By Pav Jordan
The Globe and Mail
Barely four months into his job, AuRico Gold Inc. chief executive officer Scott Perry has had one message to investors: It’s time to get boring.
Odd as that may sound, especially from a youthful CEO such as Mr. Perry, it echoes the new mantra of a gold industry that is recovering from a massive shareholder exodus that slashed values at companies large and small.
It is still more understandable given AuRico’s checkered past performances as Gammon Gold Inc. — it changed its name in June – and a stock market that is punishing gold producers who pursue growth for growth’s sake, and at the expense of shareholder value.
“The big thing I keep talking about with shareholders is we just want a portfolio that is deemed reliable, stable, consistent,” Mr. Perry said in an interview last week from offices in downtown Toronto. “So, if I was to speak crudely, it’s ‘let’s just get boring.’”