HVN - Harvey Norman Holdings

[greggles]

Harvey Norman Holdings net profit in the half year to 31 December 2017 has slumped 19.3% to $207.7 million. HVN share price is currently down 13.76% to $3.95.

Gerry Harvey is a dinosaur in the retail game. The way he has consistently bashed competitors like Kogan and Amazon as well as disparaging online retailing generally just goes to show that he really is stuck in the past. Harvey Norman is the same breed as Myer and David Jones, out-of-touch and increasingly unable to adapt to the way retailing has evolved in recent years. I haven't set foot in a Harvey Norman store in long time.

Maybe its time for Gerry to step aside and let someone else take the reins?

 

[Country Lad]

Probably not a purely valid comparison because of HVN's furniture, but does paint a picture for greggles' comments.

 

[galumay]

Surprised he hasnt launched a scathing attack on the bastard shorters!

 

[greggles]

Harvey Norman struggling at three year lows. The whole bricks and mortar retailing sector seems to be feeling the pinch.

 

[notting]

HVN has 1,1B shares on issue which finished trading yesterday at 3.77 a piece.
Today they announced a div payout of .18 per share that’s $201m fully franked.

At the same time they announced a fricken 1 share for every 17 owned to raise approximately $163.85 million (before costs) (Entitlement Offer) with an offer price of $2.50 per New Share (Offer Price).

Can someone please explain why they would choose to dilute shareholders when HVN could just cut the div in half this time and cut again by even less next half to keep the cash rather than pay it and raise it.
What am I missing here? Surely I'm going senile or something!
You can also apply for even more than your 1 for 17 if you want. Are they expecting a massive response which they will feed and end up with 500m or something?

 

[luutzu]

HVN has 1,1B shares on issue which finished trading yesterday at 3.77 a piece.
Today they announced a div payout of .18 per share that’s $201m fully franked.

At the same time they announced a fricken 1 share for every 17 owned to raise approximately $163.85 million (before costs) (Entitlement Offer) with an offer price of $2.50 per New Share (Offer Price).

Can someone please explain why they would choose to dilute shareholders when HVN could just cut the div in half this time and cut again by even less next half to keep the cash rather than pay it and raise it.
What am I missing here? Surely I'm going senile or something!
You can also apply for even more than your 1 for 17 if you want. Are they expecting a massive response which they will feed and end up with 500m or something?

If you cut dividends now, your share price will get smashed right away.

Keep paying dividends will show "yield" on the investment research notes; it makes the fund managers happy; makes the retail investors somewhat happy.

Happy until next financial report when the diluted figures are typed up and reported. But that's a few months down the track and you, the CEO and directors, would have already banked that bonus.

 

[notting]

Last year they paid 12c even if they cut that to 10c they'd effectively pocket 88m this time rather than paying out 18c per share.
In the first half they cut the div from 17 to 12 and it still ran way up to pay day, then got wacked.
Share price lost 6% on the news this morning, along with a drop in earning mainly because they mark the property value as earnings and this time it went backwards not like the last 8 years of gains!
I'm not seeing any sense!
By the way bricks and mortar are making a come back in the US according to some commentators!

 

[luutzu]

Last year they paid 12c even if they cut that to 10c they'd effectively pocket 88m this time rather than paying out 18c per share.
In the first half they cut the div from 17 to 12 and it still ran way up to pay day, then got wacked.
Share price lost 6% on the news this morning, along with a drop in earning mainly because they mark the property value as earnings and this time it went backwards not like the last 8 years of gains!
I'm not seeing any sense!
By the way bricks and mortar are making a come back in the US according to some commentators!

Yea, read about some unknown entrepreneurs making quite a fortune re-working the shopping centre model. I guess there's always a place for shopping centres. We can't all buy everything online; and shopping is not just about buying crap we don't need... often it's just a place to walk around looking at crap we don't need.

That and I guess the big retailers finally figured out how to set up a website. It's been only 20 years but ey, better late than never

Read a while back that Amazon is scouping up loads of brick and mortar retailing real estate. Getting some real bargains now that they've destroyed most of them.

Thanks to Gerry and co, we all now get to pay GST for online orders. They're still cheaper than your overpriced stuff Gerry.

