Economy 2010: Taking the long way

Further to a post I made yesterday about opportunities to buy cheaper stocks, I touched briefly on the state of the economy.

Let me expand on that if I may today and we will forget it again for another 6 months, because I know it is easy to bitch and moan about this stuff as I have done on a number of occasions.

In my opinion the current economic downturn is going to take years to recover from. We have seen a relaxing of the fervour that started in September 2008, following the collapse of big financial institutions the world over and since then we have had an apparent lift in confidence due to trillions of dollars of borrowed and the printing of currencies (cheers China!) and a subsequent lift in various financial indicators; slow down in jobless growth, small GDP growth, global trade improving, etc, etc.

As I said above though, this move towards the positive is based on borrowed money and it has to be paid for, eventually.

As many of you will know, including myself, a mortgage like that can be hard to pay back when your income might now be less than it once was and while you are paying that back other forms of spending will be cut back and clearly that impacts on the economy. This huge unprecedented debt is going to constrain the economy in New Zealand and in every other country deep in debt. Even China, who is the lender, will be impacted because we wont be buying as much of their quality produce - only a hint of sarcasm there.

Most of us, but not all, will need to be prudent to survive the next 5 years. Cut back where we can and pay down debt if and when we get the chance. More debt taken on during this time will merely postpone the inevitable hounds at the door. It aint hard, it just takes some discipline.

While we are not in a 1930s depression era economic downturn, we are going to suffer, I think, economically for as long as those folk in the 30s did, in our own way. Constraint, low or no growth and inconsistent and unsustainable upturns will be the order of the day, until that debt is discharged.

There are also other shocks to come from the heady days of economic growth during the 20 years pre 2008. Complex derivatives failures and commercial property shocks look set to come and spoil what confidence we may have gotten back.

This is all part of the economic cycle however and is nothing new and there will be opportunities to buy as others must sell cheaply to pay down debt levels.

On that last positive note, for me anyway, I will bring an end to my gloomy outlook - see you back in 6 months for an update.


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Market Correction: Excitement Building!

Once again global stockmarkets are rightly nervous about the so-called economic recovery in the United States, with Obama acting like Robin Hood without an arrow and rumblings of credit clampdowns in China, the DOW has lost almost 5% in one week as a result.

It is bloody exciting!

I was getting sick of the disconnect between the reality of a debt led "recovery" and the fantasy of investors in stockmarkets like the DOW, who have pushed that particular market up by over 40% in less than a year -incidentally that is the largest bull run since the 1929 Wall Street crash and we know what happened after that particular market "recovery".

Yep 40%, does anyone think we are doing that much better now than we were this time last year?

Not this fellow.

I last bought stocks in July and haven't felt tempted yet until The Warehouse Group [WHS.NZ] shares took a dive recently, simply because some companies are overvalued compared to 12 months ago.

The excitement is building now for me as there looks like reality could have dawned on some and they could be rushing for the exits as I am happily ready to enter the market again at a better price.

One the economic outlook, there is anecdotal evidence on my part - I tend to trust that more accurately than what economic soothsayers are being paid to say - that the economy in New Zealand, while not completely buggered, is still hanging on a knife edge between growth and recession and it appears that any growth is going to be sporadic and a long time coming.

There just isn't any money out there.

A good time to buy assets if you do have some moola and the NZX is likely to take its lead from the US market where it dropped by over 200 points last Friday.

Happy buying.


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c Share Investor 2010

Reason to be cautious on Nuplex forecast

2009 was Nuplex Ltd [NPX.NZ] worst year on record, with a massive capital raising big losses and a huge dilution of value for their shareholders.

2010, according to Nuplex, is going to be their best year on record with an estimated profit of between NZ$120-135 million. This is after 3 profit upgrades in the last 6 months.

This is good news for the company and as shareholders you might be thinking that and you are probably right to think that but then I believe you must treat these results with an element of caution and this is why.

Like their worst year in 2009, management did not "foresee" that coming and according to managing director John Hirst the 2010 upgrade has been:

"...proving as difficult to forecast the upside of the post global financial crisis period as it was the downside at this time last year..."

In addition to management's inability to forecast accurately, their current forecast is expressed as, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). This measure of accounting practice can be used to hide detail that should be known by the shareholder and is pretty much the accounting equivalent of hiding nuts under shells. Unfortunately it is used far too often by lazy, ineffectual accountants directed by lazy dishonest directors to hide bad figures from shareholders - look deeper Nuplex shareholders!

Given the inability of the company to accurately forecast results over the last 2 years and also given that the same management who governed the company into their worst ever year in 2009 and left them on the brink of bankruptcy (they would have gone down the tubes if not for generous shareholders) are still at the levers of power, one would have to take a closer look at Nuplex forecast for 2010, especially when one considers their "cavalier" attitude to accounting practices and therefore their shareholders .

Beware.

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Cadbury Acquisition a good deal for Kraft

I am still following the Kraft Inc [KFT.NYSE] acquisition of Cadbury PLC [CBRY.LSE] . A conditional deal for sale of Cadbury to Kraft has been approved by Cadbury management but it still needs the approval of both Kraft and Cadbury shareholders.

Nearly 10% shareholder of Kraft, Warren Buffett, publicly came out against a deal on Jan 5 and today on CNBC indicated that he would have voted against the acquisition.

The latest comment, if it isn't just being made to blow off some steam, appears to suggest that Kraft is paying too much for the maker of Dairy Milk, Jaffas, Chrunchie , Moro and other well known brands but this is where Buffett and myself part company.



Cadbury is a global brand and has dominance in the majority of the markets that it operates in, New Zealand is no exception.

Because of its strong brand position globally, its potential to grow in all its markets - especially in Asia - and the largely untapped market for Cadbury in the United States -where Cadbury is a minor player - the price to be paid for full control of the company must show a healthy premium to its recent trading activity. Cadbury has a strong economic moat - good brands, with high cashflow with a reasonable barrier to entry by competitors.

Warren Buffett seems to be ignoring this fact and it seems contrary to previous indications by him that in order to gain control of a company during an acquisition a premium is more often than not paid.

The price being paid by Kraft for Cadbury isn't the deal of the century but it is approaching fair price - on Kraft's part - considering what Kraft are getting for their shareholders moola.

Locally, New Zealand media have been speculating that Cadbury's Dunedin factory maybe the subject of staff cuts and that local brands maybe for the cut. While this is of course possible because of Kraft's high debt levels due to the acquisition and pre-deal debt levels, it would be folly on Kraft's part to repeat the recent mistakes of Cadbury in New Zealand and in other global markets.

I am having sugar overload over this deal. The Kraft acquisition of Kraft is not yet a fait a compli however, so there is still room for a diabetic attack. There is still time for other Cadbury tyre kickers like Hershey to make a higher bid for some of the sweet brown stuff.


Cadbury @ Share Investor

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