PGW - PGG Wrightson

[nztx]

Time for the 44% foreign Shareholder to start selling down their holding & exit the scene ?

Let's face it - everyone is now awake to them & the past / recent history - so all are ready for the next time
that they try something

Probably also not gone unnoticed in High places either this time, after the last episodes


Well done Oliver

[Snoopy]

I bought the rest of my incremental holding at $2.30 a couple of days ago. That represents a 30% discount on the 9.0% gross yield I was after across the business cycle. I am very happy with that. As it turns out, if I had waited until today, then I could have bought some of those shares 20c cheaper. But I am not worried about picking bottoms. I am more concerned about FOMO. I reckon this share could rise to $3 again from here in the short term as fast as the price collapsed - in just one day. I would have been really annoyed with myself if I had left such a PGW share purchase discount on the table (see post 5540) without acting.

A couple of weeks ago, I was pretty convinced we would have a new director line up as a result of an imminent 'Special General Meeting', plus a reinstated dividend. I sure got that one wrong!

Some might say my recent FOMO share purchasing was a result of a 'Foolish Overzealous Maniacal Obsession'. Don't feel too sorry for me though. I did the calculations and found out that after my FOMO purchase, my average price paid per share is now $1.89. So my 'averaging up' (note 'not averaging down') has not exactly left me on poor street with this one. And while that $1.89 does include the proceeds of the seed division sale returned to shareholders, it does not include all of those juicy dividends received over 'most' years. Which just goes to show if you hang around long enough (I have been a PGG Wrightson shareholder 'since the beginning' and was a Wrightson shareholder before that, where I got my 'first taste' in 1995), it is quite difficult to lose money in the sharemarket, by investing in shares that generally make a profit at least! So what do I do from here?

The first thing investors need to keep in mind about farmers is that 'farmers never have a good year'. By that, I mean farmers don't trumpet from the hay barn that they are doing well. They just stoically get along with things and maybe buy some paddocks off the neighbour. However if farmers have a bad year, this soon becomes national news. Townies who know little about farming get all jittery and 'sell out'. These townies would be better off watching 'Country Calendar' than the ticker on their rural sharemarket investments. Then they would then see how switched on our farmers really are. What I am saying here is that there will be no bell rung at the rural market (share) bottom. So at some point you 'have to be in to win'. The PGW share price chart may look at bit like Synlait's over the last year. But this is no Synlait, I am very sure of that.

The handicap for me is that I have set myself an 'extra investment rule' that most of you fellow investors do not have. That rule being I am not allowed to purchase two parcels of shares in the same company twice in a row. Fortunately I managed to buy some SCT shares last week. So I am now free to purchase some more PGW shares if I wish to do so. But should I do so? I think yes, although with possibly no dividend until CY2025 now, that 'FOMO urgency' has gone. The share is still trading at around a 30% discount to my 'Capitalised Dividend Valuation' model where I bet on a 9% business cycle gross yield. This is enough of a discount to make me lose interest in all of those listed property entities I have been investigating getting into over the last twelve months. It is hard to rationalise why PGW shares should be worth $1 less than they were barely a month ago when Alan Lai dropped his special meeting bombshell (since withdrawn). We have since then had more parts of the country declared as 'drought sufferers' - could that be a reason? And Nelson/Marlborough are having a tough time. Just as well there is a superior vintage grape harvest happening at those wineries in Blenheim that we don't hear about, which farmers might just be able to drown their sorrows with. Who knows, PGW might even benefit from that ;-)

SNOOPY

.....who may even sample some of the cask wine that is normally used for 'other purposes' tomorrow, while I decide what to do.

[Sideshow Bob]

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/428613

Clarification of Business Desk Article

Garry Moore, Chair of PGG Wrightson Limited (PGW) wishes to clarify a quote discussed in the Business Desk article released today under the heading “Meng Foon won't quit as a PGG Wrightson director.”

The article notes that Mr Moore had commented that the New Zealand Shareholders Association had identified Meng Foon as an Agria representative rather than an independent director and that “We agree with them”, implying that this reflected a determination of the PGW Board.

Mr Moore wished to clarify that while this comment reflected his view and the views of some other directors, the independence determination had not been formally reconsidered by the PGW Board recently. This matter would however be reconsidered by the PGW Board in the near future and if there was any change in the current determination that Meng Foon was an Independent Director, this would be announced to the market.

