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The latest in Unlisted Company news:UNLISTED COMPANY
ANNOUNCEMENTShttp://www.stuff.co.nz/4099542a13.html
18 June 2007
KCE: King Country Energy posted a record annual net profit of $4.67 million, ahead of budget and up 21 per cent despite including nearly $1 million of writeoffs. The company boosted sales during the year ended March despite a decline in generation volumes due to low rainfall in the King Country, chairman Tony Palmer said. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were $9.12m, also ahead of forecast. "The company was able to obtain a significant sales volume increase from new out-of-area contract customers and this has helped to provide a good second half performance," Mr Palmer said. King Country Energy wrote off $960,000 in costs associated with consent application for a hydro scheme at Mokau. The company is also looking at a wind farm proposal. Directors declared a final dividend of 12c per share.http://www.stuff.co.nz/4099723a13.html
19 June 2007
OCC: Independent directors of small cheesemaker Open Country Cheese have sold shares to Singaporean investors, after telling OCC shareholders not to accept an offer from a New Zealand group. Two independent directors, former Cabinet minister Wyatt Creech and Bruce Clothier, will meet representatives of Singapore-based Olam International today to discuss the future of the Waikato cheese company. Mr Clothier has not sold any of his 400,000 shares in OCC to Olam, but Mr Creech and OCC chairman Bruce Milne have both sold stakes. On Friday, Olam International announced it had bought 17.04 per cent of OCC at $3.20 a share. That price has put a question mark over whether a rival $2.25 a share scrip offer by meat company Affco's subsidiary Dairy Trust will succeed. Three big OCC shareholders - including Nelson's Talley family - have already indicated they will support the Dairy Trust offer. The Talleys are also shareholders in Dairy Trust. Yesterday, OCC shares closed at $3.20 on the Unlisted exchange.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10446088
16 June 2007
OCC: A Singaporean company has bought a 17 per cent stake in dairy exporter Open Country Cheese. The move comes amid a takeover tussle for Open Country by Affco-offshoot Dairy Trust, which has so far secured about 44 per cent out of the 50.1 per cent shares it needs for the offer to succeed. Olam International's purchase brings its holding in Open Country to 19.9 per cent, just short of the point where it too would have to make a takeover offer. "We saw an opportunity of taking a stake without the need of having to make a general offer," spokesman S. Suresh said. But while Dairy Trust's scrip-only offer values Open Country at $2.25 a share, Olam has paid the significantly higher figure of $3.20, which lies within the valuation range suggested by independent adviser Ferrier Hodgson last week. "Our purchase price is well above the offer made by [Dairy Trust]," said Suresh. However, he insisted the price was not based on the independent adviser's report - which valued Open Country shares at between $3.10 and $3.47. "It is based on our own internal estimates." The move was "of strategic importance for our dairy business" as "New Zealand is an important cost-effective producer of dairy products". Olam, an agricultural commodities company, describes dairy as its fastest-growing portfolio and has sought to secure supply from Argentina and Ukraine in the past three years to supply markets such as Africa, Russia and China.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10444525
9 June 2007
OCC: An independent adviser's report has found that Affco subsidiary Dairy Trust's takeover bid for Open Country Cheese has "no compelling merit" for the Waikato dairy exporter's shareholders. As a result, Open Country's independent directors are "strongly urging" shareholders not to accept a bid they say seriously undervalues the dairy exporter. Dairy Trust announced its play for Open Country in early May, offering 1.68 Dairy Trust shares for each Open Country share - which it valued at $2.25. However, Open Country's independent directors - Wyatt Creech, Duncan Milne and Bruce Clothier - took issue with the valuation, noting its shares had traded significantly higher on several occasions and that there was no cash offer. The shares last traded at $2.60 on the Unlisted platform. They called the offer "inadequate" and awaited an independent adviser's report into the merit of the bid. Ferrier Hodgson's report - released late yesterday - found "no compelling merit in OCC shareholders accepting this offer unless they believe Dairy Trust will deliver significantly larger growth than OCC can achieve on its own". In justifying their recommendation, the independent directors note the independent adviser has valued Open Country shares much higher, at $3.10 to $3.47, and believes the Dairy Trust offer overvalues the Dairy Trust shares by 21.8 per cent. They said the absence of a cash option "removes the opportunity for shareholders no longer wishing to be part of either Open Country or Dairy Trust to exit and receive fair value for their shares in Open Country".http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4087253a6440.html
