RE:Here is the problem with the bashers on the other boardDC:
Don't you think this is all because of the board and management team are like the stock being manipulated?
Dicskon Lee may have great ideas about coal but definitely has no real coal background or experience whatsoever. Sure, he get good people like Peng and Yang on board helping him out but after all, he is what he has been, a finance manager eager to swap assets and execute deals in a creative way so that the F/S looks good.
The problem we have is not so much with the bashers on the YMB, as most stocks get bashers whenever there is profit to make. The real question is what are the problems with LLEN after all these acquisitions, earnings and developments (TDR, clean coal, 1 milllion ton coal mine targets, etc.)?
I strongly believe LLEN has serious problems with its management structure & system and
resource allocation.
US office has a dozen of staff (and I suspect some of them are interim from Tai Wan). Who the management stations there in addition to Clayton? I do not know. Ian Robinson should be in Hong Kong most of the time. Norman Lee should be in China. John Chang in Tai Wan. Maybe some of you can tell me who the board members and executives attended physically.
Looks to me the management team scattered around in different places and countries doing their own things at differernt time zone. How effectively and often do they communicate with each other? And how and who actualy has the authorization to make decisions and to what extent to ensure corporate objectives can be met? Where and do they have qualified subordinates to work with / for them close enough to get things done timely & properly? Who is the devil advocate to voice out mis management, irregularities? How often does the Company exercise review of the effectiveness of internal control?
On the other hand, LLEN did in some point of time (Feb 2013) have good cash position. But it is not difficulty to notice that LLEN is always like a big spender to use up more cash than it generates. How come Ian, the CFO, raised no concern about negative cash flow? Had he got no say to perform his duties and respeonsibilities as a financial control guy? Or is he just one of the rubber stamps of D. Lee?
Other resources like Coal experts, Peng & Yang have been a helping hand; however, they are not in any executive capacity. They are the ones who know the hands on details and get work done thoroughly with successful track records in coal sector, not Dickson Lee or his brother Norman Lee (tell me if case they really have such relevant credentials). If the Company can retain them as executive directors or even empower them with top positions, I'm almost certain LLEN will make a huge turnaround rather than a dead cat bounce.
I do not see any relevant exposure or qualifications of Norman Lee, who, I doubt, is capable of managing LLEN's China offices - too critical an operation of the Company is rest with a figure-head. I even query if he has ever showed up in the US Head office to report to top management! If Norman is really a figure head, you can imagine who is actually running the China offices -- of course, it would be D. Lee. And since he comes and goes. It is not way that operations can be effective or effecient. Suborinate staff in China would be free like a bird without guidance, monitor, leadership or direction in worst case.
LLEN has so far demonstrated its failure in turning its scarce resources into capabilites and strenghten its competitive advantages in the coal sector. As a result, developments are often found deviated from its corporate strategies. Or should I say LLEN never has clear corporate strategies which led to flip-flop developments, swapping assets like trade (not investment). As a result, the Company still cannot set a firm foothold in the industry after all these years.
It's time now for LLEN board of directors to ask, "Do we have a team? Do we have a business and Who should we rely on and Why the market diagrees with what we do / who to take the lead?"