[Snoopy]

Clarification of Business Desk Article

Garry Moore, Chair of PGG Wrightson Limited (PGW) wishes to clarify a quote discussed in the Business Desk article released today under the heading “Meng Foon won't quit as a PGG Wrightson director.”

The article notes that Mr Moore had commented that the New Zealand Shareholders Association had identified Meng Foon as an Agria representative rather than an independent director and that “We agree with them”, implying that this reflected a determination of the PGW Board.

Mr Moore wished to clarify that while this comment reflected his view and the views of some other directors, the independence determination had not been formally reconsidered by the PGW Board recently. This matter would however be reconsidered by the PGW Board in the near future and if there was any change in the current determination that Meng Foon was an Independent Director, this would be announced to the market.

Hmmm. Anyone else see the irony in an 'independent' director being asked to resign, because he won't vote the way other 'independent' directors tell him to?

SNOOPY

[iceman]

Hmmm. Anyone else see the irony in an 'independent' director being asked to resign, because he won't vote the way other 'independent' directors tell him to?

SNOOPY

Shouldn't the question be why was this former and failed "Race Relations Commissioner" voted to the Board in the first place ? What skill did he bring to it ?

[Snoopy]

Shouldn't the question be why was this former and failed "Race Relations Commissioner" voted to the Board in the first place ? What skill did he bring to it ?

I accept that Meng Foon left the "Race Relations Commissioner" under unfortunate circumstances. But these were related to disclosures of his business interests and not related to his day to day work as 'RRC'. As for what skills he brought to the job, Meng Foon served as the mayor of Gisborne for 18 years. That is a fair bit of governance experience to bring to the table. Also his parents ran an orchard and a vegetable shop where a young Meng Foon worked after school and in the holidays which add some 'grass root' credentials to his CV. And Hawkes Bay, even disregarding recent cyclone events, has had some challenging weather for the local farming interests to deal with. So I would say a Meng Foon has more than his fair share of relevant complementary credentials to bring to the PGW board table. As a PGW shareholder, I voted for him and would not hesitate to do so again.

SNOOPY

[iceman]

I accept that Meng Foon left the "Race Relations Commissioner" under unfortunate circumstances. But these were related to disclosures of his business interests and not related to his day to day work as 'RRC'. As for what skills he brought to the job, Meng Foon served as the mayor of Gisborne for 18 years. That is a fair bit of governance experience to bring to the table. Also his parents ran an orchard and a vegetable shop where a young Meng Foon worked after school and in the holidays which add some 'grass root' credentials to his CV. And Hawkes Bay, even disregarding recent cyclone events, has had some challenging weather for the local farming interests to deal with. So I would say a Meng Foon has more than his fair share of relevant complementary credentials to bring to the PGW board table. As a PGW shareholder, I voted for him and would not hesitate to do so again.

SNOOPY

Fair enough. I did not vote for him as I didn't think he was a good option for an Independent Director on the PGW Board. I do note that the NZSA has identified him as an Agria representative. They do not do that without a good reason.

Discl: Sold out last year and currently not a holder

[winner69]

Foon’s bio on PGW website says he probably a good safe choice to get on the Board ……..and vote the way his sponsor wants him to

Extract -

Meng is knowledgeable about best practice organisational structures and operating systems, and he believes that data, science, and technology will help ensure future sustainability in environment and land business profitability.

He has worked with Māori landowners and believes that Māori land businesses are important contributors to the leadership of Aotearoa. He aha te mea nui o te ao – he Tangata, inclusive people and relationships are the success of all things he does.

[blackcap]

I am on the register and going to bring a resolution to have Meng Foon removed as an independent director. As someone on the board pointed out, he is not competent.

Foon is an imbecile and should never have been voted on the board in the first place.

[Snoopy]

I am on the register and going to bring a resolution to have Meng Foon removed as an independent director. As someone on the board pointed out, he is not competent.

Foon is an imbecile and should never have been voted on the board in the first place.

I had a brief word with Meng Foon at the last AGM. He seemed very measured and respectful as a new director ought to be and gave the impression he is taking his new role seriously, and was not keen to put his head above the parapet until he was fully up to speed with his duties. When you say 'not competent' Blackcap, do you mean he is not a trained lawyer or accountant?

SNOOPY