Ann: Native forest land sales , page-5

GNS said the book value of the land AND timber was $40m, they didnt provide a split between the 2. I suspect the $27.5 was around book value for the land with the difference being timber value which they were not able to realise as the land will now go to conservation. So in a sense the 30% discount to book value is the cost of selling the land to an alternative use who does not value the timber on the land as a saleable asset. Thats my take on things. I think from the GNS point of view they just want the cash and the "social" licence so best to be done with it. I suspect we should not take this discount to book value as applying across the GNS plantations land and timber because those are a going concern as opposed to native land being sold for conservation.

Just some thoughts.

Lord