[Nick Hargrave]

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/infrastrata/news/rns/story/xp85p9r

A broadly disappointing update, but the black mark really goes to the Board for the timing and manner rather than the content of the update. There is clearly an element of kitchen sinking on the last day of the year, when the board will have known about each individual issue / delay for a while and leaving it this late in the ‘quiet’ period after Xmas is just a bit cynical.

However, while the market / day traders will focus on the gory headlines and swing the share price about, what is the actual change in value of the company from this update? I would venture it is reasonably limited, as long as the financing is concluded quickly enough to avoid any equity raise. The debt financing appears to moving along with a potential upsizing, and having arranged several of these financings in the past I know that they just take time, especially with export finance involved and trying to get approvals at this time of the year.

On the commercial front, ending a troublesome contract rather than spend time and energy trying to rescue a bad situation is sensible, and much of the additional bad news is timing, which again happens when large contracts are involved and were I to be cynical, makes the 2023 numbers even more achievable with the head start they get on the 2022 delays on revenue bookings.

So the short time price will obviously take a hit, but the major positive news is to come and today’s bad news is mostly timing rather than losses, though the robust pipeline still needs to be converted to contracts. I will, however, be even more keenly focused on the actions of the board as this update was not delivered in what I would consider to be an exemplary fashion…

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