubling of total management cost in 5 years and a quadrupling of cash burn.
I actually had a lot of respect for management for working for half a mill in total between them with tiny cash wages which is why I always mention it when pay comes up. They were underpaying themselves in cash and obviously had a lot of faith in and desire to get Backreef up, and of course they needed to get through the lean capital years after the GFC. To a certain extent the pay inflation looks extreme because they started out lower than normal, and there are certainly management of other companies that pay themselves even more for about the same results.
There is nothing laughable about the current situation though, they did it on a quarter of the cash flow they're currently on and half the current pay. It's not exactly beyond reason to ask them to dial it back for a year or two until the company is on some kind of footing again. Take some options as a sign of faith in better things in the future.
It's not punitive retribution, it's about surviving a really bad sector downturn with significant commitments. If they'd stuck to $513k/pa they'd have another $2M+ in the bank right now and not so desperate. It can be smart, not punitive. If they achieve something like a farm out in the next however many months or some kind of stability for SH's I'm sure cashburn as a concern will fade, so if they've got something up their sleeves sure, muddle on. If it's more of the same though I don't see the harm in a paycut.
I have just now taken a paycut myself after the terms on a contract I've had for the last ten years expired and the particular market the services are in is facing extreme pressures. I figured losing 30% is better than having no contract at all. Sometimes it's just realistic to keep things afloat.
OBL Price at posting:
0.4¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Not Held
