Funny how you can make what you think are obvious assumptions –...

Funny how you can make what you think are obvious assumptions – and they turn out to be completely wrong.
I caught up on reading Hotcopper yesterday afternoon.
I love reading False9’s stuff – so full of hope & possibilities.
But False9’s recent post about his extended chat with APG management, did not mention the question of how the Q2 Report shows $326,000 Cash as at 31/12/15 – while the H1 report shows only $51,554 as at 31/12/15. Where has $275,000 in cash gone ???
I assumed that False9 did not ask the question – or chose not to publish the answer.

Then I got to: Announcement: Third Quarter Cash Flow Report.
This I assumed was the 3^rd Quarter Report (can be released any time in April) put out early to reassure shareholders about the amount of cash held.
But when I downloaded the announcement - it was not about Q3 at all . It was apparently an answer, to a question that was not mentioned at all in the announcement. In fact if you were an APG shareholder, and had not read the question on Hotcopper – this announcement would probably make no sense at all. So much for keeping shareholders fully informed.
I assumed that False9 had manned up and forced APG management to put out an announcement to put this matter to rest.
But when I read the announcement carefully 3 or 4 times - I still could not really understand how $275,000 in Cash had disappeared.

So I rang the Company Secretary, Nick Gaston to try to get some more explanation of what his announcement actually meant.
Nick would not give any further explanation. He said along the lines of : “ this answer satisfies the ASX so this is all you are going to get in answer to your query to the ASX “.
Yes, Nick had received a query from the ASX, and had made the wrong assumption that I had been the instigator of the query. Not I – but full credit to whoever did send their query to the ASX. If a company is honest, open and transparent there should be no need for queries to the ASX.

When I look at a company, I like to read all the financial reports – but I have always paid particular attention to the Cashflow Reports.
I had always assumed that there was no room for “creativity” when a company stated its Cash position in the Quarterly Cash Flow Reports. What could “Cash on Hand & at the Bank” honestly mean except cash that is actually in your physical possession and the money that is actually in your bank account. APG management obviously apply a broader definition to what they consider to be cash.
In a recent post I said “If you want an more accurate idea of APG’s cash - it might be best to look at the cash held as at the end of Q3 ie 31 March 16.”
This is no longer good advice.
Now, if you want an accurate idea of APG’s actual cash - it might be best to wait for the Yearly Report which will be fully audited, and should strip out any more management “creativity” on its actual cash position.

Wilcox