Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Helen Clark: Ian Wishart's "Absolute Power" book

Absolute Power - coming soon, pre-order now for guaranteed delivery

www.helenclarkbook.com

Looking for Ian Wisharts full account of the donations for passports scandal involving Yang Liu, Shane Jones and Dover Samuels, currently engulfing the Labour Party in October 2008? 

Please go here.

Related Political Animal reading

Labour's State control out of control

Trevor Mallards anti Violence advert
Sign anti smacking petition
Anti smacking law puts young boy at risk
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
Ian Wishart: Passport Scandal- two ministers, one MP implicated

I must have been asleep over the last 3 weeks since this wee ditty was announced.

Now I'm not a big Ian Wishart fan but I'm guessing that this is going to have a decent sort of impact when it comes out and as Wishart has said in his statement below he might be lucky not to have an injunction served on it by the great leader herself.

Having said that the book's contents may have me dancing and singing like some demented Labour Party member with a fetish for Kenny Rogers and John Key and I could well celebrate with a cheeseburger and Coke, before the Food Police pass new sweeping powers to stop me having a coronary.

On the other hand I could get so angry with malice over the mere thought of the cover photo of the beautiful leader and throw an item of clothing at my child, get arrested and charged with assault under the new anti smacking law and then have the case thrown out of court.

Its serious stuff and deserves far more serious consideration than I can give it in my present mood but this is probably all the subject of the book requires.



COMING SOON: PRE-ORDER THIS TITLE NOW OR RISK MISSING OUT! JUST DAYS AWAY

*APRIL 21*

Ian Wishart's major new title, "ABSOLUTE POWER: The Helen Clark Years" is coming soon. We used to joke “buy it before they ban it”. But now the Electoral Finance Act has been passed. All we can say is, if you don’t pre-order a copy for Day One, you might not get a chance on Day Two.

SEE THE ONLINE TV COMMERCIAL FOR ABSOLUTE POWER BY CLICKING HERE


c Political Animal 2008

Monday, April 14, 2008

Why did you buy that stock ? [Goodman Fielder]


To be honest I bought Goodman Fielder[GFF] because I noticed just about everything I shoved in my fat mouth was made by the company.

Everything from Vogel's bread, Olivani olive spread Tararua milk and cheese products and a whole range of food for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I thought before buying, that this company has a huge clutch of branded, staple, food products that New Zealanders and Australians have grown up with and people simply keep buying them!

What more could you want from a business?

That is pretty much the the main reason why I bought the company. Goodman's dominant brands give it the "economic moat" advantage that Warren Buffett talks incessantly about and the fact that the company, what it sells and how it functions, is very easy to understand, puts it above other more complicated industries, whose balance sheets are only decipherable by specialist forensic accountants with xray vision.


Why did you buy that stock?

Why did you buy that stock? [Kiwi Income Property Trust]
Why did you buy that stock? [Hallenstein Glasson]
Why did you buy that stock? [Briscoe Group]
Why did you buy that stock? [Fisher & Paykel Healthcare]
Why did you buy that stock? [Pumpkin Patch Ltd]
Why did you buy that stock? [Ryman Healthcare]
Why did you buy that stock? [Michael Hill International]
Why did you buy that stock? [Mainfreight]
Why did you buy that stock? [The Warehouse]
Why did you buy that stock? [Goodman Fielder]
Why did you buy that stock? [Auckland Airport]
Why did you buy that stock? [Sky City Entertainment]

Discuss Goodman Fielder at Share Investor Forum


Goodman's competitive advantage over its competition lies in its ability to leverage off those strong brands, excel during good economic times and plod boringly through the tough years, as we are having now-we all have to eat and that will never change.

Going back to Buffett again, he has a massive holding in Kraft Foods[KFT], a company similar in its branded food focus to Goodman Fielder, but alot bigger of course and he has been adding to his holding over the last year as the stock price tumbles.

Would I buy the stock again today? of course, I still hold it and have done for around 4 years and have been adding to my portfolio over the last few months.

The only crimp for the short to medium term are commodity prices like wheat and raw dairy ingredients, which add to retail product cost but are not always able to be passed on to the consumer.


Related Share Investor reading


Goodman Fielder hit by high commodity prices
Goodman Fielder a Hedge against an economic slump
Goodman Fielder pie gets bigger


Related reading

Kraft good in a recession -Everything Warren Buffett
Goodman Fielder - Corporate Website


c Share Investor 2008

Friday, April 11, 2008

Why did you buy that stock ? [Auckland International Airport]

In this second of a series of columns about why I bought a particular stock for my portfolio, lets hover over Auckland International Airport[AIA.NZ] for a while a see what motivated me to buy.

Recent political interference involved over a possible Airport sale aside, there wasn't a lot negative about this company to speak of before I plunked down my dineros.

Perhaps a large requirement for capital expenditure in the short to medium term, to expand the business to meet growth expectations was the only thing that would keep the company taxiing down the runway, the rest looked blue sky to me.

