While out doing a little pre-Christmas shopping at the Albany Warehouse at the crack of 8.30am this morning who should I happen to notice during a meeting of the staff on the shop floor was the cuddly little CEO of The Warehouse [WHS.NZ] , Ian Morrice.
The Warehouse is New Zealands largest general retailer and is currently subject to a possible takeover by either Woolworths Australia or the New Zealand supermarket cooperative Foodstuffs.
After purchasing my $4 hex keys-on my credit card no less- I made my way through the checkout and was about to head out the door when I decided I would regret not meeting Ian and having a word with him.
So I did.
I only mention my meeting him because I was impressed that he was so approachable and listened to some of the feedback I had about my experiences in his stores. Mostly negative on my part.
I made a couple of observations about a couple of items and he knew exactly the products I was talking about within seconds-shame his staff are not as knowledgeable-like he had an inventory of every product in his little Scottish CEO head.
Great big firm handshake too!
Asked him, "how is business Ian", "doing well", came his reply.
He looked relaxed coming up to Christmas.
A few more pleasantry's, and apology for breaking up his meeting then I was back out the door into the early summer morning Auckland sunshine, glad I met him.
Disclosure: I own WHS shares
The Warehouse @ Share Investor
Warehouse bidders ready to lay money down
The Warehouse set to cut lose "extra" impediment
The Warehouse sale could hinge on "Extra" decision
The case for The Warehouse without a buyer
Foodstuffs take their foot off the gas
Woolworths seek leave to appeal to Supreme Court
Warehouse appeal decision imminent
Warehouse decision a loser for all
Warehouse Court of appeal decision in Commerce Commission's favour
MARKETWATCH: The Warehouse
The Warehouse takeover saga continues
Why did you buy that stock? [The Warehouse]
History of Warehouse takeover players suggest a long winding road
Court of Appeal delays Warehouse bid
The Warehouse set for turbulent 2008
The Warehouse Court of Appeal case lay in "Extras" hands
WHS Court of Appeal case could be dismissed next week
Commerce Commission impacts on the Warehouse bottom line
The Warehouse in play
Outcomes of Commerce Commission decision
The fight for control begins soon
Related Links
Audited Results for the financial year ended 27 July 2008.pdf (1MB)
Warehouse Corporate profile
Shareinvestorforum.com -Discuss this company
From Amazon
The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $2.14
Usually ships in 24 hours
The Emergence of Modern Retailing 1750-1950 by N. Alexander
Buy new: $41.97 / Used from: $69.16
Usually ships in 1 to 4 weeks
c Share Investor 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
CEO Spotting
Posted by Share Investor at 7:42 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ian Morrice, The Warehouse
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Putting knuckle dragging hippies in their place
I originally wrote the piece below for the Share Investor Blog but after a couple of ignorant comments from some angry loser knuckle dragging hippie lefties, it is clear the politics of it all simply went over my head, so I posted it here with some additional comments just to clear up a few things.
How can you say the current problems are the fault of the Labour govt, what a load of balls!
NZ is but a tiny tiny fish in the world ocean. We are at the mercy of much bigger and greedier economies than ours and don't forget for a moment it is people like John Key and his ilk that have plunged the world into the mess that we are all now in! Investment bankers !
...and you are celebrating?
Currently New Zealand is suffering a recession brought on by profligate spending by our previous Finance Minister, Michael Cullen. Problems related to the credit squeeze have only just started to hit us and will reach their worst probably sometime mid 2009.
Some of the symptoms of the outgoing Labour Governments spending so far are; higher inflation, rising unemployment, a massive public deficit, lower spending on every level of consumer goods, high interest rates, low productivity, lower property prices, higher mortgage defaults and business failures, amongst other things.
These factors are set to get worse as we move into the New Year, save the higher interest rates, and clearly this is going to have a highly negative effect on the New Zealand stockmarket.
With the current NZX index at 2800, it is likely to go below 2000 points before it starts to get any better, probably towards the end of 2009 to early 2010.
Of course all the finer points of timing for recovery and or a worsening of the scenario outlined above hinge on what responses John Key's new Government makes to the current recession and whether it looms for longer or deeper.
The economic situation for our trading partners is also an important factor for any export led recovery and obviously the seriousness or otherwise of the global slowdown will have an impact and that impact we have largely yet to see.
