RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Nick HodgeGreat post Silver. I think the point about candid strategic communication is bang on the money.
Stakeholders in any endeavour, be it a project at work or community initiative or venture listed company want regular communications to be kept abreast of what is happening. The majority of retail investors will never read financials or MD&A's posted to SEDAR.
Vanc in many respects is more transparent than alot of businesses with the various public disclosures available. There are Health Canada approvals, Provincial and Pharmacy chain formulary updates alongside regular statutory reporting of financials on SEDAR. This is all public domain but most retail investors will not take the time to find and understand it. That has been one of the great aspects of this board.
But for me the company is really missing an opportunity to tell its story in this context. A Quarterly Business Update news release highlighting quarterly financial performance, changes QoQ, changes in provincial approvals etc would provide the wider retail investment community with an ongoing storyline highlighting the progress this business is making operationally. Supplement that with news releases for new products (as they did for Cortivera etc) and you have comms plan that people can rely on and start to use to assess and contextualise the progress of the business.
Personally I am not a great fan of guidance at this stage in a businesses development and so don't really want to see it. But I understand those who do.
I know there are concerns about disclosing things to competitors but I think there is more than enough that is public domain that would enable a compelling narrative for Vanc to be developed. But you need structure and consistency of communication. Hopefully then after you have told people something 3 or 4 times they will start to understand it and then we might attract a greater and more loyal following. It may also stop people relying on ill informed third party commentary from newsletter writers.
GLTA.
Silver147 wrote: Good afternoon,
I reviewed Nick Hodge's note. I believe there is validity in his claim that the company should have put out a news release for the quarterly financials. I think there is a lot to be proud of operationally and as a young company Vanc should take advantage of EVERY opportunity to make sure it tells its story to a broader universe.
The other point I feel is important (and one I referenced in my last post) is the company is not being proactive managing stakeholder expectations. This to me, is a something that can be addressed constructively - not by letting out trade secrets or alienating would-be customers but by candid strategic communication with the investing public and with customers. I personally have worked with a number of companies and entrepreneurs in my career who have faced and overcome such "growing pains" very successfully.
Which brings me to the warrants. Strong operational CEOs often think solid execution trumps all when it comes to creating shareholder value and, in the long run, they are probably right. As such, they tend not to focus on the near term share price. Ironically for Vanc, having an extra $2million in the coffers at 50 cents helps accelerate the operational objectives, gives customers more comfort that if they switch business to Vanc for certain molecules, Vanc will have the funds to keep supplying them and gives management more flexibility to accelerate the business plan if warranted. So, to help operational execution, Vanc needs to care about the near term share price.
Finally, I would make the point that expectation setting and OWNING the message helps avoid being blindsided by letter writers and other "so-called friendlies" who come out after the quarter with a sell because "Vancs numbers didn't meet expectations". Who would Nick Hodge have spoken to, to establish his expectations for Q1? I personally didn't see anything from the company.
Let's see what's in store for next week.
Cheers!