Hi rivella, I am a relatively large shareholder in DDR so you...

Hi rivella,

I am a relatively large shareholder in DDR so you should take my opinion with a grain of salt: but you should refer to the latest financials as published to work out the components of the debt.

But yes, according to the last half-yearly report, they owe about $120m in genuine debt (as opposed to trade payables), and they have about $100m of stock held in inventory.

So whatever their (perhaps complex) arrangements are with suppliers, the net outcome is that they have bought and paid for $100m worth of inventory.

Is this a problem? Personally I doubt it, as the turnover of stock is reasonably rapid - $100m represents about one months worth of sales.

Having said that, I would like to see the level of debt reduced over time, especially as and when interest rates start to rise. I'm sure David Dicker and the CFO have this in hand.