Draft of the Introductory Letter to the Directors
posted on
Jul 18, 2012 05:32AM
Resource projects cover more than 1,713 km2 in three provinces at various stages, including the following: hematite magnetite iron formations, titaniferous magnetite & hematite, nickel/copper/PGM, chromite, Volcanogenic Massive and gold.
Hello Director.
On a daily basis, the community of Fancamp shareholders, named “Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp,” regularly exchanges ideas and information at an investor message board hosted at agoracom.com. The deliberations are typified by mounting frustration and incredulity concerning the share price. Our Selected Representative will request discussion time with every member of the Fancamp Board of Directors and with every member of the Champion Board of Directors.
The undervaluation of our stock is unacceptable. We cannot allow this to continue because that would be giving our tacit approval of the low regard we’re being given. The cost has been many tens of millions of dollars in lost market capitalization. Investors are leaving. Those remaining are distressed. So far as the loyal shareholders are concerned, management has the responsibility to reassure them it will do everything it can to restore their confidence and regain their goodwill.
As things stand now and for the foreseeable future, the company, as a whole, has lost the ability to go back to the capital markets to raise money, except in small lots, on abysmal terms. As well, following our present course, we will not have much of a future anyway. Because our stock is undervalued so many times over, we are low-lying fruit for the first unfriendly takeover bid that’s likely to materialize.
We compete in the capital markets with other exploration companies. Because of our successes discovering and documenting colossal quantities of valuable metal ores, we should be enjoying success after success in the competition for investors. Instead, our stock price is a humiliation.
Refreshing our attitude, just by itself, will be the driving force behind our turnaround. Our shareholder organization has eagerly prepared itself to stand with you. Together, we will restore the tens of millions of dollars being surrendered, for lack of any willingness to defend our share price.
Best regards.
P.S. In magnitude, as never before, shareholders, management, and the investment community have a convergence of interests to get this done. So we can fast-start the reforms, we’ve laid them out, as follows, as an Addendum. This way, you have them for reference, before and after our Selected Representative talks to you.
Addendum
Reform #1 / Change the Mindset at the Executive Level
The Directors need to act according to visualizing the company as being made up of Three Main Divisional Operations. All it takes is picturing this, as though it were written on a blackboard:
Operational Division #1 = Exploring for Metal Ore
Operational Division #2 = Arranging for the Monetization of our Discoveries
Operational Division #3 = Rewarding Shareholders for their Investment
So far as Operational Division #1: As a result of our excellent work, we’ve had many extraordinary successes. Right now, there’s no great urgency for much more.
So far as Operational Division #2: Our recent agreement with Champion exemplifies progress. Proving the economic feasibility of extracting saleable metals from Magpie’s titaniferous magnetite ore is our next priority.
So far as Operational Division #3: It is essentially dormant and non-functioning.
Obviously, the attention needs to be rebalanced. That is, shift it away from where it’s needed the least to where it’s needed the most. We cannot afford to leave Operational Division #3 the way it is.
Reform #2 / Hire the Shareholder Division Leader.
At the heart of our investor-base-building initiatives will be a middle management person, on staff, who’ll have the fulltime responsibility of developing a list of Influential People at Investment Advisory Institutions. Our goal will be to make those key advisory people aware of us and, increasingly, arouse their curiosity.
To accomplish this, we don’t need someone with very special talents. To keep us on track, “Shareholders for Accountability at Fancamp” will contribute (for free) the more-than-sufficient business-building expertise we have amongst our members. The beauty of this set up is the $100,000 total cost per year, more or less, compared to the $1.09 million increase in our market capitalization we’ll be getting for each one cent increase in our share price.
Reform #3 / Identify Key Investor and Media Institutions.
We will compile a list of approximately 200 companies active in the investor community. This list will consist of prominent companies that provide research, analysis, information, and advice to investors.
Most exploration companies of consequence, on their websites, typically list three to six investment companies under the heading “Analyst Coverage.” We will redefine what that means. Instead of being three to six in length, our list will be hundreds in length compared to its present length of zero. We will go from being in Last Place to being in First Place.
