Record losses, Timbercorp AGM, Wesfarmers, Fairfax, PacBrands, Rich List, Hedley and great lists
February 2, 2010
Dear Mayne Reporters,
We've been crunching the numbers on the latest earnings season and can only conclude it was historic in so many ways. There have now been a staggering 57 companies produce losses of more than $100 million, which is almost double the record 29 from the 2007-08 full year season last August.
And the flow of red ink was so overwhelming last Friday, the last day of the season, that we've decided to take this chronological snapshot of the day for posterity. There were almost 200 different companies which reported losses of more than $1 million last Friday, so this will be very interesting to compare with the last day of the next profit season to be revealed in August.
For the record, this is how it rolled out:
8.28am, Reckson New York Trust: $74.8m loss
8.29am, Pike River Coal: $NZ9.56m loss
8.29am, Hedley Leisure & Gaming: $174m loss
8.42am, Paperlinx: $567.5m loss
8.55am, HFA Accelerator Plus: $163.4m loss
9.11am, Chandler Macleod: $2.5m loss
9.17am, Funtastic: $50.8m loss
9.19am, Oz Minerals: loss of $2.4 billion.
9.23am, Staging Connections: $15.1m loss
9.27am, Every Day Mining Services: $10.1m loss
9.34am, GPG: $110m loss
9.35am, Trafalgar Corporate: $33.2m loss
9.38am, Roc Oil: $430m loss
9.40am Abacus Property Trust: $52m loss
9.42am, GPT: $3.25 billion loss
9.47am, Babcock & Brown Infrastructure: $245.8m loss
10.05am, Clinuvul Pharmaceutical: $9.05m loss
10.09am, Crown: $407.9m loss
10.17am, Rubicor Group: $20.8m loss
10.21am, GRD: $66.7m loss
10.32am, Tap Oil: $7.5m loss
10.34am: SciGen: $7.8m loss
10.37am: Ambition Group: $24.5m loss
10.41am: Drillsearch Energy: $5.5m loss
10.50am: Templeton Growth Fund: $14.5m loss
10.55am, Transoil Corp: $6.03m loss
11.04am, Babcock & Brown Capital: $1.43bn loss
11.11am, Tissue Therapies: $1.78m loss
11.12am, Rey Resources: $1.7m loss
11.18am, Sofcom: $77.7m loss
11.19am, ITL Ltd: $1.9m loss
11.20am, Clime Investment Management: $2.97m loss
11.25am, ORT Ltd: $1.62m loss
11.26am, Swish Group: $1.2m loss
12.03pm, India Equities Fund: $11.6m loss
12.04am, Teys Ltd: $2.04m loss
12.04pm, Environmental Clean Technologies: $1.05m loss
12.06pm, Sun Biomedical: $1.25m loss
12.20pm, Lend Lease Primelife: $204m loss
12.50pm, Lifestyle Communities: $2.24m loss
12.56pm, Western Areas: $12.34m loss
1.15am, Heartware International: $40m loss
1.16pm, Forest Enterprises Australia: $4.1m loss
1.18pm, Medical Therapies: $2.16m loss
1.19pm, Compass Hotels Group: $80.5m loss
1.20pm, RuralAus Investments: $1.2m loss
1.26pm, Automotive Technology Group: $2.96m loss
1.27pm, Univesrsal Biosensors: $12m loss
1.38pm, Allomak Ltd: $68.17m loss
1.40pm, Tyrian Diagnostics: $3.89m loss
1.45pm, Dyesol: $4.54m loss
1.50pm, ING Industrial Fund: $445.9m loss
1.52pm, KLM: $1.4m loss
2.15pm, Phoslock Water Solutions: $1.54m loss
2.29pm, Coretrack Ltd: $1.02m loss
2.32pm, Avita Medical: $2.96m loss
2.38pm, Electrometals Technologies: $2.3m loss
2.51pm, Hyro Ltd: $41.4m loss
2.55pm, Acuvax Ltd: $1.82m loss
2.57pm, Australian Education Trust: $41.3m loss
3.03pm, Novogen: $8.97m loss
3.05pm, Amazing Loans: $21.05m loss
3.06pm, APN Retail European Property Trust: $297m loss
3.10pm, Indigo Pacific: $6.6m loss
3.10pm, Contango Capital Partners: $26.2m loss
3.12pm, Rox Resources: $1.31m loss
3.13pm, Powerlan: $4.63m loss
3.20pm, Vinoto Ltd: $1.7m loss
3.21pm, Phylogica: $2.86m loss
3.22pm, Broad Investments: $2.59m loss
3.22pm, Everest Babcock & Brown Alternative Investment Trust: $300m loss
3.23pm, Praemium Ltd: $6.6m loss
3.25pm, ICSGlobal: $1.11m loss
3.28pm, Neuren Pharmaceuticals: $NZ18.43m loss
3.33pm, Over Fifty Group: $9.83m loss
3.33pm, Transpacific Industries: $52.6m loss
3.34pm, Macquarie Fortress Notes: $61.07m loss
3.39pm, ING Real Estate Community Living Group: $242.4m loss
3.40pm, China Century Capital Ltd: $2.88m loss
3.47pm, KTL Technologies: $2.63m loss
3.48pm, JV Global: $1.82m loss
3.52pm, Contango Microcap: $64.85m loss
3.53pm, 4C Security Solutions: $1.3m loss
3.54pm, LinQ Resources Fund: $225.83m loss
3.54pm, Astron Ltd: $5.83m loss
3.55pm, Jatoil Ltd: $1.8m loss
4.00pm, MacarthurCook: $11.46m loss
4.03pm, Natural Fuel: $40m loss
4.04pm, Two Way Ltd: $1.42m loss
4.06pm, Biosignal Ltd: $3.3m loss
4.08pm, Metal Storm: $10.65m loss
4.11pm, Community Life: $2.5m loss
4.11pm, BBX Holdings: $1.6m loss
4.11pm, Cellnet: $10.2m loss
4.15pm, China Cattle Ltd: $1.4m loss
4.17pm, Jackgreen Ltd: $1.9m loss
4.17pm, Wentworth Holdings: $10.26m loss
4.17pm, AnaeCo Ltd: $2.38m loss
4.18pm, Van Eyk Blueprint Alternatives Plus: $11.64m loss
4.22pm, Century Australia: $5.03m loss
4.23pm, Benitec: $1.13m loss
4.31pm, Allco Max Securities and Mortgage Trust: $105.17m loss
4.32pm, Select Vaccines: $1.16m loss
4.34pm, Carnegie Corporation: $5.96 loss
4.37pm, Celtex: $1.2m loss
4.37pm, National Leisure & Gaming: $8.45m loss
4.38pm, Jupiter Mines: $1.5m loss
4.41pm, Allstate Exploration: $1.3m loss
4.41pm, Range River Gold: $2.15m loss
4.42pm, Hudson Investment Group: $3.87m loss
4.43pm, CBD Energy: $2.29m loss
4.44pm, Enviro Mission: $3.8m loss
4.44pm, Datadot Technology: $7.75m loss
4.45pm, Bluefreeway: $14.65m loss
4.45pm, Shaw River Resources: $1.9m loss
4.46pm, ING Private Equity Access: $8.2m loss
4.46pm, Jervois Mining: $1.28m loss
4.47pm, Boulder Steel: $4.04m loss
4.54pm, Salinas Energy: $2.86m loss
4.57pm, Perilya Resources: $77.17m loss
5.01pm, Mercury Mobility: $1.7m loss
5.01pm, Zylotech: $1.36m loss
5.02pm, Van Eyk Three Pillars: $27.6m loss
5.06pm, Commquest Ltd: $46.4m loss
5.09pm, Flat Glass Industries: $4.67m loss
5.10pm, Living Cell Technologies: $2.89m loss
5.12pm, Fig Tree Developments: $1.49m loss
5.14pm, Polartechnics: $4.43m loss
5.16pm, ChongHerr Investments: $1.28m loss
5.25pm, Cue Energy: $16.72m loss
5.26pm, Australian Biodiesel: $1.9m loss
5.27pm, Cloncurry Metals: $3.54m loss
5.27pm, Viento Group: $6.21m loss
5.27pm, AFT Corporation: $1.12m loss
5.28pm, Kings Minerals: $4.39m loss
5.28pm, 3Q Holdings: $2.49m loss
5.32pm, Green Invest: $1.39m loss
5.33pm, Optiscan: $5.62m loss
5.35pm, Facilitate Digital Holdings: $2.1m loss
5.37pm, Carbon Conscious: $1.1m loss
5.39pm, Minerals Corporation: $11.7m loss
5.40pm, Marine Produce: $3.86m loss
5.40pm, Multistack International: $8.5m loss
5.42pm, Sirius Corporation: $1.06m loss
5.42pm, African Energy Resources: $1.41m loss
5.43pm, Omnitech Holdings: $1.05m loss
5.44pm, Fermiscan Holdings: $9.24m loss
5.44pm, Amex Resources: $1.37m loss
5.47pm, Advanced Ocular Systems: $18.54m loss
5.47pm, Nusep: $1.95m loss
5.48, Coltech Australia: $1.13m loss
5.51pm, Fox Invest: $6.12m loss
5.52pm, Pacific Environment: $1.74m loss
5.54pm, TTA Holdings: $1.24m loss
6.01pm, Wasabi Energy: $12.2m loss
6.04pm, CVC Ltd: $56.2m loss
6.06pm, Austpac Resources: $1.07m loss
6.07pm, Charter Pacific: $4.77m loss
6.09pm, Luminus Systems: $11.1m loss
6.11pm, Planet Gas: $17.07m loss
6.12pm, Australian Power & Gas: $5.65m loss
6.13pm, Quay Magnesium: $4.2m loss
6.16pm, Cockatoo Coal: $2.35m loss
6.59pm, Stirling Products: $15.3m loss
7.00pm, Globe Securities: $1.67m loss
7.01pm, Mikoh Corporation: $1.92m loss
7.02pm, Quantum Energy: $10.13m loss
7.02pm, Straits Resources: $106.7m loss
7.06pm, Cockatoo Ridge Wines: $54.8m loss
7.07pm, PanAust: $62m loss
7.07pm, Real Estate Capital Partners: $13.9m loss
7.09pm, Kagara Zinc: $49.9m loss
7.10pm, Cool or Cosy Total Comfort Solutions: $1.14m loss
7.13pm, Wallace Absolute Return Fund: $28.28m loss
7.13pm, Energy Ventures: $1.87m loss
7.17pm, NSX: $12.58m loss
7.21pm, Sino Strategic International: $3.1m loss
7.22pm, Payce Consolidated: $33.84m loss
7.27pm, Valad Property Group: $821m loss
7.28pm, Bentley International: $1.78m loss
7.33pm, Pacific Enviromin: $3.6m loss
7.39pm, EFTel Ltd: $1.72m loss
7.40pm, Centamin Egypt: $24.43m loss
7.40pm, Capitol Health: $1.1m loss
7.45pm, Orchid Capital: $2.1m loss
7.44pm, Tolhurst Group: $38.5m loss
We've never seen anything like this before and here's hoping it doesn't happen again. And isn't it interesting to see who tries to sneak their results out when non-one is looking.
