NWF - NZ Windfarms

[blackcap]

Hi bc, thanks for that - appreciated. Question - did you do the tour as well? If yes - what have been your impressions? It sounds like the board was quite upbeat. Did you happen to see some staff as well? Did they talk about the recruitment process for the new commercial director? cheers ....

Hi BP, no I did not do the tour, had another appointment in Wellington later in the day. But as it was the tour was going to be compromised by very hard winds that were prevalent yesterday. It was still going ahead but not as initially planned. I did talk to the financial administrator, she said things were still good on the ground. The board was also very positive about the people that "go up the towers with spanners and get oil over themselves"... ie they drive the place. Commercial director- they are currently recruiting and hope to make an appointment early in the new year. I beleive once that happens Sean Joyce is going to step down.. he is currently fulfilling the 2 independents role.

[BlackPeter]

Thanks for the update ... this starts to feel like a real turnaround . Obviously - there are still significant fundamental issues to overcome, like being a one trick pony and having most of the electricity at times when there is lots of power (and stored water) around, but still - sounds like the board is not anymore standing in the way of a company success but working towards it!

[blackcap]

Could the 1/3 opposed be the Vector 22% stake? Im not sure either to be fair Kiwi on OE.

[Dassets]

Hi, I was elected as a director yesterday so thank you to anyone who voted for me. On the vote against the resolutions Vector owns 63,684,362 shares. Given the vote against the resolutions (except auditor resolution) was circa 64m I will let people draw their own conclusion as to who opposed. I did the visit, by which time the wind had dropped to mere howling to allow a full visit. I personally was very impressed and it was a useful trip. It was pretty much the first time most staff had ever met shareholders so that exercise was useful for both the great staff and shareholders alike.

[Leftfield]

Thanks for the update ... this starts to feel like a real turnaround . Obviously - there are still significant fundamental issues to overcome, like being a one trick pony and having most of the electricity at times when there is lots of power (and stored water) around, but still - sounds like the board is not anymore standing in the way of a company success but working towards it!

Early days for this one..... I would not be keen on buying until there is more news and a confirmed uptrend. I wish all holders well.

[BlackPeter]

Hi, I was elected as a director yesterday so thank you to anyone who voted for me. On the vote against the resolutions Vector owns 63,684,362 shares. Given the vote against the resolutions (except auditor resolution) was circa 64m I will let people draw their own conclusion as to who opposed. I did the visit, by which time the wind had dropped to mere howling to allow a full visit. I personally was very impressed and it was a useful trip. It was pretty much the first time most staff had ever met shareholders so that exercise was useful for both the great staff and shareholders alike.

Congratulations to your election.

NWF lost lots of shareholder value over the last decade ... best of luck in uncovering and retrieving this money for all of us!

Anything we can do to help?

[Dassets]

The new board is very open to thought. So if any shareholder has a view they want to put forward feel free to contact any of the directors.

[BlackPeter]

Some of you will remember Crackity ... he holds (next to others) a parcel of NWF shares and attended this years AGM. He send me his AGM impressions and agreed for them being published on sharetrader:

A much different AGM to last year - about 30 attendees - more informal yet focussed on dealing with things not providing excuses. The NBR / business desk report of the meeting is pretty accurate.

Rodgers speech -
Rodger ( new chairman ) impressed me with a sense of humour and walked the floor with the microphone himself in question time. My notes on his important points were
(1)definitely aiming for a maiden dividend in 2017.
(2) A strategic direction plan by March 2017 - take control of the business and maximise shareholder value.
(3) The S.128 PNCC resource consent review - independent expert is an Australian appointed by both parties - report goes to both parties - expectation this finalises the MOU already signed between PNCC and NWF - time frame within 6 months. PNCC supplied today's venue ( hired by NWF ) and the company realises they should be seen as local and a local employer and ratepayer and company. PNCC is described as supportive. There is also a district plan review on windfarms to which all windfarms in the area have made submissions. Everyone quietly confident legal battles over.

Stuart - acting CEO speech
(1)Company Review was to disestablish Chris CEO and Derek CFO roles and replace with 1 commercial director. 2) the company acknowledges a need to move from a price taker with wholesale margins to a price maker or end supplier with more margin.( this was what the reference become part of the cartel was about....) to do this they need to guarantee supply which could involve some partnership arrangement with a small hydro generator so they could both get better prices not tied to spot.
(3) become a local power retailer or e-retailer if (2) could be solved.
Stuart also had a sense of humour - used to be a PWC audit partner - does not really want to be CEO of NWF but stepped into the breach when Chris Sadler resigned.


Windfarm visit
We went in 6 groups of 4 people around the farm in these 2 vehicles so there for a couple of hours. I went with Peter the wind farm manager - he has been there for 8 years and was great and knowledgeable. Staff at the windfarm impressed me as did the visit - they get better downtime stats than the meridian and tilt farms next door. They know how to run this efficiently and all seemed happy - Chris Sadlers operational excuses were BS in my opinion. The staff had heard about the employee option scheme and were interested. They also were happy a big group of shareholders had actually come to visit.

Again - it feels the wind for NWF has changed ... and I think this is a good sign.

[Joshuatree]

Be great if they could find a Hydro pumping storage situ like GNX where they pump the water(when prices are low) up out of a storage lake(an old disused mine in this example) to one above and generate electricity when prices are high.Or when the winds not blowing.

[blackcap]

What does this mean?:



FORECAST: NWF: Changes to Operating Strategy

NZX Announcement

28 April 2017

For Immediate Release

NZ Windfarms Changes Operating Strategy
NZX listed merchant wind generator NZ Windfarms Limited (NWF) Board Chairman
Rodger Kerr-Newell is pleased to annouce a major shift in its operating
strategy. The organisation has implemented a dynamic curtailment regime
aimed at extending the service interval of its fleet of 96 wind turbines
located on the Tararua Ranges adjacent to Palmerston North City.

The changes are expected to yield significant annual operational savings that
will manifest steadily over time. It is anticipated that should the
initiative perform optimally and to expectations, the savings generated
during a 12 month period could be in the range of $300K to $700k. Given the
nature of the initiative, it is difficult to forecast with absolute certainty
what the exact quanta of prospective savings to the Company will be and how
quickly they will materialise. However, the Company will, through historical
analysis, be able to estimate with a degree of accuracy what the actual
savings in a previous period have been. The Company will report back to the
market in respect of this information from time to time.

NZ Windfarms Commercial Director, John Worth explains that whilst the plant
has boasted turbine availability above industry standards, this has come at a
cost. "We can now measure and analyse the wind resource quality in real time
at each turbine, and this new regime dynamically protects key mechanical
componentry, offering us significant savings over time." "These moves are
particularly relevant to the organisation in the current environment of low
wholesale pricing," says Worth. Kerr-Newell noted that this is part of a
series of interventions aimed at improving the performance of the
organisation.

For further information contact:

John Worth
Commercial Direction
+64 21 800 310
End CA:00300382 For:NWF Type:FORECAST Time:2017-04-28 11:42:03