ALS.TO - Altius Minerals

[giofranchi]

Hey! Ok... Call me naïve, if you’d like to… But I have 2 needs and 2 needs only:

Need n.1) To like the person

Need n.2) To like the business

I have still to understand why ALS doesn’t satisfy both needs.

But, please, let me know! ;)

 

Gio

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Gio

 

I do not think the answer is so simple - engineers, I've noticed, like binary outcomes and percentiles and standard deviations .. I'm a poor lawyer so please take what I am saying as my more "grey" version of reality :)

 

Note that I wrote "competent" - I do not know Mr. Dalton personally so I cannot say if he is in the 99th or 50th percentile at anything ... I look for results or at least concrete actions ... we have been told for a very long period of time that Kami will be financed .. first it was end of 2013, then it was end of Q2 2014 and now ... nobody is saying ... Mr Dalton is the steward of your money and your money is being destroyed, slowly, day by day, every day Kami is not built ... If I were a shareholder, I would expect him to ACT or to at least not be silent ... and I would also realize that sometimes the smartest people finish last, not first, and allow for the chance that despite Dalton being in the 99th percentile, he will simply fail OR that his success will come so many years later as to make the investment unattractive ...

 

I am just trying to present a different Weltanschauung in this discussion and trying to steer it to focusing on the risks and on mitigating those - the upside is clear enough  ;D

[giofranchi]

Note that I wrote "competent" - I do not know Mr. Dalton personally so I cannot say if he is in the 99th or 50th percentile at anything ... I look for results or at least concrete actions ... we have been told for a very long period of time that Kami will be financed .. first it was end of 2013, then it was end of Q2 2014 and now ... nobody is saying ... Mr Dalton is the steward of your money and your money is being destroyed, slowly, day by day, every day Kami is not built ... If I were a shareholder, I would expect him to ACT or to at least not be silent ... and I would also realize that sometimes the smartest people finish last, not first, and allow for the chance that despite Dalton being in the 99th percentile, he will simply fail OR that his success will come so many years later as to make the investment unattractive ...

 

Ok! Thank you! I like that!

 

My counterargument is that I don’t think business works that way… you said we have been told that Kami would be financed by end 2013… now we are at end of Q2 2014 and no financing yet… well, 6 months!! 6 months ago the market was cheering Mr. Dalton because he announced the purchase of the “Prairie Royalties” and the CDP, hailing him as a great steward of capital… 6 months later the market labels him as a poor steward of capital, because he is encountering difficulties getting the financing of Kami approved… The market is even saying the value of Kami, which imo depends on its production and costs for many years into the future, declines each day that financing gets postponed…

 

So, if you have time and patience, let me tell you what happened to me last October: the Manager of the Human Resources for Salini-Impregilo, today by far the largest construction company in Italy, came to me and told me: “Salini-Impregilo would like to start a new master course about the project management of great infrastructural works around the globe, to cultivate its new top managers. And it has chosen your Master School as the best vehicle to achieve that goal”. And they have offered to cover practically all the costs to activate that new master course, while all the revenues will be ours to keep.

We already have 4 different master courses, which of course enjoy much lower margins than the new one. Therefore, this new initiative will be very important for us: decidedly more than 20% our present revenues, and a much higher percentage of our earnings!

Well, until 3 days ago I hadn’t been able to get a final agreement from Salini-Impregilo… 7 months have passed without me being able to get the “financing” of this very important new “project”…

Do you picture me spending each day of those 7 months thinking “oh my god! With every day that passes the true worth of the new master course is decreasing!”? ???

No, absolutely not! And for two reasons:

1) its true worth was not decreasing,

2) I had 100 other things to take care of every single day!!

 

And that is only a master course… And my company is orders of magnitudes smaller than ALS…

 

Gio

 

[hohi]

Based on all your recent comments here I am inclined to call a bottom. I would also like to buy all your shares because of the following predictions:

 

1.) Kami gets build

2.) JL gets build

3.) some other Iron property of ALS gets build

4.) ALS will make lots of cash by selling ADV and JL equity

5.) We'll see a dividend within 2 years

 

I won't put any dates to 1.)-4.) as I think in the near term iron ore prices will remain weak. All the new low-cost supply out of the Pilbara and Brazil will flood the market in the coming years, but once Chinas high-cost mines are shut down we will see iron ore prices spike with a vengance. That's when Kami and JL will be financed and build. It could take 5-10 years, but when it happens I will happily sit on all those shares to collect a fat dividend. All of the coal and potash aside...

