Ann: Half Year Accounts, page-3

@just_a_guy

Just got back from  couple of days of fishing that a friend insisted I join him on (no, didn't catch anything, but did enjoy some lovely rib-eye steaks on the bbq with some nice red). No better way to enjoy a fishing trip than to marry it with prime beef.

I'm not the resident accountant, so not the best qualified person to comment on the intricacies of provision creation and extinguishment. I'm starting to think this provisioning (in this instance) has been more an exercise in profit smoothing, than anything else. Let's just say that absent any provisioning alchemy, over 50% of the pre-tax earnings (let's say EBITDA) of the last four successive half-year periods, will have been produced by H2 FY18.

It seems that rather dramatic things occurred in that period. So in all fairness to management, the compulsion to "smooth" (if that was the prime motivator) was probably about trying to create a more realistic picture of reality. I don't think we can blame them for that.

So I think the operative words here are LUMPY REVENUES.

I'm doing some head scratching at this stage. Ones I've had any flashes of inspiration I may comment more. On the other hand, perhaps the best I can say is "pay attention to what I say at your peril".