OPINION: A decades-long investment has provided little in the way of financial reward but offers lessons nonetheless.
A decades-long investment has provided little in the way of financial reward but offers lessons nonetheless.
A cheque received during the last week signalled what I think is the end of an investment that, as it turned out, marked the beginning of my career in journalism.
The money involved is paltry and further highlights how my early exposure to the stock market in a finance broking and investment firm turned me towards writing about the world of commerce rather than being part of it.
Just for the history books, this story starts with a company called Gemcor in which, from recollection, I bought $1,000 worth of stock as it prepared to float in late 1987.
Of course for the older hands reading this column, the date is more auspicious than the name of the company. I was working in West Perth while continuing my studies and the Gemcor float was a deal that staff and customers of the firm I was with were supporting.
I don’t recall if Gemcor listed before or after the October crash. The key memory of that time was the carnage in investment markets, watching people around me lose fortunes and, soon after, being advised that I no longer had a future with the firm.
It was a grim time for many and I’ve always thought I was lucky, at that pivotal moment in my life, to have the opportunity to reassess my future and turn to journalism. For me it was a great choice.
Funnily enough I never sold my shares in Gemcor, which were probably worth very little after the crash. Over the years I have received regular correspondence as the company changed names, purpose and jurisdiction. I am quite certain the cumulative cost of the annual reports and other documents that have found their way to me over time were greater than the total of the shares and various dividends I may have received over the years.
In 1995, Gemcor (the purpose of which eludes me) became Gold Mines of Sardinia, a business whose name was an indication of its focus.
By 2000, as Business News reported, the company, Italy’s only goldminer, sought to list in Milan and on the London Stock Exchange. Around this time it became a UK-based business.
It spun-out most of its assets in 2004, including its Australian subsidiary, in a merger to form a new company called Medoro, which was listed on the LSE’s Alternative Investment Market, and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Medoro seems to be part of TSX-listed Gran Colombia Gold Corp these days.
At around the same time, LSE-listed Gold Mines of Sardinia shrugged off its past as a gold producer on its namesake Italian island and went exploring for oil in South America as Chaco Resources. In 2007 it became Amerisur Resources, reflecting Latin American interests, including most recently oil and gas assets in Colombia.
What a colourful ride. In some ways I wish I had paid more attention but, to be honest, the value of my stock was so small and the reasons for investing so distant, I really could not care less.
It became more of a test of governance and, I am pleased to say, over the years I have been as fully informed as I wanted to be about operational progress and structural changes, including the watering down of my holding at various stages.
Clearly, in the UK at least, the share registry processes are intact and working well, as the regular correspondence and occasional payments attest. It does, perhaps, help that I have had the same address for most of that time. I am sure minority shareholders become a much greater nuisance when those communications are returned to sender.
This month, that distant connection with my very earliest investment days ended with a company called Geopark Columbia SAS finalising a successful cash bid for Amerisur.
The cheque I received for around £300 (less than $600) falls well short of the estimated $2,500 my original investment would have been worth if it had just kept up with inflation.
I think the cost was well worth the lessons it provided at the time and over the 33 years since, regularly reminding me of the choices I had in my career and the risks that are entailed in any investment.