Who would have thought a little wine company like Cockatoo Ridge could lose $54.8 million in six months?
And surely an alternative exchange like NSX can do better than releasing details of a $12.58 million loss at 7.17pm?
We all knew that the flood of second tier brokers that floated over the last 3 years would struggle in the downturn, but the Tolhurst boys should hang their heads in shame after dropping a $38.5 million loss at 7.44pm on Friday night. Whilst no-one else has reported this fiasco prominently, we're happy to give it a rev.
And how about Macquarie's sneaky release of that latest $61 million loss in its ironically named Fortress fund? The Babcock boys were also keen on the cynical tactics of swamping the last day and we wouldn't have spotted that $300 million loss by the renamed Everest Babcock & Brown Alternative Investment Trust if we hadn't gone through every announcement.
The 9 new members of the $1 billion-loss club
There were 9 companies listed below which managed to lose more than $1 billion. Check out where they rank in this league ladder of corporate disasters, plus this chronological version of the 57 losses exceeding $100 million which rolled out in February:
News Corp: plunged to a $10 billion net loss in the December half after taking $US8.4 billion in write-downs on US TV licences and Dow Jones.
GPT: hedging, joint venture and property write-downs delivered a record $3.25 billion loss for the December 2008 half, but this only reduced claimed net assets from $8 billion to $7.22 billion when the market capitalisation has plunged to just $2 billion. The auditor is David Armstrong from PwC.
Oz Minerals: announced a loss of $2.4 billion for the December 2008 half after huge write-downs.
Centro Properties Group: huge write-downs, currency and hedging losses produced a record $2.4 billion loss for the December 2008 but even that only reduced claimed net assets from $4.14 billion to $1.65 billion when the market capitalisation is below $100 million.
Westfield: $2.2 billion loss for the December 2008 half courtesy of $3.3 billion in write-downs and $1.3 billion in derivative losses. Net assets were claimed to be $24.9 billion, but when you add the recent $2.5 billion placement, it makes $27.4 billion against a market capitalisation of about $22 billion.
Centro Retail: delivered a $2.06 billion loss for the December 2008 half after huge write-downs reduced the claimed net assets from $2.89 billion to $1.64 billion. Market capitalisation is $100m.
Babcock & Brown Capital: announced a loss of $1.427 billion for the December 2008 which reduced claimed net assets of $1.28 billion down to negative equity of $541 million, even though it is capitalised at $200 million.
Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group: huge debt loads and financing costs sent this global telco infrastructure manager to a bottom line loss of $1.1 billion for the half to December 31, 2008.
Macquarie Office: declared a loss of $1.1 billion in the December 2008 half courtesy of write-downs and derivative exposures.
The bizarre thing about this is the remarkably inconsistency between different funds in the Macquarie and Babcock stables.
For instance, the highly solvent Babcock & Brown Capital took huge write-downs and a $1.427 billion loss which produced a negative equity figure of $541 million, yet the arguably insolvent Babcock & Brown Power took no write-downs at all and still claims to be worth $1.4 billion against a market capitalisation below $50 million.
Macquarie was the same with write-downs across the board that were clearly inadequate. Once again, it is not reassuring for investors that PwC audits all of the Macquarie funds, along with the headstock.
Companies that probably won't ever report
The following companies have failed to deliver earnings reports for the December 2008 half, either because they have formally gone under or because they are suspended and battling with bankers:
Allco Financial Group: was still claiming to have net assets worth $545 million when it collapsed in November 2008, so the loss for the 2008-09 financial year would clearly have exceeded $600 million.
Allco HIT: receivers appointed in November 2008 so we're unlikely to ever see the December 2008 half year results.
Babcock & Brown: has admitted will be writing down more than $2.4 billion in claimed assets, if we ever see results.
Babcock & Brown Residential Land Partners: in crisis talks with bankers and have asked for suspension from ASX. Smells like death.
Copperco: the Perth-based mining company claimed to be worth $79.5 million in its final balance sheet before it collapsed in November 2008. The auditor came from Ernst & Young's Perth office.
Nylex: the creation of former BTR CEO Alan Jackson which launched as Austrim and then rebranded and embarked on a long death dive to finally call in the administrators in February 2009. The full year accounts for 2007-08 released in August 2008 claimed to have net assets of $88.3 million. The auditor was Michael Bray from KPMG.
Record Realty: suspended since February 5 but the last balance sheet claimed net assets of $131 million so it should be a big loss if we ever see it.
Rubicon America Trust: foreshadowed a net loss of $320 million in this announcement on January 29 but was suspended on February 5 so we may never see it given the debt crisis. Last claimed to have net assets worth $210 million.
Rubicon Japan Trust: has been suspended since February 5 so we may never see the result but the last published balance sheet claimed net assets of $195 million so the loss should clearly be larger than that.
Rubicon Europe Trust: last traded at a huge discount to claimed net assets of $292 million but has been suspended since November 7 so we'll probably never see the result.
Windimurra Vanadium: we'll never see the result because receivers were appointed in February 2009, but with claimed net assets of $196 in the 2007-08 annual report, the loss for the year would have been north of $200 million. The auditor was KPMG's Brett Fullarton.
The 30 companies which should have taken bigger write-downs
Even after 57 companies produced losses of more than $100 million last month, there are still a large number of companies trading at massive discounts to book value as the following list demonstrates. Also, check out this related list of inflated asset claims at the time of company collapses.
We've now had time to soak up the numbers and it really was disappointing that bigger write-downs weren't taken. It is time to crank up the campaign so we've decided to rank the worst offenders. Whilst this list is naturally subjective, here is a ranking of the top 30 ASX listed companies that in my opinion have just produced the most optimistic balance sheets and earnings results.
1. Babcock & Brown Power: still claims it is worth $1.4 billion and just reported a $19 million net profit when the market capitalisation is down below $50 million. The auditor is Marc Upcroft from PwC.
2. Timbercorp: the annual report for the year to September 20, 2008, claims net assets of $595 million when the market capitalisation dipped below $50 million in early 2009. The auditor is Sneza Pelosi from Deloitte and listen to how she handled the issue at last Friday's AGM.
3. Valad Property Group: the 2007-08 annual report claimed net assets of $2.088 billion, which was cut to $1.07 billion in February 2009 with a net loss of $821 million for the December 2008 half. The auditor is Daniel Prothero from PwC and the market capitalisation is below $50 million.
4. Goodman International: only managed a $349 million loss for the December 2008 half which reduced claimed net assets from $4.66 billion to $4.55 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet. The market capitalisation is down below $700 million and the auditor is John Teer from KPMG.
5. Babcock & Brown Infrastructure: reported a $245.8 million net loss for the December 2008 half but this only reduced claimed net assets from $2.96 billion to $2.36 billion when the market capitalisation is down to $150 million. The auditor is J Leotta from Deloitte, who has replaced his colleague Matthew Sheerin.
6. Macquarie Countrywide: delivered a $714 million loss in the December 2008 half courtesy of write-downs and hedging losses but this only reduced claimed net assets from $2.42 billion to $2 billion when the market capitalisation is below $200 million. The audit gig has switched from PwC's Voula Papageorgiou to James Dunning.
7. Macquarie DDR: almost collapsed with too much debt such that market capitalisation is down to $50 million when the company still claims to have net assets of $865 million. Voula Papageorgiou from PwC is the auditor.
8. FKP: the teetering Brisbane-based property company declared a net loss of $151.2 million for the December 2008 half, which only reduced its claimed net assets from $1.34 billion to $1.28 billion. The market capitalisation has plunged below $100 million and the auditor is Grant Saxon from boutique firm PKF.
