I find this announcement confusing. What constitutes a non-core Cooper Basin asset. Is this code for 'we are no longer drilling for oil'? And if these assets were purchased, isn't the $80m still money pi$$ed up against the wall?. Hardly a ringing endorsement of management.
I have averaged my cost down but boy these blokes test your patience. The millstone around SXYs neck is the natural decline in the oil fields. At the end of the day SXY needs new discoveries - something it has been unable to do. Yes we have a $hitload of gas but will that replace oil field decline? In other words will the profits from gas add to the bottom line or will they largely be offfset by reducing profits from oil field decline. This comes back to my non-core asset question.
Having bought in when the price was in the 70s, I have a somewhat different view of management. For me they are more like spec miner management - mining shareholders pockets to pay their salaries. Of course I suppose had I bought in at 10c I would consider them geniuses - probably not. When I think back over management pronouncements over the years, all I can remember is "we will make money next year...next year will be great..."etc. Unfortunately that message is still the same. Next year. Frankly I think these blokes have been at SXY too long and have grown rich and lazy at shareholders' expense. Bring on a takeover.
I do credit management however for instilling the term "stop-loss" into my investing mentality.
SXY Price at posting:
36.3¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held