Even though we haven’t owned Blackmores shares, last week we read their regular quarterly update for the first nine months of 2013. We did so with some concern. At the top-line, a reported a 29% jump in revenue looks like a strong result. At the bottom-line, the 7% NPAT decline is troubling for a number of reasons.
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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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When prices are collapsing, we tend to get very excited about the prospect of finding any proverbial babies that have been thrown out with the bathwater. Over the years we have built a number of quantitative and qualitative frameworks that rapidly analyse companies, in a range of sectors, in an attempt to quickly uncover potential investee candidates.
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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Energy / Resources, Insightful Insights.

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For some time now, we have been cautious about the prospects for listed EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors (mining services). And neither the recent rebound in share prices, nor the following RBA announcement, made last week by Christopher Kent, have done much to impact this view.
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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Energy / Resources, Insightful Insights.

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On 18 January, it was reported here that a 5.5 kg gold nugget (worth up to $300,000) was found in Ballarat with the help of a Minelab GPX-5000 metal detector. Minelab is a world class brand owned and managed by Codan Limited (ASX: CDA), a company that we hold in our investment funds.
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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Energy / Resources, Market Valuation.

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The half-year reporting season has begun in earnest this week with a slight trickle of financials coming through.

Of little interest to us so far are the reports from a number of listed investment companies (LIC’s) and also Agenix Limited (ASX: AGX), an unprofitable early-stage medical device company. These reports and many others like them are quickly pushed to one side to ensure we focus our time, energy and effort on more productive outcomes. Conversely, we have read GUD Holdings half year with interest.
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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Insightful Insights, Market Valuation.

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The recent share price fall (now partially recovered) in McMillan Shakespeare over the past week can largely be attributed to this article in The Australian.

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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Insightful Insights, Market Valuation.

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Announced on Tuesday via a leading retail industry Appliance Website, Breville (ASX: BRG) is set to partner with Nespresso to produce a new range of co-branded portioned coffee machines in 2013.

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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Value.able.

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Back in August 2012 when CCP’s share price was falling, following what we considered to be conservative guidance for the full year, internally we prepared the following table:

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by Russell Muldoon Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights.

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We are delighted by the trading update provided late Wednesday night by Silver Chef’s (ASX: SIV) – a business I mentioned just last week on the Sky Business Channel as a ‘Stock to Watch’. It is also one we own in the both The Montgomery Fund and The Montgomery [Private] Fund.

Management have forecast strong EPS growth of 12.7% to 18.3% for the first half. This would be an excellent achievement in what many have dubbed a tough retailing environment. Clearly not everyone in the retail sector deserve to be tarred with the same brush.

Our expectations are for the business to report earnings at the top-end of this range given the underlying momentum and demand for their product suite.

Silver Chef provides lease financing to hospitality businesses under the Silver Chef brand and more recently, for commercial businesses under its GoGetta brand and excellent risk management processes appear to be in place. Both brands enjoy a growing a reputation as industry-leading financing product providers. In particular Rent-Try-Buy and Rent-Grow-Own put less stress on a businesses cash flow in their start-up phases, a large reason for their take-up.

Management have indicated to us that they believe their potential market is equivalent to about $250m in revenue per annum. At the full year 2012, SIV reported $85m in revenue. With the potential to expand by a factor of 3x from here, we are long-term holders and anticipate many more positive future updates. Keep watching this space.

A word of caution. We have a large holding across our two well-diversified funds in Silver Chef and as shown, the share price has performed spectacularly well recently. Please therefore seek professional advice and understand the risks.

by Russell Muldoon Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights, Market Valuation, Value.able.

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