Share Investor's Friday Free for all

Airport Merger with DAE finally crashes

The merger of Auckland International Airport(AIA) with Dubai Aeronautical Enterprise (DAE) has hit crosswinds with DAE finally realising that their deal to control around 60% of the company looking like it is about to crash and burn.

DAE said legal action filed by Air New Zealand seeking a judicial review of AIA's landing charges constituted a "prescribed occurrence" under the terms of the merger agreement.

DAE have stated if the parties were unable to come to an agreement by the end of five working days of mutual talks, either party could terminate the merger agreement.

As many, including myself have commented DAE look likely to fly the coop.

There are other prospective buyers of AIA in the wings and there is a possibility that a Canadian Pension Plan maybe ready to launch a bid.

Shares ended down to NZ$3.02 on the news today.

Don't leave town or sell your shares yet.

Finance Companies Folding

Finance companies continued to collapse with gay abandon this week. Five Star Consumer Finance disappeared with $80 Million and today a subsidiary of Dorchester Finance was wound up by Dorchester directors.

Dorchester claim the parent company isn't in trouble but we have heard that before haven't we.

The Securities Commission has asked all finance companies to respond to them with a state of their affairs. 18 stragglers were the last to report at 6.30pm today but we have yet to hear the health or otherwise of these companies. It looks likely that we will hear of others going south next week.

Micheal Cullen, the Labour Minister of Finance, has come out to reassure the public that the Finance company mess hasn't spread to the banking sector. His comments are far from reassuring. They scare me.

Two Titans bow out

Sir James Fletcher , the driver behind the incredible growth of Fletcher Challenge from the 1940s-1980s bowed out this week.

Born into privilege and wealth James Fletcher took the reins of his fathers building company in the mid 1940s and turned it into what was to become one of New Zealands largest companies.

His management style , capacity for hard work and ability to communicate with and respect people are aspects of upper management that are sadly lacking, with a few notable exceptions, in this country today.

Nick Nobilo, the founder and head of Nobilo Wines will be remembered for introducing New Zealanders to wine and also for transforming large areas of West Auckland into quality Vineyards where exports of his product have now become commonplace.

Another hard grafter, this immigrant had a vision, had a backbone and got down and let his hands get dirty. Sadly these traits seem to be missing from many of us today.

Burger Fuel share price rises

Josef Roberts explained to me this week that his companies share price was dropping because of poor liquidity and negative world markets. The price was trading at .65c at the time. Burger Fuel shares were up to 70c yesterday and closed today at the same price. Go figure.

Wasted Opportunities

Transpacific Industries, the Australian parent of Waste Management, reported a 117 per cent rise in net profit on the back of a year of aggressive expansion.

Transpacific, an Australian company, bought Waste Management a few years back at what alot of market commentators and directors of Waste Management said was a good price for shareholders. I was one shareholder who thought the price paid was poor and clearly I didn't want to sell.

My stance was vindicated with today's Transpacific announcement.

A shame my detractors seem silent now and so are the former directors of Waste Management.

Short term thinkers can only see just that. Short term.

NZX finishes up

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 0.3 per cent, or 11.37 points, at 4118.97.

Contact Energy(CEN) was down 12c at 915 after swinging very wildly this week and reporting a good profit. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare(FPH) was down 2c at 338, F&P(FPA)Sky Television TV(SKT) shed 3c to 558.

Port of Tauranga (POT) lost some of yesterday's gains to close down 10c at 700 after reporting a stellar profit increase yesterday, Air New Zealand(AIR) rose 5c to 206, Freightways(FRE)was up 5c at 395, and Mainfreight(MFT) lost 2c to 707.

Sanford (SAN) was up 15c at 455, Tower(TWR) rose 7c to 231, Rakon(RAK) was up 7c at 489, and The Warehouse(WHS) rose 3c to 564.

ANZ shed 60c to 3350, Westpac was up 45c at 3145, AMP gained 14c to 1215, Lion Nathan(LNN) rose 5c to 1055, and Goodman Fielder(GFF) was up 10c at 300 after earlier this week reporting a solid profit result. It is at near historical highs.

Till next week.

*Disclosure: I own AIA, FRE, FPH,GFF, MFT, SKC, Shares

c Share Investor 2007