South Canterbury Finance Limited

[temuk]

Tell that to the thousands of SCF debenture holders who thought they could trust SCF with their money.

Instead of prudently managing their funds, SCF and Hubbard speculated with it, funded his own activities in the last year increasingly with it (recklessly and thought nobody would mind) and is now scrambling to keep SCF from going under.

Relax indeed.

Sounds like you wern't at the meeting either!

Read my earler post.

[minimoke]

Sounds like you wern't at the meeting either!

Read my earler post.

Temuk
It seems there is some confusion aorund the performance of Southbury and SCF. By all accounts Scales and Helicopters have performed (very) well. Its the performance of SCF which is the concern. I gather yesterday Hubbard says they have just made their biggest ever loss and also that Lachie is the one that led them into the property development loans - and so teh blame rest on his shouldres (actually it doesn't - some might but that kind of strategic direction falls to the Directors). Interesting also that Lachies 15m loan looks like it will be transferred into shares which he can then sell - haven't quite figured that one out yet.

[winner69]

According to this guy the $15m loan was the reason why lachie took risks

http://davidhillary.blogspot.com/200...eo-lachie.html

South Canterbury Finance CEO Lachie McLeod 'required to take risks that were not appropriate'

With the news yesterday that South Canterbury Finance CEO Lachie McLeod has resigned, today some comments are emerging about the reasons why he's leaving, but also some of the factors that contributed to SCF's agressive expansion strategy under his leadership that have lead to heavy losses and a change of strategy toward retrenchment today.

Chris Lee, a Kapiti Coast based financial adviser who had put client funds into SCF, is quoted as saying:


He said one of the company's worst mistakes in recent years was lending Mr McLeod $15 million to buy shares in the company.
"He's a good bloke and a good dairy farmer, but that loan meant the company was required to take risks that were not appropriate in the last few years."

As I have commented before, this loan is secured against shares in Southbury Group, and could go real bad real fast should Southbury be successful in raising capital, since it would be at a steep discount to the value of the shares used when the loan was made (and the situation appears no better if SCF and/or Southbury are not successful in recapitalising).

Chris Lee's comments, however, open up a new issue: the motivation for aggressive expansion during the last several years under Mr McLeod's leadership.Perhaps this serves as a warning for any financial institution with a history of rapid expansion: this strategy carries a high risk, and investors should be aware that even the best performing and best managed companies can get into trouble by expanding rapidly for long periods of time.

The expansion strategy has spent Mr Mcleod's strength (he was quoted as saying he had run out of petrol), but also South Canterbury Finance's, and Southbury's as well. It has probably spent Mr McLeod's personal finances as well, leaving him with a $15m debt backed by assets that have little value left.

[Dr_Who]

It just amazes me how naive the public was and is still.

What does it take to wake the public up to what is really happening behind the scenes?

Oh well, there is a reason why the mum and dads continue to loose money.

Good luck.

[minimoke]

It just amazes me how naive the public was and is still.

I'm not sure its naievity - I'd describe it more as "Faith". Finance companies just seem to keep going despite the warning signs. Like for example Lachie has "run out of petrol" - What has happened that has prevented regular top ups? and what is there in front of them that is going to need a full tank of gas?

[Balance]

I would rather trust a man with wallet zipped tight and padlocked than hanover man
building $30m house!!!

Doesn't matter whether you drown in 1 foot or 10 meters of water - drowning is drowning.

Hanover and SCF were both used as the private piggy banks of Mark, Eric and Alan - just look at all the related party transactions.

[Balance]

Sounds like you wern't at the meeting either!

Read my earler post.

Read your earlier post. Why did SCF buy shares in public listed companies? Operative word is "did".

No two ways about it - Hubbard saw SCF as his private piggy bank to do as he pleased.

The aftermath of such reckless behaviour is there for all to see - those who want to see, anyway.

[Balance]

I was there today and it's a pitty people making comments like this should have been!!!

you would have found out helicopters NZ had $30 million ( for 2 new chopters for a new contract in perth ) finance all signed up with GE but 4 days before needing it GE told them
fine us take us to court, we just havn't got the money.


what do you do WHO ????? Terminate the contract before it even starts!
.

If you want to know more just ask and don't rush to conclusions.

It's call force majeure. No court of law would rule for specific performance under such circumstances.

So Hubbard then thought it's okay to use SCF's public money to fund the helicopters.

Private piggy bank.

[temuk]

Temuk
It seems there is some confusion aorund the performance of Southbury and SCF. By all accounts Scales and Helicopters have performed (very) well. Its the performance of SCF which is the concern. I gather yesterday Hubbard says they have just made their biggest ever loss and also that Lachie is the one that led them into the property development loans - and so teh blame rest on his shouldres (actually it doesn't - some might but that kind of strategic direction falls to the Directors). Interesting also that Lachies 15m loan looks like it will be transferred into shares which he can then sell - haven't quite figured that one out yet.

The first part of your question is yes. and yes it is the biggest loss in scf's history ( only there 3rd). as for Lachie leading them into property development, can't comment-don't know.

the last part, I got told today it wasn't 15m (but close) but it was already into shares and if it wasn't for the kind hearted person Mr Hubbard is he would have nothing.

remember AJH and wife own 75% of southby, 12.5% in trust and the other 12.5% by other business associates ( I asume including lachies) .

[temuk]

It just amazes me how naive the public was and is still.

What does it take to wake the public up to what is really happening behind the scenes?

Oh well, there is a reason why the mum and dads continue to loose money.

Good luck.

Most people will never know what happens behind the scenes.


But the mum and dad have not lost anything here yet ( and I don't think they will).