 

Be greedy when others are fearful. I am damn greedy right now!

[SharperDingaan]

We might want to remind ourselves as to what we actually heard: A trial balloon re the possibility of a financing delay by a few days - in a negotiation. The message is that it is not on, put Kami in a spin-off ASAP ahead of a public auction, & make all Chinese financing subject to 3rd party guarantee.

 

There has been no actual announcement from ADV, & negotiation continues.

 

ALS is not ADV, & ALS does not need Kami FCF to support a dividend declaration at their board meeting next month.

 

Think!

 

SD

[Blue Macaw]

Well, 99th or 50th percentile does not matter really. He does not need to be the smartest. The smartest does not always win. It is the one that can adjust to the situation the best. (as Darwin would put it). Hopefully Altius has more people than Dalton on the team and hopefully the team can convince the Chinese or other investors that this is a profitable mine. Up until now the team believes it is a profitable mine and I do as well. The cash cost might not be as stated in the feasibility report but I would not completely buy the fact either that Kami will be exactly like Bloom lake. It is just one mine that has similar caracteristics but other mines around show some nice profits at the bottom line. The Alderon team has also tried to show why the cash cost won´t be similar to Bloom lake. Lets say they are half wrong and we would see cash cost around 60 USD per ton which still makes this better than smaller mines in China. Actually it is better than the most profitable iron mines we have here in Sweden. (mainly underground mines producing around 25 M tons a year. Increasing production to 30 in 2018). Kami is an open pit mine which is a must if you have low grade like 30 %. What you can see in China are underground mines with lower grades ranging from 20-30 %.

 

The deal has taken longer than expected that is for sure. But everyone must have known that we would not see a deal until all permits where in place which they are now. If I am not mistaken the final deal was in may (actually water monitoring deal is still pending but the least significant of all) so I am not at all surprised it has been pushed into the future. The Canadian government is pro this as are the locals. I would be surprised if there was no deal.

 

This thing with buying back shares is just silly. Of course we knew they would raise equity and of course they cannot buy back shares now regardless of price. They have just spent it all on a deal that has transformed the company. The deal will eventually show if it was good or bad, if coal is still an energy source to rely on and if potash is still needed in the world if CDP can give us something or if it was a new deal like the refinary business.

 

Altius biggest advantage is the close ties they have with the Chinese. Maybe Dalton is a below 50th percentile human when it comes to brain power but 99th percentile human when it comes to making friends/ties with the Chinese. Who knows? Let them work and we will see progress.

 

If we look at a strict Benjamin Graham valuation we can see that we should be around 11 with the profit they are making now. This is the valuation seen from a defensive investor´s point of view and does not take into consideration the up and coming other business opportunities. (Well it takes into consideration growth but not the growth of a Kami or Julienne lake) So if you buy now there could be a chance you would lose 10-20%. You also have a chance of gaining a lot. If kami deal is announced next coming weeks you will read completely different lines on this board that is for sure.

 

 

 

[giofranchi]

Well, 99th or 50th percentile does not matter really.

 

Blue Macaw,

you certainly are worth 100 Gio, when it comes to mining knowledge… but I guess we just think about business differently… Imo it always comes down to one person (who hopefully surrounds himself with smart people!):

Is Mr. Dalton great and reliable? I am in, no matter what the stock price does.

Is Mr. Dalton poor or unreliable? I am out, no matter what the stock price does.

If you don’t like that binary outcome… as I said, we just think differently about business.

 

Gio

 

[Blue Macaw]

Well, 99th or 50th percentile does not matter really.

 

Blue Macaw,

you certainly are worth 100 Gio, when it comes to mining knowledge… but I guess we just think about business differently… Imo it always comes down to one person (who hopefully surrounds himself with smart people!):

Is Mr. Dalton great and reliable? I am in, no matter what the stock price does.

Is Mr. Dalton poor or unreliable? I am out, no matter what the stock price does.

If you don’t like that binary outcome… as I said, we just think differently about business.

