Analysis - Mainfreight Ltd: FY Profit to 31/03/09

Mainfreight Ltd [MFT.NZ] FY 2009 profit out today confirmed a slowdown in sales for the company and highlighted a tough environment for the coming 12 months. Having said that the current result was a good one.

Key Points:

1. Revenue increase of 39% to a record $NZ 1.27 billion (excluding forex gains up 28%)

2. Net surplus before abnormals of $NZ 40 million, on par with the prior year.

3. First half of year good growth, second very poor, indicating the full impact of the global slowdown, with a marked downturn in the last quarter.

4. A focus on cutting operating costs over the period of downturn in the business/economy.

5. A hat-tip to carbon emissions, noting they must take them into account because of political interference in this area of their business, but it is costing them.

6. Cashflow up strongly.

7. Debt increased significantly from $79.89 to $115.28 million.


The outlook for the company is uncertain and given poor economic indicators and a continued slowing performance in the latest quarter of business, profit is going to be down for the 2009/10 year.

They say this will be ameliorated somewhat by focusing on cost cutting, delaying capital expenditure and growing the business organically where they can - very sensible.

Given that the logistics business is one sector of the economy that is often badly affected during a recession, management at Mainfreight seemed to have managed the business well considering the slowdown in consumer demand world-wide and the resultant drop in export/import and local logistics being used in their operations worldwide.

8.5 out of 10 for me.

The stockmarket however has reacted negatively to this result, marking shares down 39c or 6.33% to NZ$4.59 at market close today.


Disclosure: I own MFT shares in the Share Investor Portfolio.


Mainfreight @ Share Investor

Long Term View: Mainfreight Ltd
Share Investor Interview: Mainfreight's MD Don Braid
Stock of the Week: Mainfreight Ltd
Questions to Mainfreight's MD Don Braid
I'm Buying: Mainfreight Management delivers the goods
Mainfreight Annual Report Packs a Punch
Analysis - Mainfreight Ltd: FY Profit to 31/03/09
Mainfreight VS KiwiRail: The Sequel
Long VS Short: Mainfreight Ltd
Why did you buy that stock? [Mainfreight Ltd]
Mainfreight 2008 Annual report worth reading
KiwiRail will cost Mainfreight
Mainfreight keeps on truckin
A rare breed
Share Investor's 2008 stock picks

Discuss MFT @ Share Investor Forum

Download Mainfreight Company Reports


Recommended Amazon Reading


The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition) by Benjamin Graham
Buy new: $14.95 / Used from: $7.50
Usually ships in 24 hours

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





c Share Investor 2009

Obama supporters black with rage over joke

I see it is not just in New Zealand that we do not have a sense of humour and have our freedom of speech and opinion curtailed by the PC morons amongst us - lucky we have the internet huh?

A Canadian broadcaster has been reprimanded for a comedy sketch saying Barack Obama would be easy to assassinate because the first black American president would stand out against the White House.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council issued a public reprimand of Radio-Canada, after the government's regulatory agency asked the private industry council to look into the matter before it begins its own investigation.

Canada's broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, received 210 complaints about Radio-Canada's controversial "Bye Bye 2008" New Year's Eve sketch. Go here for more

It is hard to see what is so offensive about stating that a man with dark skin stands out against a white background because he does and it is funny in the context of a joke. Do we all have short memories of what the last guy in the White House had to put up with from the very same types of people that would have complained about this joke reference?

So it is OK to pillory a white man but not a black one?

And of course it isnt racist at all to appoint a Latino Woman to the Supreme Court or various other ethnic groups to political positions just because you want your team to look like a rainbow, rather than appointing the best person for the job regardless of skin colour.

Come on, time to grow up and move on. After all there is a black man in the Whitehouse now.

Keep your wallets safe!

c Political Animal 2009

Stockmarket Education: What is a Share?

This little piece originated from a search that found its way to this blog; "What is a share?"

I sort of take this for granted and cant really remember asking this question because I think I already knew what a share was and perhaps that the word was self explanatory of its meaning.

It isn't dumb question though.

Lets see it we can give this question a reasonably intelligent answer because it is important that beginners in the stockmarket know and those that think we know(like yours truly)might find out something we don't.

This is how I would describe a share to a beginner.

Basically when you buy a shares (or stock, security, equity) in a company, in our example a listed company on a stock exchange, your shares get you ownership of a small part of that company and some of the attendant rights of an owner of that company.

