Saturday, June 14, 2008

I think I love you Sir Bobby

My faith in sensible, comical,intelligent "rich pricks" has been restored by Bob Jones and his promise to purposefully break the filthy, socialist anti democratic Electoral Finance Act by using his own hard earned dollars to mount an advertising campaign against the fascists in the Labour Party Government.

"This is the most despicable thing I think I have seen in my lifetime in this country, I really do, certainly by any Government... this overwhelms me. I cannot believe it happened." Bob Jones 2008

Having lived through the fascist Muldoon era of the late 1970s- to early 80s for Bobby to say that is really nailing the point home to those of you who are waivering on the EFA's intentions and the hatred that Labour have for the democratic system and those that value not only political freedom but their personal freedoms as well.


Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage


For those of you old enough to remember, Bob ran for office in the 1984 election just to oust National's Muldooon and succeeded. Sadly what he did back then by using his own money to run for office is now illegal because of the EFA and I guess that is one of the reasons for his current tilt at those in office.

Opposition from all sectors of the political sphere is growing against this Act and even Labour voters have been showing their opposition on all forms of media, especially the better blogs , talkback and when protesting around the country.

This blog supports Sir Bobby and will be keeping you all up to date in his fight to keep these knuckle dragging collectivists from inflicting more attacks on the freedoms of this country and its individuals.

c Political Animal 2008


Thursday, June 12, 2008

Burger Fuel leaves investors hungry

Burger Fuel's gourmet burgers are delicious, ample, fresh and have plenty of filling. It is a shame that its latest profit results are meagre, lacking in substance and leave investors hungry.

Too negative?

Just look at the revenue for the last 9.5 month reporting period. Around NZ$4.7 million. This is derived from a 10% cut out of Franchisee's turnover, which probably totaled around NZ$15 million for that period. 4% of that revenue was used for marketing of the company. The balance of the revenue comes from a construction management fee, a franchise territory fee, a franchise training fee and revenue from company owned stores.

On this revenue Burger Fuel Worldwide [BFW] reported an audited loss of $2,149,067 for the nine-and-a-half month period to 31 March 2008.


Burger Fuel @ Share Investor

Burger Fuel management cagey over company progress
Burger Fuel cooks up Dubai deal
NZX share trades with strings attached
Don't buy Burger Fuel, yet
Burger Fuel: Inside info?
Burger Fool IPO: Burger Fool?
Exclusive Interview with Burger Fuel's Josef Roberts
Burger Fuel's Daytime drama
Burger Fuel share price out of gas
Beefing up store numbers
Director explains share price drop
Burger Fuel slims down in value
Burger Fuel and Coke
Marketing Burger Fuel's future
Pumpkin Patch VS Burger Fuel
Burger Fuel results and commentary



The IPO raised around $8 million dollars cash in July 2007, with $3 million contributed from the company founders because the IPO flopped, and as of 31 March 2008 it had chewed through almost $5 million of it. Granted there have been costs involved in opening a company owned store in Sydney and costs establishing the company as a franchisor to the chain of owner operator stores but as a franchisor Burger Fuel's store opening costs should be largely covered by franchisee fees and contributions as outlined above.

What it looks like is that there will be more capital needed in 12-16 months to continue company expansion.

As an investor and business owner myself, I like to be making money from my enterprise from day one. Of course there are capital costs in a "start up" such as BFW but as the listed life of this company is now almost a year old, the promise of profit doesn't look good as the company expands.

The company should be making a small profit already, excluding the almost $1 million cost of the IPO, but one of the answers why they might not be could lay here:

This included an additional elected marketing spend in NZ of $339,304 over and above the franchisee marketing budget for the period.If the franchise model is a sound one as the company expands then why would the franchisor spend money above and over the amount the franchisee pays to do the marketing? Should the marketing fee be bigger given that $339,304.00 is not a small amount of money when you consider the small revenue base and small number of stores at present?


A big worry is the progress of the brand in Australia


BurgerFuel Australia unaudited system sales for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 are $1,453,892.


With two stores opened in OZ, one in Kings Cross opened since October 2007 and an established one in Newton, the revenue of the two combined of only $1.45 million is tiny.

An outlet based in Sydney's Kings Cross should be doing well north of A$2 million per year to cover the high costs of being based in that area. Rents are high and as this store is company owned it will have to do much better as to not continue to be a drain on franchisor company profit.

All is not lost though!

One small promising light shines from the deserts of Dubai where BFW signed a Master Franchisee agreement in May with Al Khayyat Investment Group Investments LLC to open a store there latter in the year.

The financial details of that deal are sketchy but we all wait in hope for good sales figures for the first few months to help give investors an indication if the concept will fly in a market already saturated with manifold more times competition for the disposable entertainment buck than the company faces in Australasia.

Burger Fuel reminds me of the 42 Below Vodca company, which was listed a few years back. It had a very strong brand and loyal following and struggled initially because it didn't have the funds or systems to take the company and its product to the world. It never made money but was eventually sold to Bacardi for NZ$138 million in 2006 and they had the backing and moola to take the brand somewhere.

Is Burger Fuel destined to be bought up by a YUM! or one of the many worldwide operators of fast food brands?

