Pumpkin Patch buy-back shows confidence in future

I was in the process of writing something about the obvious merits of buying Pumpkin Patch Ltd [PPL.NZ] shares at prices of around 85c when I heard the news that management have decided that their shares are a bargain too.

Pumpkin Patch are planning a share buyback of up to 8.5 million shares beginning 28 November ending on 23 November 2009.

This is good management of shareholders capital at a time when the share price has slid more than 80% to the pre-IPO level of NZ$1.25.

It also shows managements long term faith in the company's future and from the amount I have written about the subject I clearly agree.

It makes me wonder whether Jan Cameron and and Rod Duke are going to add anymore shares now that their large stakes 1.Cameron 2. Duke in the Pumpkin have nearly halved in value since July and March this year.

Pumpkin Patch shares have been marked down recently because of the slow down in the global economy, especially affecting the retail sector, and their big hit in full year profit announced in September.

The news of the share buyback today sent shares rocketing more than 10c or 13.5% on low volume.



Pumpkin Patch @ Share Investor

Pumpkin Patch takes a hit
Pumpkin Patch ripe for the picking
What is Jan Cameron up to?
I'm buying
Why Did you but that Stock? [Pumpkin Patch]
Rod Duke's Pumpkin Patch gets bigger
Buyer of large piece of Pumpkin Patch a mystery
Pumpkin Patch a screaming buy
Broker downgrades of PPL lack long term vision
Pumpkin's expansion comes at a cost
Pumpkin Patch VS Burger Fuel
Pumpkin Patch profits flatten
New Zealand Retailers ring up costs not tills


Related links

2008 Full Year Profit

Pumpkin Patch- Investor relations
Pumpkin Patch- The clothing


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c Share Investor 2008

Why did you buy that stock? [Hallenstein Glasson]

A 30% drop in profit forecast for the full year to August 1, put Hallenstein Glasson [HLG] in the business papers today but the company has been through bad economic times before and weathered them well.

In this Why did you buy that stock? we will first look at what management do to navigate their business through the rocky waters of the recession New Zealand is now facing.


Why did you buy that stock?

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Why did you buy that stock? [Goodman Fielder]
Why did you buy that stock? [Auckland Airport]
Why did you buy that stock? [Sky City Entertainment]


The company's ability to maintain appropriate stock levels is one of the keys to retailing in general and Hallenstein Glasson do this better than probably any other New Zealand retailer.

Their focus on cost control has been one of the hallmarks of Hallensteins for the 6 years that I have been following the company and one of the main reasons for my recent purchase of the stock.

Their clothing is something my wife and I both purchase, it is generally well made, designed and fits its customer demographic year after year. Not as easy as it sounds but it requires the chain's buyers to keep abreast of changing trends and plan ahead well in advance.

Their marketing also impresses me. It is clever, witty and once again fits its customers well. It has developed its branding to perfection and management clearly know their customer and what they want. A basic for any business but in clothing retailing this is a more crucial talent to have because fashion trends change constantly.

Lets take a look at basic returns. Hallenstein Glasson have managed to pay one of the better dividends to investors of NZX listed stocks and before today's announcement the gross div was returning more than 18%. One now might expect around a 12% gross return at current share prices and that is still a considerable return given around a 9% rate for term investments.

I myself like good dividends, and only Sky City Entertainment Group [SKC], with a gross dividend, for my holding, of nearly 20%, makes HLG a good fit in the Share Investor Portfolio.

Many Kiwi retailers have made moves across the ditch to Australia and failed miserably. HLG has a small presence there, and while not proven a spectacular success their attempts at growth have been deliberate and cautious, rather than growth for the sake of it. A sign of good management and able planning. The addition earlier this year of Australian retailing queen Chief executive Shayne Quanchi, will help company plans in Australia.

Given current market conditions and an economy in dire straits, the excellent communication that management have had in the past with its shareholders, puts them clearly in the picture every time.

Well known for under promising and over delivering, management have always been upfront when it comes to relaying simple straightforward information about company progress.

Uncomplicated communication is a sign of clear management direction and even more important during the inevitable company hard times.

Finally the test I must take on whether I would continue to buy this stock. Since I only just purchased weeks ago that is probably already answering that test but I will be buying more, funds allowing, if the stock becomes cheaper.


Related Share Investor reading

Retailers are having a Christmas sale
NZ retailers ring up costs not tills


Related Links

Hallenstein Glasson- Corporate
Annual Reports
Stock Exchange Releases
Share Investor Forum - discuss HLG here



c Share Investor 2008

What is Jan Cameron up to? (UPDATE 4)

What is Jan Cameron up to?

(PPG share purchase update) On Monday 5 July 2010 she bought 600,000 shares to take her holding in PPG to 19.26% or 7,702,537 shares. She previously held 17.76%.

Cameron, who sold a 51 % stake in her Kathmandu outdoor clothing company for NZ$275 million in 2006, would now own over 7 million shares in PPG for a sum of less than $5 million.

The 19.26% of PPG Cameron now owns is not far short of the 20% takeover threshold where if she wanted more of the company she would have to make an offer to all shareholders for their holdings.

Like her competitor in retailing, Rod Duke, who has recently built up a stake in Pumpkin Patch Ltd [PPL.NZ] she could be just taking advantage of beaten down stock prices, with a small non controlling stake in Postie Plus or building up a holding for a possible takeover. This doesn't seem likely though.

