Stratex Share Discussion Threads

[charles clore] 06/9/2016 13:30

The humour is returning. I have a feeling in my water. Peace and prosperity to all.

[romeike] 06/9/2016 10:30

Sorry I really must apologise for the unfairness of my last post. I clearly should know better than to suggest that they even bother commuting into the office.

[romeike] 06/9/2016 10:23

Popcorn ready, just waiting for the axe to start swinging. May take a few weeks to get the smell of wee out of the office.

[shortarm] 06/9/2016 09:03

Let's hope all this positivity turns into an upwardly mobile shareprice!

[shoggoth] 06/9/2016 08:55

The best thing this company can do is get rid of the old board. Chris Hall your number is up, please step aside and let someone competent and ethical take your place.

[georgesorrow] 06/9/2016 08:33

Blimey, SK turns bull.

ME's move also suggests that relationships with Baha can't be too bad. He wouldn't want to take over ahead of a major row or legal standoff over income sharing, and without Altintepe STI would look a bit of a basket case.

[sicilian_kan] 05/9/2016 22:53

Marcus Engelbrecht was CFO at Oceana Gold between 2009 and 2011. Their production figures were 250,000oz/yr to 300,000oz/yr.

He got a promotion to CEO at Archipelago Resources between 2013 and 2015. Their production figures were over 140,000oz/yr. Also at Archipelago, he introduced a dividend scheme (which were to be at least 10% of operating cash flows for a given period, however the company got bought out later that year, shortly after he left).

Now he is CEO at Stratex, who have a minuscule 8,000oz/yr (20% of 40k, rising to 45%), and a pile of poor exploration targets.

Do we really think Marcus Engelbrecht came to Stratex for that? Not at all. We are told by Chris Hall there will be a portfolio review (about time!) and 1 or 2 near production acquisitions to achieve Altinepe v2 on improved terms and with greater control for Stratex. This is the right strategy - one that should have been implemented years ago. I had no faith that Bob could do this. I do think that Engelbrecht has the right talents though.

Clearly they need cash for acquisitions.

If I were Marcus Engelbrecht, I would think of Stratex as a startup with around £2.5m of cash, a valuable asset that can be sold [Altintepe] for decent money £10m+ and further assets that can be sold or licensed out for some small change [Dalafin, Pandora, GRL etc].

Convert those into cash and the £8m market cap appears tiny, They could easily convert Stratex into something with c£15m in cash and double the share price; and that is without the future speculation based upon what he could achieve by reinvesting in a project with real potential.

Maybe a pipe dream from me, but what I do know is that Engelbrecht has not come here to indulge more shareholders money in unproven speculative geo-fantasy drilling or just to wait for Altintepe monies to come in.

Under Bob, the company was a clear steer clear.

I believe that the current share price under clearly very talented new management is a very attractive entry point and have started accumulating more than punt money under 2p.

[youngharry2] 05/9/2016 21:40

Excellent post corguv, hopefully all of your actions points for Marcus to be reported under the heading creating and returning shareholder value

[corguv] 05/9/2016 20:08

Marcus Engelbrecht the new CEO could be a breath of fresh air amongst the fetid Stratex Board, he has it seems an impressive mining and financial background, more so than the bunch of Geo Chums. I hope he may soon clarify exactly what is going on at Altintepe ? It would be good to see fairly rapid changes in the Stratex Board including the departure of Christopher Hall who has not only been a PR fiasco but has seriously damaged shareholder confidence over Silvrex, Dalafin and John Cole-Baker. Strengthening financial controls and cash management is also a priority along with an independent remuneration commitee.
The scatter gun nature of Stratex projects, unwieldy management and top heavy costs needs serious pruning.
A formidable list but perhaps he is the man to do it, I am not sure only time and results will tell.

[steve1905] 05/9/2016 19:37

Charles, I believe harry informed us he is a seller

[charles clore] 05/9/2016 18:14

Harry - if you are a shareholder and dont like the way the company is being run you have the option to sell. Or you could make some constructive suggestions. Now that would be a first wouldn't it! Lol

[juju44] 05/9/2016 14:47

Pigs with their snouts in our trough. More reward for non achievement

[youngharry2] 05/9/2016 14:31

Well the hope that Marcus's appointment would mark a departure from the Bod's greed dashed within 24 hours. It's same old: ten year options to the Bod for what? All this bunch have done is destroy shareholder funds and the enterprise value of the company...It remains to be seen how much a legal mess they are in at Altintepe...