9. Macquarie Office: after raising $508 million at 20c in a one-for-one rights issue in late 2008, the market capitalisation still fell to as low of $500 million. Declared a loss of $1.1 billion in February 2009 which reduced claimed net assets from $3.1 billion to $2.735 billion. Voula Papageorgiou from PwC has been replaced as auditor by James Dunning.
10. Mirvac: failed to report a big loss for 2007-08 and then only did modest write-downs to produce a loss of $645.7 million for the December 2008 half year. This cut the claimed net assets from $4.4 billion to $4.2 billion which is way above the current market capitalisation of $1.3 billion. R Gavin from PwC is the auditor.
11. Pacific Brands: the board and auditor cut the net assets from $1.33 billion in August 2008 to $1.14 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet after reporting a $149.8 million loss for the December half. But this is nowhere near the market capitalisation which is down near $100 million. Graeme Billings from PwC is the auditor.
12. Centro Properties Group: shopping centre write-downs sent it to a net loss of $2.055 billion for 2006-07 and then a further $2.4 billion loss for the December 2008 half reduced claimed net assets from $4.14 billion to $1.65 billion. The market capitalisation is below $100 million and the auditor is Chris Dodd from PwC.
13. Centro Retail: declared a full year 2007-08 net loss of $887 million and then a further $2.06 billion loss for the December 2008 half which reduced claimed net assets from $2.89 billion to $1.64 billion. The market cap is less than $150 million and Chris Dodd from PwC is the auditor.
14. GPT: hedging, joint venture and property write-downs delivered a record $3.25 billion loss for the December 2008 half, but this only reduced claimed net assets from $8 billion to $7.22 billion when the market capitalisation has plunged below $1.5 billion. The auditor is David Armstrong from PwC.
15. ING Industrial Fund: the 2007-08 annual report claimed net assets of $2.722 but this was cut to $2.25 billion after a $449.5 million loss for the December half but the market capitalisation is down below $100 million. The auditor is Douglas Bain from Ernst & Young.
16. ING Office Fund: produced a $445 million loss in the December half of 2008 but foreign exchange movements only saw claimed net assets drop from $2.31 billion to $2.26 billion, which is almost $2 billion higher than the February 2009 market capitalisation of less than $500 million. The auditor is Douglas Bain from Ernst & Young.
17. Galileo Japan Trust: was late with its December 2008 results which came in with a net loss of $196.4 million after heavy write-downs. However, currency movements saw claimed net assets actually rise from $370 million to $386 million, even though the market capitalisation is below $20 million and bankers appear in control. The auditor is James Dunning from PwC.
18. Macquarie Airports: claims net assets of $4.45 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet after reporting a $2.28 billion profit, but the market capitalisation of $2.6 billion suggests big write-downs should have been in order. Ed Barron from PwC is the auditor.
19. Macquarie Infrastructure Group: claimed net assets of $6.68 billion in August 2008 but took $1.7 billion in write-downs to declare a $1.2 billion loss for the December 2008 half which cut the claimed assets to $5.33 billion when the market capitalisation has plunged to $2.4 billion. Wayne Andrews from PwC is the auditor. See 2007-08 annual report
20. Macquarie Media: wrote down goodwill by $127 million which totally accounted for the $127.2 million loss declared for the December 2008 half. Net assets fell from $965 million to $855 million which still dwarfs the market capitalisation of around $180 million. Wayne Andrews from PwC is the auditor.
21. Asciano: only managed a $93.4 million loss for the December 2008 half which reduced claimed net assets from $1.98 billion to $1.75 billion. The market capitalisation has plunged to almost $300 million this week and the auditor is Duncan McLennan from KPMG.
22. ConnectEast: the operator of Melbourne's Eastlink tollroad project declared a loss of $92.5 million for the December 2008 half. After raising $500 million of fresh equity, claimed net assets actually rose from $1.75 billion in August 2008 to $1.8 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet when the market capitalisation has now plunged below $900 million. The auditor is Peter Fekete from PwC.
23. Fairfax Media: new CEO Brian McCarthy took a gentle swing at the balance sheet with write-downs of $447.4 million announced in February 2009, producing a net loss of $365.3 million. However, the claimed net assets of $4.5 billion on the latest balance sheet completely dwarf the market capitalisation of $1.4 billion before the rights issue. Intangibles have only been cut from $6.5 billion to $6 billion, which is clearly excessive. Auditor Chris George from Ernst & Young was asked about this at the 2008 AGM but wasn't allowed to answer.
24. Onesteel: somehow managed to a declare a net profit of $228.3 million for the December half when its claimed net assets rose from $3.43 billion in August 2008 to $3.65 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet. Onesteel's market capitalisation has plunged to about $1.6 billion and the auditor is David Rogers from KPMG.
25. QANTAS: the February 2009 balance sheet claims it is worth $5.65 billion but that doesn't include the recent $500 million placement, so the market capitalisation of $2.8 billion is almost $3 billion below book value and the recent $216 million net profit for the December 2008 half should have been a big loss courtesy of write-downs. Martin Sheppard from KPMG is the auditor.
26. Rivercity Motorway: the Brisbane tollroad company reported a $150 million net loss for the December 2008 half, reducing its claimed net assets to $663 million against a market capitalisation of about $100 million. The auditor is Scott Guse from KPMG.
27. Transpacific Industries: claimed to be worth $1.57 billion in February 2009 after only declaring a loss of $52.6 million but the reality is now a market capitalisation below $600 million, so maybe some of those high-priced acquisitions should have been written down. Stock now suspended pending an emergency capital raising. Robert Forbes from boutique firm Bentleys is the auditor.
28. Wesfarmers: claim to have net assets of almost $24 billion when the market capitalisation is about $15 billion courtesy of the ridiculous $19 billion price paid and excessive debt taken on with the Coles Group acquisition. The auditor is Mr Sean van Gorp from Ernst & Young.
29. Boral: claims to be worth $2.9 billion when the market capitalisation has collapsed to below $1.7 billion after the latest big drop in profits to just $75 million for the December 2008 half. David Rogers from KPMG is the auditor.
30. Bluescope Steel: claimed that net assets rose from $3.94 billion in August 2008 to $4.7 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet after declaring a $401 million half year profit that the market didn't believe as the stock tanked below $3 for the first time, sending the market capitalisation down to $2.6 billion. Bruce Meehan from Ernst & Young is the auditor.
As you can see, this list is dominated by property trusts, financially engineered outfits, companies over-burdened with debts and a few old-style manufacturers.
Whilst you can argue that the market has over-reacted and these prices will recover, there should have been a greater effort to get book value within a bull's roar of the market in many of these examples.
The problem, of course, is when write-downs trigger breaches of covenants, which is exactly what appears to have happened to former billionaire Terry Peabody and his waste mangement empire Transpacific Industries.
Companies which did take big enough write downs
This list tracks companies which took enough write-downs to reduce their inflated claimed net assets to something approximating reality or even went too far. Sadly, there are very few companies in this category compared with the list above:
Babcock & Brown Capital: announced a loss of $1.427 billion for the December 2008 which reduced claimed net assets of $1.28 billion down to negative equity of $541 million, even though it is capitalised at $200 million.
DUET: after booking losses of $143.3 million courtesy of derivative losses, the claimed net assets fell to $979.9 million which was below the most recent market capitalisation of $1.05 billion.
Everest Babcock & Brown: savage write-downs delivered a $305.6 million net loss for the December 2008 half which slashed claimed net assets from $339.5 million in August 2008 to $21 million in February 2009.
GRD: the $66.7 million loss for the December 2008 half reduced claimed net assets from $170.4 million to $55.4 million which is near the present market capitalisation of about $50 million.
HFA Accelerator Plus: the listed hedge fund delivered a net loss of $163.4 million for the December 2008 half which reduced net assets from $232.7 million to $66.45 million, which got reasonably close to the $15 million market capitalisation. The auditor is Robert Jones of KPMG.
Possibly the last Timbercorp AGM ever
There was a lot of frustration coming from the floor at Friday's Timbercorp AGM at the Sofitel in Melbourne. Australia's largest corporatised farming outfit is labouring under almost $1 billion in debt, drought conditions, water shortages and the demise of the entire MIS sector courtesy of tax uncertainty and the global financial crisis.
The stock has crashed from more than $4 in mid-2006 to just 11c and I walked away from the AGM thinking it would not survive.
Whilst last year's gathering produced some of the most informative AGM debate I've ever seen, real estate and racing man Rod Fitzroy has replaced Kevin Hayes as chairman and he wasn't nearly as forthcoming.
The directors were loathe to discuss banking covenants, debt repayments, security arrangements, likely coupon payments and the like. We know that they are trying to sell $480 million worth of forestry, almonds and olives plantations through JB Were-Goldman Sachs, but the board even refused to say exactly how much debt was secured against these assets.
The chairman initially tried to curtail general questions to just 30 minutes on the spurious grounds that the venue was booked in the afternoon. You don't blow up $1 billion and contain questions like that and we did manage to string it out to about one hour of debate.
Like with all AGMs, there is always an opportunity to get up with each resolution, so this meant the overall debate was of a reasonable length in the end.
Here is a summary of the key exchanges:
Why hasn't the auditor required the board to take a more realistic approach to asset values in the books?
Give some answers and take us through the legal scenarios if you default on your debt
Can you give us some detail on how much cost you have taken out of the business?
How did we get these accounts signed off by the auditor that are so far from reality?
Can we have a fulsome disclosure of Robert Vance's shareholding?
