Sure thing Brent.
I invested in SPRL because it was brought to my attention by "velvet mallet", who I've known now for over 6 years. I have made it well known over the years to anyone who cares to read my posts that I don't do DD. I am a "chart guy". Over the years on the boards I have discovered a number of people who feel to me to be knowledgeable, competent and trustworthy. I have established a number of relationships this way.
I spent a considerable amount of time reading the posts of velvet and later on discussed his DD with him over the phone. Velvet made it very clear to me the whole time that I should consider this a long term investment with a 3 - 5 year timeframe. Of course things can happen with any business to prolong or shorten those timeframes so I don't depend on them to be perfect.
Here are the basic things that I was told that inspired me to take a long term position in SPRL:
Sam Hyams is an Orthodox Jew. I don't know much about these people but I am aware that they have rather stringent rules which they live by and being honest and living clean is a very big part of that.
That the company had a lot of experience and connections with the world of oil in Russia which would not only be useful but necessary to accomplish their goals of doing deals with the companies that they are looking to deal with.
The AS/OS/float were reasonable and that the insiders own some 50+ million restricted shares.
Considering I don't see how the world is going to continue to maintain the level of oil production we have in the past, and with India, China and other countries becoming more technologically "advanced", It seems to me that Strat is in an early position to take advantage of a market that may prove in the near future to be very important and profitable.
Aside from all of that, and probably some other things I didn't remember to post here, I tend to do things very simply and have a knack for not making them complicated. What is most important to me as to why I'm invested here is that Sam Hyams is investing a lot of time and money in making this company a success. The time that I spent listening to him in that cc lead me to believe that he is an honest person and is genuinely trying to create a good thing here...and it's worth my investment. When I invest in a company I'm investing in two things: The idea and the management. As long as I get the information I need to like the idea and trust the management then I'll invest in the company and give them the space and time they need to accomplish the goal. I think too many on the boards are shortsighted and don't spend enough time considering the time, effort and money it takes to accomplish what Sam in trying to do.
As a matter of fact, based upon my 6 years of reading message boards, there is no way in hell that I would ever consider taking any company that I ever own public because I would not want to put up with all of the whining and lack of reasoning and sense that I have seen on every message board that I have ever read.
Anyway, I still feel confident in SPRL because the company is obviously working to achieve their goals. The subject of dilution is not a concern to me based upon what has occurred thus far. 200 million shares in the world of billion shares OS stocks is nothing. I see no red flags with a little dilution as long as it is for business purposes. Lack of communication, i.e. stroking nervous shareholders, is not a problem for me either. I want results, not meaningless words. No, progress has not been as fast as I would have liked, but I have been given no reason to not trust Sam at this point. Audited financials would be wonderful. My understanding is that there have been problems with the auditors. Sam is an accountant so I am comfortable presuming he knows what to do in this situation. So, again, I trust him.
Ultimately, as I have said before, every person needs to do what they feel is appropriate to feel good about investing in any company. What I have to say here is likely to be meaningless to everyone else, which means that they should have no problem with the posting of an opinion whether they agree with it or not. If they have a problem or an argument then that means that they are unsatisfied with their investment, so they should not waste their time trying to argue with other shareholders because no satisfaction is going to come from that for them. They need to go to the source or make the adjustments that feel appropriate for them in order for them to feel good about their investment.
Aloha
Rich
Unless otherwise stated, any and all information I post is my opinion which is subject to change. I accept no responsibility for anyone who chooses to take any action based upon anything I post.