Moreover our First Place will be a far distant First Place. When it comes to “Analyst Coverage,” instead of the subject being an embarrassment, it will become our strength, as we will set new standards of excellence. Our list will include every single desirable media publication and media outlet. It will target investment advisory firms, individual analysts, investment research companies, stock brokers, and selected investment bankers.
Reform #4 / Build the Book of Business.
Every organization we identify as a valued source of possible investor interest will be converted from being attractive but unknowledgeable about us to being attractive and well informed. More and more, as we develop our list, its value will increase. We will treat the names it contains as though they were rough diamonds, which will become increasingly precious the more we polish them.
The Shareholder Division Leader will converse with the key investment people at every single one of the 200 companies we’re initially targeting. This will happen at a regular but not rigid pace of two per day, more or less. Information acquired, at our end, will be treasured. If we perform our job well, the information about us, at the other end, will be treasured as well.
Our activities will be carefully planned and performed according to schedule (which will leave modest scope for revision). Management will track and monitor and document the daily progress.
Reform #5 / Improve the Quality of Our Business Relationships.
We will converse regularly with the influential people initially reached earlier. We will get to know them. They will get to know all about us. There will be a greater and greater meeting of the minds after every conversation and after every exchange of information. We will treat our every business relationship with care and respect, as though the financial well-being of Fancamp’s shareholders hangs in the balance. It does.
Every investor advisor will be treated according to the progression of how our individualized relationship is evolving. The conversations we have will not be by rote. Different people have different interests. Differentiated literature will be mailed according to the common subjects of interest and according to the nature and the stage of the relationship. We will track statistically and otherwise an investment advisor’s client relationships and assist the investment advisor accordingly.
After spending more of our time having these in-depth conversations, we will begin accumulating advocates who trust us and who’ve taken the time to investigate us. In turn, our new friends will talk to their associates and to the investors who trust them. We will develop an educated and appreciative following. In the investment industry, there will be a proliferation of respected institutions and influential analysts and commentators who’ll have hard statistics to highlight the positive things they’re saying about us.
Reform #6 / Issue Regularly-Scheduled Progress Reports on Our Website.
Keeping up with all this requires discipline and dedication. It requires keeping our eye on the ball. It requires the feedback we will only can get from monitoring and keeping track. There’s no substitute for knowing how we’re doing as we’re doing it. Also, on a daily basis, reporting back to management is as essential as is distributing the reports to every place they can do good.
On a daily basis (even broken down by AM and PM), how many conversations did we have with Investment Advisory Firms? How many were first time? How many were follow-ups? What kind of literature do we need to prepare to reinforce our message? From what we’ve already mailed out, what’s the response? In general, what’s working? What’s not? How can we improve what we’re doing? Who’s writing us up in the industry media? When will the articles appear? Are we getting TV interviews? What are our outstanding successes?
Of course, when we’re shaking things up with a new venture, besides the many anticipated questions, there will also be a few unanticipated questions. We will correct course and change course according to what we learn and according to what we accomplish.
Most of what we’re doing should not be a secret, from anyone. Most of the time, confidentiality will not be an issue. So we shouldn’t make it one. Unless the conversation is “off-the-record,” with consent, we can openly brag about our successes getting our message out there. We can and should post, on our website, all the information we have of interest to present shareholders and future investors.
There’s absolutely no reason to hold back. Why aren’t we displaying what investors want to know? Yesterday, what were the closing spot prices for Titanium and Iron? During the trading day, what were the trading ranges of Champion and Argex stocks? How is the market valuing the reported resources (tonnages of metal ores) of our competitors compared to how it’s valuing our reported resources?
Dynamic content drives web traffic. We want people to keep coming back. We don’t want people to pay us a visit one time, look around, and never come back. General industry information (which changes daily in interesting ways) should be tied together with Fancamp investor information (which changes daily in interesting ways).
To be continued.