Why did the incumbent directors get a pay rise after presiding over almost $1 billion in losses?
The Wesfarmers letter The AFR declined to publish
After getting a run in The AFR letters page bagging ComBank's discrimination against retail investors (see last edition), I tried submitting the following letter about Wesfarmers last Thursday but it hasn't seen the light of day:
Wesfarmers shareholders shafted again
After paying a ridiculous $600 million in fees and destroying billions on the ill-fated Coles acquisition, the Wesfarmers board continues to disenfranchise shareholders.
The latest $4.7 billion capital raising involved paying a staggering $200 million in underwriting fees to a highly conflicted cabal of advisers to guarantee the $1.9 billion institutional component of its 3-for-7 entitlement offer.
Given the issue was heavily discounted at $13.50 a share and the risk was alive for less than 48 hours, this was money for jam for the discredited investment bankers' club.
The $3 billion retail component of the raising wasn't underwritten, but at least the 474,000 small Wesfarmers investors were offered the ability to apply for additional shares declined by their retail colleagues.
Wesfarmers only received retail applications worth $1.8 billion, yet the board decided to scale this back to $1.7 billion in a contrived scheme designed to discriminate against the smallest shareholders. My application was scaled back by 93%.
Why on earth would a debt-laden company prepared to pay $200 million in underwriting fees for institutional money worry about an additional $100 million from its retail base which carried no underwriting fee?
Instead, the retail shareholders have collectively been diluted, especially given the selective $900 million placement to Colonial and US giant Capital at the bargain price of $14.25 a share.
Why can't we just return to the good old days of rights issues where everyone is treated equally, but ALL shareholders are given the opportunity to sell their rights if they don't want to inject any more capital?
Will Fairfax shaft or support its retail shareholders?
The following email was sent to Fairfax's investor relations boss Frank Sufferini and group general counsel Gail Hambly yesterday and they are obviously still thinking about it because there's been no reply and no ASX announcement yet even through The AFR reported that the retail offer is meant to have already opened, which obviously can't open without the formal documentation:
Hi Frank and Gail, I trust Fairfax will be giving retail shareholders the opportunity to apply for additional shares over and above their entitlement to take up the slack from any retail shareholders who don't take up the offer. Suncorp, Wesfarmers and Macquarie Office have all done this in their recent $500m-plus entitlement offers so trust Fairfax will also be adopting best practice to ensure minimal dilution of retail shareholders as a class.
Regards, Stephen Mayne
Fairfax shareholder
Great moments in corporate governance from Cairns
Tom Hedley is Australia's richest plumber. The Cairns-based entrepreneur rode the property and pokies boom beautifully to be valued at $715 million in the 2007 BRW Rich List, with his biggest pay day coming courtesy of a $306 million sale of pubs to Coles Myer.
Unfortunately, the empire has largely imploded because silly Tom did a James Packer and reinvested his windfall at the top of the market.
The latest manifestation of his troubles emerges from a most amusing but disturbing line on page two of Friday's half year loss revealed by his Hedley Leisure & Gaming Fund:
“Unauthorised payments to the manager during the half-year amounting to $1.144 million as set out in note 2 to the financial statements were repaid with interest by the manager immediately after the manager became aware of them.”
It seems from note 2 they only became aware of this in recent weeks so maybe the auditor did actually look at the numbers. No wonder Hedley CFO Donnelly is no longer on the HLG board having ‘resigned' on 5 February!
Putting the heat on reckless spending in Queensland
We've just had our strategic weekend at Manningham Council and there was plenty of discussion about cash, debt, capital works and rates. Thankfully, we're one of the four financially strongest councils in Victoria and there is more than $40 million in cash on the books, although the vast majority is locked away in statutory funds or for pre-funded capital works programs.
Whilst I'm normally a fiscal conservative, there's an argument for council to provide a little bit of rate relief in these times of crisis whilst also bringing forward its capital program. However, nothing has been decided.
I'm still strongly influenced by the experience of spinning for Jeff Kennett's old Treasurer Alan Stockdale and therefore let fly at the reckless financial management by Labor in Queensland in this Crikey story today.
There's no way Manningham Council will ever be as reckless as the various Labor states. 4BC's Mike Smith was interested in the Crikey story and we had a strong discussion this afternoon about debt management in Queensland, concluding that whoever forms Government will have to adopt some Kennett-style tactics of job cuts, tax rises and asset sales.
Herald Sun hypocrisy over Pacific Brands
The recently announced a reduction of 1800 jobs at Pacific Brands has generated a truckload of debate and negative publicity for the company, especially new CEO Sue Morphett.
The Herald Sun really kicked off the onslaught with this splash last Thursday, which was rightly rebutted in The Weekend Australian's editorial. Even the Herald Sun's own Terry McCrann had an indirect go at his paper with this column referring to Morphett being "outrageously and unfairly hunted by the media".
Yes, Terry, by your colleagues. Where were you in the editorial conference?
Check out this package of highlights from the PacBrands AGM last October because we raised several of the issues about manufacturing costs, China and debt which have proved decisive in the company's troubles.
Share Trades and share purchase plans
With no improvement expected in the market any time soon, we have continued to lighten up the portfolio with more sales in the past week. Check out all the trades so far this year and here's the most recent disposals:
FSA Group: sold 1,471 at 21c
Ironbark Capital: sold 1,030 at 39c
Tower Ltd: sold 285 at $1.09
ARB Corporation: sold 132 at $2.80
Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust: sold 221 at $161
Whilst we look like doing okay out of the Wesfarmers capital raising, the profit would have been more than $40,000 if the board hadn't scaled back the retail applications by $100 million to $1.7 billion.
There is a raft of other share purchase plans coming up and we've cranked up the credit cards to get set on Tabcorp and Commonwealth Office given that Wesfarmers is hanging onto our cash for a seemingly inordinate amount of time.
Other share purchase plans that are open and in the money at the moment include Newcrest and Commonwealth Bank, but in this market these paper gains can quickly disappear. Here's hoping Wesfarmers can hang onto its $17.70 close when the new retail shares come on tomorrow, because this represents a 30% gain on the $13.50 application price.
11 more names for our Rich List
The Mayne Report Rich List has more than 1200 names of Australians worth more than $10 million and with the crash upon us we are now italicising those entries who have fallen back below our cut-off. There is a strong focus on Melbourne real estate agents this week:
David Cooper: now enjoying semi-retirement after a 30-plus year stint as a leading real estate salesperson in the Illawara region of NSW. He still guides the future direction of Dougmal Property Management which his daughters now independently manage.
Gerald Delany: real estate agent to the rich, this prominent Toorak agent has been the managing director of Kay & Burton Real Estate since 1992, and has presided over thousands of multimillion dollar sales in both commercial and residential properties. He has grown the company from property management and home unit sales to becoming a major prestige residential real estate company.
Rod Fitzroy: retired from Fitzroys, the prominent Melbourne commercial real estate consultancy he founded in 1973, but still acts as a consultant. He is also the chairman of Timbercorp.
John Harris: a retiree from the Victorian town of Castlemaine is the sole remaining independent shareholder of Queensland Gas Company with a shareholding worth more than $6 million contributing to his overall wealth.
Brian Hayden: since commencing trading in Torquay, on Victoria's Surf Coast, in 1949, the company has grown into the largest real estate practice on the Surf Coast. As managing director of the largest real estate practice, he continues to grow the company contributing to his personal success and wealth.
Joseph Hellen: property investor whose private company, The Hellen Group, recently purchased Centro Shopping centre in Ringwood, Victoria. The buy was a bargain at $39 million considering the book value was more than $50 million in June 2008. He also holds other retail property here and in the US.
Kevin Nixon: his real estate business was established in Moorabbin, Victoria in March 1976 specialising exclusively in commercial and industrial property, including investment properties. The company has now grown to become a recognised leader in its field and manages over 900 properties.
Simon O'Donohue: has been in real estate all his working life and for 31 years has been the principal of O'Donoghues First National. Having always operated in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne, he has become a leading agent in Victoria.
Barry Plant: after opening a single office in Melbourne's Eastern suburbs in 1979, his business expanded and merged with EJ Doherty to become Barry Plant Doherty of which he is a director. With over 10,000 sales in 2008, he has established himself as one of Melbourne's leading agents.
Alex Robertson: established in 1926, Alexander Robertson Real Estate manages over $500 million of commercial property, retail property and industrial property.
Phillip Webb: he established Phillip Webb Real Estate in 1972 and it has grown to be recognised as one of the industry leaders throughout Melbourne's Eastern suburbs. The company specialises in all facets of real estate.
Radio dominated by Sol and executive pay
The departure of Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo and recent reports of executive pay rising whilst workers are sacked, made for a busy week on the airwaves, as follows:
ABC Newcastle discussing executive pay.
ABC Newsradio discussing executive pay.
720 ABC Perth discussing Sol Trujillo with morning presenter Geoff Hutchison.
4BC Brisbane discussing the departure of Sol with Drive presenter Mike Smith.
702 ABC Sydney discussing the departure of Sol with Drive presenter Richard Glover.
774 ABC Melbourne regular spot on Drive with Libby Gore discussing the sad news of Pacific Brands, China, companies not coming clean with write-downs and Peter Chernin's outrageous golden parachute from News Corp.
New and improved podcasting service
We have launched our podcast service that covers the best of our video blog and the best of our audio from radio and AGMs. We will be adding videos and audio regularly to the podcast channel to keep you informed and entertained. Check out the video podcasts here and the audio podcasts here.
