The Agency shareholders asked to issue shares to pay $50,000 PR fees

The Agency shareholders asked to issue shares to pay $50,000 PR fees
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

The Agency is seeking shareholder approval to pay fees owed to its consultants, including its external PR firm, by issuing further equity in the cash-strapped publicly listed company. 

The Agency - whose backdoor listing began as the Namibian Cooper mining company from the west - seeks to pay over $700,000 in fees owed to consultants.

The proposed fees-to-equity conversion will be put to shareholders at a September 23 meeting.

It follows a $5.6 million equity raising in July along with an agreement with some creditors to convert $5.8 million in debt to new equity.

The Agency seeks approval to pay its Perth-based public relations firm Chapter One Advisors through shares, covering a near $50,000 media relations bill.

The proposal is to issue up to 769,231 shares to Assert Corporate & Investor Relations Pty Ltd Trading as “Chapter One Advisors."

Chapter One Advisors managing director David Tasker, The Agency's media spokesman, told The Australian Financial Review it was "reasonably common" for suppliers to take payment through equity in the company.

He said it was a sign these suppliers wanted to back the company and ultimately believed the share price would go up in the long term.

The Agency also seeks to pay about $16,000 to consultant Robert Brierley; $65,000 to solicitor Torq Murray and $100,000 to Sydney-based corporate advisory firm Transocean Group. 

 

It is proposed 11 million new shares will be issued at 6.5¢ for these consultants, just above the last closing price of 6.4¢.

The proposed fees-to-equity conversion is among 24 resolutions that will be put to shareholders to assist the agency gets through its cash-strapped expansionary phase that comes soon after its listing and rapid expansion strategy.

The issuance of new options are also proposed:

Shares in the The Agency have fallen since peaking at 31.9¢ in September last year following a share consolidation.

The group has a market cap of just  under $8 million. 

The proposed fees-to-equity conversion is among the 24 resolutions to be put to shareholders at a general meeting on September 23.

Yesterday The Agency reported a loss for the financial year and announced $2.8 million worth of cost cutting measures.

The accounts were unaudited.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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