KEY POINTS:
Ever noticed how the hamburgers from the large fast-food franchises always look far larger and more appetising in promotional material than they do in real life?
It's one of life's minor disappointments to unwrap your burger to find it is significantly flatter and less fresh- looking than in
the pictures.
Burger Fuel investors who bought in during the gourmet meat sandwich company's July NZAX float may be feeling something similar.
With its wacky high-profile television advertising campaign, the Burger Fuel float looked like it was aimed at the younger demographic, who were perhaps new to equity investments.
The float raised little over a third of the $15 million Burger Fuel was seeking, but it appears to have hit a chord with at least some internet-savvy youngsters.
According to Google information released this week, Burger Fuel was the subject of the most internet searches of any New Zealand listed company, even ahead of financial services giant AMP and market leader Telecom.
If indeed the float did entice significant numbers of young first-time share investors, it's a shame it hasn't so far worked out better for them.
Issued at $1 each, the shares closed yesterday at 60c.
Healthy stake
Long time Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shareholder Caledonia Investments has upped its stake in the company, this week moving from 8.22 per cent to 9.31 per cent.
The £1.29 billion ($3.39 billion), London-based fund's move is encouraging for F&P and its other investors as Caledonia has a pretty good record as a stock picker. It has consistently outperformed its home market's benchmark FTSE index by a wide margin for some time.
According to its website, its "well established strategy" is one of "acquiring significant, usually minority, stakes in promising listed and unlisted companies and working with proven managements to add value over the longer term".
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shares closed down 7c at $3.18 yesterday.
Long bad road
The sub-prime-related issues in the US, passed off initially by some as a bit of a pothole in the highway for markets and investors worldwide, is now looking like several kilometres of bad road featuring a series of blind corners.
A number of financial juggernauts have been forced to slow down and pull over for repairs, while Britain's Northern Rock spectacularly punched through the crash barrier and is still lying wheels up awaiting a very big tow truck to drag it back on to the tarmac.
While New Zealand has virtually no big listed finance sector companies, the sharemarket has still taken something of a pummelling.
The NZX-50 broke a six-day losing streak yesterday closing up slightly at 4043.5.
It is below last year's close of 4049 but still well above the 3894 low it sank to in August after the sub-prime issue first emerged.
Spark of hope
Infratil's Australian energy business did it tough over the September half thanks to volatile wholesale electricity prices.
But ABN Amro analysts Rob Foster and Daniel Kieser reckon the Kyoto-friendly Kevin Rudd's election victory two weeks ago is good news for the business.
In a research note they point to Victoria State Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor's recent confirmation that retail electricity prices there will increase next year by 17.6 per cent and gas prices by 7.5 per cent.
"Atop this, price increases that may result from Australia's signing of the Kyoto Protocol are estimated to add another 15 per cent and the demise of other retailers has reduced any 'new entrant risk'," Foster and Kieser say.
They have "conservatively" assumed a 10 per cent increase in retail tariffs, on the back of recent developements.
"This, along with the increase in customer numbers to 235,000, has added 9c per share to our Infratil valuation."
However, adjustments to ABN Amro's valuations of Infratil's other investments have seen it drop its target price from $3.82 to $3.73.
Yesterday Infratil shares closed up 1c at $2.90 yesterday.
Foster and Kieser also noted Infratil warrants are currently trading at a discount to their current implied value of $1.30. "This represents a great entry opportunity into Infratil, which continues to trade at a discount to our valuation."
Infratil warrants last traded yesterday up 2c at $1.22.
Brave new world
The state-of-the-nation address by Minister of Communication David Cunliffe at last week's Digital Future Summit was deemed somewhat unimpressive by Goldman Sachs JBWere telco analyst Tristan Joll.
The minister's policy and funding ideas - including plenty of investment in fibre networks - were "somewhat ornamental", Joll notes in his report on the event.
"In our view the main conclusions of this were that recently announced investment plans by Telecom will significantly improve broadband standards but further Government intervention is likely to be required to move the country to the top end of the OECD ladder."
For Telecom the focus remains on the execution of regulatory promises, such as implementing operational separation, local-loop unbundling and strengthening its wholesale customer base.
So, in short, a lot of interesting discussion at the summit does nothing to change Joll's outlook on Telecom.
He retains a hold recommendation and a 12 month price target of $4.41.
On the plus side he notes that - irrespective of ongoing regulatory dialogue - the resolution of the issues around operational separation has afforded the company greater certainty with respect to its medium term operating environment and space to begin implementing its undertakings.
Telecom shares closed down 2c at $4.31 yesterday.
Not All Black
With the Christmas Party season in full swing - and all the excess that goes with that - it was nice to see Macquarie Private Wealth raising money for a good cause at its annual do this week.
Clients and staff took part in a charity auction which raised more than $40,000 for charity KidsCan.
Highlight of the night was the sale of one of Doug Howlett's All Black jerseys for $20,000 to Peter Thompson of Real Estate firm Barfoot & Thompson.
The jersey was the one Howlett wore against Italy in the World Cup, a match in which he equalled the All Black try scoring record of Christian Cullen.
So congrats to Howlett for donating the prize jersey and also for being a good sport about the obligatory BMW jokes.
