Having read your posts and heard you at the AGM I feel I must respond. Firstly some disclosure, whilst I do not work for Planet Gas I am an employee of MIS that you reference and am involved in other companies that Planet directors Norm, Peter and Tony are involved with.
Whilst I think it is good that for shareholders, particularly disgruntled shareholders, to attended the AGM and raise their concerns, but coming along, making a series of defamatory statements, heading for the exits and then running your own interpretation of events online to get some easy thumbs up is nothing to be admired.
I’m certainly aware the share price of Planet has been disappointing. I’ve been a shareholder for nearly a decade. Norm would certainly be aware of that, look in the annual reports, up until the New Hope investment he was the largest shareholder. That shareholding has not arisen through any salary package incentive, I don’t believe Norm has ever been granted shares as part of his salary, he funded the company for a couple of years when other funding sources weren’t an option and then converted his loan, with shareholder approval, into equity at a much higher price than today's share price.
There are clearly though reasons for the poor performance, most largely external to the company. Obviously there is the broader market for junior exploration companies that has been ugly for a number of years now, but when you came on board in 2009 I believe you’ve said the company was primarily a geothermal and CBM in NSW play. Well geothermal, I think you’d be aware of what has happened to the share price of any geothermal company over the last few years and CBM in NSW became impossible due to the government and green interests so I think it was a good thing Planet exited out of geothermal when it did in 2010 and CBM in 2012 I think. You may choose to criticise the decisions to be in those markets in the first place, they haven’t worked out but you on becoming a large investor in the company at that time were also a believer in their potential. They didn’t work out, it happens. I think though that people who have invested in Norm’s other companies over the years would be well aware of his track record of success.
Thankfully whilst the geothermal and CBM was being pursued a great deal was able to be done securing Planet’s interest in the Cooper basin and from this have flowed the deals with Senex and Origin. The first two wells haven’t come up, it happens. There is still a large program to go with huge potential upside, I think that is why we are still here as holders. This though is an exploration company, there are no guarantees of success.
What isn’t sensible is sticking the large majority of your super fund into one junior exploration company as you claimed at a previous AGM you had done. If this is true it is hard to have too much sympathy. Perhaps you need to take some responsibility for your investment decision rather than just blaming others. Did you talk with the company before investing?
I also recall you brandishing a whole load of proxy forms at that AGM of people you managed to exclude from the vote by not actually submitting the forms to be counted. I also find it interesting that pre the AGM you are encouraging people to vote no to the resolutions, when you don’t get the 25% to record a strike you then claim it is a stacked game even though directors can’t vote on the remuneration resolution. You then have the hide to accuse directors of binning some votes.
As I said it is MIS that I work for, the company who you reference $300,000 being paid to and put this in with directors fees. If you had stuck around at the meeting, apart from being able to help aimone with his question you would have heard that what MIS charges per month and has since July 2013 is $18,000 per month. When the personnel needs of Planet were reduced because of the JV deals the fees came down. This covers rent, reception, company secretary, accountants etc. MIS is not a vehicle to make money for its directors, in fact it is there to pool resources so that a smaller company like Planet does not have to pay for full time people in all these roles.
You’ve asked what do all the directors do. I think getting Executive directors of the calibre of Norm and Peter for under 100K per year is not something to be complaining about. As for Tony McDonald who is a solicitor, have a look at how much Planet’s legal fees were last year, there weren’t any because Tony handles it all. The fact they are on other boards is a plus as you get the experience e and skills but not the full time cost. The two non-exec’s, both very respected in the industry are getting paid 24K a year each.
Tony McClure is a different case in that Planet is his main gig. He does have two other directorships of non listed companies, one whose project is presently shut down and the other is a very early stage exploration play I think so are not taking up a great deal of his time. What you see from the outside is what can be announced, you don’t see the work on other deals that might not come to fruition or the work with the JV partners behind the scenes. Despite your assertions a salary for an MD of 270K hardly qualifies your description of the worst case of noses in the trough on the ASX or whatever it was you said. From memory his predecessor’s salary was more like 450K.
Looking at the Planet annual report the consultants and admin charge for the year, which includes directors fees was 796K, down from 1.25M the year before. I think if you take a look around the ASX and what it costs to be a listed company this is hardly over the top.
We all hold stock here and are hopeful that the Senex and Origin exploration programs bring success. If they don’t you’ll no doubt continue to believe it to be the fault of the board. I’ve written this to hopefully give another perspective.
PGS Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