 

[tinhat]

Last year they paid 12c even if they cut that to 10c they'd effectively pocket 88m this time rather than paying out 18c per share.
In the first half they cut the div from 17 to 12 and it still ran way up to pay day, then got wacked.
Share price lost 6% on the news this morning, along with a drop in earning mainly because they mark the property value as earnings and this time it went backwards not like the last 8 years of gains!
I'm not seeing any sense!
By the way bricks and mortar are making a come back in the US according to some commentators!

Sounds like a dividend trap. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt once it hit the clearance store.

As to bricks and mortar. I saw Humphrey B. Bear in the fur at Miranda Fair in the early 70's and nothing, not even many years of sitting on Santa's lap at Grace Bros. will ever compare to that experience.

 

[Redbeard]

At the same time they announced a fricken 1 share for every 17 owned to raise approximately $163.85 million (before costs) (Entitlement Offer) with an offer price of $2.50 per New Share (Offer Price).

And this year the same thing again?? Whats going on ??

 

[notting]

And this year the same thing again?? Whats going on ??

Paying dividends out of capital raising! It's insane!

 

[bigdog]

Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page should be a pin-up to everyone who demands more women in the boardroom and a successful CEO full stop with Harvey Norman’s earnings more than double other corporates on the benchmark list of Australia’s top 200 companies.

Instead, a rogue group is trying to oust her!

https://www.theage.com.au/business/...ts-mistaken-reply-to-asx-20191118-p53bm1.html

Push to oust Katie Page from Harvey Norman board gets fresh support
By Elizabeth Knight
November 19, 2019

There's no question the Harvey Norman annual meeting next week is shaping up as one of the dirtiest and most theatrical in recent corporate history.

A second big proxy firm CGI Glass Lewis is advising major shareholders in the retailer to vote against the reappointment of the company’s chief executive, Katie Page, to its board as chairman Gerry Harvey engages in a war of words against governance advisers.

Meanwhile, shareholder activist Stephen Mayne, who is offering himself for election to the Harvey Norman board, said he had received a death threat as the battle between the board and shareholders becomes explosive.

There is no suggestion that Harvey is behind this.

In addition, both Mayne and proxy adviser Ownership Matters, which supports Mayne’s candidature and was the first to recommend against Page’s re-election to the board, said they are being targeted by trolls and are fielding social media abuse.

It is unusual for a proxy firm to endorse an independent-cum-governance crusader on any board. Mayne, who regularly offers himself for election to many boards, does not normally receive the backing of proxy firms including Ownership Matters

It is also unusual for proxy firms to vote against a board member who is also the chief executive.

Given Harvey and his co-founder and wife Page together own 47.5 per cent of Harvey Norman neither of these recommendations will do anything other than place pressure on the board to lift its act on corporate governance. Neither will be successful as the election requires a vote of 50 per cent.

However, the remuneration report is a different matter. Its lower 25 per cent voting threshold means there has every chance it will be voted down for the second year in a row and that it could be followed by a move to spill the board.

But there is a split in the various proxy recommendations on both issues - the remuneration report and board elections.

ISS is recommending in favour of the remuneration report, but CGI Glass Lewis and Ownership Matters are voting against. Of more significance, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors - which on average owns 10 per cent of every large Australian listed company - is voting against the remuneration report and in favour of a spill motion.

However, ACSI will vote in favour of Page’s election to the board and will abstain on Mayne’s nomination.

(In order to clear up one misconception, neither the proxy firms nor Mayne are suggesting Page should lose her role as chief executive.)

Ownership Matters is making a broader point that this company is in need of a big dose of independence at the board level and an even bigger dose of transparency.

So, regardless of which non-independent director’s turn it is to seek re-election, Ownership Matters would recommend against them as a matter of principle.

"Page is an executive director, Harvey Norman’s chief executive officer and the wife of founder and executive chair Gerry Harvey," it said in its report to shareholders.

"The Harvey Norman board contains two out of 10 members who are considered independent. With a lack of transparency in the company’s accounts and operations, investors should seek majority board independence and vote against all non-independent or executive director re-elections."

Likewise, no matter which individual put themselves up for election as a fresh independent blood (within reason, of course) they would have won support from Ownership Matters.

(And just by way of additional context - one of the other major proxy firms ISS is also recommending a vote in favour of appointing Mayne to the board. However, it will not vote against Page.)

CGI Glass Lewis cites related party transactions and board independence as its reasons for recommending against the re-election of Page.