Some of these are:

1. A share of profits -through provision of dividends distributed to shareholders.

2. Voting rights on remuneration for management and fees for directors.

3. Votes on selected business associated with areas of the company.


There are also responsibilities.

Some of these are:

1. The company may ask shareholders for additional capital from time to time to help run the business.

2. Keep an eye on the health of the company by reading company reports and third party research written.

The shares in the company that you have part-ownership in have a monetary value and that value can differ from day to day, week to week and year to year and you can add to your ownership or dispense with that ownership at any time but at different values depending on the time you sell-just like any business you might have full ownership over.

Shares are bought and sold using a stockbroker or sharebroker or through issues of company capital through IPOs and various other ways.

What you have if you own shares in a company then are certain rights and responsibilities, much like those that the sole owner of a business but as a part shareholder some of the rights that a majority owner has over the running of a business do not apply to you.

1. You do not have a say in the day to day running of the business.

2. Your vote in any proposition put to shareholders can be voted down if the majority don't fall your way

3. Your shareholding can be sold against your will if there is a takeover or merger that the majority of shareholders vote for, even if you vote not to sell.

Some people don't look at a share as owning a part of a business, just some sort of esoteric measurement of how much a company might be worth on a day to day basis but I and many others do, for that is exactly what a share is.

You are part owner of a business and your shares make you a business owner.


Recent Share Investor Reading

• Analysis - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare: FY Profit t0 31/03/09
  
• Stock of the Week: Fisher & Paykel Appliances
• Whats on Rod Duke's shopping list?
• Share Investor Portfolio: 22 May 2009
• Banking Madness!
• Schroder Investment Management takes big Fisher & Paykel Healthcare stake

Discuss this topic @ Shareinvestor.net.nz

Related Amazon Reading


Stock Investing For Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic
Buy new: $14.29 / Used from: $15.63
Usually ships in 24 hours


c Share Investor 2009

"Climate Change" theory hits business bottom line

From the Mainfreight Ltd [MFT.NZ] 2009 FY profit announcement today comes a management commentary piece about Government red tape and its associated cost.

Don Braid usually has a well placed go at Government bureaucracy when it comes to profit season and his target this time is "climate change" and carbon emissions and it is one of the largest pieces of commentary in the profit release on one subject:

Mainfreight has always attempted to reduce the environmental impact of its operations. Our sustainability initiatives have often resulted in reduced costs; so the bottom line and the environment are both winners.

Real or not, climate change is fast becoming a core strategic issue for businesses everywhere. For Mainfreight, it begins with accepting that our business is based on an activity that generates carbon emissions and then taking responsibility to reduce those emissions over time; without negatively impacting on our competitiveness.

Last year we commenced a programme of measuring the carbon emissions in our business in New Zealand with a view to extending this measurement to other countries where we have a presence, and to reducing our emissions per tonne of freight moved. We made this information available to the public through our annual report and other avenues.

This year however, we have been faced with significantly increased costs and bureaucracy from the Government departments which oversee carbon emissions, and while as a business we will continue our programme of measurement and reduction to support our long-held policies of environmental responsibility, we have chosen not to incur the substantial costs involved in the audit and certification processes that are now demanded. We believe that incurring these costs would not provide a measurable benefit and therefore would not be in the best interests of our shareholders.

Don Braid, Mainfreight Managing Director

It is good to see the middle finger being extended to the bureaucracy and cost associated with it but what is clear from Bruce's revelation is that the "climate change" zealots in our midst are costing businesses millions and this will be the same with any other business, be it a logistics company which would be heavily impacted by "climate change" red tape to a business such as Sky City Entertainment [SKC.NZ] while less severely impacted would be impacted nonetheless.

All because of a mythical theory that the planet is warming.

It would be interesting to get comments by management from other CEOs of listed New Zealand companies to see how much it is costing their businesses. I have yet to see such comment from anyone, which is odd considering the substantial tax on company profits.


Related Share Investor Reading

Mark Weldon now in two minds about Carbon Trading
Quote of the Year
Mark Weldon strikes out on Carbon Trading
Carbon Credit Trading puts global markets at extreme risk
Of Tulip bulbs and Tooth fairies
Global warning: Tax iceberg ahead
Emissions trading review the first step towards sanity
Time magazine slips inconvenient truths past it's readers
Earth day: turn on,tune out, buy some candles

Related links

Kristen Byrne - 15 year old schoolgirl debunks climate change myth

Related Amazon Reading

Air Con: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming by Ian Wishart Buy new: $24.90

c Share Investor 2009