Sickening

[luminoso] 02/9/2016 21:31

Good to hear Obtala has turned the corner, Tadtech. As you say, it is possible here.

[corguv] 02/9/2016 20:44

I hope you are right Tadtech for long suffering shareholders.
If Marcus performs well and cleans Stratex up, he will
be applauded. He needs some time and we are all waiting with
bated breath.

PS will you ask Chistopher Hall to use his bus pass and go please for all our sakes

[tadtech] 02/9/2016 20:29

I would urge you all to wait and see what the new CEO brings. I think we will be surprised, did any of you take note of what Chris Hall implied in the podcast, namely, that future media/presentations would be carried out by Marcus Engelbrecht. He will also, for sure, write RNS statements.

I have personally had an experience similar to Stratex fairly recently where the long established BOD of Obtala Resources were seemingly taking the company no-where, offering nothing more than missed targets and failure to generate shareholder value.

Obtala then appointed a new Executive Chairman who in short time transformed the company, bringing in new wealthy investors (buying shares on the market) has firmed up a concise business model that everyone understands, improved PR and communications, the result being the share price has doubled in 3 months.

I am also of the view we need a clear out, Chris Hall implied the Directors have come to a similar conclusion, Bob stepping down is probably the catalyst for others to do the same, it will not happen overnight but I believe by year end we may have a number of new directors in place.

I will be meeting the company at Mines & Money in November and will put across my views in no uncertain terms to the new CEO of what needs improving. The fellow is high class with a proven track record of creating shareholder value.

I think the tide has turned.


N.B.

I would also like to point out that since late April the sector has been under some pressure, some stocks have fallen as much as 70% from recent highs, AAU and MARL have fallen away so Stratex is not unique.

[corguv] 02/9/2016 20:24

Regarding pay, this has been distorted by the 2012 Directors' bonuses which were £511,000 following the sale of Oksut and new appointments and transfers and remuneration recorded by other companies within the 'group'.

For example if you take Non-Executive Chairman Christopher Hall remuneration
2012 £67,604 plus £60,000 bonus
2013 £70,625
2014 £76,610
2015 £79,538
This shows a higher than inflation increase in remuneration over a period of declining fortunes for Stratex for presumably a part time non-exec.

If you look at former CEO Bob Foster's remuneration
In 2012 £152,661 plus £131,000 bonus
In 2015 £158,357

Perry Ashwood
In 2012 £134,250 plus £113,250 bonus
In 2015 £137,484

and so on with the other directors.

David Hall a highly paid director at Stratex is now being paid by Thani-Stratex.

John Cole-Baker who contributed nothing at Oksut ex Silvrex also received
2012 £65,521 plus a bonus for some reason of £60,000.
2013 £93,500
2014 £102,308
3 months of 2015 £26,625 moving onto being remunerated in West Africa.

Christopher Hall and Silvrex get me really on edge. I don't like it.

So I hope that the new and financially astute CEO will clean this all up and one measure should be to establish a truly independent remuneration committee.

Transparency for shareholders is essential.

[charles clore] 02/9/2016 19:26

Greedfear - agreed, there's a lot of snouts in the trough these days. But for the sake of our own sanity we have to try and see the better side of things don't we?

[greedfear] 02/9/2016 18:34

Are you for real? I would be very happy to take an option to buy your shares for 1.95p for a period of 10 years and pay you nothing in return for the privilege! You'll have to consider this as me taking a pay cut :) Charles no doubt you're a very nice person but you don't understand the concept of the (theoretical) value of options.

These persons are getting rewarded for getting the share price down and they'll likely benefit more than the average STI shareholder that has put his hard earned money in this investment. This kind of behavior is more and more getting the norm. Take what you can, it's only other peoples money! Disgusting really.

[charles clore] 02/9/2016 17:50

Steve - wouldn't you agree that options are actually a pay cut? Who puts their hand into their pocket to buy the shares at the option price? That option price is approximately the same as today's offer so if exercised today the directors would actually be paying the market price. The only way they can benefit from this arrangement is if the share price rises and they sell their shares. And if the share price rises then we all benefit.

[steve1905] 02/9/2016 17:12

Charles, many people have gone two years without a pay increase and many have had their pay decreased. This is the sort of thing that sickens me. Nothing has been achieved by the management here over that period. Baha have taken it forward and as yet we don't know when funds will head the way of Stratex.

[greedfear] 02/9/2016 17:00

They've managed to make me an unhappy shareholder (again) within one day. This share is cursed.

[greedfear] 02/9/2016 16:57

Exercise? The exercise period is ten years! They're in no hurry. TEN years!