LPC

[foodee]

Interesting indeed.
POL most likely will move towards board representation. I believe POL can move to sub 20% without triggering anything.

[airedale]

Interesting article in the "Press" today says that LPC approached POL some months ago to explore some sort of merger/partnership/arrangement. POL actually turned the approach away, but now says that was regrettable,but now they would like to start afresh.
So I still intend to hold, despite the dividend blackmail !

[flugel]

Snoopy Thankyou for summary. I also received phone call from stockbroker. am annoyed at missing out on dividend. will hold until further developments CCHL are miserable lot Flugel

[glennj]

H H Greene phoned me Sunday lunchtime so they must be working overtime on this one. Don't think I made their day when I said I wasn't going to accept the revised offer at this stage.

[airedale]

Just thinking about the dividend. The interim dividend due about now is historically not a lot.The main payout is at the end of the year.So missing out on it now is no great sacrifice.

[Snoopy]

quote:Originally posted by airedale

Just thinking about the dividend. The interim dividend due about now is historically not a lot. The main payout is at the end of the year. So missing out on it now is no great sacrifice.

There are two 'missed dividend' issues here.

CCHL are saying that any dividend declared will reduce their offer price by the amount of the dividend. So there is no point in LPC directors declaring an interim dividend because doing so will just reduce the offer price accordingly.

The dividend issue that Hamilton Hindin Greene (HHG) are talking about is the dividend policy in general. Basically to pay for the long overdue update of port faciliities LPC may cut the dividend as a matter of policy, and instead reinvest more money back in the port.

I don't see cutting the dividend as necessarily a bad thing, if the same capital can be better used reinvesting in the port. However, cutting the dividend *might* be an issue if you are holding your LPC shares just to gain immediate income from the dividend. That is the point HHG are making, and it is a valid one.

SNOOPY

[airedale]

I suspect that the Chch City offer for LPC shares will fail to get to the 90% mark.They have just over 70% today and the offer closes on Monday.

[minimoke]

A dividend will be paid. ChCh Council is so short of cash it is looking at closing libraries and swimming pools (while continuing to build a brand new building for council staff). LPC has been a cash cow for the council and I can’t see this changing.

[Snoopy]

quote:Originally posted by minimoke

A dividend will be paid. ChCh Council is so short of cash it is looking at closing libraries and swimming pools (while continuing to build a brand new building for council staff). LPC has been a cash cow for the council and I can’t see this changing.

I have attended the last two LPC AGMs. I always left with the impression that the required infrastructure upgrades could be funded out of new borrowing. And while the dividend would be unlikely to be significantly increased, it would be unlikely to be significantly cut either.

I accept that nothing stays still and that the competitive position of LPC may have changed, since last years AGM - for the worse. Let's assume the council were to sell down their holding in LPC by 20 percentage points. At $2.20, that would net them around $44m.

Carving $44m off the city debt, at say 6%, would save the council about $2.64m in interest payments each year after tax. The lost dividend on 20m shares amounts to about $2m p.a. So selling down the council's interest in the port could be the cash positive way to go, even if dividends are *not* cut.

SNOOPY

[foodee]

Reading LPC announcements, there are some intrigues:-
[1] As the deal with the Asians has been terminated, why is ChChC pushing so hard to go to 100%, unless............
[2] POL is at 12%+ and picking up all they can get, when perhaps next week they might be able to buy cheaper - quite strange apart from stopping ChCHC getting to 80%.
I am all ears and continue to hold.

cheers