I agree, I think that's a no brainer and it's a little surprising it hasn't already been done, but I'm not sure if it would really do all that much. Even with a consolidation, at the equivalent of say 0.3c the market cap is going to be down to a small enough amount that each capital raising is going to have to approximately double the number of shares. The situation is getting so ridiculous that it's difficult to imagine anyone with real money wanting to invest it in AEB, and they're going to have to give bigger discounts and more generous conditions which will even more quickly reduce the share price after the raisings. Between the low market cap, dismal fundamental situation of the business and surely by now obvious nature of that dismal situation, they are close to the end of their run. They are acquiring an ever-growing list of failed projects which act as baggage, displaying that they are failures, rather than a smaller number of fresh projects people may see hope in. All of this together seems to indicate that an end is near.
I think likely the reason they have avoided a consolidation until now is that given the nature of the company, the share price would probably drop to the preconsolidation price very quickly. Many companies are prone to this but AEB seems to be a completely obvious case of being a victim to the phenomenon if they were to try it. With (IMO) less than zero fundamental net value to this company from a shareholder's perspective, sentiment can easily drive it down to the previous psychological level.
AEB Price at posting:
0.9¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
