ASB Bank: Customer "Service"

You might recall my ups and downs over trying to negotiate new terms for our ASB Bank home loan earlier last year. Well, ups and downs of another kind have got me ruminating again. It appears that the prostitute that indirectly stole $2.5 million from the bank has negotiated a deal with the bank to presumably pay back some of the money she stole.

So let me get this right. First she doesn't have to pay back the entire $2.5 million and she is allowed to negotiate with the bank.

My bank wouldn't even entertain the idea of negotiation and they were going to charge me a fee if I changed the terms of the loan.

I wonder to myself if she is an ASB customer.

Gives new meaning to the word screwed from both sides.

This comes on top of an incident this morning over the phone with ASB where I was refused part of a term deposit up for renewal today because part of the deposit was being used as security for something else. There was a hold on the whole amount that I asked to be removed last Thursday and it has not been done, according to ASB Bank staff at the call centre - "but Darren you can call back on Monday and we might be able to do something then."

So I cant even use my own money when I want to now.

Screwed again.


More Banking Madness @ Share Investor

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Banking Madness!

Discuss this topic @ Share Investor Forum

c Share Investor 2010

NZX's Top 10 Dividend Returns

It is hard to get good returns from term investments and the property market at the moment with around a 3.5% real return from the former and similarly low results from investment properties, if you bought a house over the last 10 years.

The New Zealand Stockmarket has some good returns on selected stocks many are getting close to a 10% gross return. With this in mind lets take a look at the 10 best dividend players listed on the NZX.

Figures are gleaned from the NZX website and are based on figures calculated from market prices as of close of market on 9 June 2010. The gross returns are based on past profit performance.


The Top Ten

Telecom NZ Ltd [TEL.NZ] - 13.26%

Steel & Tube Holdings [STU.NZ] - 11.92%

Kiwi Income Property Ltd [KIP.NZ] - 9.92%

Vector Ltd [VCT.NZ] - 9.35%

Hallenstein Glasson Holdings [HLG.NZ] - 9.22%

Telstra Corp [TLS.NZ] - 9.08%

Freightways Ltd [FRE.NZ] - 8.41%

Air New Zealand [AIR.NZ] - 8.28%

Goodman Fielder Ltd [GFF.NZ] - 7.82%

Restaurant Brands Ltd [RBD.NZ] - 7.76%


While not guaranteed returns - the likes of TEL, TLS, KIP & AIR dividends will be under future pressure - even the minimum return from RBDs 7.76% is nearly twice the return of term investments and investment property.

Good to see I own 5 out of the top 10.

Disclosure I own FRE, GFF, HLG, KIP, STU in the Share Investor Portfolio


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c Share Investor 2010

Share Investor Q & A: Questions for Ecoya's Geoff Ross

I have been very critical of Ecoya Ltd [ECO.NZ] since their early May 2010 IPO because of the over inflated value that ECO management put on the company and the scant financial information revealed to the investing public leading up to the IPO. The full year 2010 profit result out a few weeks back does nothing to sooth my critical soul.

Many of you have also had critical things to say about the company (it is more interesting to read someone sticking the knife in)and I have seen little positive written about the company except from the company itself and organising brokers for the IPO.

I think it is time we heard from management directly to get some issues hopefully cleared up and maybe put me in my place.

The ECO PR company contacted me over a mistake that I made with some figures from the 2010 result and one thing led to another and I managed to jack up a Q & A with Executive Chairman, Geoff Ross.

With this in mind, I would like my readers to submit questions that they might have surrounding the company and its IPO.

I will give you a week to submit them and I will include them with mine in the Q & A.

Please submit them here where they will appear at the bottom of this post or email them directly to me here.

Read the ECO Q & A here.




Ecoya main shares are sitting at 89c on extremely low volumes, its low for the year.


Ecoya Ltd @ Share Investor

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Ecoya.co.nz

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Share Investor Q & As

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From Fishpond.co.nz



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




c Share Investor 2010

Burger Fuel 2010 Full Year Profit Preview

Burger Fuel Worldwide [BFW.NZ] should be releasing its 2010 full year results soon, if not this week and BFW investors and the market as a whole will be looking for a vast improvement on the 2009 result.

A $700,000.00 loss on revenue of $8 million for last year should be pared back markedly given the fortunes of other fast food companies operating in New Zealand. McDonalds, Restaurant Brands Ltd [RBD.NZ], Subway and a whole host of other quick service restaurant icons have done well during the current recession as consumers have moved downmarket from eating out at more expensive food offers as wallets and budgets have been squeezed.

Look though for an impact on the bottomline because of expansion costs in the Middle East and a subsequent evaporation of cash in the bank as a result.

More capital could be needed for any further significant expansion and the 2007 prospectus indicated that most of the growth would come from growing store numbers rather than sales per unit.

BFW gets its revenue from a percentage cut (around 8%) of sales per store and on current form the company would need to at least double revenue from the current $8 million to start making a decent profit in the low seven figure range.

That sort of result depends on opening more stores and that means more capital needed to expand, even though it is a franchisee/franchisor model.

The company is coming up to its 3 year anniversary of being listed on the NZAX board and has yet to turn a profit or show any of the overwhelmingly positive promise for results that management shouted from the rooftops pre IPO.

The 2010 result will show us whether the company is closer to achieving that and it will give investors an opportunity to compare 3 years of financials to help get a more accurate view as to whether BFW is moving in that direction or in fact has the potential to do that sometime in the future.

BFW shares are currently priced at 39c and are rarely traded.


Footnote  BFW are releasing their 2010 full year results Monday 14 June.



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c Share Investor 2010