According to The Australian Financial Review, shareholders are asking 'Where is the takeover?' and 'Where is the premium to alleviate years of suffering under a share price that sank from 30¢ to 3¢ since listing in 2005?'

But the board, which includes former AMP chief executive Paul Batchelor, ex-UBS luminary Bill Gurry, former Macquarie Bank treasurer Paul Robertson and former Rothschild funds exec Andrew Brown, already controls 54 per cent of the company, making it a fait acompli that the shareholder vote on delisting at next month's meeting will pass.

Last Thursday the board updated the outlook for the December half-year to forecast a $400,000 pre-tax profit and noted the "directors now believe the market is fully informed and thus the blackout period relating to director trading in shares is lifted".

Brown said yesterday that, as well as director interests, a number of "people who do business with Cheviot Bridge" had indicated they were prepared to buy shares in the company if it were taken private, but most investors have shunned the stock, to the extent that director purchases have accounted for nearly two-thirds of the admittedly thin trade over the past two years.