Share price performance has been disappointing, but I’ve found...

Share price performance has been disappointing, but I’ve found this to be pretty common of late with my small industrial stocks (ZEN, ATL, BIS), so I’m not looking at it as a stock specific thing. Having said that, Gavin Great’s departure might still be weighing on sentiment, and might do so for a while yet. The key risk I see is they don’t execute well in rolling out their new plants. Something not to dismiss entirely, but that’s the risk of investing I guess, and why people diversify. The most recent company update (post GG’s departure) was very encouraging.

At a micro level, ZEN are also increasingly diversifying across different projects, which helps mitigate the risks associated with any one project/client. This is no doubt a good thing, but no doubt any project closing down for whatever reason wouldn’t be good for ZEN, but may be insured against in any case. You’d probably need to discuss this with the company if you wanted more detail.

Nothing further has been disclosed re GG’s departure, or what he’s doing (or not doing) with his shareholding (no change in substantial shareholding notice has been lodged to date). Subsequent to his departure, Thorney picked up just over 10% of the company’s shares, which I would see as a pretty big vote of confidence. Again, if you want a fuller answer, you might be better off contacting the company directly.

Good luck!