Friday, September 25, 2009

John Key rings Wall Street Closing Bell

3 News Video On Demand


Following a great honour and tradition for Celebs or politicians to close trading for the day on Wall Street, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key rings the bell for close of trade on September 24 (NY time) on the New York Stock Exchange.

Is a tradition long celebrated on the NY Stock Exchange and for John Key to get to do it just shows the respect he still has from his years on the Street.

Hey, I am still here but baby is taking up our time lately.

I am working on an interview with Don Braid, Managing Director of Mainfreight [MFT.NZ] and that should be out in a few weeks.

Until then, enjoy the video and imagine it is you !

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c Share Investor 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Power of Dividends

Just like interest, dividends are a powerful addition to ones investing hand.

When re-invested in good companies they can make an average return a spectacular one over the long-term.

In the Share Investor Portfolio, which has been in action in one form or another for the last 7 years I have received just over NZ$113,000 in dividends and tax credits, not bad for a portfolio that is worth only around $320,000 on today's valuation and one that has been considerably smaller in its early days.

All of the cash has been reinvested back into the portfolio, as have the tax credits which I am able to use fully.

The bulk of the dividends come from just one stock, Sky City Entertainment Group [SKC.NZ] making up over half the booty, then much smaller amounts from The Warehouse Group [WHS.NZ] Freightways Ltd [FRE.NZ] and Mainfreight [MFT.NZ] until they taper off to just a couple of thousand for the smaller stock holdings.

While dividends are not always a sign a company is doing well, often a higher dividend payout reflects that a company's cash turnover is a good one and then they are able to pass that turnover onto the shareholder.

A high dividend though should never be the only criteria for buying a stock.

I expect the dividend contribution to the Share Investor Portfolio to at least pay enough as to provide enough income over the next ten years to double the value of my investment, regardless of any capital value fluctuations from week to week and year to year.

Just what a good business should do.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Capital Gains tax a millstone for New Zealand Inc

A question of intellectual dishonesty, economic illiteracy and empire protection by politicians and their hangers on currently surrounds the topic of a capital gains tax on investment housing.

We all know why investment housing is so popular and does so well in this country. There are countless tax advantages that this form of investing has over every other investment class, not the least one being the lack of a tax on capital gains, so it is bleedingly obvious as to why every Tom Dick and Harriet has an investment property.

The lax of taxes helps make for a successful investment, any investment, a third form economics student will tell you that.

Stockmarket investing is taxed to the hilt, as is investing in your own business, as are your savings in a bank or in a retirement scheme.

We all know how badly these investment classes, and our economy have suffered as a result of high taxes, while at the same time investment property is favoured above all by having no State hand reaching into your pocket.

So you think I want to tax investment property to even out the score?

Hell no.

Here is something quite radical and perhaps a little outside the square. Why not drop taxes completely on all asset classes?

That way investors will have a true choice about which investment they might want to make based on its merits or otherwise and if they invest in a business directly or a business indirectly on the stockmarket or put money into a savings account, the money is more likely to go into something productive rather than an over priced investment house with phony tax advantages and it will lift the economy as a result.

Aint that what we need, especially right now?

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Monday, September 14, 2009

Share Investor Short: Warehouse Group yield worth a look

I don't usually do this here but I want to take a look at a good short term play.

Yeah OK, my attention span is a little limited lately due to the arrival of the stork.

Dividend stripping * is something worth doing though. That is, getting in early when a good dividend is announced and riding the share price upwards before the dividend is paid or holding on to collect the dividend then ditching the stock, depending on how you think the market will treat the company post dividend.

I may or may not have done this over the years and if I did it certainly wasn't my intention to do so, yeah OK.

The Warehouse Group [WHS.NZ] just announced their 2009 Full Year profit last Friday and along with it came a surprise to the market, a special dividend of 10c per share. This comes on top of the usual 5.5c a share paid.

The Warehouse have had a history of special dividends over the years but haven't been able to pay one for many years because of cash flow problems due to their ill-fated expansion in Australia.

With cash flows up considerably this year the dividends are now rolling in again.

If you add the 33% imputation credits and are able to use them to offset taxes then you are in for a payout of :

15.5c dividends + 5.11c tax credits = 20.61c , which equates to around a 4.85% gross return at a closing share price on Friday 11 Sept of NZ$4.25 - the net return is obviously higher if you are able to fully use the tax credits.

An excellent short term payout for doing next to nothing and it is better than a term deposit because it does not take a full year to payback.

There is also the probability that those after the dividend will push up the stock price to enable you to get out with a good capital gain before the dividend is paid, if you wish to do so.

Of course, and I have to get this in before I wrap it up. If you are a long-term shareholder in the company your return for the year would have been a 31c per share net dividend and the possibility of more than 10c in tax credits - a plus 10% net return for the year based on my share purchase price.

Long term wins again but who says you cant have the best of both worlds!

* Of course as one reader pointed out below, the process of dividend stripping, if the intention is to do that, the capital gain that you make is taxable.


The Warehouse Group @ Share Investor

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