Saturday, September 25, 2010

Intolerant Muslims

Here we go again.

Showing a complete lack of a sense of humour while having an intellectual lobotomy at the same time should reduce the holder of theses traits into a blob of nervous mental energy but if you are from the Muslim faith this apparently gives to the right to issue veiled (no pun intended) threats.

I am talking about the reaction to harmless jokes about Muslims made by Maurice Williamson a few weeks back:

These are the "offending" jokes:

"What is the difference between Muslims and Kiwis? Muslims get to commit adultery and get stoned, Kiwis get stoned and commit adultery."

Mr Williamson also quipped about the weather being "Shi'ite in the morning and Sunni in the afternoon," a reference to the two main denominations of the religion.

The problem now is though that the Islamic community don't share Williamson's sense of humour.

"Islamic community leaders have written to Prime Minister John Key demanding Building Minister Maurice Williamson apologise for jokes he made about Muslims.

The Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand sent the letter more than a week ago but has yet to receive a response. At the time Mr Key played down the jokes, saying Mr Williamson was known for his humour.

President Anwar Ghani said New Zealand Muslims were "very upset" about the intolerant remarks and were happy the federation was raising it officially.

The federation had written to Mr Key on the advice of the Human Rights Commission and would wait for his response before deciding to take further action, he said." Stuff.co.nz

Anwar is very upset huh? Well, if Anwar has had a humour bypass that cant be helped but getting unnecessarily offended just to make your religion noticed isn't a good look.

The Muslim faith has a habit of doing this overseas, complaining for no particular reason and forcing apologies from those who do not need to do so because there is an implied threat of "further action" should groveling to Muslims doesn't happen forthwith.

One can rail against every other religion it seems and intentionally offend but to get offended by a harmless joke isn't acceptable.

Williamson's jokes came in the same week where Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani was due to be stoned to death in Iran for committing adultery. She is of course a Muslim and stoning is acknowledged in the Muslim faith by some.

Now I am offended by that. Why doesn't Anwar come out and defend this woman?


c Darren Rickard 2010


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Friday, September 24, 2010

Kathmandu Holdings Ltd: 2010 full year profit analysis

The Kathmandu Holdings Ltd [KMD.NZX] 2010 Full Year Profit result out this morning is hard to fathom clearly because last years profit as disclosed in the 2009 Prospectus was a corrected pro -forma figure and this year profit figure has been impacted by IPO costs and associated listing costs.

The headline net profit of $25.2 million before IPO costs compares with the 2009 pro-forma net profit of $10.3 million. likewise the headline sales figure for FY 2010 was $245.8 million compared to 2009 $215.6 million.

Key Points

* Headline profit of $25.2 million compares well with $10.3 million (before adjustments for IPO costs and adjustments for comparison of 2009/2010)

*Missed most key prospectus forecasts.

*15 stores opened.

*Gross margins down.

*Dividend of 7c per share.

*Debt well down on last year (paid off from partial proceeds of IPO)

*Capital expenditure up on 2009.


Lets go by KMDs own preferred comparison though (hidden at the bottom of their release), which while hard still to get an accurate comparison year to year, because both 2010 and 2009 figures have been "adjusted" is probably the most relevant way of looking to see how they did in 2010.

2010 | 2009

Sales 245.8 240.0 5.8 2.4%
EBIT1 47.5 50.6 (3.1) -6.1%
NPBT pro-forma2 41.2 44.8 (3.6) -8.0%


1 Excluding IPO costs

So we can see that even with their own adjusted figures (which are not 100% accurate) that Kathmandu failed to hit key targets listed in their prospectus, only just beating last years sales figures by round $6 million.

The 2010 net profit then, along with other financial indicators in today's release make it hard to compare 2010 with 2009. For shareholders this means uncertainty on how well the company is accurately doing and they will only get some certainty in 12 months from now when figures can be more easily compared like for like.

On the year ahead and much like Briscoe Group Ltd [BGR.NZX] & The Warehouse Group Ltd [WHS.NZX] last week, CEO Peter Halkett concluded the 2010 profit release by saying that:

“Kathmandu is confident that given reasonable economic conditions there will be further improvement in profitability in the year ahead. The impact of the economic environment on consumer confidence, and cost pressures both domestically and internationally are a challenge, however given our market position and brand strength we remain well placed to continue our growth."

Unfortunately for shareholders Halkett seems to favour more store building over organic growth and this will come at the expense of higher capital costs, increased rental payments and possibly impact on gross margins as the company looks to focus on volume rather than quality.


Kathmandu @ Share Investor


Chart of the Day: Kathmandu Holdings Ltd
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Kathmandu IPO: Prospectus Analysis
Kathmandu IPO: Jan Cameron lands a blow to IPO
Kathmandu IPO: What is it worth?
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Kathmandu 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
KMD Investor Presentation to Macquarie

Discuss Kathmandu @ Share Investor Forum
Download KMD Company Reports


From Fishpond.co.nz

Every Bastard Says No: The 42 Below Story

Buy Every Bastard Says No - The 42 Below Story, by Geoff Ross & Justine Troy & more @ Fishpond.co.nz

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c Share Investor 2010

Allan Hubbard Saga: No Longer Bothered by Botherway

The following is a meaculpa of sorts to Simon Botherway, a man entangled in what was perceived as a conflict of interest on his part over the Statutory Management of a couple of Allan Hubbards financial entities back in June 2010.

I wrote this back in June:

Mr Botherway and his SEC have been of course behind the statutory management of Allan Hubbard and his Aoarangi Securities, a crackdown which has apparently come out of the blue and inconsistent with the SECs track record in terms of the aforementioned bus ticket slapping.