ISS is also voting against two of Harvey Norman’s existing directors that are up for re-election, Kenneth Gunderson-Briggs and David Ackery but supports Page.

Ownership Matters has argued for a long time that Harvey Norman’s board is the equivalence of a governance nightmare. Other than Norman and Page, his son is also on the board. This year the company nominated its first independent director in 14 years - John Craven.

Ultimately it is a mixed bag of recommendations - but one which is both controversial and embarrassing for Gerry Harvey.

And it will shine an unflattering light on the company’s governance shortcomings.

175

 

[over9k]

Gerry's done very well out of the pandemic & the stock's sitting right on the support level now:

So I felt like this thread deserved a bump.

 

[rcw1]

Good morning

Harvey Norman has posted a 3.6 per cent fall in full-year net profit to $811.53m as total sales for the furniture, consumer electronics and home appliances giant fell $163.12m to $9.558bn.

The retailer said on Wednesday that reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $1.437bn was down by 1.4 per cent against 2021 and up 52.1 per cent from in 2020.

In Australia, its franchisees were negatively affected by the prolonged government-mandated lockdowns and closures of ‘Delta’ in the first half resulting in a franchising operations segment pre-tax profit result of $292.85m, a decrease of 23.7 per cent from the first half of 2021. However there was a rebound in the second half as restrictions were eased.

It said company-operated overseas retail stores result comprises 25 per cent of total pre-tax profit excluding net property revaluations with 24 per cent of its total asset base located overseas.

From its extensive holdings of land and property, the company said its freehold property portfolio was valued at $3.74bn as at June 30, up 10.9 per cent and consisting of 95 freehold investment properties in Australia, 26 owner-occupied land and buildings in New Zealand, Singapore, Slovenia, Ireland and Australia and joint venture assets.

Harvey Norman declared the payment of a fully-franked final dividend of 17.5c per share, to be paid on November 14.

rcw1 not holding at present.

Kind regards
rcw1

 

[Telamelo]

Gerry Harvey slams Labor’s retrospective dividend hit​

Gerry Harvey slams Labor’s retrospective dividend hit

Westpac and Harvey Norman shareholders could receive shock tax bills due to the government’s proposed retrospective crackdown on franked dividends funded by capital raisings.

www.afr.com

 

[divs4ever]

ahhh ! the old retrospective tax hit

today ( selected ) franked divs , tomorrow the air you breathe ( or any other pot of money that comes to mind )


Albo might have irritated a nest of vipers

 

[Belli]

Gerry Harvey slams Labor’s retrospective dividend hit​

Gerry Harvey slams Labor’s retrospective dividend hit

Westpac and Harvey Norman shareholders could receive shock tax bills due to the government’s proposed retrospective crackdown on franked dividends funded by capital raisings.

www.afr.com

Do you mean the Tax Payer Alert (TA2015/2) on the subject matter and issued by the ATO in May 2015 wasn't sufficient warning to cause companies to exercise some caution about this matter?

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Paying dividends out of capital raising! It's insane!

!

 

[greggles]

Gerry Harvey providing unlicensed financial advice to Mum & Dad investors, suggesting HVN is worth $6-$8 and advising others to buy.

Frankly, Gerry is a dinosaur and I can't remember the last time I bought anything at a Harvey Norman store.

Billionaire Gerry Harvey is as irrepressible as ever.

Shares in his retail giant Harvey Norman might have been belted after it delivered its first-half results on Tuesday, but Harvey is certain the market has got it wrong.

“My advice to you is sell your house, sell your boat, sell your car, put the lot into Harvey Norman [shares] and then ring me in three or four years, and you won’t need to be a journalist any more,” he tells this columnist.

Harvey used a similar line in February 2018, when the stock was trading around $3.65; it would climb to $6 in March 2021, but closed down 7.5 per cent to $3.85 on Tuesday after the company disclosed like-for-like sales in January were down 10.4 per cent.

But Harvey reckons the stock is worth “six to eight bucks”.

Gerry Harvey says this is Australia’s hottest property market

The ‘irrepressible’ billionaire says the consumer is holding up, Wesfarmers was “conned” with Catch Group and there is one property sector that is white-hot.

www.afr.com

 

[divs4ever]

Frankly, Gerry is a dinosaur and I can't remember the last time I bought anything at a Harvey Norman store.

neither can i , but i hold a few HVN and am willing to add some more if it slides enough