 

Gio

 

:)

I do believe we think quite similar actually. I know it comes down to a reliable team. I see it everyday at work. (Tunnel/Civil engineer). Good team =higher probability of success, bad team = no chance of success what so ever. What I was trying to say is that there are more people that have been around Dalton all this time. They have to be good as well. Dalton I do think is reliable and from what I know he is heavily invested as well in Altius. The G and A cost are also reasonable for the company and stock options to the staff ok within limits.

 

From what I can tell we are dealing with a management that stays within the criteria of being a trustworth bunch of people.

[Andy Dufresne]

Gio, SD, hohi and Blue Macaw - thanks for making this a beautiful Saturday with this lively discussion  8)

 

Let me begin by saying I am getting a wonderful education on this thread and learning both about resource investing and myself, so thanks guys!

 

I completely agree that ALS is NOT ADV ... however, it is suffering through the beautiful (?) market mechanism of "guilt by association" ... and while ALS has the FCF, a failure to finance Kami will likely depress it's price for some time (as we are now seeing) - perhaps long enough for a market-wide correction to kick in and for the stock to then truly slump? [i am trying hard not to be an alarmist here]

 

hohi - can I borrow your crystal ball? I'd love to have a peek ... otherwise I just don't know when things will take place, if at all. I agree that if even one of these things happen (esp. the first 2), ALS is likely underpriced at this point :)

 

SD - thanks for the input but there is no clear timeline here either - if they were to say "we're giving it an extra 2 weeks and then we will have a spin-off" I would have much more respect for mgmt here - I don't have a clue how popular Dalton is with the Chinese but if there is still no financing after all this time despite the economics of the mine - and I assume the Chinese understand that iron prices, like all prices, change ... then something is fishy and I have yet to hear anyone, esp. mgmt try to explain it to shareholders in a Richard Feynman Freshman Physics kind-of-way (= really really simply) - the longer things get drawn out, the bigger the onus on mgmt

 

 

[shalab]

I am curious to know what the valuation is from Gio/Dazel et.al with/without iron ore projects. I think some of the arguments from Glen Chan have been pretty compelling - especially regarding the cost part of the equation.

 

If the premise for Kami getting financed is based on Chinese iron ore plants shutting down - I think people will get disappointed.

 

If we look at a strict Benjamin Graham valuation we can see that we should be around 11 with the profit they are making now. This is the valuation seen from a defensive investor´s point of view and does not take into consideration the up and coming other business opportunities. (Well it takes into consideration growth but not the growth of a Kami or Julienne lake) So if you buy now there could be a chance you would lose 10-20%. You also have a chance of gaining a lot. If kami deal is announced next coming weeks you will read completely different lines on this board that is for sure.

[giofranchi]

I am curious to know what the valuation is from Gio/Dazel et.al with/without iron ore projects.

 

Hi shalab,

on page 308 of this thread you find my NAV calculation, assuming all iron ore related assets are worthless.

Given its past growth, and future prospects for growth, I thinks ALS is worth much more than the multiple of NAV (with iron ore related assets at zero) it’s selling for today.

But, of course, if Kami doesn’t get financed, there is no other clear opportunity for growth in the short term yet… And that’s why imo the price is trading at today’s levels.

 

Gio

 

[wachtwoord]

I completely agree that ALS is NOT ADV ... however, it is suffering through the beautiful (?) market mechanism of "guilt by association" ... and while ALS has the FCF, a failure to finance Kami will likely depress it's price for some time (as we are now seeing) - perhaps long enough for a market-wide correction to kick in and for the stock to then truly slump? [i am trying hard not to be an alarmist here]

 

 

It seems you are talking about price while the overall discussion is about value. I don't care if the price will always stays depressed I will just enjoy the dividends! (Of course it won't because the market might be slow and stupid, it always catches up in the end).

[giofranchi]

I completely agree that ALS is NOT ADV ... however, it is suffering through the beautiful (?) market mechanism of "guilt by association" ... and while ALS has the FCF, a failure to finance Kami will likely depress it's price for some time (as we are now seeing) - perhaps long enough for a market-wide correction to kick in and for the stock to then truly slump? [i am trying hard not to be an alarmist here]

 

 

It seems you are talking about price while the overall discussion is about value. I don't care if the price will always stays depressed I will just enjoy the dividends! (Of course it won't because the market might be slow and stupid, it always catches up in the end).

 

Well, I understand what Andy is saying!

