Forum Archive Index - February 2001

[Derek <dkw@paradise.net.nz>]

I hope your right Nick, I bought them at 36c.
Below is another copyright violation on James Hardy
(BRY owns 29%) which was released yesterday.

Derek


Friday 16 February 3:59 PM


UPDATE 2-Hardiebuilds A$293 mln asbestos fund 
By Victoria Tait
SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Australian building materials group James Hardie
Industries Ltd has moved to divorce itself from asbestos claims which have
dogged the company for decades, setting up a A$293 million compensation fund.

Hardie, which used blue asbestos to make asbestos cement and brakepads
until 1968, said on Friday the independent Medical Research and
Compensation Foundation would compensate suffers of asbestos-related
diseases and fund medical research.

"This resolves all James Hardie asbestos liabilities," chief executive
officer Peter Macdonald told a briefing. "There will be no further
provisions for asbestos."

Investors welcomed the news, pushing James Hardie shares to a 17 cent or
4.7 percent gain to A$3.80, although the share price is well off its
52-week A$4.65 high because of slowing growth in the United States and
Australia.

"The removal of uncertainty is always a good thing," said Hans Kunnen, head
of investment markets research at fund manager Colonial First State, which
looks after A$40 billion in assets.

The jump came despite a 70 percent slide in third quarter net profit owing
to dismal U.S. gypsum prices, and a A$238 million charge to be taken in the
full year accounts to establish the fund.

Hardie said a provision of A$72.4 million would be removed from its balance
sheet to reflect the removal of the contingent liability created by the
asbestos claims.


BLUE ASBESTOS DANGER

Hardie said two subsidiary companies at the centre of the claims stopped
using blue asbestos once a link was established with mesothelioma, a
virulent form of cancer most commonly caused by asbestos exposure. The
company stopped using all asbestos by the mid-1980s.

James Hardie had received about 2,000 claims over the past 20 years, and
resolved 80 percent of them, spending about A$130 million, 40 percent in
legal costs.

Only one in 10 claims was settled by a court decision.

The foundation would house the two companies, while its portfolio included
long-term securities, a substantial cash reserve, property and insurance
policies which cover various types of claims, including all worker's
compensation claims.

"James Hardie is satisfied that the foundation has sufficient funds to meet
anticipated future claims," Macdonald said.

It would be chaired by former Queensland state Treasurer Llew Edwards, who
had resigned as a director of James Hardie to become chairman of the
foundation.


GYPSUM SLASHES Q3 PROFIT

Hardie, which makes about 80 percent of its earnings in the United States,
mostly from fibre cement, said its net profit for the three months to
December 31, 2000 slid to A$13.8 million from A$46.3 million a year ago.

Its nine-month net profit was A$79.1 million, down 62 percent from A$114.1
million.

The company also forecast an operating profit of A$90 million to A$95
million for the year to March 31, 2001, below the market consensus A$112
million forecast, according to the Multex Global Estimates Directory.

But analysts said the market for fibre cement remained buoyant in the
United States, and the company still had double-digit growth prospects.

"There was probably not as much deterioration in U.S. gypsum margins as
would have been expected, and they sell fibre cement as fast as they can
make it, " said Richard Caldwell, senior equities adviser at Burdett,
Buckeridge and YOung.

Macdonald also said U.S. fibre cement volume and revenue growth could
exceed internal targets over the full year.







----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/          New Zealand's home for market investors
http://www.netbroker.co.nz/        Trade on Credit, Low Brokerage. Join now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To remove yourself from this list, please use the form at
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/forum.shtml.