Communication, communication, communicationOPEN LETTER TO VIEMED
Dear VieMed,
The quotation below was found in from "
Apples to Apples:
CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity/ Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics A Template for Reporting Quarterly Earnings" https://www.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/position-paper/template-for-reporting-quarterly-earnings.ashx
They discuss and confirm the summary of recommendations from
“Breaking the Short-Term Cycle” "
Corporate leaders, asset managers, investors, and analysts should: 1. Reform earnings guidance practices: All groups should reconsider the benefits and consequences of providing and relying upon focused, quarterly earnings guidance and each group’s involvement in the “earnings guidance game.”
2. Develop long-term incentives across the board: Compensation for corporate executives and asset managers should be structured to achieve long-term strategic and value-creation goals.
3. Demonstrate leadership in shifting the focus to long-term value creation.
4. Improve communications and transparency: More meaningful, and potentially more frequent, communications about company strategy and longterm value drivers can lessen the financial community’s dependence on earnings guidance.
5. Promote broad education of all market participants about the benefits of long-term thinking and the costs of short-term investing."
VieMed appears to embrace a difference set of principles. Investors have no idea of your long term strategy given that over the past 8-quarters VieMed has moved into one business after another and we find out after the fact. Management incentive compensation is blindly given in an unrelenting formulaic fashion that is often hidden from shareholders and benefits from share volatility not growth. Phantom shares are indeed a phantom menace because the performance criteria appears to shareholders as being not relevant. What are the long term value creation plans and the metrics that go with that. Almost no transparency to shareholders. Imagine one of your employees or children saying, "If you don't hear from me, assume I am fine. Trust me." The short-term thinking in reporting has caused short-term investing as the share price gyrates from unbelievable highs to unbelievable lows.
It is not lost upon shareholders that interim results were provided leading up to the expiry of management options in 2020 and sale of shares. The share price responded to that. Yet hospital access during the Omicron wave was much more severe than the initial wave and shareholders are indeed concerned. The only difference between 2020 and 2022 is there is no expiring of management options this year.
Issues to be addressed in the upcoming conference call:
Guidance for FY 2022 (not just Q1 2022)
Growth expectations in core business
Plans to attract new investors after a significant departure of short-term institutional investing
VA status
Reimbursement status
The hiring spree given the stunted growth
Plans for increased transparency!
As one of the worst performers in terms of share price decline, a rethink of strategy will only benefit the company.
Sincerely,
A concerned shareholder