It turns out that this is where things get really interesting in terms of Mr Botherway and his capacity as the a SEC board member. Stuff.co.nz has reported this morning that Mr Botherway has a conflict of interest of his own when it comes to his recommendation to send Mr Hubbard to Coventry:

A member of the Securities Commission (Mr Botherway) which recommended Allan and Jean Hubbard be placed in statutory management is also the brother of a businessman placed in receivership by South Canterbury Finance (SCF) last year. Stuff.co.nz

Allan Hubbard is the owner of SCF.

Mr Bothwerway only disclosed his conflict yesterday:

Commission member Simon Botherway yesterday declared he had a "potential conflict of interest" in the Hubbard case as the brother of businessman Jonathan Botherway.

Jonathan Botherway's hospitality empire collapsed in July 2009 after SCF, which was then owed $7.8 million, put him in receivership.

Simon Botherway would not comment yesterday and instead referred questions to the commission. Shareinvestor Blog, June 25, 2010

Well, it turns out stuff.co.nz and by implication myself, was wrong and wish to apologise to Simon for implicating him at all.

I am now aware of the facts over this perceived conflict and am now convinced that there is very little to it. My anonymous source assures me the following is accurate and I have no reason to doubt this source.

This is why:

* South Canturbury Finance did not put Mr Botherway's brother into receivership as is widely accepted in the majority of media reports.

NZB (NZ Breweries) appointed a receiver on Friday 26th of June 2009. Their receivers sent a fax to SCF about 11am that morning giving them until 2pm to respond, SCF had no option but to appoint their own receivers to Merivale Ale House (Auckland Bars).

A week later PWC advised SCF to place the South Island bars in receivership so they could control all the businesses.

Read the publicly available Receivers Report

* Botherway did not receive the anonymous letter of complaint (from an Aorangi investor to the Securities Commission) and has not actually seen it. Hubbard's supporters have claimed he has.

The investigation was led by the Companies Office and to the knowledge of my source* there were no Sec Com staff involved in it, and there were no Members of the Commission involved).

*Botherway didn't author any report on Aorangi or any of the other parties recommended for Statutory Management as widely reported and pushed by Hubbard supporters.

This apparent conflict has been the red hearing for Allan Hubbard supporters, and they have been using David Cunliffe, in parliament and on his own facebook page to go after Botherway. It has turned into a political muck-raking situation now for Labour in their pursuit of National over South Canterbury Finance but as we know the facts of the case in David Cunliffe's eyes are only as good as the information being supplied to him from Allan Hubbard Supporters. That information is clearly inaccurate at best and a complete fabrication at worst.

Cunliffe is of course using parliamentary privilege to divulge this stuff and he is clearly misleading the house.


* Wishing to remain anonymous but a credible source.

Related Share Investor Reading

Download Grant Thornton Report 1
Download Grant Thornton Report 2

Allan Hubbard Saga: 60 Minutes Interview, Sept 23 2010
Allan Hubbard Saga: Supporters head to the exit door
Allan Hubbard Saga: Threats & the Mysterious PWC Report
Allan Hubbard Supporters: Conflict of Interest
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VIDEO: Jenni McManus Explains Allan Hubbard Collapse
Allan Hubbard Statement on SCF Receivership
VIDEO: Sandy Maier - full news conference on SCF Receivership
Market Alert: South Canterbury Finance to be placed in Receivership
Allan Hubbard: Ignorant Supporters Blissfully Unaware
Thornton Report 2: Allan Hubbard Guilty as Charged
Allan Hubbard: Full TV3 Interview - July 16 2010
Thornton Report: Allan Hubbard's Aorangi Securities
Whatever happened to? Muriel Dunn
Bothered by Simon Botherway
Allied Farmers: Prosecutions should be on the cards
Allied Farmers Fraud passes with little fanfare
Allied Farmers: What's it Worth?
Hanover, Allied Farmers deal more of the same
Jane Diplock Q & A Interview
Hanover's "White Knights" are really daylight robbers
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Kevin's Blog


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Buy The Intelligent Investor & more @ Fishpond.co.nz

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c Share Investor 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Pumpkin Patch CFO Matthew Washington


Source: TVNZ

An interview with Pumpkin Patch Ltd [PPL.NZX] CFO Matthew Washington, after yesterday's 2010 Full Year Profit release.

Of particular interest is news that the company look to be opening 22 new stores over the coming year and a focus on a new brand, Charlie and Me, a stand alone store that will sell a products that Pumpkin Patch stores to not currently sell - i.e: cheaper children's clothing.

Matthew sounds just a touch bullish here. Wish I could share his enthusiasm on where retailing is going over the next year or two.


Disclosure I own PPL shares in the Share Investor Portfolio.


Pumpkin Patch @ Share Investor

Pumpkin Patch Ltd: 2010 Full Year Profit Analysis
Pumpkin Patch Ltd move downmarket
Long Term View: Pumpkin Patch Ltd
Pumpkin Patch's North American Downsizing a Prudent move
Digging at Pumpkin's Profit
Long vs Short: Pumpkin Patch Ltd
Pumpkin Patch Buyback shows Confidence in the Future
Pumpkin Patch takes a hit
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I'm buying
Why did you buy that Stock? [Pumpkin Patch]
Rod Duke's Pumpkin Patch gets bigger
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Broker downgrades of PPL lack long term vision
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Download PPL Company Reports

Buy Pumpkin Patch Clothing

From Fishpond.co.nz

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c Share Investor 2010