FinnAust Mining PLC ORD 0.01P (LON:FAM) Managing Director Roderick McIllree caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss significant company announcements including the Frankfurt listing, £1 million fundraiser, recent Board changes and their high profile appointments
Q1: Now they’ve been several significant company announcements since we last spoke. If we can start with some of the earlier stuff, firstly can you tell investors the theory behind the Frankfurt listing?
A1: Sure, well I guess just to preface these comments Giles, it’s just worth pointing out that it been a while since we, I guess, reached out to investors through DirectorsTalk and that has simply been a function of the company has been pretty busy. As you correctly point out there have been a number of developments in terms of RNS’s and company releases that we’ll discuss today but things are going well and I guess now is a relevant time to sort of bring everybody up to speed with what they mean. So your question to do with the Frankfurt listing is more really about reach to our European investor base, there is demand I guess from European groups that I have previously worked with and know and private high net-worth investors. The Frankfurt listing doesn’t cost any money, it doesn’t require any management time to maintain and it is simply a platform that allows European banks, EU banks, to buy AIM stocks and house them in Europe, in the European banks accounts so no cost and no management time is spent on that, it’s simply a facilitating process to allow, as I said, European groups to have access to the stock. So it’s a very simple process to get done, it’s nothing really to be too concerned about.
Q2: Next then, let’s talk about the fundraiser that FinnAust Mining have just completed for £1 million. There was no discount applied to this which in the current environment is quite a remarkable achievement?
A2: Yes, I think that’s right, we sort of like to think that that reflects a couple of factors. Firstly I guess is the idea of management and shareholders’ interests sort of being aligned in this regard and we did have, I guess it’s fair to say, indications for a lot more money at a much lower price. I think one of the things that we really want to get across to shareholders is that we want to be the ‘purple cow’ so to speak, that old marketing term, people remember ‘purple cow’, they do things differently, the do things right and we feel it’s important to lead by example. The AIM market, I think, is a proliferation of sort of deeply discounted capital raisings that I think disadvantages shareholders that can’t access those, we want to do things differently. I think this is a clear indication of our future intent when it comes to fundraising, we don’t need to do deeply discounted raises because the project I think ultimately will provide that level of support and secondly because the management has their interests aligned with shareholders. So relatively speaking, in the AIM market it was remarkable, for us it was just another day at the office.
Q3: Now you’ve mentioned management, there’s been some recent Board changes, is there anything to worry about there?
A3: Dan Lougher? No, look I think this is sort of something that those that have been watching for some time would probably recognise is just the next step in the evolution, if you like, of the company. Dan ran FinnAust Mining for a period of time between the previous CEO retiring and myself joining the company and I think he’s pleased now, Western Areas as the major shareholder are pleased, that they can sort of take this off their to do list, this company. I think Western Areas certainly in their conversations to me are very pleased at the way things have developed, everyone’s happy that we’ve been able to raise the money and that the interest is there. I think the need for the CEO of Western Areas to be one the Board of this thing is probably, obviously, a questionable thing, there’s still an umbilical cord back to the ‘mothership’, if you like that terminology, that allows us to access all of the services that were previously available. Western Areas are still a circa 40% shareholder, still very relevant in our thoughts and approaches to Greenland so I think it’s just an evolutionary process, it’s actually a healthy sign, it shows that things are going well.
Q4: Now finally, you’re clearly putting together quite a respectable team at FinnAust Mining to deliver the project, can you share with us your thinking behind some of the high profile appointments including those that were announced today?
A4: Sure, well I guess there have been, I would have to think, you’ve sort of caught me on the hop, I think there’s probably been between 4 and 6 appointments, SRK and GEUS being critical ones, they’re sort of working on the obvious, resource and the work programmes. The more recent ones today about the permitting groups, the EIA and the SIA, these are groups that are recognised not just in Denmark and Greenland but recognised internationally, they’ll allow us to continue with our fast track approach to the permitting. One of the things that I think shareholders can take comfort in is that execution risk in Greenland with our current team is mitigated by our long history and our knowledge of which service providers to use here so I think that again anyone that’s watching this story unfold hopefully will come to realise that you know there is very clear and obvious reasons for each one of these groups that we’re using. They are internationally credible consultants in their own right and they all also formed a core part, or a key component, of the critical path aspect to permitting and ultimately to exploitation. There’s a couple of missing pieces for those that are really watching the story and they sort of revolve around the logistics, I guess, and the shipping and the actual operation side of it, I wouldn’t be too surprised over the coming months whether we sort of point some pretty interesting groups to assist us there as well. So I think shareholders can sort of look forward to the point in time, it’s not too far down the road, where we will have all of these independent critical path players in place, such that the, I guess, development of the project will take on more substance and will become a much clearer proposition to people. Certainly the shipping and the dredging side of things that we’re working on at the moment, we’re pretty pleased with where these are going and I think it’s all going to make sense pretty shortly Giles so watch this space.