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.
We've been crunching the numbers on the latest earnings season and can only conclude it was historic in so many ways. There have now been a staggering 57 companies produce losses of more than $100 million, which is almost double the record 29 from the 2007-08 full year season last August.
And the flow of red ink was so overwhelming last Friday, the last day of the season, that we've decided to take this chronological snapshot of the day for posterity. There were almost 200 different companies which reported losses of more than $1 million last Friday, so this will be very interesting to compare with the last day of the next profit season to be revealed in August.
For the record, this is how it rolled out:
8.28am, Reckson New York Trust: $74.8m loss
8.29am, Pike River Coal: $NZ9.56m loss
8.29am, Hedley Leisure & Gaming: $174m loss
8.42am, Paperlinx: $567.5m loss
8.55am, HFA Accelerator Plus: $163.4m loss
9.11am, Chandler Macleod: $2.5m loss
9.17am, Funtastic: $50.8m loss
9.19am, Oz Minerals: loss of $2.4 billion.
9.23am, Staging Connections: $15.1m loss
9.27am, Every Day Mining Services: $10.1m loss
9.34am, GPG: $110m loss
9.35am, Trafalgar Corporate: $33.2m loss
9.38am, Roc Oil: $430m loss
9.40am Abacus Property Trust: $52m loss
9.42am, GPT: $3.25 billion loss
9.47am, Babcock & Brown Infrastructure: $245.8m loss
10.05am, Clinuvul Pharmaceutical: $9.05m loss
10.09am, Crown: $407.9m loss
10.17am, Rubicor Group: $20.8m loss
10.21am, GRD: $66.7m loss
10.32am, Tap Oil: $7.5m loss
10.34am: SciGen: $7.8m loss
10.37am: Ambition Group: $24.5m loss
10.41am: Drillsearch Energy: $5.5m loss
10.50am: Templeton Growth Fund: $14.5m loss
10.55am, Transoil Corp: $6.03m loss
11.04am, Babcock & Brown Capital: $1.43bn loss
11.11am, Tissue Therapies: $1.78m loss
11.12am, Rey Resources: $1.7m loss
11.18am, Sofcom: $77.7m loss
11.19am, ITL Ltd: $1.9m loss
11.20am, Clime Investment Management: $2.97m loss
11.25am, ORT Ltd: $1.62m loss
11.26am, Swish Group: $1.2m loss
12.03pm, India Equities Fund: $11.6m loss
12.04am, Teys Ltd: $2.04m loss
12.04pm, Environmental Clean Technologies: $1.05m loss
12.06pm, Sun Biomedical: $1.25m loss
12.20pm, Lend Lease Primelife: $204m loss
12.50pm, Lifestyle Communities: $2.24m loss
12.56pm, Western Areas: $12.34m loss
1.15am, Heartware International: $40m loss
1.16pm, Forest Enterprises Australia: $4.1m loss
1.18pm, Medical Therapies: $2.16m loss
1.19pm, Compass Hotels Group: $80.5m loss
1.20pm, RuralAus Investments: $1.2m loss
1.26pm, Automotive Technology Group: $2.96m loss
1.27pm, Univesrsal Biosensors: $12m loss
1.38pm, Allomak Ltd: $68.17m loss
1.40pm, Tyrian Diagnostics: $3.89m loss
1.45pm, Dyesol: $4.54m loss
1.50pm, ING Industrial Fund: $445.9m loss
1.52pm, KLM: $1.4m loss
2.15pm, Phoslock Water Solutions: $1.54m loss
2.29pm, Coretrack Ltd: $1.02m loss
2.32pm, Avita Medical: $2.96m loss
2.38pm, Electrometals Technologies: $2.3m loss
2.51pm, Hyro Ltd: $41.4m loss
2.55pm, Acuvax Ltd: $1.82m loss
2.57pm, Australian Education Trust: $41.3m loss
3.03pm, Novogen: $8.97m loss
3.05pm, Amazing Loans: $21.05m loss
3.06pm, APN Retail European Property Trust: $297m loss
3.10pm, Indigo Pacific: $6.6m loss
3.10pm, Contango Capital Partners: $26.2m loss
3.12pm, Rox Resources: $1.31m loss
3.13pm, Powerlan: $4.63m loss
3.20pm, Vinoto Ltd: $1.7m loss
3.21pm, Phylogica: $2.86m loss
3.22pm, Broad Investments: $2.59m loss
3.22pm, Everest Babcock & Brown Alternative Investment Trust: $300m loss
3.23pm, Praemium Ltd: $6.6m loss
3.25pm, ICSGlobal: $1.11m loss
3.28pm, Neuren Pharmaceuticals: $NZ18.43m loss
3.33pm, Over Fifty Group: $9.83m loss
3.33pm, Transpacific Industries: $52.6m loss
3.34pm, Macquarie Fortress Notes: $61.07m loss
3.39pm, ING Real Estate Community Living Group: $242.4m loss
3.40pm, China Century Capital Ltd: $2.88m loss
3.47pm, KTL Technologies: $2.63m loss
3.48pm, JV Global: $1.82m loss
3.52pm, Contango Microcap: $64.85m loss
3.53pm, 4C Security Solutions: $1.3m loss
3.54pm, LinQ Resources Fund: $225.83m loss
3.54pm, Astron Ltd: $5.83m loss
3.55pm, Jatoil Ltd: $1.8m loss
4.00pm, MacarthurCook: $11.46m loss
4.03pm, Natural Fuel: $40m loss
4.04pm, Two Way Ltd: $1.42m loss
4.06pm, Biosignal Ltd: $3.3m loss
4.08pm, Metal Storm: $10.65m loss
4.11pm, Community Life: $2.5m loss
4.11pm, BBX Holdings: $1.6m loss
4.11pm, Cellnet: $10.2m loss
4.15pm, China Cattle Ltd: $1.4m loss
4.17pm, Jackgreen Ltd: $1.9m loss
4.17pm, Wentworth Holdings: $10.26m loss
4.17pm, AnaeCo Ltd: $2.38m loss
4.18pm, Van Eyk Blueprint Alternatives Plus: $11.64m loss
4.22pm, Century Australia: $5.03m loss
4.23pm, Benitec: $1.13m loss
4.31pm, Allco Max Securities and Mortgage Trust: $105.17m loss
4.32pm, Select Vaccines: $1.16m loss
4.34pm, Carnegie Corporation: $5.96 loss
4.37pm, Celtex: $1.2m loss
4.37pm, National Leisure & Gaming: $8.45m loss
4.38pm, Jupiter Mines: $1.5m loss
4.41pm, Allstate Exploration: $1.3m loss
4.41pm, Range River Gold: $2.15m loss
4.42pm, Hudson Investment Group: $3.87m loss
4.43pm, CBD Energy: $2.29m loss
4.44pm, Enviro Mission: $3.8m loss
4.44pm, Datadot Technology: $7.75m loss
4.45pm, Bluefreeway: $14.65m loss
4.45pm, Shaw River Resources: $1.9m loss
4.46pm, ING Private Equity Access: $8.2m loss
4.46pm, Jervois Mining: $1.28m loss
4.47pm, Boulder Steel: $4.04m loss
4.54pm, Salinas Energy: $2.86m loss
4.57pm, Perilya Resources: $77.17m loss
5.01pm, Mercury Mobility: $1.7m loss
5.01pm, Zylotech: $1.36m loss
5.02pm, Van Eyk Three Pillars: $27.6m loss
5.06pm, Commquest Ltd: $46.4m loss
5.09pm, Flat Glass Industries: $4.67m loss
5.10pm, Living Cell Technologies: $2.89m loss
5.12pm, Fig Tree Developments: $1.49m loss
5.14pm, Polartechnics: $4.43m loss
5.16pm, ChongHerr Investments: $1.28m loss
5.25pm, Cue Energy: $16.72m loss
5.26pm, Australian Biodiesel: $1.9m loss
5.27pm, Cloncurry Metals: $3.54m loss
5.27pm, Viento Group: $6.21m loss
5.27pm, AFT Corporation: $1.12m loss
5.28pm, Kings Minerals: $4.39m loss
5.28pm, 3Q Holdings: $2.49m loss
5.32pm, Green Invest: $1.39m loss
5.33pm, Optiscan: $5.62m loss
5.35pm, Facilitate Digital Holdings: $2.1m loss
5.37pm, Carbon Conscious: $1.1m loss
5.39pm, Minerals Corporation: $11.7m loss
5.40pm, Marine Produce: $3.86m loss
5.40pm, Multistack International: $8.5m loss
5.42pm, Sirius Corporation: $1.06m loss
5.42pm, African Energy Resources: $1.41m loss
5.43pm, Omnitech Holdings: $1.05m loss
5.44pm, Fermiscan Holdings: $9.24m loss
5.44pm, Amex Resources: $1.37m loss
5.47pm, Advanced Ocular Systems: $18.54m loss
5.47pm, Nusep: $1.95m loss
5.48, Coltech Australia: $1.13m loss
5.51pm, Fox Invest: $6.12m loss
5.52pm, Pacific Environment: $1.74m loss
5.54pm, TTA Holdings: $1.24m loss
6.01pm, Wasabi Energy: $12.2m loss
6.04pm, CVC Ltd: $56.2m loss
6.06pm, Austpac Resources: $1.07m loss
6.07pm, Charter Pacific: $4.77m loss
6.09pm, Luminus Systems: $11.1m loss
6.11pm, Planet Gas: $17.07m loss
6.12pm, Australian Power & Gas: $5.65m loss
6.13pm, Quay Magnesium: $4.2m loss
6.16pm, Cockatoo Coal: $2.35m loss
6.59pm, Stirling Products: $15.3m loss
7.00pm, Globe Securities: $1.67m loss
7.01pm, Mikoh Corporation: $1.92m loss
7.02pm, Quantum Energy: $10.13m loss
7.02pm, Straits Resources: $106.7m loss
7.06pm, Cockatoo Ridge Wines: $54.8m loss
7.07pm, PanAust: $62m loss
7.07pm, Real Estate Capital Partners: $13.9m loss
7.09pm, Kagara Zinc: $49.9m loss
7.10pm, Cool or Cosy Total Comfort Solutions: $1.14m loss
7.13pm, Wallace Absolute Return Fund: $28.28m loss
7.13pm, Energy Ventures: $1.87m loss
7.17pm, NSX: $12.58m loss
7.21pm, Sino Strategic International: $3.1m loss
7.22pm, Payce Consolidated: $33.84m loss
7.27pm, Valad Property Group: $821m loss
7.28pm, Bentley International: $1.78m loss
7.33pm, Pacific Enviromin: $3.6m loss
7.39pm, EFTel Ltd: $1.72m loss
7.40pm, Centamin Egypt: $24.43m loss
7.40pm, Capitol Health: $1.1m loss
7.45pm, Orchid Capital: $2.1m loss
7.44pm, Tolhurst Group: $38.5m loss
We've never seen anything like this before and here's hoping it doesn't happen again. And isn't it interesting to see who tries to sneak their results out when non-one is looking.
