Forum Archive Index - February 2000

[Mike Hudson <MHudson@placemakers.co.nz>]

FFS has several things against it
-       There is uncertainty about the future of the FCL letter stock
structure and how it is to be unravelled 
-       There is the upcoming litigation between FFS and its Chinese
partners in the North Island Forest partnership. The company is confident of
victory but they would say that wouldn't they?
-       There is a mountain of debt attributed to it by the FCL Group
-       Overseas investors especially Franklin resources have been baling
out as fast as they can.
-       The company is not paying a dividend which is an anathema to many NZ
investors.

On the other side of the coin
-       The share is at a heavy discount to asset backing
-       Log volumes have been picking up and prices seem to be improving,
there is a hefty timber domestic price increase coming up next month some of
which will finish up in the forest owners' pockets.
-       Industry gossip says that the company is actively up for sale and
that two or three interested parties, including Weyerhauser, are currently
undertaking due diligence 

If all the overseas investors who want to exit have exited FFS could be
worth a punt at 55c especially if you believe the sale rumours. A better bet
than AQL anyway  Mind you I said the same thing when they were 64c

Disclosure: currently own no FFS (sold at 99c after buying at $2.20) but I
might have talked myself into buying a few.
Cheers
Mike H  



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/          New Zealand's home for market investors
To remove yourself from this list, please us the form at
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/forum.html.