June 07/13 And then there was Ghana ... - |... which actually deserves more than just a little attention and EUO seems to be in agreement. There must be some serious revenue potential ... Why else would they spend money on Ghanaian legal eagles?
As an aside ... I suppose it’s pretty obvious by now that EUO has become a “hobby” of mine. It all started when I became more cognisant of certain insiders who are (supposedly) no longer in the picture and their somewhat unique modi operandi. One of the areas I had high hopes for was IR / PR / news flow. Sadly there hasn’t been much of a change which means one has to keep digging in order to get a somewhat more complete picture. This, as most here probably know, is not atypical for many (?) public companies who feel that bare bones / mandatory disclosure is good enough and is all Joe-6-Pack shareholders should expect. One could argue that this very often also results in “selective” disclosure as in “We know best what shareholders should or should not know”. Typically this sort of attitude, especially in micro caps, tends to result in pathetic valuations and equally pathetic trading volumes. In some cases this happens “by design” but let’s not go there ...
OK, back to Ghana ... It is good to know that EUO (GFI) is going after Ghanaian business even though it looks like that this effort has run into a bit of a snag as outlined in this article:
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=267123
I ended up digging a little deeper into Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Let’s just say that it was quite entertaining. The “important” people in some of these African countries are even more colourful than their traditional garb. Anyhow, this digging also led to Authentix, a (obviously not to be underestimated) GFI competitor. These two are clearly playing in the same sandbox in terms of geography as Authentix’s numerous global contracts prove. One could also speculate that Authentix has a somewhat better understanding of local “customs” as they have contracts in such “illustrious” African counties as Senegal, Cameroon, Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire and Togo (as per their website). Comparing technologies is not only beyond my “pay grade” but also rather difficult as neither company was particularly anxious to talk to me about anything beyond what can be found on their websites. BTW, Authentix is a private company and thus not obliged to disclose anything. One can only assume that there are some differences in technologies as both companies have some sort of patent protection. Judging by the Ghana article, GFI seems to have an edge in terms of sample analysis as it’s produced instantly on location while Authentix’s test results seem to come out of an offsite lab. One other difference, GFI’s technology / process is ISO certified which doesn’t seem to be the case with Authentix. Maybe there is someone amongst the (not so) small and oh so vocal readership of what has become my personal EUO blog who can shed more light on the differences between the two technologies ... ??? No, I am not holding my breath :-)
Coming back to disclosure policy ... I find it somewhat “intriguing” that a by now rather old $100k legal dispute between EUO and a supplier is being disclosed in the MD&A while a possibly more significant (?) lawsuit in Ghana is not. Not suggesting that it has to be disclosed as I am certain that EUO follows SEC disclosure rules to the letter. That’s something I am sure they have learned from Forbes & Manhattan as F&B is “unbeatable” in terms of SEC compliance ...
Well, that’s it for today. I hope everyone had a little “fun” finding out a bit more about another one of EUO’s never boring endeavours. |
