"Futuris Corp chief executive Malcolm Jackman says the company...

"Futuris Corp chief executive Malcolm Jackman says the company is unlikely to sell its almost half stake in cattle grazer Australian Agricultural Company for less than its book value despite recent moves to divest assets at a discount."

I already mentioned that in a previous post.

As I said, "Jackman was expecting to sell its AAC stake for 135m, equivalent to 1.23 per share (yes massive discount). Now maybe FCL can get more."

I thought that was pretty self explanatory. But for those unsure, Jackman is saying he won't sell at a discount to book value, which is 126m. However, he was expecting to sell for 135m. What's AAC's market cap today? 483m. FCL owns 43%, so 483*43% = 207m.

In other words, 135m is a massive discount to the market value of the AAC stake. But as a CEO, you have to put a positive spin on everything you say. So Jackman elected to use book value as the reference point, which allows him to talk about selling for a profit, which is entirely legal and technically true. 135m on 126m is 7.1% positive return . Not a big profit. Not enough to cover FCL's 900m of debt. But it's a profit indeed.