Lack of interest over donation scandal?

According to Helen Clark today, nobody in New Zealand is the least bit interested in the Winston Peter's donation scandal, a donation scandal that directly involves Clark and therefore her fascist socialist Labour Government.

It is the same line taken by the Labour Party Blog The Standard, who like to deny the seriousness of the Glenn/Peters/Clark Payola scandal and "move on" so they can perhaps discuss the finer points of saving transgender gay whales who wear scandals and who vote Labour. 

The public are supposed to move on?

This in the light of the most exciting week in the scandal, in this banana republic we call New Zealand.

Today the police were added to the mix and they will investigate Peters and donations made to him or his NZ First Party in 2007 and undeclared.

This is in addition of course to the Serious Fraud Office Case into yet more dodgy behaviour and the big daddy of them all the Privileges Committee hearing into a $100,000 secret donation to Peters from Owen Glenn.

Owen Glenn arrived in New Zealand today to give evidence at tomorrows privileges hearing.

I and millions of other kiwis are finding this very interesting and will not move on, and neither should we.

It is a very serious matter, of a constitutional nature and our Prime Minister has omitted to admit her central part in it and what she knows about the Glenn donation.

Tomorrow we are likely to see some direct evidence from Glenn and if there is any new information to be revealed that further implicates Peters watch for more public displays of derision by Labour ministers at Owen Glenn-their biggest donor.

I will be riveted.

Lets drink to Delegats

The good result from Delegats Group Ltd [DGL.NZ] last week got me thinking about a new future star of the NZX.

I'm not sure if it will be Delegats, they are but one major Kiwi wine maker, but the New Zealand wine industry is going to play a much bigger part in our economy as time goes on and industry players will want to get their hands on funds with which to expand their businesses.

Consolidation of a number of smaller Kiwi players to get economies of scale to compete with much larger international wine labels will also need to occur.

Some of the funds needed to expand these businesses will be obtained from borrowing money from banks and some could raise funds by listing on the NZX.

If we look at Delegats they seem to have approached their model of business in a most appropriate way.

While reasonably large in terms of cases sold, at $165.3 million or 1.4 million cases, by New Zealand standards, that figure pales into a rose' compared to international wine makers outputs.

Delegats have been clever though. They realise wine volume on an international scale will never be achievable from New Zealand, so they have gone for the "upper end" and have their own niche in the branded market, with their Oyster Bay label.

Apparently a good quality wine-maker(I cant tell the diff between a Carafe of house red Lafoot from a Château Lafite) Delegat's Oyster Bay holds the number one New Zealand wine category position in the large export markets of Britain, Australia and Canada.

In a world where good wine makers are a dime a dozen Delegat's brands will do them well as they grow and allow them to sell their product at a premium price.

In 2008 the New Zealand wine industry had record export sales of $800m, a 14 per cent increase over 2007 and the industry as a whole expects to grow to $1 billion within the next few years.

Delegats were able to increase their exports by 20%, with the premium end of their sales probably responsible for that increase.

While there are obvious threats to agricultural businesses like wine growers-bad weather equals a bad year-the good management at Delagats, headed by Managing Director Jim Delegat seem to have planned well for inclement weather.

The mad hatters who are pushing the "climate change" industry and its associated taxes are also a growing threat to our Kiwi wine makers.

Delegats have a wide geographical spread of wineries, in North Islands Hawkes Bay, where a massive push into premium wines is in play, and where this writer is from, and Marlborough, a longer established wine region.

The Hawkes Bay and Marlborough regions hold the most promise, in my uneducated opinion, for a good future winery business to need more capital for expansion, buying more vineyards and establishing a brand for export and indeed local consumption.

There are however a number of wine regions in New Zealand, from mainland Auckland, through Gisbourne, down through Nelson and Marlborough, Canterbury and Central Otago and even Waiheke Island, with 26 vineyards on a very small Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, is fast establishing their own unique viticulture community in a micro climate a few degrees warmer than Auckland itself.

The long established family winemakers, Nobilo, Delegats, Villa Maria and Vidals have tended to expand their businesses through profits and some vineyards and winemakers have been gobbled up by multinational drinks conglomerates looking for a brand or business in this new world of wine making down here in the South Pacific.

Stockmarket investors should keep a look out for the opportunities to invest in this sector of our economy, through future IPOs and capital raising's.

A part share in a good start up winery, in a good area, with a good vintner that you know well would be a good long term investment.

Even Delegats might be worth a punt.


Related Links

Full 2008 profit report 336 kb PDF (requires registration to download)
Delegats Group
Nobilo Wines
Vidal Wines

Discuss Delegats @ Share Investor Forum


Related Amazon Reading


The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting and Running a Winery by Thomas Pellechia
Buy new: $12.89 / Used from: $7.91
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c Share Investor 2008

KiwiRail rolls out cutting edge technology

For two decades it sat rusting in a museum, a memory of days gone by just after WW2.

The train was built in 1949 and is the centrepiece of KiwiRail's commuter service in Wellington.

In a few weeks, the ancient electric train will return to the rails for the first time in 23 years to "ease pressure" on the Hutt Valley line.

There is talk of resurrecting steam trains from the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland to allow the 3 people who currently use the train in West Auckland to "travel like they used to in the old days".

The three commuters in question, all over 85 years old, were asked by KiwiRail management, what would it be like to "travel like they used to", Mildred Clarke replied, "it would be lovely, but when you used the term like they used to dear, we had no idea they were the same trains we were going to school in over 70 years ago son".

The age of steam has surely arrived and Kiwis can now be proud that the Government has provided this cutting edge technology for the working-class proletariat.

It makes one hanker for the 7 series BMW limos that Helen lady uses, said Gertrude Floss, Mildred's younger more hip friend.

c Political Animal 2008

FULL VIDEO: John McCain RNC Acceptance Speech

John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president before a devoted audience today.

Compared to Sarah Palin's speech yesterday, McCain's delivery is a more solid meat and potatoes sort of speech.

Palin's was inspirational while McCains was a little staid.

However, it had content, appealed to its Republican audience and reinforced McCain's shot at the Presidency.

It put Barack Obamas speech last week to shame-it wasn't flashy and littered with emotional clap trap but it had the ring of a man determined to lead a country with grace and worldly experience.

Something that Barack Obama lacks in spades.

2008 RNC - John McCain speech part 2 of 5

2008 RNC - John McCain speech part 3 of 5

2008 RNC - John McCain speech part 4 of 5

2008 RNC - John McCain speech part 5 of 5

c Political Animal 2008