8 June 2007
BLUESKY: Invercargill meat company Blue Sky Meats (NZ) Ltd has posted a before-tax profit of more than $2 million for the year to the end of March, despite difficult trading conditions. The $2,299,684 profit for the year ended March 31, is up 5.1 percent on last year. The profit came from revenue 5.4 percent higher at $88,653,034 while expenses at $86,353,350 rose 5.5 percent. The company will pay a fully imputed dividend of 10c a share – the same as in 2006 – costing the company $1,152,610. Blue Sky chairman Barry Thomas said despite a currency pressures from a strong Kiwi dollar the international market for produce was marginally better this financial year. However, the increase in prices was probably offset by the increase in the dollar, he said. Net cash flow for the financial year was $3,017,649, confirming a continuation of the company's strong balance sheet.http://www.stuff.co.nz/4084383a13.html
5 June 2007
SKYLINE: Further overseas expansion is one of the growth possibilities being explored by Skyline Enterprises chairman Barry Thomas after the company delivered a record full-year profit. The Queenstown tourism, gambling and property business's pre-tax profit was $18.6 million in the year to March 31, up from $16 million in the previous fiscal year, fed by strong visitor numbers. "All the tourism subsidiaries exceeded last year's profitability, and in some cases with substantial increases in numbers carried," the company said. There had been no noticeable impact from the high New Zealand dollar, Mr Thomas said. Net profit came in at $14 million, up from $12.2 million, and the company raised its dividend to 25 cents a share, from 22c. Mr Thomas spoke last week to an audience at an inaugural Unlisted Issuer Forum in Christchurch. Other presenters included Helen Mexted of St Laurence Group and Colin Glass of Tasman Farms. Mr Thomas, a founding shareholder in the market, said he remained committed to a lightly regulated market.http://www.stuff.co.nz/4083754a13.html
5 June 2007
SYFT: Syft Technologies, Christchurch maker of a pioneering chemical sniffer, or "super nose", plans to shrink its hardware from the size of a large washing machine to a small box in releasing its Voice 200. Marketing manager Rebecca Bain said Syft is following a technology curve that would make its systems smaller, cheaper and more sensitive, opening up new markets in areas from oil exploration to cancer research. Syft, which is listed on the alternative Unlisted market, began in 2002, using a new mass spectrometry technique created at Canterbury University. Bain said the original research prototype, nicknamed Big Bertha, was a four-tonne monster that filled a room. Since then, Syft has managed to sell eight of its first generation cabinet-sized Voice 100 launched in 2005. Bain said the new Voice 200, due to be launched in July, is not only smaller and around $100,000 cheaper, but also had a sensitivity measured in parts per trillion. The evolution would continue to desktop and mobile systems, with the Voice 300 now on the drawing board.http://www.stuff.co.nz/4072930a13.html
26 May 2007
OCC: Affco shareholders have approved Dairy Trust's $2.25 a share takeover offer for Waikato cheesemaker Open Country Cheese. Meat company Affco announced in March that it had set up Dairy Trust as a wholly-owned subsidiary with the aim of getting into the dairy industry. Early this month it announced Dairy Trust would launch a full takeover offer for Open Country Cheese. Nelson's Talley family, which owns 50.1 per cent of Affco, owns about 30 per cent of OCC. Dairy Trust already has agreements with OCC shareholders Dairy Investment Fund and Balle Bros, effectively giving it control of 42.5 per cent of OCC. The offer is yet to open, however.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10441415
24 May 2007
SLPF: Property and investment company St Laurence Property & Finance (SLPF) has announced a net after-tax profit of $32.9 million for the March year. The result, a slight increase on last year's $31.1 million surplus, includes unrealised revaluation gains of $26.7 million. Over the year, SLPF's investment property portfolio grew from $244.5 million to $306 million through acquisition and valuation growth. Total assets increased from $381 million to $432.8 million. About $47.9 million of the increase was derived from SLPF's recent successful takeover offer for parcels in the St John Balanced Property Fund, of which SLPF now holds a 58.6 per cent stake.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10440972
