I haven't heard anything. Vincent had been CEO for 6 years. Such a rapid departure without any transition or advance announcement usually indicates one of a small number of things:

• An urgent personal cirumstance. However, for example, when such a circumstance is health, often some explanation is provided.
• The individual has secured a new opportunity that cannot yet be disclosed. (However, is this likely given that $MP1 is yet to prove itself? If so, it sends a bad message about the future prospects of $MP1)
• The coming to a head of a disagreement on strategy or how performance is tracking against expectations.
• An emergent matter of personal conduct that is yet to materialise but which is known either to the Board or the individual Executive or both.

For the Chair to step in to the role indicates to me that the Board didn't see this coming.

To be clear, I am writing on purely general terms and I don't know anything about what is going on in $MP1.

Again - purely speculating here - one possible disagrement could be that the Board had previously tasked him with showing a clear path to profitability, This is because there have been lots of statements in past communications about how current cash will see the company through to postive cashflow and also how certain results and trends are demonstrating "operating leverage".

Should the Board start to lack confidence that the CEO can deliver on these very clear commitments and expectations, then matters might have been brought to a head precipiating the exit.

Again, all speculation, not facts, but I have been mulling this over myself.

My Takeaways / Decision / Rationale

I have previously held a much bigger position in $MP1 IRL, taking profits in Mar-21 and then selling down further in Jun-21 in my review of "cash burners" in my portfolio. I have held $MP1 since Feb 2020 and followed it closely for over 4 years

I further reduced by 50% my residual holding in Oct-22 as I further assessed that operating leverage trend may not be strong enough to avoid a further dilutive raising.

I have decided not to sell on this latest news, partly because my holding is now so small and I want to see the next set of results. With Bevan stepping in until a new CEO is appointed I don't see Vincent leaving as core to my albeit now weaker thesis. (An Orange Flag, pending more info emerging.)

If the next results strengthen the trend over the last 8Qs towards cash flow break-even, then I am prepared to hold on. If the trend goes backwards, then I will sell.

Disc: Held IRL (0.5%) and SM (1.1%)

@AbelianGrape @mikebrisy hi guys i watched the latest result webcast and it is worth watching if you have not. it was quite apparent to me that the CEO looked like a beaten man. i have a small posiitoin and almsot sold on the back of it. he was downbeat and looked to have had enough. my take away was there has been a big issue with performance and the CEO and board have come to a juncture. by performance i mean that they expected to do much better (revenues/costs idk), rather than something lurking in the accounts. that's my take could be wrong

I imagine the pressure has been immense. Several instos got onboard at $15-$20 and have been told the current cash pile will see them to b/e and that operating leverage is showing through.

There is no place to hide and the substance of those commitments will become crystal clear over the next 1-3 Qs.

So it makes sense if the CEO has had enough. I’ve never been CEO, but I have left a senior position with money on the table because I didn’t believe in the story anymore.

The question is can Bevan and then a new CEO drive the business forward? I want to see another Q of data before deciding. I did well in the initial run up and took money off the table at the right time, and the last 8Qs do show operating leverage starting to show through.

Just to put things in perspective, there could be personal reason for his resignation. Not that I like to speculate anything but the CEO at the end of the day is a human being and has the same set of personal issues that normal ppl have.

I am surprised that he didn't take a career break earlier.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. @Solvetheriddle good suggestion. I hadn't watched the HY23 results video yet, but I'm looking at it now and Vincent certainly didn't seem to be full of energy. Then the find by @Valueinvestor0909 gives a bit more insight into what might be going on. I definitely don't begrudge the man leaving the job. I've never been a CEO and it sounds like an awful job.

At any rate, I'll sit tight and wait to see what the full year results are.

Thanks for the insight Madasalion (especially for the non-technical among us) -- worth putting in a Straw!