re: around the traps ... with the ferret (FE) Around the Traps...

re: around the traps ... with the ferret (FE) Around the Traps ... with THE FERRET
RWE News
8:02:020 11/04/2005
Sydney - Monday - April 11: (RWE Australian Business News) -
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Ask HOUSEWARES INTERNATIONAL (HWI) shareholders what's more
important, the results of a strategic review or a profit warning, and
we bet it's the profit warning every time.
However, the company obviously thought otherwise.
It wasn't until after eight sentences of "clarification of
future focus to enhance shareholder value" guff that we got to the part
about this year's profit being expected to fall from $23.9 million to
between $20 million and $21.5 million.
Specific guidance on next year (FY06) will be given "when the
board has greater clarity on market conditions and as the restructure
progresses".
The good news is that the restructure is expected to result in
an increase in the Homewares Division's profit before tax of between
$1.3 million and $1.8 million in FY06 and $3.8 million and $4.3 million
in FY07.
Housewares shares fell 20c to $1.72.

*****

McGUIGAN SIMEON WINES (MGW) warns net profit will be in the
range of $35 to $40 million for the year to June 30, compared with
$40.2 million last year, due to an oversupply of grapes and the high
Australian dollar.
Chairman David Clarke said on Friday that the need for the
downgrade had only just emerged.
He could hardly have said the need emerged several months ago
and the company only decided to tell the market now.
The profit fall for the year could be slight but sellers were
particularly savage with the shares, slashing the price 99c to $4.19.
The stock hit a record $6.22 only two months ago.

*****

It wasn't all bad for the David Clarkes of this world.
The one who is chief executive for RINKER GROUP (RIN) was
warning the market on Friday that profit for the year to March 31 will
be higher than expected, thanks to the strength of US markets.
And while investors were particularly savage on the aforesaid
McGuigan, they were particularly enamoured of Rinker, lifting the stock
58c to $11.49 (the record of $11.92 was set on March 3).
Rinker's EBIT is now expected to be up between 46 and 48 per
cent for the US subsidiary, Rinker Materials Corp, and around 20 per
cent for the Australian subsidiary, Readymix.
This was an upgrade on previous guidance for the US operations
while Readymix profit expectations were unchanged.
Construction activity remains strong in both the US and
Australia.
In the US, commercial construction continues to strengthen
while infrastructure construction remains at high levels and the next
six-year federal transportation spending legislation nears completion.
"Whilst we are trading at very strong levels in the US and
Australia, our expectations for the current year results (to March
2006) are that we will deliver some further improvement," Mr Clarke
said.
"We expect around 15 per cent growth in trading EBIT for Rinker
Materials in US dollars, while Readymix profit should be steady in
Australian dollars."

*****

Getting back to wine, though, and former shareholders of BRL
Hardy must be thinking thank you for the takeover, Mr CONSTELLATION
BRANDS (CBR).
Otherwise the company could well have been squirming like
McGuigan.
Constellation on Friday reported record sales (up 15 per cent)
and profits (25 per cent) for the year to February 28, following which
it will make a 2-for-1 split.
And the good times are expected to continue.
EPS rose 8 per cent to $2.70 and the company is predicting a
range of $3.09 to $3.21 this year.
Wines sales rose 19 per cent, beers 7 per cent and spirits 10
per cent.
Demand for California and Australian wines continues to
increase in Europe and Constellation Brands continues to benefit from
this consumer trend.
Branded wine net sales in Australasia were up 28 per cent,
benefiting from one additional month of sales from Hardy in fiscal 2005
and 9 per cent from currency.
Constellation shares rose 9c to $7.01.

*****

It's a sure sign the property boom is over (for the time being
anyway) when the real estate industry attacks the same media that had
been helping whip up a frenzy just a year or two ago.
A report in Ferret's local paper had industry insiders
whingeing that "the media's unrelenting focus on weekly auction
clearance rates is putting an artificial brake on the real estate
market".
We can't remember real estate agents having a problem with the
media's "unrelenting focus" on auctions when they were hot and prices
were climbing each week.
And judging by the number of houses selling for well over a
million in Ferret's hardly upper-crust suburb, the market still looks
pretty healthy to us.

*****

It's happy days at GRAVITY DIAMONDS (GRN) with the shares up
seven days in a row, from 54c on March 30 to 76.5c on Friday (up 5.5c
on the day).
After the close of trading the company announced that first
drillholes in the Northern Territory Project had hit diamondiferous
kimberlites, that a "big exploration program" had been initiated to
generate further kimberlite targets, and that results from the Republic
of Congo sampling would be available later this month.
We don't know if these factors caused the rise or the listing
that day of Gravity Diamonds on the AIM market in London.
The company hopes to attract a wider global focus and attention
to its diversified diamond exploration activities.
It seems to be pretty well globally focused already.
About 58 per cent of Gravity is held by European investors
while BHP BILLITON holds 9.6 per cent and management 4 per cent.

(Comments and complaints to [email protected] - no requests
for advice please.)
ENDS
!END