Saturday, March 29, 2008

Earth Day: Turn on,tune out, buy some candles

In the interest of sanity,reason, intellectual honesty and beating Al Gore to a bloodied death with a chunk of Antarctic ice smuggled into the country up the arse of a whale sympathetic to my cause, I propose a ying to the preposterous yang of something called "earth hour" which starts in New Zealand first at 8.00pm (NZ time).

My
proposal is this. At 8.00pm sharp, when the dolphin loving, Volvo driving, mung bean eating, bearded female, non smoking, non drinking, Leo Dio loving, vegetarian, hairy arm pitted, sandal wearing , finger pointing, lesbian school teachers are sitting in the dark with all their lights out for an hour, playing with the insert appropriate expletive here next to them, I will turn on every light, appliance and electrical device that I can lay my meat eating, chain smoking, 6 litre V8 Holden driving hands on... for two hours.

Even if this Global warming-or Climate Change, as they are now calling it,because the planet is actually cooling-was true, turning the lights off for an hour is actually what is going to happen for real if these climate change junkies get their way and have windmills dotted all over the place and they stop us from using lovely black coal, gas and oil to keep us alive. This is their intention.

In New Zealand, David Parker, Minister for "Climate Change" , bogey men and tooth fairies, proposes that we only build "renewable" power sources from this day on and forget about real sources of energy like hydro and gas.

We do however export coal to other countries and import the same from Indonesia, do those carbon miles get you a new power station when you get to a billion points?

I'm relaxed now in the knowledge that I am going to do my bit tonight to save our collective sanity. If you are flying across Auckland's North Shore, I think you might be able to spot me.

I will be the one with my feet up on the Brazilian rainforest timber table, in the living room, watching BBC4s "The Great Global Warming Swindle", the house humming, with a power surge so immense, I will be able to supply energy to all those lesser folk in their houses with all the lights turned off.

Do the earth a favour then, engage your brain before turning off those sparkly, modern, gas and oil fired wonders, your lights.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Fitna the Movie: Dutch Politician's film about the Quran




What is with the Dutch and their wish to end their lives by abusing the great Allah?

A controversial movie? not sure about that. If one tells it like it is how can the film be controversial, isn't it more like the subject matter that critics should be more upset about?

That is, the Muslim religion is violent,abusive, murderous and has expansion on its mind, at any cost.

These sorts of "events" tend to galvanise people on one side or the other but they do serve to do two good things. To tell the truth, and get people talking about the "muslim issue".

Very important considering the Jihad that the West has out on it and the appeasement by our local politicians in this country to some of the creeping Islamic cultural demands that New Zealand Muslims have their hands out for.


Film originally posted on LiveLeak.com

Related Political Animal reading

Reaction to Muslim cartoons defended by some
Cartoons depict Muslim faith for what it is

Jihad and Understanding
Having a multiple Muslim

c Political Animal 2008

Sky City share volumes sets tongues wagging

Chart for Sky City Entertainment Group Li (SKC.NZ)

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Reuters story on SKC
- NZ's Sky City CEO sees year of consolidation, then expansion (March 25, 2008)


With volume of Sky City Entertainment[SKC.NZ] shares traded on the NZX at over 8 million today and around 5 million yesterday one would have to ask why the large volumes changing hands? The average trading volume is just over 1.2 million shares.

Answer, I don't know for sure, but I'm going to speculate again.

Clearly the number one stab in the dark would be a share price so low it would have to be about 6 years ago that it traded at the present level of NZ$3.48 and it has got out the bargain hunters and institutions.

Number two punt is a mystery buyer getting a controlling stake-although talk of anyone kicking the tyres of the company is long gone, for now.

Three, Unitab as it was around 3 years ago, now Tattersalls[TTX.AX], from Australia topping up their 0.5% shareholding that they already have in the company.

Fourthly, and probably most likely, Commonwealth Bank[CBA.AX], who dumped Tattersalls stock on March 7 (PDF disclosure) and who is also a biggish player in SKC.

Just to hedge my bets, a combo of all four is also part of my playbook!

The coming year is going to be a tough one for Sky City, But new CEO Nigel Morrison has restructured and redefined a number of casinos in this part of the world. The giant Crown Casino in Melbourne but one of them.


Disclosure: I own SKC shares


Related Share Investor reading

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: Underperforming
Sky City Casino 2007 HY Profit(analysis)
Sky City Casino 2007 HY Profit

c Share Investor 2008

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hallenstein Glasson Australian expansion needs expert execution

Hallenstein Glasson [HLG.NZ] net profit for the 2008 half-year after tax fell 6.6 per cent from $9.9 million to $9.2 million, in line with the company's January market guidance.

The results are mirrored in an overall decline in sales of 2 per cent, with group sales for the six months ending February 1 falling from $100.7 million to $98.5 million.

The company has done spectacularly well for so long but in the last few years sales and profit have been stagnant.

It seemed reasonably clear that profit wouldn't continue to climb as rapidly as it has done in the past, because much of it came from focusing on cost reductions in the business and the company now runs a lean mean retailing machine, fixed costs like rising labour expenses and leases aside.

The expansion of women's clothing chain Glassons across Australia is a priority for new Hallenstein Glasson chief executive Shayne Quanchi, who is based in Melbourne herself.

The focus on expansion across the Tasman before stalled growth in New Zealand is seriously looked at, could be of some concern to shareholders.

Even though Quanchi is a 20 year veteran of retailing in Australia, doesn't mean she can make the Kiwi style Glassons chain a rocking and rolling OZ success.

Its competitors there are way more savvy, generally part of the big conglomerates like Coles/Wesfarmers, David Jones, and the like and the differences between similar targeted customers that Glassons has here and its competitors in Australia are vast in their sophistication, choice options and pricing.

Don't get me wrong, Hallensteins is a great company and has done well in New Zealand for generations but the road to Australia for many New Zealand companies and their expansion plans, is littered with the corpses of battered balance sheets and zombie like shareholders who have had their wallets picked.

Clearly Australia is an opportunity for the company in which they can continue to expand but the story so far there has been disappointing when compared with the operations of the New Zealand unit.

One good and important aspect of the result is that gross margins have been maintained and that is no mean feat in the present retailing environment.

Like other retailers, such as Briscoe [BRG.NZ] and The Warehouse Group[WHS.NZ], they are going to struggle this year, as consumers, especially in New Zealand, slow their spending because of increased taxes, petrol and mortgage costs.

Related Share Investor reading

Why did you buy that stock? [Hallenstein Glasson]
Retailers are having a Christmas sale

Discuss this Company @ Share Investor Forum


Related Amazon Reading

Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing
Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing by Herb Sorensen
Buy new: $17.15 / Used from: $22.92
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c Share Investor 2008