2)
In addition to these investments, management of Tonner Drones is offering consultancy services to other listed companies. Already resulting in a first order in November 2024, which led to an invoice of €61.000 that was paid in early January. Even while €61.000 is not a huge amount, compared to the lowered operational costs, it will help the company forward. The income from the consultancy business and investment strategy can support the Company to cover its operating costs.
What is the main change in the Company since there was a change of management?
There have been many changes. But the main shift is with mentality. Current management is determined to create value for our shareholders and stop burning money. They feel a huge responsibility towards all shareholders, and they want to build a successful story on the stock exchange. In many cases on the stock exchange, management is putting their own interests at first. For example with generous salaries. Current policy of Tonner Drones is the opposite. The CEO will not receive any compensation in 2025. The total compensation for the other 2 board members has been set at a maximum of €24,000 for each of them. The philosophy is that performance must be delivered first. Tonner Drones wants to lead by example, and change the French Financial industry. Self-enrichment and financial excesses have come to an end.
The CEO and President of the board has bought 8% of the outstanding shares in the market. What are his intentions?
D.M. van den Ouden has invested significantly since june 2023. Initially mainly in debt. He felt that he, as the CEO and President of the board, should become the reference shareholder of the company. This allows the company to be managed properly. He also wanted to align his interests more with the other shareholders. Van den Ouden has always been an investor and shareholder in his own and other listed companies. By being the largest shareholder of Tonner Drones, he expresses confidence in his own policy, and 'puts his money where his mouth is.'
TD communicated about partnerships and RTO-candidates, especially seen the carry-forward losses of more than €50M that can be activated. Is there any interest?
Tonner Drones has had and is still having, multiple conversations with interested parties. Both from parties in the Drone sector and from outside.
We are now in the process of selecting the right party to continue discussions with for a period of exclusivity.
It needs to be very clear that an investment, partnership or RTO needs to bring value for our current shareholders.
D.M. van den Ouden is the CEO, largest shareholder and main debt-holder of the company. He will only agree to a deal which will benefit the shareholders of Tonner Drones. Meaning that a partner needs to be fairly valued, well financed and needs to create value for all Tonner Drones shareholders.
While management strongly believes in its own strategy for the longer term, a large transaction with a partner or RTO-candidate can provide great value creation in the short term. For example, when an agreement can be made with a company that has multi millions of revenue, the nature of the TonnerDrones entity will immediately change.
When a significant agreement / decision needs to be made, shareholders will be asked for their approval.
Tonner Drones is now in a great position, because it is betting on multiple horses for a promising future.
Seeing the rough history of Delta Drone, what is the current situation of the company?
During the year of 2024, the new CEO and President of the board has been able to increasingly put his mark on the company's policy. The company is noticing that this is restoring trust among partners. Management still needed to solve some issues from the past. This sometimes entails unexpected costs, but because these are one-off costs, it does not hurt the future of Tonner Drones.
In the balance sheet there are still amounts included for past litigations. Tonner Drones expects that these provisions will be sufficient to cover these cases. These cases are incidents from the past and happened before the current management was in charge. As time passes since the 'change of management', the chance that major problems from the past will resurface is diminishing.
Tonner Drones understands that shareholders would like to move forward more quickly. But the company needs some time to build up trust, so that it can start building from a stable foundation.
Since the costs have been brought down so much, the Company has the time to build. Especially because Tonner Drones has the full support from its CEO and President of the board and its supporting shareholders who are willing to continue to invest in the future of the company.