That’s why I keep averaging down slowly, and I also keep holding a lot of cash: to average down slowly lets me take advantage of a depressed price, if Kami financing gets approved before a market-wide correction; to keep a lot of cash would let me take advantage of a true slump in stock price, should a market-wide correction come before the Kami financing.

 

Gio

 

[Andy Dufresne]

wachtwoord - as I have no position, naturally I am talking price, because this is what I will pay to get shares in the company ... and if the market further depresses price, I will have more margin of safety in the investment ... all I said is that mgmt is not giving any clarity to investors about Kami (or, if this is not possible, then a clear timeline for action) and this is depressing the price as well as making me less trustful of mgmt ...

 

I don't believe there are many companies (if at all) that qualify for WEB's assertion of "infinite" holding period, but I do think that if the market is slow/stuck with respect to a stock, it can seriously dampen return performance. I try to look 2-3 years out - I'm not smart enough to hazard a guess what will happen after that :)

 

Let's say that in the best case Kami and JL financing is secured on favorable terms and ALS is at CAD 20 in 12 months' time - this would give a person investing at CAD 12.42 a 61% return - most definitely a juicy return (unless you are Packer or Eric, that is) .. but what if it nothing happens with Kami or JL and there are no new royalty streams in the next 3 years? This "bear case" is getting more real every day that passes without any news ... then, even if by some market miracle the stock hits CAD 20 your return is down to 17% p.a. - very respectable, but hardly mouthwatering given the continued uncertainty and the silence of mgmt .. and there is every chance that returns will be actually much lower if the stock ends up trading in the CAD 10-12 range, as it did for several years prior to 2014 ...

[wachtwoord]

I completely agree that ALS is NOT ADV ... however, it is suffering through the beautiful (?) market mechanism of "guilt by association" ... and while ALS has the FCF, a failure to finance Kami will likely depress it's price for some time (as we are now seeing) - perhaps long enough for a market-wide correction to kick in and for the stock to then truly slump? [i am trying hard not to be an alarmist here]

 

 

It seems you are talking about price while the overall discussion is about value. I don't care if the price will always stays depressed I will just enjoy the dividends! (Of course it won't because the market might be slow and stupid, it always catches up in the end).

 

Well, I understand what Andy is saying!

That’s why I keep averaging down slowly, and I also keep holding a lot of cash: to average down slowly lets me take advantage of a depressed price, if Kami financing gets approved before a market-wide correction; to keep a lot of cash would let me take advantage of a true slump in stock price, should a market-wide correction come before the Kami financing.

 

Gio

 

Yeah I absolutely hate holding cash (it's evaporating purchasing power right in front of you) so I'm always fully invested. I don't sell unless I have something else to buy. So when I want to buy more ALS.TO I'll need to sell something else. This tactic guarantees I can never take advantage of a market-wide correction though (but I think it's unlikely that I can time these correctly anyway).

[wachtwoord]

wachtwoord - as I have no position, naturally I am talking price, because this is what I will pay to get shares in the company ... and if the market further depresses price, I will have more margin of safety in the investment ... all I said is that mgmt is not giving any clarity to investors about Kami (or, if this is not possible, then a clear timeline for action) and this is depressing the price as well as making me less trustful of mgmt ...

 

I don't believe there are many companies (if at all) that qualify for WEB's assertion of "infinite" holding period, but I do think that if the market is slow/stuck with respect to a stock, it can seriously dampen return performance. I try to look 2-3 years out - I'm not smart enough to hazard a guess what will happen after that :)

 

Let's say that in the best case Kami and JL financing is secured on favorable terms and ALS is at CAD 20 in 12 months' time - this would give a person investing at CAD 12.42 a 61% return - most definitely a juicy return (unless you are Packer or Eric, that is) .. but what if it nothing happens with Kami or JL and there are no new royalty streams in the next 3 years? This "bear case" is getting more real every day that passes without any news ... then, even if by some market miracle the stock hits CAD 20 your return is down to 17% p.a. - very respectable, but hardly mouthwatering given the continued uncertainty and the silence of mgmt .. and there is every chance that returns will be actually much lower if the stock ends up trading in the CAD 10-12 range, as it did for several years prior to 2014 ...

 

Again you're mixing up value and price. What you say about the price needing to be sufficiently below the value to warrant a buy is completely right (margin of safety).

 

But then you go on to speculate what will happen to the market price in the short term. That's speculation. I don't believe humans can predict the future.

