I'm not quite sure, but think that the lack of a dividend has a...

I'm not quite sure, but think that the lack of a dividend has a lot to do with it. Most New Zealand companies have to pay high dividends year on year, partially, I believe, due to a complete lack of trust of the general public in our business leaders.

Also ASB securities rated PGW from Buy to Avoid on the recent management changes.

My position is that if you can afford to hang in there over a couple of years, then PGW is a good accumulation stock at this point. There will be a continuous stream of sellers for a while and the shareprice is likely to stay below book over the next 12 months.

I see this as a patience play at the moment, and drip feed some funds into a new parcel now and then. PGW is the last of the major rural services firms left standing, with ALF in a death spiral and SCF already gone. I can't see any new competitor emerge in the near future too.

Having said that, I'm still doing more investigation on this company and rate it as a 'slow accumulate' at the moment.