Why did you buy that stock?

Why did you buy that stock? [Freightways Ltd]
Why did you buy that stock? [Kiwi Income Property Trust]
Why did you buy that stock? [Hallenstein Glasson]
Why did you buy that stock? [Briscoe Group]
Why did you buy that stock? [Fisher & Paykel Healthcare]
Why did you buy that stock? [Pumpkin Patch Ltd]
Why did you buy that stock? [Ryman Healthcare]
Why did you buy that stock? [Michael Hill International]
Why did you buy that stock? [Mainfreight]
Why did you buy that stock? [The Warehouse Group]
Why did you buy that stock? [Goodman Fielder]
Why did you buy that stock? [Auckland Airport]
Why did you buy that stock? [Sky City Entertainment]

Discuss this stock @ Shareinvestor.net.nz

Again, like Sky City Entertainment [SKC.NZ] Auckland Airport stood out as a monopoly, protected in its position for the foreseeable future and it has that "moatability" that Warren Buffett talks about :

The competitive advantage that one company has over other companies in the same industry.
The wider the moat, the larger and more sustainable the competitive advantage. By having a well-known brand name, pricing power and a large portion of market demand, a company with a wide moat possesses characteristics that act as barriers against other companies wanting to enter into the industry.

Warren Buffett

Auckland Airport, because of its monopoly position, has the ability to raise prices well above the rate of inflation and does so within its division of different businesses. From car parking and retail rents, to landing and departure fees, regular price rises seem the order of the day.

The economic moat factor is the main reason I bought shares in the company, although there are a couple of others.

The history of passenger growth for the company is excellent and more could be expected, but not guaranteed, in the future if history is any measure of the company going forward.

The individual share purchase cost relative to the various financial ratios and measures of the business in comparison to international airports was also an attractive carrot.

Bids by The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise for a premium of over 60% of my purchase price is evidence of how cheap the shares were. In a relative sense anyway.

Now the question I must answer. Would I buy this stock again?

Again political interference aside, yes(I will go into this in another column but I don't want politics to enter here)

The affirmative answer is reinforced by the long term growth prospects and again the fact that the company is unlikely to be challenged in its monopoly position in its industry.

Auckland International Airport @ Share Investor

Cullen's move on Auckland Airport has far reaching effects
Cullen's move on AIA tax plan Anti-Business
AIA profit stays grounded
Softening opposition to CPPIB bid for AIA
Directors of AIA bribe brokers not to sell
What is Auckland Airport worth to you?
Second bite at AIA by CPPIB might just fly
AIA new directors must focus on shareholders
Auckland Airport merger deal nosedives
The Canadians have landed
AIA incentive scheme must fly out the window
Government market manipulation over AIA/DAE deal
DAE move on AIA: Will it fly?

Related Links

AIA Financial Data


Related Amazon Reading

Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage (3rd Edition)

Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage (3rd Edition) by Jay Barney
Buy new: $133.75 / Used from: $44.99
Usually ships in 24 hours

c Share Investor 2008



MARKETWIRE: CPPIB reaction to Auckland Airport veto

CPP Investment Board

Statement From CPP Investment Board Following Government's Decision on Overseas Investment Act Application

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND--(Marketwire - April 11, 2008) - The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) today said it was disappointed in the outcome of its Overseas Investment Act application, which has been declined.

CPPIB's partial takeover offer for Auckland International Airport required CPPIB's Overseas Investment Act application to be approved in order for the offer to become unconditional.

The offer received the necessary levels of shareholder acceptance and approvals.

CPPIB's Vice-President - Head of Infrastructure, Graeme Bevans, said: "We are naturally very disappointed in the outcome.

CPPIB appreciates the support we have received from the 29,000 largely New Zealand, Auckland International Airport shareholders who accepted our offer."

Under the terms of the offer, the offer will now lapse. Shareholders who accepted the offer are now free to deal with their holdings as they wish.

About CPP Investment Board:

The CPP Investment Board invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay current benefits on behalf of 17 million Canadian contributors and beneficiaries. As at December 31, 2007, the CPP Fund was C$119.4 billion (NZ$148.7 billion) of which C$2.5 billion (NZ$3.1 billion) represents infrastructure investments. In order to build a diversified portfolio of CPP assets, the CPP Investment Board is investing in publicly-traded stocks, private equities, real estate, inflation-linked bonds, infrastructure and fixed income.

Based in Toronto, the CPP Investment Board is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments.

UBS has acted as financial advisor and Bell Gully has acted as legal advisor to CPPIB.

For more information, please contact

In Canada:
CPP Investment Board
Joel Kranc
(416) 874-5163
Email: jkranc@cppib.ca
Website: www.cppib.ca

or

In New Zealand:
Consultus
Coran Lill
+64 27 600 8602
Email: clill@consultus.co.nz