 

If the price is sufficiently below the value (given the inherent risks of the specific situation) it's a buy. If no, it's not. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. Don't go speculating on what the market will do. (Of course averaging down is a fine way to build a position)

[giofranchi]

Yeah I absolutely hate holding cash (it's evaporating purchasing power right in front of you) so I'm always fully invested.

 

Yes! I understand.

My experience:

Every time I had a bad, or a not so good year, it has never been because of cash, but always because my investments did poorly.

On the other hand, running a concentrated portfolio, cash has been useful more than once, when a good opportunity has come along at the same time my investments were doing poorly. ;)

 

But I guess this is not the place to start talking about asset allocation...

 

Gio

 

[Andy Dufresne]

wachtwoord - as I have no position, naturally I am talking price, because this is what I will pay to get shares in the company ... and if the market further depresses price, I will have more margin of safety in the investment ... all I said is that mgmt is not giving any clarity to investors about Kami (or, if this is not possible, then a clear timeline for action) and this is depressing the price as well as making me less trustful of mgmt ...

 

I don't believe there are many companies (if at all) that qualify for WEB's assertion of "infinite" holding period, but I do think that if the market is slow/stuck with respect to a stock, it can seriously dampen return performance. I try to look 2-3 years out - I'm not smart enough to hazard a guess what will happen after that :)

 

Let's say that in the best case Kami and JL financing is secured on favorable terms and ALS is at CAD 20 in 12 months' time - this would give a person investing at CAD 12.42 a 61% return - most definitely a juicy return (unless you are Packer or Eric, that is) .. but what if it nothing happens with Kami or JL and there are no new royalty streams in the next 3 years? This "bear case" is getting more real every day that passes without any news ... then, even if by some market miracle the stock hits CAD 20 your return is down to 17% p.a. - very respectable, but hardly mouthwatering given the continued uncertainty and the silence of mgmt .. and there is every chance that returns will be actually much lower if the stock ends up trading in the CAD 10-12 range, as it did for several years prior to 2014 ...

 

Again you're mixing up value and price. What you say about the price needing to be sufficiently below the value to warrant a buy is completely right (margin of safety).

 

But then you go on to speculate what will happen to the market price in the short term. That's speculation. I don't believe humans can predict the future.

 

If the price is sufficiently below the value (given the inherent risks of the specific situation) it's a buy. If no, it's not. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. Don't go speculating on what the market will do. (Of course averaging down is a fine way to build a position)

 

wachtwoord - thanks for your input! I think we can agree that the value of ALS is, in some meaningful way, dependent on the development of Kami and JL ... so, whether or not they are developed / spun-off and when, has a direct bearing on the value of ALS.

 

Some on the thread have shown the Fair VALUE of ALS to be in the CAD 11-14 range based on current projects, i.e. without taking Kami and JL and other things into account. What is essentially being argued on the thread is that we are buying a solid royalty company at FV and getting a free option on the future projects - Kami and the rest ... Gio has done an admirable job IMHO on this point, as have others.

 

Since I do not know enough about Altius to make a good enough assessment at this time, I am merely saying that for myself, I want a larger margin of safety here so I want a lower price. I am also making the observation that management is not doing a good job of communicating with shareholders, moreso after the LCM offering fiasco and that this creates the uncertainty that is driving the price down pretty consistently since the offering.

 

With respect to ALS price in 12 months' time - this was not meant to convey anything beyond a numerical example of returns and if otherwise understood it is my fault for not having made this clear. What I was trying to say is that I am looking to enter and possibly exit a position after 2-3 years and I am trying to figure out (like WEB and Charlie) how the business will look at that time and what this will mean for my returns - this hardly strikes me as speculation (although any attempt to look at the future is speculative per se). I understand full well that the value gap in ALS can persist for a long time, and this, in itself, is not a problem - my problem is that if management continues to act as it has been acting, there is a higher likelihood of the value gap being maintained, and this is a risk I think one must weigh.

 

[wachtwoord]

Gio: there's things to be said for both. I hold some very large cap companies which won't vary in price that much (of course way more than cash) and I could always liquidate those to fund my purchases if necessary. You're right this is not the place to discuss this though (there's even another thread for this).

 

Andy: Then I misunderstood you :) The above sounds perfectly reasonable.