You never know, Josef Roberts, a director of Burger Fuel, did just that when he started up the Australasian Red Bull company and then sold it to the parent .

Judged by the latest profit announcement this could be Burger Fuel investors only hope for a return on their money.


Related Links

Burger Fuel website



c Share Investor 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Go ahead, make my Day


PC used to mean a big burly strong, tall, male Police Constable not politically correct.

The shooting of an Indian dairy owner by some low life Polynesians last weekend continued the PC garbage image of the police.

Instead of going in with guns immediately and shooting the bugger dead we have an innocent victim six feet under instead.

"Police protocol" apparently had to be followed and 30 minutes after the first call to the boys in blue they arrived. About 25 minutes too late.

This kind of nonsense was also followed after the Kahui slayings and when the young wild man Wallace went on a rampage with golf clubs and baseball bats and was rightly shot for his troubles before he injured or killed an innocent victim.

The constable who shot him was wrongly vilified by the criminal's family and the police gave him little backing.

The problem isn't the cops on the beat as such, but their political masters, the Labour Party, who have hamstrung the cops to such an extent they are too scared to do their duty-protect and serve the public.

When an excuse is made by the cops in the latest incident, that they wanted to make sure it was safe for them before they entered the dairy then you know you have a big problem. What about keeping the public safe, it is your job!!

It is time the head of the Police, Howard Broad, stepped down from his position because of the failure he clearly is. Appointed by Helen Clark herself, this man has been guilty of manipulating young constables in the past, not to breath test him after being found drunk at the wheel of his car. He is a disgrace and so is Clark for appointing him. She knew he was a drunk driver.

What we need is a Dirty Harry rather than a Deborah Harry at the top. New Zealanders are sick of being victims and it is time we took back the streets, in South Auckland and other desolate parts of the country.

Instead of reporting to base after a shooting to get approval to use guns, make sure their hair is parted on the left and their pants are not too tight and put innocent lives at risk, all we need is a Clint Eastwood to answer a victim's call with a few succinct sounds.

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG.

We know what the alternative is and it is unacceptable to most of us.

c Political Animal 2008

Sky City Assets: Buy, sell and hold

News out today that Sky City Entertainment[SKC.NZ] has sold a share in a the Christchurch Crowne Plaza Hotel and in turn received a larger stake in the Christchurch Casino that it owns with Skyline Enterprizes and cash in hand leaves this shareholder a happy man.

It adds to the news yesterday that the casino company will develop a "luxury resort" on the Little Mindal land it owns in front of the Darwin Casino.

The larger stake in the CHCH Casino takes the Sky City holding from 41% to a 46% holding.

The hotel was sold for $61.5 million, so one might presume that the Sky City share of the booty was $30.75 million. There was no breakdown of how much the extra 5% stake in the South Island Casino cost and therefore how much cash was left to disperse to debt pay downs or even a dividend to shareholders.

Shareholders in Sky City are entitled to know what the 5% cost.

The cash left over is more likely to be going towards subsidising Sky City Cinemas, a division that was on the block for a year but failed to sell as of last Friday because the buyer "failed to get financing", according to the Sky City Press release.

Any credible buyer interested in the cinema would only have to fork out about NZ$60 million and they would have known that was around the asking price when Sky City wrote down the assets of the division last year.

It is more likely that the deal fell through because the assets wouldn't have even got near the $60 million price tag rather than blaming the credit crunch for failing to sell a loss making business.

I'm naturally annoyed at management for not disposing with the cinemas, even for less than the asking price. It is going to be a continuing drain on capital expenditure and is never going to make any sort of decent return on assets or capital.

Cinemas as a business are on a par with the airline industry when it comes to losing money and track records for both show a history of company collapses, huge expense for owners and continued disappointment.

Nigel Morrison needs a boot in the head for that one.

Sky City @ Share Investor

Sky City Entertainment 2009 Interim Profit Review

Sky City Entertainment 2009 Interim Result Preamble
2008 Sky City profit analysis
Sky City Entertainment 2008 Full Year profit results , NZX release, 2008 full year presentation, result briefing webcast, financial statements
Sky City 2008 profit preamble
Sky City outlines a clear future plan
As recession bites Sky City bites back
Sky City Assets: Buy, sell and hold
Why did you buy that stock? [Sky City Entertainment]
Sky City Share Volumes set tongues wagging
Sky City half year exceptional on cost cutting
NZX Press release: Sky City profit to HY end Dec 2007
Sky City Cinemas no Blockbuster
Sky City Entertainment share price drop
New Broom set to sweep
Sky City Management: Blind, deaf and numb
Sky City sale could be off
Opposition to takeover
Premium for control
Sky City receives takeover bid
Sky City Casino Full Year Profit to June 30 2007
Setting the record straight
Sky City CEO resigns
Sky City Casino: Under performing
Sky City Casino 2007 HY Profit(analysis)
Sky City Casino 2007 HY Profit

Discuss this topic @ Shareinvestor.net.nz

Related Links

Sky City Financial Data


Related Amazon Reading

Double or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas' Legendary Casinos

Double or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas' Legendary Casinos by Tom Breitling
Buy new: $17.72 / Used from: $1.40
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c Share Investor 2008