Global financial crisis, still buying, 8 new rich listers, September traffic figures and Woolies tilt rejected
February 18, 2010
Dear Mayne Reporters,
The Australian stockmarket has just tumbled another 5% to a three year low as the All Ords lost 228 points to 4369.8 amid enveloping global financial and economic chaos, which will see the UK government announce a $120 billion-plus capital injection into the major UK banks at about 5pm AEST. Sadly, existing shareholders are going to be massively diluted without even first being even consulted.
The trouble in Asia was heightened when Toyota released a very disappointing profit result in late trade suggesting that the US economic activity is plunging. The global losses are now pushing $10 trillion and the world has never before seen wealth destruction on this scale.
Buying during a firestorm
I'm sticking with the strategy of buying fixed interest, hybrids or corporate bonds given that the credit crunch is leading to crazy yields all over the world. There was also an opportunistic top-up in News Corp, the partial sale of Hansen Technologies and the addition of Perth-based engineering services company Lypocodium which wasn't in the portfolio despite having a market capitalisation of $150 million. Here is the full rundown of the past two days of trading:
News Corp: bought 50 at $14.42 on Oct 8, 2008
Goodman Plus Trust: bought 7 at $76 on Oct 8, 2008.
Macquarie Bank income securities: bought 8 at $68 on Oct 8, 2008.
Multiplex Sites Trust: bought 9 at $57 on Oct 7, 2008.
Myer Group unsecured notes: bought 7 at $76 on Oct 7, 2008. Back to $85 now.
Hansen Technologies: sold 1200 at 33c on Oct 7, 2008.
Lypocodium: bought 130 at $3.85 on Oct 8, 2008
Plenty of media action
A crew from Today Tonight paid a visit this afternoon for a story they are doing on executive pay focusing on the $12 million Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon collected in 2007-08. Tune in tonight at 6.30pm.
And the global financial crisis is generating plenty of radio discussion. Here are links to the three radio interviews yesterday:
Chatting with Michael Smith on 1116 4BC in Brisbane ahead of the RACV President's dinner with a harp in the background.
Discussion with Deborah Cameron on 702 ABC Sydney.
Listen to regular chat on 774 ABC Melbourne Drive program with guest presenter Libby Gore.
The ABC Sydney spot generated this backhander from Rebecca Urban in The Australian today, suggesting that board tilts are a waste of time. Sigh. Sometimes you really do regret being a media critic because it stunts the whole cause of corporate governance. The Australian is still yet to even report the BHP Billiton tilt which is all about opposing the ridiculously expensive Rio Tinto takeover and shifting the debate onto the retirement of empire-building BHP chairman Don Argus.
I've tried emailing a couple of governance-related items to Rebecca this year but there's been no reply. She's clearly still stewing about our Crikey criticisms of her hatchet job on Kerry Stokes for The Bulletin (see here and here). Maybe it would be more effective to give up on media criticism and instead try and work with the media to maximise the pressure for better corporate governance.
Whilst The AFR bosses still harbour grudges and impose rarely lifted bans dating back to 1999, there has been a bit more international interest in an Australian governance perspective of late. The world's leading business channel CNBC is sending a crew to Australia for a documentary on Rupert Murdoch and there was also this feature on Frank Lowy by Bloomberg late last month.
Wins and losses in the pokies battle with Woolworths
Unfortunately, the foreshadowed Woolworths board tilt won't get off the ground after this email arrived last night:
Mr Stephen Mayne
7 October
Dear Mr Mayne
Re: Board Nomination
I refer to your fax and email on the 6th of October 2008 lodging your consent to nominate for the Board of
Woolworths at the 2008 Annual General Meeting. I refer you to Rule 10.6(d)of Woolworths Constitution which
requires that your consent is lodged at Woolworths Registered Office at 45 business days before the
General Meeting. Unfortunately your consent to nominate was not received within the relevant period and
therefore is not valid.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Horton
Group General Counsel & Company Secretary
Damn! Most companies only require 35 days notice. However, it has been good to see Woolworths receive some public attention for its enormous pokies division with the publisher of www.pokiewatch.org, Paul Bendat, appearing twice on ABC radio over the past two days as follows:
Pokies debate on ABC radio national program Australia talks with David Costello as CEO of Clubs Australia and Charles Livingstone senior lecturer in Health Sciences at Monash University.
Talking with Derek Guille on 774 ABC Melbourne's evening show on October 6.
Another 10 Rich Listers
The Mayne Report Rich List now features more than 1200 names of Australian's worth more than $10 million and today we've got a eight new names with an emphasis on Melbourne-based real estate agents:
Tibor Balog: recently sold off a development site in Burwood Sydney, to the RALAN Group, for $22 million which delivered a profit north of $10 million based on the purchase price $11.5 million in 2005.
Ian Carmichael: a director and partner in Melbourne-based high end real estate agents Carmichael & Weber, the company concentrates on the affluent suburbs of Toorak and Armadale. With high commissions from high-end sales, his wealth is north of $10 million.