Jan likes control in her business life so it would be natural to assume that she could see herself as an outright owner of Postie Plus.

At current share prices, in theory at least, she wouldn't have to pay more than $14 million for the remaining 32 million shares in the company. Of course a premium would have to be paid for full control but either way she could probably grab the entire company for less than $20 million.

There is no doubt that Cameron is a canny business woman. She built Kathmandu from a small one store retailer in Melbourne in 1987 to a medium sized outdoor "lifestyle" chain with 46 stores, in Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.

Given her successful past there must be something that she sees in Posties Plus that makes its future better than it is currently.

Postie Plus has three different brands in its store stable. Postie Plus, Arbuckles and Baby City.

Out of these, Postie Plus is doing satisfactorily, Baby City are doing very well and Arbuckles, the manchester business was sold to Cameron in its entirety on June 10.

I could see how Cameron might be interested in Baby City as a brand to grow. This brand, specializing in baby clothing and accessories, is operating in a sector ripe for more branded chain store competition. Baby City really has only one serious branded competitor in New Zealand in Pumpkin Patch. With a little of Cameron's retailing magic Baby City could be a good place for her to start a much larger brand, although recent revelations that Cameron has bought a 6.3% stake in the Pumpkin might give that sort of speculation a lively twist.

The Postie Plus brand is a chain that has recently undergone a bit of a revamp. From selling conservative clothing to older people, especially women, it has now gone slightly more upmarket with a broader range of goods for a larger customer base. It is still struggling in the current economic downturn but with Cameron's retailing expertise and well known focus on minimising cost it could well do better under her guidance.

It is great to see one of New Zealand's more successful business women take an interest in a company with a beaten down capital value.

She likes to take control of her business interests (who doesn't) and is a very aggressive player.

She currently has a number of different retailing interests. A new one, Nood, a home wares store, is going head to head with Briscoe Group [BGR.NZ] Urban Loft stores. Like most New Zealand retailers, Briscoes is struggling at present.

With Cameron's track record and stake in Postie Plus it will be curious to see what her next move might be.

In October 2009 that question has been answered in that Jan has made a move against her former company Kathmandu, who is currently perusing and IPO, by making public her plans to go into competition with them in the outdoor clothing market.





Jan Cameron @ Share Investor

Jan Cameron ready to move on Postie Plus Group?
Kathmandu's 2011 Results Under Pressure from Jan Cameron
Kathmandu IPO: Jan Cameron lands a blow to IPO
What is Jan Cameron up to?


Kathmandu @ Share Investor

Kathmandu IPO: Prospectus Analysis
Kathmandu IPO: Jan Cameron lands a blow to IPO
Kathmandu IPO: What is it worth?
Kathmandu IPO: Retail Interest HighKathmandu IPO: A tough mountain to climb
Kathmandu No.1 but IPO should get the Bullet
Download the detailed Kathmandu Value Cruncher Report - Requires free registration at Share Investor Forum to download
Download Kathmandu IPO Prospectus

Discuss Kathmandu at Share Investor Forum









c Share Investor 2008

Hallenstein Glasson Australian expansion needs expert execution

Hallenstein Glasson [HLG.NZ] net profit for the 2008 half-year after tax fell 6.6 per cent from $9.9 million to $9.2 million, in line with the company's January market guidance.

The results are mirrored in an overall decline in sales of 2 per cent, with group sales for the six months ending February 1 falling from $100.7 million to $98.5 million.

The company has done spectacularly well for so long but in the last few years sales and profit have been stagnant.

It seemed reasonably clear that profit wouldn't continue to climb as rapidly as it has done in the past, because much of it came from focusing on cost reductions in the business and the company now runs a lean mean retailing machine, fixed costs like rising labour expenses and leases aside.

The expansion of women's clothing chain Glassons across Australia is a priority for new Hallenstein Glasson chief executive Shayne Quanchi, who is based in Melbourne herself.

The focus on expansion across the Tasman before stalled growth in New Zealand is seriously looked at, could be of some concern to shareholders.

Even though Quanchi is a 20 year veteran of retailing in Australia, doesn't mean she can make the Kiwi style Glassons chain a rocking and rolling OZ success.

Its competitors there are way more savvy, generally part of the big conglomerates like Coles/Wesfarmers, David Jones, and the like and the differences between similar targeted customers that Glassons has here and its competitors in Australia are vast in their sophistication, choice options and pricing.

Don't get me wrong, Hallensteins is a great company and has done well in New Zealand for generations but the road to Australia for many New Zealand companies and their expansion plans, is littered with the corpses of battered balance sheets and zombie like shareholders who have had their wallets picked.

Clearly Australia is an opportunity for the company in which they can continue to expand but the story so far there has been disappointing when compared with the operations of the New Zealand unit.

One good and important aspect of the result is that gross margins have been maintained and that is no mean feat in the present retailing environment.

Like other retailers, such as Briscoe [BRG.NZ] and The Warehouse Group[WHS.NZ], they are going to struggle this year, as consumers, especially in New Zealand, slow their spending because of increased taxes, petrol and mortgage costs.

Related Share Investor reading

Why did you buy that stock? [Hallenstein Glasson]
Retailers are having a Christmas sale

Discuss this Company @ Share Investor Forum


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c Share Investor 2008