Hi JoeGambler, I notice that you comment on the PNC subforum. Did you ever invest in it?
Over the years I have become inclined to look at the personalities of the substantial drivers of ASX-listed companies. Some people are good at starting companies, but poor at running them. Some are good at making money for themselves, but at the expense of shareholders who back them. Some change focus from running companies to becoming much-publicised personalities. Many top honchos fool themselves, and believe in their business acumen – Eddy Groves of ABC Learning might fit this type, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Learning . If you see Thomas Beregi driving around in a Lamborghini with a 19-year-old stunner as a companion, let me know, so I can exit my holding in CCP.
I have not watched CLH recently, but when considering investing in CCP, I looked at alternatives like CLH, and I concluded that there was a likelihood of window dressing there – the PDL amortisation seemed too low, and the Directors dumped shares like crazy circa March 2015. The SP dropped from $2.40+ to less than half that within a few months. If you look at HC posts circa that time, you can get a feel for what happened. Just before the SP collapse, Motely Fool and Wise Owl were recommending it. In the year that followed, CLH stated they they had reduced buying debt because prices were too elevated, but that was a time when CCP increased buying for the opposite reason, so somebody was not being truthful.
I never invested in PNC, nor looked at it too carefully. Keith John has a history of successfully starting debt-collecting businesses, and selling down, or out, within a few years. Rightly or wrongly, this suggested to me that he would by nature be inclined to window-dress, which is so easy to do in the debt-buying sector.
As long as CCP had the highest PDL amortisation rate in the sector, I felt that it was the best pick. Of course, I could be wrong about CCP. Remember how Enron was able to fool people much smarter than I am for many years, as did Bernie Madoff – see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff.
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