Alastair Craig: co-founder and director of Jellis Craig he began his real estate career in 1980. He teamed up with Richard Jellis in 1992 and formed Jellis Craig which has evolved into highly successful agent operating in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.
Gerald Delaney: managing director of Melbourne-based Kay and Burton Real Estate and owner of a half-floor size penthouse in the domain just below Lloyd Williams. A shrewd Realtor he also owns other properties which places him above our $10 million mark.
Rod Fitzroy: founder of prominent commercial real estate consultancy which he founded in 1973, retired from Fitzroys and became chairman of Capital Star Motors (Canberra), chairman of the Victoria Racing Club and Vice-Chairman of Epworth Medical Foundation Board of Trustees. he is also a non-executive director of Timbercorp.
Richard Jellis: is a 30-year veteran of the real estate game focussed in the inner-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Along with Alastair Craig formed the highly successful Jellis Craig in 1992.
Barry Plant: founder of Barry Plant Real Estate, which merged in July 1999 with E J Doherty Real Estate which resulted in 70 offices serving Victoria's real estate needs. In March 2008, the Barry Plant Group opened its first Queensland office on the Gold Coast.
Latest Mayne Report traffic figures
The September traffic figures are in and we're continuing on a steady trajectory. There are two main directories that make up the public website - a words section and a video section. Whilst these member updates are separate again, below are the latest visitor numbers and page views for the words section.
*Unique Visits or UV are the most accurate statistics for gauging the popularity of a website. Second most accurate is page views or PV.
WORDS SECTION STATS
January 2008 | 17,190 UV | 26,200 PV
February 2008 | 22,952 UV | 34,900 PV
March 2008 | 21,340 UV | 27,979 PV
April 2008 | 24,869 UV | 31,793 PV
May 2008 | 26,477 UV | 36,175 PV
June 2008 | 28,384 UV | 39,551 PV
July 2008 | 28,357 UV | 47,531 PV
August 2008 | 26,073 UV | 39,597 PV
September 2008 | 27,033 UV | 40,917 PV
The most popular article again this month was The Mayne Report Rich List with 2,501 visits. Our news feed page What I've been up to lately had over 2400 visits and came in second most popular on the site.
Our production of videos was a little slower than normal in September yet it was a solid month of viewers that were tuned into The Mayne Report video blog, averaging around 500 per day. The latest effort foreshadowing an AFIC EGM is worth a look.
That's all for now.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
* The Mayne Report is a multi-media governance website published by Stephen Mayne with occasional email editions. To unsubscribe from the emails click here.
The Australian stockmarket has just tumbled another 5% to a three year low as the All Ords lost 228 points to 4369.8 amid enveloping global financial and economic chaos, which will see the UK government announce a $120 billion-plus capital injection into the major UK banks at about 5pm AEST. Sadly, existing shareholders are going to be massively diluted without even first being even consulted.
The trouble in Asia was heightened when Toyota released a very disappointing profit result in late trade suggesting that the US economic activity is plunging. The global losses are now pushing $10 trillion and the world has never before seen wealth destruction on this scale.
Buying during a firestorm
I'm sticking with the strategy of buying fixed interest, hybrids or corporate bonds given that the credit crunch is leading to crazy yields all over the world. There was also an opportunistic top-up in News Corp, the partial sale of Hansen Technologies and the addition of Perth-based engineering services company Lypocodium which wasn't in the portfolio despite having a market capitalisation of $150 million. Here is the full rundown of the past two days of trading:
News Corp: bought 50 at $14.42 on Oct 8, 2008
Goodman Plus Trust: bought 7 at $76 on Oct 8, 2008.
Macquarie Bank income securities: bought 8 at $68 on Oct 8, 2008.
Multiplex Sites Trust: bought 9 at $57 on Oct 7, 2008.
Myer Group unsecured notes: bought 7 at $76 on Oct 7, 2008. Back to $85 now.
Hansen Technologies: sold 1200 at 33c on Oct 7, 2008.
Lypocodium: bought 130 at $3.85 on Oct 8, 2008
Plenty of media action
A crew from Today Tonight paid a visit this afternoon for a story they are doing on executive pay focusing on the $12 million Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon collected in 2007-08. Tune in tonight at 6.30pm.
And the global financial crisis is generating plenty of radio discussion. Here are links to the three radio interviews yesterday:
Chatting with Michael Smith on 1116 4BC in Brisbane ahead of the RACV President's dinner with a harp in the background.
Discussion with Deborah Cameron on 702 ABC Sydney.
Listen to regular chat on 774 ABC Melbourne Drive program with guest presenter Libby Gore.
The ABC Sydney spot generated this backhander from Rebecca Urban in The Australian today, suggesting that board tilts are a waste of time. Sigh. Sometimes you really do regret being a media critic because it stunts the whole cause of corporate governance. The Australian is still yet to even report the BHP Billiton tilt which is all about opposing the ridiculously expensive Rio Tinto takeover and shifting the debate onto the retirement of empire-building BHP chairman Don Argus.