Wasteful spending clearly needs cutting back in all areas of Government and the savings returned to taxpaying citizens via more tax cuts, this way the economy will be stimulated over and above any initiatives to speed the economy up via Government attached incentives or direct spending by them.
More of what we had from the Labour Party just isn't going to cut the mustard. Economies are best stimulated directly by citizens rather than by bureaucrats or politicians looking to spend taxpayer dosh on their favourite business charity.
Government spending on essential infrastructure is one notable exception.
New power stations, motorways in Auckland-another harbour crossing, a motorway through Mt Albert to finish the city's motorway system-and some decent school buildings would be a good start.
Any continuation of what got us in this mess in the first place will simply drag out out the recession for several years, rather than the likely 18 months or so.
Particular importance should placed on the speed and timing of the building blocks that must be put in place for us to start to grow the economy again.
A quick response is the best response and any impediment to economic development must be put aside so as to assist an economy that could get alot worse.
This means a fast tracking of a relaxing of the Resource Management Act and the immediate rescinding of the Emissions trading scheme, which will hamper economic growth by piling unnecessary cost into the economy when we least need it.
New Zealand finally has an administration that has the expertise to negotiate their way through financial management for the good and bad times.
New Zealand has made a choice by electing a new Government and our elected leaders must make the right economic choices, some of them difficult, in order for us to prosper again, sooner rather than latter.
The alternative is a continued slide down the economic ladder which will be extremely difficult to extricate ourselves from.
Posted by Share Investor at 9:07 PM 2 comments
Labels: knuckle dragging hippies, Micheal Cullen, recession
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
But wait there's more!
The New Zealand election is over, we have got the desired result(for most of us anyway) so it is back to writing on my first love; money, business, finance and all that jazz.
Naturally my first piece back from writing at Political Animal is tinged with more than a little politics.
Sorry!
If you think New Zealand has seen the worst of its economic slowdown think again.
Currently New Zealand is suffering a recession brought on by profligate spending by our previous Finance Minister, Michael Cullen. Problems related to the credit squeeze have only just started to hit us and will reach their worst probably sometime mid 2009.
Some of the symptoms of the outgoing Labour Governments spending so far are; higher inflation, rising unemployment, a massive public deficit, lower spending on every level of consumer goods, high interest rates, low productivity, lower property prices, higher mortgage defaults and business failures, amongst other things.
These factors are set to get worse as we move into the New Year, save the higher interest rates, and clearly this is going to have a highly negative effect on the New Zealand stockmarket.
With the current NZX index at 2800, it is likely to go below 2000 points before it starts to get any better, probably towards the end of 2009 to early 2010.
Of course all the finer points of timing for recovery and or a worsening of the scenario outlined above hinge on what responses John Key's new Government makes to the current recession and whether it looms for longer or deeper.
The economic situation for our trading partners is also an important factor for any export led recovery and obviously the seriousness or otherwise of the global slowdown will have an impact and that impact we have largely yet to see.
Wasteful spending clearly needs cutting back in all areas of Government and the savings returned to taxpaying citizens via more tax cuts, this way the economy will be stimulated over and above any initiatives to speed the economy up via Government attached incentives or direct spending by them.
More of what we had from the Labour Party just isn't going to cut the mustard. Economies are best stimulated directly by citizens rather than by bureaucrats or politicians looking to spend taxpayer dosh on their favourite business charity.
Government spending on essential infrastructure is one notable exception.
New power stations, motorways in Auckland-another harbour crossing, a motorway through Mt Albert to finish the city's motorway system-and some decent school buildings would be a good start.
Any continuation of what got us in this mess in the first place will simply drag out out the recession for several years, rather than the likely 18 months or so.
Particular importance should placed on the speed and timing of the building blocks that must be put in place for us to start to grow the economy again.
A quick response is the best response and any impediment to economic development must be put aside so as to assist an economy that could get alot worse.
This means a fast tracking of a relaxing of the Resource Management Act and the immediate rescinding of the Emissions trading scheme, which will hamper economic growth by piling unnecessary cost into the economy when we least need it.
New Zealand finally has an administration that has the expertise to negotiate their way through financial management for the good and bad times.
New Zealand has made a choice by electing a new Government and our elected leaders must make the right economic choices, some of them difficult, in order for us to prosper again, sooner rather than latter.
The alternative is a continued slide down the economic ladder which will be extremely difficult to extricate ourselves from.
c Share Investor 2008
Posted by Share Investor at 9:19 PM 3 comments
Labels: National Party, New Zealand recession
Labour on the take from Vela Brothers
Labour are at it again.
