Was lucky to catch up with Greg and he was most accomodative with his time and responses to my questions
Greg; Sorry I missed your call this a.m. Tried to call you back a couple of times, but phone not connecting. Based on that, I thought I would just put a quick email together for you.
Question 1: With +$40M in the bank and no debt, should FTCO buyback shares or increase dividend?
Greg: We are in a great position cash wise. Right now our thoughts are that a buyback may not be positive because we already have such a small float of shares that trade. In regards to increasing the dividend, I think the gold price would be the biggest driver of that. Keep in mind we hope to be building our next mine at Golden Mile in the near term, which could take $25 - $30M (and this is only a guess….). We want to build Golden Mile from our cash, so keeping a strong cash balance would be important. If gold prices were to spike higher, we could see substantially higher profits, which in turn could allow the Board to boost the dividend.
Question 2: Any increase to production near term?
Greg: The plan right now is to keep production at 40K ounces per year with the Isabella Pearl. The Golden Mile could put the Company in a position where it could look at increasing annual production, which would assume the Isabella Pearl project would not close down in mid-2025, but would remain in some sort of production with ore feed from future discoveries on the Isabella Pearl trend and/or the County Line property.
Question 3: Any plans to uplist?
Greg: FTCO will more than likely up list at some point to the NYSE. We could uplist today, but we would rather look to have a catalyst of some sort to accompany (such as future exploration discoveries, future development opportunities, potential M&A opportunities, etc.). I think an eventual uplist could be a real positive for the Company, but many shareholders put too much weight in an uplist and its potential benefits. Companies still have to perform whether they are on the OTC or NYSE.
Question 4: Dividend – current payout ratio is +/- 40% where do you see it going from here
The current dividend distribution seems pretty reasonable at today’s profit levels. Going back to your first question, many shareholders ask if may make sense to hike the dividend. We could increase the dividend, but we need to keep in mind having enough capital to invest back into the business, whether it is building Golden Mile, drilling Isabella Pearl, Golden Mile, East Camp Douglas and now County Line. All of these properties have so much potential, but we need to invest capital to unlock their potential.
All the best.
Greg Patterson