I've tried emailing a couple of governance-related items to Rebecca this year but there's been no reply. She's clearly still stewing about our Crikey criticisms of her hatchet job on Kerry Stokes for The Bulletin (see here and here). Maybe it would be more effective to give up on media criticism and instead try and work with the media to maximise the pressure for better corporate governance.
Whilst The AFR bosses still harbour grudges and impose rarely lifted bans dating back to 1999, there has been a bit more international interest in an Australian governance perspective of late. The world's leading business channel CNBC is sending a crew to Australia for a documentary on Rupert Murdoch and there was also this feature on Frank Lowy by Bloomberg late last month.
Wins and losses in the pokies battle with Woolworths
Unfortunately, the foreshadowed Woolworths board tilt won't get off the ground after this email arrived last night:
Mr Stephen Mayne
7 October
Dear Mr Mayne
Re: Board Nomination
I refer to your fax and email on the 6th of October 2008 lodging your consent to nominate for the Board of
Woolworths at the 2008 Annual General Meeting. I refer you to Rule 10.6(d)of Woolworths Constitution which
requires that your consent is lodged at Woolworths Registered Office at 45 business days before the
General Meeting. Unfortunately your consent to nominate was not received within the relevant period and
therefore is not valid.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Horton
Group General Counsel & Company Secretary
Damn! Most companies only require 35 days notice. However, it has been good to see Woolworths receive some public attention for its enormous pokies division with the publisher of www.pokiewatch.org, Paul Bendat, appearing twice on ABC radio over the past two days as follows:
Pokies debate on ABC radio national program Australia talks with David Costello as CEO of Clubs Australia and Charles Livingstone senior lecturer in Health Sciences at Monash University.
Talking with Derek Guille on 774 ABC Melbourne's evening show on October 6.
Another 10 Rich Listers
The Mayne Report Rich List now features more than 1200 names of Australian's worth more than $10 million and today we've got a eight new names with an emphasis on Melbourne-based real estate agents:
Tibor Balog: recently sold off a development site in Burwood Sydney, to the RALAN Group, for $22 million which delivered a profit north of $10 million based on the purchase price $11.5 million in 2005.
Ian Carmichael: a director and partner in Melbourne-based high end real estate agents Carmichael & Weber, the company concentrates on the affluent suburbs of Toorak and Armadale. With high commissions from high-end sales, his wealth is north of $10 million.
Alastair Craig: co-founder and director of Jellis Craig he began his real estate career in 1980. He teamed up with Richard Jellis in 1992 and formed Jellis Craig which has evolved into highly successful agent operating in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.
Gerald Delaney: managing director of Melbourne-based Kay and Burton Real Estate and owner of a half-floor size penthouse in the domain just below Lloyd Williams. A shrewd Realtor he also owns other properties which places him above our $10 million mark.
Rod Fitzroy: founder of prominent commercial real estate consultancy which he founded in 1973, retired from Fitzroys and became chairman of Capital Star Motors (Canberra), chairman of the Victoria Racing Club and Vice-Chairman of Epworth Medical Foundation Board of Trustees. he is also a non-executive director of Timbercorp.
Richard Jellis: is a 30-year veteran of the real estate game focussed in the inner-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Along with Alastair Craig formed the highly successful Jellis Craig in 1992.
Barry Plant: founder of Barry Plant Real Estate, which merged in July 1999 with E J Doherty Real Estate which resulted in 70 offices serving Victoria's real estate needs. In March 2008, the Barry Plant Group opened its first Queensland office on the Gold Coast.
Latest Mayne Report traffic figures
The September traffic figures are in and we're continuing on a steady trajectory. There are two main directories that make up the public website - a words section and a video section. Whilst these member updates are separate again, below are the latest visitor numbers and page views for the words section.
*Unique Visits or UV are the most accurate statistics for gauging the popularity of a website. Second most accurate is page views or PV.
WORDS SECTION STATS
January 2008 | 17,190 UV | 26,200 PV
February 2008 | 22,952 UV | 34,900 PV
March 2008 | 21,340 UV | 27,979 PV
April 2008 | 24,869 UV | 31,793 PV
May 2008 | 26,477 UV | 36,175 PV
June 2008 | 28,384 UV | 39,551 PV
July 2008 | 28,357 UV | 47,531 PV
August 2008 | 26,073 UV | 39,597 PV
September 2008 | 27,033 UV | 40,917 PV
The most popular article again this month was The Mayne Report Rich List with 2,501 visits. Our news feed page What I've been up to lately had over 2400 visits and came in second most popular on the site.
Our production of videos was a little slower than normal in September yet it was a solid month of viewers that were tuned into The Mayne Report video blog, averaging around 500 per day. The latest effort foreshadowing an AFIC EGM is worth a look.
That's all for now.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
* The Mayne Report is a multi-media governance website published by Stephen Mayne with occasional email editions. To unsubscribe from the emails click here.