Yesterday, Peter Vela refused to say what prompted the donation to Labour.
"You've got to be entitled to donate to who you wish, don't you?" he said.
Asked if he had supported Labour before, he said, "Yes, of course."
"We are still a democracy and people still do have the basic democratic right to give how much they like, when they like and how they like to whom they like." More
Clearly the hope the Velas had was that their largesse to the filthy two would help Labour get re-elected and therefore the money train would keep going for the Velas for the next three years.
The donations, if disclosed before the election, would have been even more controversial than they are now because Labour had made mileage in pre-election propaganda about Nationals link to big business and their grandstanding via the Electoral Finance Act, that allowed Labour to get big donations from their donors but made it difficult to other party's.
It is money for favours and implicates Labour and NZ First, again.
National will remove the Electoral Finance Act from our statutes.
c Political Animal 2008
Posted by Share Investor at 7:20 AM 0 comments
Monday, November 10, 2008
The backlash finally came
I have been writing about a compliant New Zealand public in the face of Labours last 9 years of nanny statism, crimes against democracy and the various lies and corrupt practices that Labour, its leader and its aligned party's have been up to for many years and have wondered when I was going to see a backlash against it.
I'm just wondering to myself, when is there going to be a backlash?
Where is the anger, the outrage, the venom, has Clark's regime breed the mongrel out of us?
There have been touches of it, with street protests against the Electoral Finance Bill, but those were tame. In Australia cars would be burned in the streets if their leaders tried this sort of fascist stuff!
Posted by Share Investor at 5:42 PM 0 comments
Labels: backlash, filthy Labour politics
Political Animal Blog picks election outcome
After the election day blitz of Labour by National, it is interesting that very few in blogoland or in mainstream media picked the result. I did.
Posted by Share Investor at 8:01 AM 0 comments
Labels: Picking election
Sunday, November 9, 2008
TV3 John Campbell interview with John Key
An in depth interview with John Key, the new New Zealand Prime Minister, by John Campbell on TV3 on Sunday November 9.
Posted by Share Investor at 8:29 PM 0 comments
Labels: Interview, John Campbell, John Key, video
3 mad muslims despatched
Posted by Share Investor at 7:30 AM 1 comments
Labels: bali bombers, mad muslims
John Key's Victory Speech
Posted by Share Investor at 1:29 AM 2 comments
Labels: John Key's Victory Speech
Yesterdays Gone
Posted by Share Investor at 12:33 AM 2 comments
Labels: Prime Minister John Key, You Tube Video
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Final 2008 New Zealand Election Results
The final results for the 2008 New Zealand General Election for November 8 2008 are:
|
Posted by Share Investor at 11:59 PM 0 comments
Helen Clark concedes, finally
Yes, the bitch is finally gone.
Posted by Share Investor at 10:27 PM 1 comments
Labels: Aunty Helen Concedes
Winnie is gone!
Winston Peters concession speech - Video
Posted by Share Investor at 10:14 PM 2 comments
Labels: Winston Peters gone
National wins 2008 New Zealand Election
National have won by a large margin in the 2008 New Zealand Election on November 8 2008.
Posted by Share Investor at 9:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: Live US Election results, National Party
New Zealand Election night results, November 8 2008
Posted by Share Investor at 6:55 PM 0 comments
Labels: Live Streaming of NZ Election coverage, New Zealand Election Day coverage
Your day of democracy
Saturday November 8 2008. A day where you have the chance to cast your ballot to make it known who you want to run your country for the next 3 years.
Posted by Share Investor at 6:41 AM 0 comments
Labels: election day
Friday, November 7, 2008
POLL: Political Animal Poll, 7 November 2008
National | 88 (60%) |
Labour | 22 (15%) |
Greens | 6 (4%) |
NZ First | 4 (2%) |
Act | 17 (11%) |
United Future | 1 (0%) |
Alliance | 3 (2%) |
Maori Party | 0 (0%) |
Other | 5 (3%) |
Constituent Vote
National | 92 (62%) |
Labour | 22 (14%) |
Greens | 3 (2%) |
NZ First | 3 (2%) |
Act | 10 (6%) |
United Future | 1 (0%) |
Alliance | 3 (2%) |
Maori Party | 6 (4%) |
Other | 7 (4%) |
Votes so far: 147
Posted by Share Investor at 9:44 PM 0 comments