Who would have thought a little wine company like Cockatoo Ridge could lose $54.8 million in six months?
And surely an alternative exchange like NSX can do better than releasing details of a $12.58 million loss at 7.17pm?
We all knew that the flood of second tier brokers that floated over the last 3 years would struggle in the downturn, but the Tolhurst boys should hang their heads in shame after dropping a $38.5 million loss at 7.44pm on Friday night. Whilst no-one else has reported this fiasco prominently, we're happy to give it a rev.
And how about Macquarie's sneaky release of that latest $61 million loss in its ironically named Fortress fund? The Babcock boys were also keen on the cynical tactics of swamping the last day and we wouldn't have spotted that $300 million loss by the renamed Everest Babcock & Brown Alternative Investment Trust if we hadn't gone through every announcement.
The 9 new members of the $1 billion-loss club
There were 9 companies listed below which managed to lose more than $1 billion. Check out where they rank in this league ladder of corporate disasters, plus this chronological version of the 57 losses exceeding $100 million which rolled out in February:
News Corp: plunged to a $10 billion net loss in the December half after taking $US8.4 billion in write-downs on US TV licences and Dow Jones.
GPT: hedging, joint venture and property write-downs delivered a record $3.25 billion loss for the December 2008 half, but this only reduced claimed net assets from $8 billion to $7.22 billion when the market capitalisation has plunged to just $2 billion. The auditor is David Armstrong from PwC.
Oz Minerals: announced a loss of $2.4 billion for the December 2008 half after huge write-downs.
Centro Properties Group: huge write-downs, currency and hedging losses produced a record $2.4 billion loss for the December 2008 but even that only reduced claimed net assets from $4.14 billion to $1.65 billion when the market capitalisation is below $100 million.
Westfield: $2.2 billion loss for the December 2008 half courtesy of $3.3 billion in write-downs and $1.3 billion in derivative losses. Net assets were claimed to be $24.9 billion, but when you add the recent $2.5 billion placement, it makes $27.4 billion against a market capitalisation of about $22 billion.
Centro Retail: delivered a $2.06 billion loss for the December 2008 half after huge write-downs reduced the claimed net assets from $2.89 billion to $1.64 billion. Market capitalisation is $100m.
Babcock & Brown Capital: announced a loss of $1.427 billion for the December 2008 which reduced claimed net assets of $1.28 billion down to negative equity of $541 million, even though it is capitalised at $200 million.
Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group: huge debt loads and financing costs sent this global telco infrastructure manager to a bottom line loss of $1.1 billion for the half to December 31, 2008.
Macquarie Office: declared a loss of $1.1 billion in the December 2008 half courtesy of write-downs and derivative exposures.
The bizarre thing about this is the remarkably inconsistency between different funds in the Macquarie and Babcock stables.
For instance, the highly solvent Babcock & Brown Capital took huge write-downs and a $1.427 billion loss which produced a negative equity figure of $541 million, yet the arguably insolvent Babcock & Brown Power took no write-downs at all and still claims to be worth $1.4 billion against a market capitalisation below $50 million.
Macquarie was the same with write-downs across the board that were clearly inadequate. Once again, it is not reassuring for investors that PwC audits all of the Macquarie funds, along with the headstock.
Companies that probably won't ever report
The following companies have failed to deliver earnings reports for the December 2008 half, either because they have formally gone under or because they are suspended and battling with bankers:
Allco Financial Group: was still claiming to have net assets worth $545 million when it collapsed in November 2008, so the loss for the 2008-09 financial year would clearly have exceeded $600 million.
Allco HIT: receivers appointed in November 2008 so we're unlikely to ever see the December 2008 half year results.
Babcock & Brown: has admitted will be writing down more than $2.4 billion in claimed assets, if we ever see results.
Babcock & Brown Residential Land Partners: in crisis talks with bankers and have asked for suspension from ASX. Smells like death.
Copperco: the Perth-based mining company claimed to be worth $79.5 million in its final balance sheet before it collapsed in November 2008. The auditor came from Ernst & Young's Perth office.
Nylex: the creation of former BTR CEO Alan Jackson which launched as Austrim and then rebranded and embarked on a long death dive to finally call in the administrators in February 2009. The full year accounts for 2007-08 released in August 2008 claimed to have net assets of $88.3 million. The auditor was Michael Bray from KPMG.
Record Realty: suspended since February 5 but the last balance sheet claimed net assets of $131 million so it should be a big loss if we ever see it.
Rubicon America Trust: foreshadowed a net loss of $320 million in this announcement on January 29 but was suspended on February 5 so we may never see it given the debt crisis. Last claimed to have net assets worth $210 million.
Rubicon Japan Trust: has been suspended since February 5 so we may never see the result but the last published balance sheet claimed net assets of $195 million so the loss should clearly be larger than that.
Rubicon Europe Trust: last traded at a huge discount to claimed net assets of $292 million but has been suspended since November 7 so we'll probably never see the result.
Windimurra Vanadium: we'll never see the result because receivers were appointed in February 2009, but with claimed net assets of $196 in the 2007-08 annual report, the loss for the year would have been north of $200 million. The auditor was KPMG's Brett Fullarton.
The 30 companies which should have taken bigger write-downs
Even after 57 companies produced losses of more than $100 million last month, there are still a large number of companies trading at massive discounts to book value as the following list demonstrates. Also, check out this related list of inflated asset claims at the time of company collapses.
We've now had time to soak up the numbers and it really was disappointing that bigger write-downs weren't taken. It is time to crank up the campaign so we've decided to rank the worst offenders. Whilst this list is naturally subjective, here is a ranking of the top 30 ASX listed companies that in my opinion have just produced the most optimistic balance sheets and earnings results.
1. Babcock & Brown Power: still claims it is worth $1.4 billion and just reported a $19 million net profit when the market capitalisation is down below $50 million. The auditor is Marc Upcroft from PwC.
2. Timbercorp: the annual report for the year to September 20, 2008, claims net assets of $595 million when the market capitalisation dipped below $50 million in early 2009. The auditor is Sneza Pelosi from Deloitte and listen to how she handled the issue at last Friday's AGM.
3. Valad Property Group: the 2007-08 annual report claimed net assets of $2.088 billion, which was cut to $1.07 billion in February 2009 with a net loss of $821 million for the December 2008 half. The auditor is Daniel Prothero from PwC and the market capitalisation is below $50 million.
4. Goodman International: only managed a $349 million loss for the December 2008 half which reduced claimed net assets from $4.66 billion to $4.55 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet. The market capitalisation is down below $700 million and the auditor is John Teer from KPMG.
5. Babcock & Brown Infrastructure: reported a $245.8 million net loss for the December 2008 half but this only reduced claimed net assets from $2.96 billion to $2.36 billion when the market capitalisation is down to $150 million. The auditor is J Leotta from Deloitte, who has replaced his colleague Matthew Sheerin.
6. Macquarie Countrywide: delivered a $714 million loss in the December 2008 half courtesy of write-downs and hedging losses but this only reduced claimed net assets from $2.42 billion to $2 billion when the market capitalisation is below $200 million. The audit gig has switched from PwC's Voula Papageorgiou to James Dunning.
7. Macquarie DDR: almost collapsed with too much debt such that market capitalisation is down to $50 million when the company still claims to have net assets of $865 million. Voula Papageorgiou from PwC is the auditor.
8. FKP: the teetering Brisbane-based property company declared a net loss of $151.2 million for the December 2008 half, which only reduced its claimed net assets from $1.34 billion to $1.28 billion. The market capitalisation has plunged below $100 million and the auditor is Grant Saxon from boutique firm PKF.
