sp,That's true. I'm the first to admit that LGL has work to do....

sp,

That's true. I'm the first to admit that LGL has work to do. I believe they have been becoming a much more reliable company in the past 12 months, or so.

Regarding NCM being the better company, however, we shall see. Their copper credits have made them look very good compared with their peers during the past few years. However, as Greg Robinson (NCM Finance Director) said in his recent presentation, every US5c/lb decrease in the copper price leads to a $A9m decrease in profit. Here's the copper price chart:-



To be fair, every $US10/barrel of oil increases profits by $A6m:-



However, every US1c increase in the exchange rate slaughters profits by $A20m:-

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So, after all is said and done, I have absolutely no idea what might happen to NCM's profits in the coming year. What I do know is that their 2008 result was aided greatly by all things (except oil) working in their favour: higher $US gold price; higher $US copper price; lower $US.

NCM is a much bigger company than LGL, but that doesn't always guarantee outperformance - look at Newmont, for example. Does NCM have the future growth potential of an LGL? Or are they getting so large as to be becoming a bit unwieldy? Don't know.