22 May 2007
OCC: The independent directors of Open Country Cheese have panned a takeover bid from Affco subsidiary Dairy Trust for failing to take the Waikato-based quality cheesemaker's future prospects into consideration or supply a cash alternative to its scrip-only offer. Open Country chairman Duncan Milne said an initial assessment by the independent directors ahead of an independent adviser's report had found Dairy Trust's offer on 1.68 Dairy Trust shares for each Open Country Share - which it valued at $2.25 - was "inadequate". "As independent directors we have just got to make sure the swap rate is a fair one," Milne said. "We want the independent adviser to advise on the fact that it's only scrip for scrip and not a cash offer." He also said Open Country shares had traded much higher than $2.25 in the past. Milne and his fellow independent directors will also urge the Open Country board at its meeting in 10 days to release the company's forecasts to all shareholders.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10438376
8 May 2007
OCC: Open Country Cheese shareholders are being urged to hold on to their shares in the Waikato-based dairy exporter after meat processor Affco announced an imminent takeover bid by its subsidiary Dairy Trust. Open Country's independent directors - including founder and former deputy prime minister Wyatt Creech - "strongly advised" shareholders to not sell until they had time to consider an independent report on the merits of an offer valuing their shares at the market price of $2.25. Creech refused to comment further. Affco said the offer for Open Country, which trades on the Unlisted market, would boost Dairy Trust's "financial and operational strength" by aligning the two companies more closely.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10438261
7 May 2007
OCC: Affco Holdings' new venture Dairy Trust is launching a takeover bid for Waikato-based manufacturer of premium quality cheeses Open Country Cheese Company. The creation of Dairy Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Affco to develop, own and manage a small number of dairy plants, was announced in March. Today, Affco said Dairy Trust intended to make a full offer for the shares in Open Country Cheese Company.http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=17948
7 May 2007
FSG: New Zealand based IT services company Fronde has launched its mobile banking service worldwide after successfully deploying it with Kiwibank. Fronde Anywhere, a new subsidiary of Fronde Systems Group, is rolling its Bank Anywhere solution out internationally through its offices in London and Singapore. Synergy International renamed itself Fronde in February this year.http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0704/S00319.htm
23 April 2007
MVE: High Quality Expected from Challenging Martinborough Vintage: Martinborough winemakers are expecting exceptional quality wines from one of the most challenging vintages in recent years. Wines From Martinborough chairman Roger Fraser said the vintage was defined by a 'season of two halves', with November frosts and the coldest December on record being followed by a long, dry summer.http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0704/S00312.htm
21 April 2007
SYFT: SYFT Technologies Wins Key Domestic Order: Media release, 20-April-07, Syft Technologies Ltd and AgResearch, Christchurch, New Zealand: AgResearch has purchased a Voice100 analytical instrument from the Christchurch company Syft Technologies to further their research capabilities in a number of key application areas. AgResearch has purchased a Voice100 analytical instrument from Syft Technologies to expand their research capabilities using the groundbreaking technology platform SIFT-MS (Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry).http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0704/S00268.htm
18 April 2007
SLPF: St Laurence Property & Finance Limited (SLPF) today advised that Phil Newland has resigned from the SLPF Board following the sale of his 20% shareholding in St Laurence Limited earlier this year. A new Director, Andrew Walker, will be appointed at the next SLPF board meeting. Mr Walker will also be appointed to the board of The National Property Trust Limited. St Laurence Limited is Manager of the National Property Trust Limited.http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0704/S00214.htm
16 April 2007
SYFT: Demand for Syft's products and services from the UK and Europe has lead to the appointment of two new senior sales executives and opening of an office in the Daresbury Innovation Centre, Cheshire. The new office will initially have a staff of three, including a sales engineer from Syft's Christchurch office and a marketing assistant, and be headed by newly appointed European Regional Manager, Dr Stephen Guilfoyle.
