Shares in ASG Media were suspended on the UK’s alternative investment market “pending clarification on their fund raising efforts” back on the 20th October [1].
We thought then that this was going to signal the end of the UK business, and as we didn’t have anything particularly positive to say we stayed clear of posting our thoughts. For ASG Media to have to fund raise (itself) showed that Neo Media Group had probably had enough of supporting the business and almost undoubtedly refused to give them any more cash.
As sensible investors invest in good people (that old adage “I prefer a Grade A entrepreneur with a Grade B idea over a Grade B entrepreneur”), funding for the lame duck that became ASG Media will have been very hard to come by. In our humble opinion no one in their right mind would give CFO, Gary Truman a penny let alone a couple of million quid.
When a senior executive in a publicly listed company (albeit with its shares currently suspended) writes on his Facebook page “Gary Truman wonders what will happen this week” you have to wonder don’t you?
Weak management and poor contracts that were not re-negotiated properly were the death knell of this business. Apologies for writing an obituary before the fact but we think that there is no way back for them.