cashflow is superior n cashflow is what counts

CASH-FLOW is GREAT from what i can see!

* Cash-flow from OPERATIONS was a 716mill

***FREE CASH FLOW is most important though, i,e cash flow AFTER CAPEX and DIVIDENDS

And FREE-CASHFLOW was good considering they 'took over' a few businesses!

i.e 716mill (op cash flows) minus CAPEX of about 435mill (got this from cash-flow statement and added all the expenditures re takeovers and payments for business propertty plant and equip etc) = 281mill

So they had 281mill cash flow after capex.

*** the profit for the year EARNINGS WISE (including accruals like payables/receivables and depreciation and amortisation) was 275mill

So theyre pretty similar which is GOOD

So 281mill in real cash-flows LESS 111 in DIVIDENDS = 170mill in FREE CASH-FLOW

THATS A GOOD THING! If a company has free cash-flows even after acquisitions and dividends its very good as they can retain that money in the bank for future growth or increased divvys etc or to pay down debt. I.e it doesnt have to rely on borrowings or share issues once its business has matured and it stops acquiring. Right now theyre still a growth company and acquiring, but ITS VERY PLEASING to see that even after all the CAPEX they still have PLENTY of MONEY left over. Once they mature and stop taking over theyll have PLENTY of CASH-FLOW to pay off their debt or pay higher divvys or do cap returns etc.

on initial look it outperformed the forecast of 44.7cents per share and came with 48cents per share

Even if they gow the biz by say 10% in 2010 thats 53cents per share on a PE of say 15 = $8.00 per share valuation

THAT DOESNT FULLY INCLUDE FURTHER CAPEX IN EXPANDING THE COMPANY AND TAKING OVER OTHER EPS ACCRETIVE COMPANYS AS THEY HAVE SUGGESTED THAT THEY WOULD DO!

Theyre in a position to do more and more takeovers of businesses and have a history of integrating takeovers well

So the future looks pretty good given the strong balance sheet and continuing EPS accretive acquisitions

I love the fact that GEARING is down to 12% now

end of day - a business that does takeovers and has such good cash-flows is a very healthy business

Im looking at cash-flows from operations - CAPEX - divvies to give free cash-flows (not including here cash from sale of any assets or proceeds from borrowings or share placements etc that mightve increased cash; Im looking at PURE cash-flows from opps minus pure cas flows for takeovers)

And its good and sign of a good biz - a biz that retains alot of cash

I havent look very very deep into the comments on all the businesses , but looked at the P&L and cash-flow statement here.

Note debt was paid down too . the bix from a FINANCE perspective looks healthy going forward with these kinds of numbers. The general economy and macro environement is key to the future. Im sure theyll keep on taking over businesses and their free cash-flows will remain awesome.