Re Robert Horne Group, its all reflected in the current share...

Re Robert Horne Group, its all reflected in the current share price of PPX. All relative to your entry point. If you purchased at $3+ you wouldnt be so happy.

Profit...schmofit... What was their cash flow for 2010/11?

Considering Robert Horne Group was acquired for $1 billion (Euro 760m) back in 2003, the current share price places next to no value to much of the business. Therefore any upside would most likely be written back by way of revaluation of intangibles/business (again just an accounting entry).

Graham, you must be enjoying the spot light?!?

PaperlinX in firing line
=========================

THEY say ''you pays your money and you takes your chances'', and now at least one investor in PaperlinX's preference shares is taking the chance to vent after paying his money.

Retired from work, but not investing for an income, Graham Critchley has set up paperlinx-sux.com after the group's recently anointed chairman Harry Boon decided that the annual meeting of ordinary shareholders was the appropriate venue to reveal that preference investors would not be getting their expected $10.5 million in dividends next month.

An irate Critchley also provocatively asks on the site: ''Is PaperlinX trading while insolvent or are its directors simply unethical opportunists?''

His argument revolves around the company's assurances back in May that all was hunky dory, and it did pay pref holders in June.

Because of the way in which distributions on the prefs are calculated, which is the 180-day Bank Bill rate plus a margin, investors were technically entitled to a distribution of close to $3.70 a share at the end of next month.

Boon, now chairman since predecessor David Meiklejohn retired as Insider had predicted he would do rather than front investors this year, not only said no December payout - but none in the foreseeable future. While that might sound good to holders of ordinary equity, they should know that the prefs trust deed specifies that PaperlinX cannot pay an ordinary dividend until it pays two successive pref dividends.

That means it could be a long time between drinks for those expecting a dividend - unless PaperlinX uses the opportunity that comes up next year to either redeem or have bought the prefs.

That PaperlinX has managed to turn Critchley, whose preference stock holding is among the 20 largest, into a non-believer is quite an achievement. The erudite investor has previously taken Insider to task for being critical of PaperlinX and its management. The market worth of PaperlinX prefs at yesterday's close was about $57 million, while its dismal ordinary shares were down 0.2¢ at 8.3¢ - giving that equity a value of only $50 million. How embarrassing is that in a company that sells nearly $5 billion of its paper products in a year and has more than $120 million in the bank?



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/tasmanian-wont-be-bulldozed-on-national-hire-20111121-1nqva.html#ixzz1gM9i16JG