9. Macquarie Office: after raising $508 million at 20c in a one-for-one rights issue in late 2008, the market capitalisation still fell to as low of $500 million. Declared a loss of $1.1 billion in February 2009 which reduced claimed net assets from $3.1 billion to $2.735 billion. Voula Papageorgiou from PwC has been replaced as auditor by James Dunning.
10. Mirvac: failed to report a big loss for 2007-08 and then only did modest write-downs to produce a loss of $645.7 million for the December 2008 half year. This cut the claimed net assets from $4.4 billion to $4.2 billion which is way above the current market capitalisation of $1.3 billion. R Gavin from PwC is the auditor.
11. Pacific Brands: the board and auditor cut the net assets from $1.33 billion in August 2008 to $1.14 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet after reporting a $149.8 million loss for the December half. But this is nowhere near the market capitalisation which is down near $100 million. Graeme Billings from PwC is the auditor.
12. Centro Properties Group: shopping centre write-downs sent it to a net loss of $2.055 billion for 2006-07 and then a further $2.4 billion loss for the December 2008 half reduced claimed net assets from $4.14 billion to $1.65 billion. The market capitalisation is below $100 million and the auditor is Chris Dodd from PwC.
13. Centro Retail: declared a full year 2007-08 net loss of $887 million and then a further $2.06 billion loss for the December 2008 half which reduced claimed net assets from $2.89 billion to $1.64 billion. The market cap is less than $150 million and Chris Dodd from PwC is the auditor.
14. GPT: hedging, joint venture and property write-downs delivered a record $3.25 billion loss for the December 2008 half, but this only reduced claimed net assets from $8 billion to $7.22 billion when the market capitalisation has plunged below $1.5 billion. The auditor is David Armstrong from PwC.
15. ING Industrial Fund: the 2007-08 annual report claimed net assets of $2.722 but this was cut to $2.25 billion after a $449.5 million loss for the December half but the market capitalisation is down below $100 million. The auditor is Douglas Bain from Ernst & Young.
16. ING Office Fund: produced a $445 million loss in the December half of 2008 but foreign exchange movements only saw claimed net assets drop from $2.31 billion to $2.26 billion, which is almost $2 billion higher than the February 2009 market capitalisation of less than $500 million. The auditor is Douglas Bain from Ernst & Young.
17. Galileo Japan Trust: was late with its December 2008 results which came in with a net loss of $196.4 million after heavy write-downs. However, currency movements saw claimed net assets actually rise from $370 million to $386 million, even though the market capitalisation is below $20 million and bankers appear in control. The auditor is James Dunning from PwC.
18. Macquarie Airports: claims net assets of $4.45 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet after reporting a $2.28 billion profit, but the market capitalisation of $2.6 billion suggests big write-downs should have been in order. Ed Barron from PwC is the auditor.
19. Macquarie Infrastructure Group: claimed net assets of $6.68 billion in August 2008 but took $1.7 billion in write-downs to declare a $1.2 billion loss for the December 2008 half which cut the claimed assets to $5.33 billion when the market capitalisation has plunged to $2.4 billion. Wayne Andrews from PwC is the auditor. See 2007-08 annual report
20. Macquarie Media: wrote down goodwill by $127 million which totally accounted for the $127.2 million loss declared for the December 2008 half. Net assets fell from $965 million to $855 million which still dwarfs the market capitalisation of around $180 million. Wayne Andrews from PwC is the auditor.
21. Asciano: only managed a $93.4 million loss for the December 2008 half which reduced claimed net assets from $1.98 billion to $1.75 billion. The market capitalisation has plunged to almost $300 million this week and the auditor is Duncan McLennan from KPMG.
22. ConnectEast: the operator of Melbourne's Eastlink tollroad project declared a loss of $92.5 million for the December 2008 half. After raising $500 million of fresh equity, claimed net assets actually rose from $1.75 billion in August 2008 to $1.8 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet when the market capitalisation has now plunged below $900 million. The auditor is Peter Fekete from PwC.
23. Fairfax Media: new CEO Brian McCarthy took a gentle swing at the balance sheet with write-downs of $447.4 million announced in February 2009, producing a net loss of $365.3 million. However, the claimed net assets of $4.5 billion on the latest balance sheet completely dwarf the market capitalisation of $1.4 billion before the rights issue. Intangibles have only been cut from $6.5 billion to $6 billion, which is clearly excessive. Auditor Chris George from Ernst & Young was asked about this at the 2008 AGM but wasn't allowed to answer.
24. Onesteel: somehow managed to a declare a net profit of $228.3 million for the December half when its claimed net assets rose from $3.43 billion in August 2008 to $3.65 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet. Onesteel's market capitalisation has plunged to about $1.6 billion and the auditor is David Rogers from KPMG.
25. QANTAS: the February 2009 balance sheet claims it is worth $5.65 billion but that doesn't include the recent $500 million placement, so the market capitalisation of $2.8 billion is almost $3 billion below book value and the recent $216 million net profit for the December 2008 half should have been a big loss courtesy of write-downs. Martin Sheppard from KPMG is the auditor.
26. Rivercity Motorway: the Brisbane tollroad company reported a $150 million net loss for the December 2008 half, reducing its claimed net assets to $663 million against a market capitalisation of about $100 million. The auditor is Scott Guse from KPMG.
27. Transpacific Industries: claimed to be worth $1.57 billion in February 2009 after only declaring a loss of $52.6 million but the reality is now a market capitalisation below $600 million, so maybe some of those high-priced acquisitions should have been written down. Stock now suspended pending an emergency capital raising. Robert Forbes from boutique firm Bentleys is the auditor.
28. Wesfarmers: claim to have net assets of almost $24 billion when the market capitalisation is about $15 billion courtesy of the ridiculous $19 billion price paid and excessive debt taken on with the Coles Group acquisition. The auditor is Mr Sean van Gorp from Ernst & Young.
29. Boral: claims to be worth $2.9 billion when the market capitalisation has collapsed to below $1.7 billion after the latest big drop in profits to just $75 million for the December 2008 half. David Rogers from KPMG is the auditor.
30. Bluescope Steel: claimed that net assets rose from $3.94 billion in August 2008 to $4.7 billion in the February 2009 balance sheet after declaring a $401 million half year profit that the market didn't believe as the stock tanked below $3 for the first time, sending the market capitalisation down to $2.6 billion. Bruce Meehan from Ernst & Young is the auditor.
As you can see, this list is dominated by property trusts, financially engineered outfits, companies over-burdened with debts and a few old-style manufacturers.
Whilst you can argue that the market has over-reacted and these prices will recover, there should have been a greater effort to get book value within a bull's roar of the market in many of these examples.
The problem, of course, is when write-downs trigger breaches of covenants, which is exactly what appears to have happened to former billionaire Terry Peabody and his waste mangement empire Transpacific Industries.
Companies which did take big enough write downs
This list tracks companies which took enough write-downs to reduce their inflated claimed net assets to something approximating reality or even went too far. Sadly, there are very few companies in this category compared with the list above:
Babcock & Brown Capital: announced a loss of $1.427 billion for the December 2008 which reduced claimed net assets of $1.28 billion down to negative equity of $541 million, even though it is capitalised at $200 million.
DUET: after booking losses of $143.3 million courtesy of derivative losses, the claimed net assets fell to $979.9 million which was below the most recent market capitalisation of $1.05 billion.
Everest Babcock & Brown: savage write-downs delivered a $305.6 million net loss for the December 2008 half which slashed claimed net assets from $339.5 million in August 2008 to $21 million in February 2009.
GRD: the $66.7 million loss for the December 2008 half reduced claimed net assets from $170.4 million to $55.4 million which is near the present market capitalisation of about $50 million.
HFA Accelerator Plus: the listed hedge fund delivered a net loss of $163.4 million for the December 2008 half which reduced net assets from $232.7 million to $66.45 million, which got reasonably close to the $15 million market capitalisation. The auditor is Robert Jones of KPMG.
Possibly the last Timbercorp AGM ever
There was a lot of frustration coming from the floor at Friday's Timbercorp AGM at the Sofitel in Melbourne. Australia's largest corporatised farming outfit is labouring under almost $1 billion in debt, drought conditions, water shortages and the demise of the entire MIS sector courtesy of tax uncertainty and the global financial crisis.
The stock has crashed from more than $4 in mid-2006 to just 11c and I walked away from the AGM thinking it would not survive.
Whilst last year's gathering produced some of the most informative AGM debate I've ever seen, real estate and racing man Rod Fitzroy has replaced Kevin Hayes as chairman and he wasn't nearly as forthcoming.
The directors were loathe to discuss banking covenants, debt repayments, security arrangements, likely coupon payments and the like. We know that they are trying to sell $480 million worth of forestry, almonds and olives plantations through JB Were-Goldman Sachs, but the board even refused to say exactly how much debt was secured against these assets.
The chairman initially tried to curtail general questions to just 30 minutes on the spurious grounds that the venue was booked in the afternoon. You don't blow up $1 billion and contain questions like that and we did manage to string it out to about one hour of debate.
Like with all AGMs, there is always an opportunity to get up with each resolution, so this meant the overall debate was of a reasonable length in the end.
Here is a summary of the key exchanges:
Why hasn't the auditor required the board to take a more realistic approach to asset values in the books?
Give some answers and take us through the legal scenarios if you default on your debt
Can you give us some detail on how much cost you have taken out of the business?
How did we get these accounts signed off by the auditor that are so far from reality?
Can we have a fulsome disclosure of Robert Vance's shareholding?
Why did the incumbent directors get a pay rise after presiding over almost $1 billion in losses?
