My opinion:
The PR indicates that Mr. Vogt's report will be sent to shareholders in the coming week. Since we have seen so little reliable or detailed information on the company, the report will, hopefully, be of adequate length and detail to catch us up. I don't look for any effect on the stock price-other than a possible further dip if a full clearing is made of all bad news. I don't think Mr. Vogt's purpose in writing this is to affect the price. Instead, I expect that he wants to introduce himself, tell us his expectations for the company, and-especially-to give an honest assessment of what has transpired, and what the current state of our business is. If he comes close to achieving this, I will be satisfied with his efforts.
The optimism we have had in the past has been predicated on the continued flow of information from the company, both good and bad news, but also assuming that the good would somehow outweigh the bad. The silence has led us to logically assume that bad news has dominated the last 12 to 15 months. It was a massive mistake, IMO, for the company to remain silent. It is insulting to shareholders when a company chooses not to be forthcoming, even when that openness means giving us disappointing results. Our directors should have understood this, even if the CEO failed to.
But all of that becomes, in my view, history, when Mr. Vogt's report reaches us. Investment is about the future, not the past. Mr. Vogt's "forward looking statements" will have to be assessed for sincerity and reasonability, and any positives that he manages to telegraph will have to be reinforced at the shareholders meeting (which is too far away for most of us to attend). If he convinces us that he sincerely believes that he can make WINR successful, he will have, in my opinion, enthusiastic support from the vast majority of shareholders. And that would be a terrible asset to waste a second time... |