[giofranchi]

2b- Given Kami's grades and the quality of its ore, it makes no sense that it would be among the lowest-cost producers in the world.

 

Therefore, I guess also page 21 of their June 2014 presentation is misleading… because it seems they are saying the exact opposite: “Value-in-use proposition of Kami concentrate offsets freight disadvantage”.

And they show how Kami Concentrate is better than its Brazilian, Australian, and Chinese counterparts… Moreover, its phosphorus and alumina contents are by far the lowest…

 

Sincerely, it seems a bit strange that everything is a lie…

 

Gio

 

[Aberhound]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-19/china-miners-loss-is-bhp-s-gain-as-iron-prices-slump-44-.html

 

Iron ore miners struggling.

 

It will be tempting for Rio Tinto @$44 and BHP at $53 costs to drop prices to weaken Fortescue @$77 costs and try to force it to shed assets. Producers will continue to produce so long as variable costs are covered and Fortescue has high fixed costs and low variable costs so will bleed for a long time. Fortescue was too aggressive expanding so is vulnerable. The Chinese miners that shut down must have had high variable costs. Kami's variable cost will always be higher than Australia as freight is a variable cost so if built Kami would shut down much earlier than the Australia mines even if total costs are similar.

[alertmeipp]

I remember at the end of last year, the media were saying

 

Gold is going to collapse as it has no real value

US oil is going to collapse because of surging production

Canadian O&G is done without the Keystone

Uranium was going to bounce back.

 

Commodities is tricky.. and junior miners/producers even more so. If ALS's portfolio is on cdn oil & gas juniors, our topics here will be very different. Coal, Potash, Iron Ore, Uranium - ALS is sitting on some of the worst commodities. That's why I like it. Things will cycle back and with the royalty income, we have time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ItsAValueTrap]

2b- Given Kami's grades and the quality of its ore, it makes no sense that it would be among the lowest-cost producers in the world.

 

Therefore, I guess also page 21 of their June 2014 presentation is misleading… because it seems they are saying the exact opposite: “Value-in-use proposition of Kami concentrate offsets freight disadvantage”.

And they show how Kami Concentrate is better than its Brazilian, Australian, and Chinese counterparts… Moreover, its phosphorus and alumina contents are by far the lowest…

 

Sincerely, it seems a bit strange that everything is a lie…

 

Gio

 

Alderon's presentation struck me as rather egregious.  Their feasibility study clearly states that sulfur and manganese will be issues.  The presentation makes no mention of that.

 

The presentation also talks about how Kami's operating costs will be lower than Bloom Lake.  I find that incredibly difficult to believe given that BBA did feasibility study work for both Bloom Lake and Kami.  They missed bigtime on Bloom Lake yet investors are supposed to believe that Kami will come in at around $43/t (excluding freight)?

[ItsAValueTrap]

1) Has he worked a long time to build Kami… which is an iron mine with high operating costs?! I am not in the 99th percentile… not by a long stretch… but I know that, when it comes to commodities, business gets interesting only if you are among the low cost producers! And Mr. Dalton ignores this?!

 

They don't get to choose whether the deposits they find are low-cost or not.  In mineral exploration, sometimes people go looking for one thing and find another.  The Voisey's Bay nickel deposit (Altius has a royalty) was discovered by a company called Diamond Fields... a company that was looking for diamonds.  Everybody wants to find the next Voisey's Bay but it takes a huge amount of luck to find a mega-deposit like that.

 

2) You are practically saying ADV management lied about Kami’s operating costs… one thing I am sure: an entrepreneur in the 99th percentile doesn’t get himself involved with people who lie.

Dalton doesn't have the luxury of being discriminating in choosing who he "sells" his prospects to.  (Altius actually enters into joint venture agreements.)

 

And to some degree, it's not a bad idea to "sell" your prospects to super shady juniors.  Shady junior explorers often overexplore and overbuild.  Some of them have managed to build mines that should have never been built in the first place.

 

2- To clarify:  He is in the 99th percentile in terms of skill and talent and smarts.  I didn't say that he is in the 99th percentile overall (which would include integrity as a criteria).

[wachtwoord]

 

2- To clarify:  He is in the 99th percentile in terms of skill and talent and smarts.  I didn't say that he is in the 99th percentile overall (which would include integrity as a criteria).

 

If we're talking percentile I'm talking intelligence, not integrity.