The Wesfarmers letter The AFR declined to publish
After getting a run in The AFR letters page bagging ComBank's discrimination against retail investors (see last edition), I tried submitting the following letter about Wesfarmers last Thursday but it hasn't seen the light of day:
Wesfarmers shareholders shafted again
After paying a ridiculous $600 million in fees and destroying billions on the ill-fated Coles acquisition, the Wesfarmers board continues to disenfranchise shareholders.
The latest $4.7 billion capital raising involved paying a staggering $200 million in underwriting fees to a highly conflicted cabal of advisers to guarantee the $1.9 billion institutional component of its 3-for-7 entitlement offer.
Given the issue was heavily discounted at $13.50 a share and the risk was alive for less than 48 hours, this was money for jam for the discredited investment bankers' club.
The $3 billion retail component of the raising wasn't underwritten, but at least the 474,000 small Wesfarmers investors were offered the ability to apply for additional shares declined by their retail colleagues.
Wesfarmers only received retail applications worth $1.8 billion, yet the board decided to scale this back to $1.7 billion in a contrived scheme designed to discriminate against the smallest shareholders. My application was scaled back by 93%.
Why on earth would a debt-laden company prepared to pay $200 million in underwriting fees for institutional money worry about an additional $100 million from its retail base which carried no underwriting fee?
Instead, the retail shareholders have collectively been diluted, especially given the selective $900 million placement to Colonial and US giant Capital at the bargain price of $14.25 a share.
Why can't we just return to the good old days of rights issues where everyone is treated equally, but ALL shareholders are given the opportunity to sell their rights if they don't want to inject any more capital?
Will Fairfax shaft or support its retail shareholders?
The following email was sent to Fairfax's investor relations boss Frank Sufferini and group general counsel Gail Hambly yesterday and they are obviously still thinking about it because there's been no reply and no ASX announcement yet even through The AFR reported that the retail offer is meant to have already opened, which obviously can't open without the formal documentation:
Hi Frank and Gail, I trust Fairfax will be giving retail shareholders the opportunity to apply for additional shares over and above their entitlement to take up the slack from any retail shareholders who don't take up the offer. Suncorp, Wesfarmers and Macquarie Office have all done this in their recent $500m-plus entitlement offers so trust Fairfax will also be adopting best practice to ensure minimal dilution of retail shareholders as a class.
Regards, Stephen Mayne
Fairfax shareholder
Great moments in corporate governance from Cairns
Tom Hedley is Australia's richest plumber. The Cairns-based entrepreneur rode the property and pokies boom beautifully to be valued at $715 million in the 2007 BRW Rich List, with his biggest pay day coming courtesy of a $306 million sale of pubs to Coles Myer.
Unfortunately, the empire has largely imploded because silly Tom did a James Packer and reinvested his windfall at the top of the market.
The latest manifestation of his troubles emerges from a most amusing but disturbing line on page two of Friday's half year loss revealed by his Hedley Leisure & Gaming Fund:
“Unauthorised payments to the manager during the half-year amounting to $1.144 million as set out in note 2 to the financial statements were repaid with interest by the manager immediately after the manager became aware of them.”
It seems from note 2 they only became aware of this in recent weeks so maybe the auditor did actually look at the numbers. No wonder Hedley CFO Donnelly is no longer on the HLG board having ‘resigned' on 5 February!
Putting the heat on reckless spending in Queensland
We've just had our strategic weekend at Manningham Council and there was plenty of discussion about cash, debt, capital works and rates. Thankfully, we're one of the four financially strongest councils in Victoria and there is more than $40 million in cash on the books, although the vast majority is locked away in statutory funds or for pre-funded capital works programs.
Whilst I'm normally a fiscal conservative, there's an argument for council to provide a little bit of rate relief in these times of crisis whilst also bringing forward its capital program. However, nothing has been decided.
I'm still strongly influenced by the experience of spinning for Jeff Kennett's old Treasurer Alan Stockdale and therefore let fly at the reckless financial management by Labor in Queensland in this Crikey story today.
There's no way Manningham Council will ever be as reckless as the various Labor states. 4BC's Mike Smith was interested in the Crikey story and we had a strong discussion this afternoon about debt management in Queensland, concluding that whoever forms Government will have to adopt some Kennett-style tactics of job cuts, tax rises and asset sales.
Herald Sun hypocrisy over Pacific Brands
The recently announced a reduction of 1800 jobs at Pacific Brands has generated a truckload of debate and negative publicity for the company, especially new CEO Sue Morphett.
The Herald Sun really kicked off the onslaught with this splash last Thursday, which was rightly rebutted in The Weekend Australian's editorial. Even the Herald Sun's own Terry McCrann had an indirect go at his paper with this column referring to Morphett being "outrageously and unfairly hunted by the media".
Yes, Terry, by your colleagues. Where were you in the editorial conference?
Check out this package of highlights from the PacBrands AGM last October because we raised several of the issues about manufacturing costs, China and debt which have proved decisive in the company's troubles.
Share Trades and share purchase plans
With no improvement expected in the market any time soon, we have continued to lighten up the portfolio with more sales in the past week. Check out all the trades so far this year and here's the most recent disposals:
FSA Group: sold 1,471 at 21c
Ironbark Capital: sold 1,030 at 39c
Tower Ltd: sold 285 at $1.09
ARB Corporation: sold 132 at $2.80
Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust: sold 221 at $161
Whilst we look like doing okay out of the Wesfarmers capital raising, the profit would have been more than $40,000 if the board hadn't scaled back the retail applications by $100 million to $1.7 billion.
There is a raft of other share purchase plans coming up and we've cranked up the credit cards to get set on Tabcorp and Commonwealth Office given that Wesfarmers is hanging onto our cash for a seemingly inordinate amount of time.
Other share purchase plans that are open and in the money at the moment include Newcrest and Commonwealth Bank, but in this market these paper gains can quickly disappear. Here's hoping Wesfarmers can hang onto its $17.70 close when the new retail shares come on tomorrow, because this represents a 30% gain on the $13.50 application price.
11 more names for our Rich List
The Mayne Report Rich List has more than 1200 names of Australians worth more than $10 million and with the crash upon us we are now italicising those entries who have fallen back below our cut-off. There is a strong focus on Melbourne real estate agents this week:
David Cooper: now enjoying semi-retirement after a 30-plus year stint as a leading real estate salesperson in the Illawara region of NSW. He still guides the future direction of Dougmal Property Management which his daughters now independently manage.
Gerald Delany: real estate agent to the rich, this prominent Toorak agent has been the managing director of Kay & Burton Real Estate since 1992, and has presided over thousands of multimillion dollar sales in both commercial and residential properties. He has grown the company from property management and home unit sales to becoming a major prestige residential real estate company.
Rod Fitzroy: retired from Fitzroys, the prominent Melbourne commercial real estate consultancy he founded in 1973, but still acts as a consultant. He is also the chairman of Timbercorp.
John Harris: a retiree from the Victorian town of Castlemaine is the sole remaining independent shareholder of Queensland Gas Company with a shareholding worth more than $6 million contributing to his overall wealth.
Brian Hayden: since commencing trading in Torquay, on Victoria's Surf Coast, in 1949, the company has grown into the largest real estate practice on the Surf Coast. As managing director of the largest real estate practice, he continues to grow the company contributing to his personal success and wealth.
Joseph Hellen: property investor whose private company, The Hellen Group, recently purchased Centro Shopping centre in Ringwood, Victoria. The buy was a bargain at $39 million considering the book value was more than $50 million in June 2008. He also holds other retail property here and in the US.
Kevin Nixon: his real estate business was established in Moorabbin, Victoria in March 1976 specialising exclusively in commercial and industrial property, including investment properties. The company has now grown to become a recognised leader in its field and manages over 900 properties.
Simon O'Donohue: has been in real estate all his working life and for 31 years has been the principal of O'Donoghues First National. Having always operated in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne, he has become a leading agent in Victoria.
Barry Plant: after opening a single office in Melbourne's Eastern suburbs in 1979, his business expanded and merged with EJ Doherty to become Barry Plant Doherty of which he is a director. With over 10,000 sales in 2008, he has established himself as one of Melbourne's leading agents.
Alex Robertson: established in 1926, Alexander Robertson Real Estate manages over $500 million of commercial property, retail property and industrial property.
Phillip Webb: he established Phillip Webb Real Estate in 1972 and it has grown to be recognised as one of the industry leaders throughout Melbourne's Eastern suburbs. The company specialises in all facets of real estate.
Radio dominated by Sol and executive pay
The departure of Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo and recent reports of executive pay rising whilst workers are sacked, made for a busy week on the airwaves, as follows:
ABC Newcastle discussing executive pay.
ABC Newsradio discussing executive pay.
720 ABC Perth discussing Sol Trujillo with morning presenter Geoff Hutchison.
4BC Brisbane discussing the departure of Sol with Drive presenter Mike Smith.
702 ABC Sydney discussing the departure of Sol with Drive presenter Richard Glover.
774 ABC Melbourne regular spot on Drive with Libby Gore discussing the sad news of Pacific Brands, China, companies not coming clean with write-downs and Peter Chernin's outrageous golden parachute from News Corp.
New and improved podcasting service
We have launched our podcast service that covers the best of our video blog and the best of our audio from radio and AGMs. We will be adding videos and audio regularly to the podcast channel to keep you informed and entertained. Check out the video podcasts here and the audio podcasts here.
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.