WES - Wesfarmers Limited

[mullokintyre]

I have been worried about Catch for a little while.

It is not user friendly and the name is a dog .

A new CEO, especially a female should get it moving.

I do hope I do not get reported for being sexist.

gg

GG, you are doomed.
Never use female and dog in the same message.
Mick

 

[divs4ever]

GG, you are doomed.
Never use female and dog in the same message.
Mick

i do that ( avoid the word pairing ) and it doesn't matter they still complain

the silver lining is i am still single so am currently immune from a divorce threat

BTW i am more interested on what WES is doing with the lithium and fertilizer assets

 

[Ann]

BTW i am more interested on what WES is doing with the lithium and fertilizer assets

I would have thought these two would have had a positive influence on the price but it has been very disappointing so far. I had intended to hold this as a long term keeper, I had held it for a while but it began failing too many points, such as a rising support and the 200dMAs, then it kept falling into my stop loss area and looked darn weak, so as much as I wanted to keep it, I recited the old mantra, don't fall in love with a stock and sold. However, this is not the end of the love affair, I am watching for any signs of recovery. Now I hear @Dona Ferentes say there is a woman taking the helm, we may well see some upside, fingers crossed! I am still seeing weakness in the chart.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

I would have thought these two would have had a positive influence on the price but it has been very disappointing so far.

Haven't heard much from Lithium or fertilisers, that's true. Announcement dependent, and revealed at Quarterly, HY and FY mainly..

.... so as much as I wanted to keep it, I recited the old mantra, don't fall in love with a stock and sold. However, this is not the end of the love affair, I am watching for any signs of recovery. Now I hear .... there is a woman taking the helm, we may well see some upside, fingers crossed! I am still seeing weakness in the chart.

Bunnings is 75% of the WES business, and Catch is only a footnote. The hotshot ex-Amazon dude hired from Seattle to run Catch is packing his bags, and the new appointment is moving into what they hope is a bigger reorganised digital presence. But there are limitations, as newly acquired API won't blend in seamlessly. In fact, treading on pharmacists' toes and cannibalising that business model is a no-no. So WES is going to have two parallel digital strategies, Sounds messy

A key strategy to reverse the stagnant customer growth numbers is Catch OnePass membership that gives shoppers free delivery, exclusive deals, and the cheapest prices around in exchange for a monthly subscription fee. That sounds a lot like the Amazon Prime model of [the departing dude's] former employer.

 

[divs4ever]

NAME POSITION NAME DATE APPT.
Mr Michael Alfred Chaney
Non-Executive Director,Non-Executive Chairman03/06/2015
there are several women on the board already , some with a long history of business directorships ,

Mr Michael Alfred Chaney

Non-Executive Director,Non-Executive Chairman

03/06/2015

Ms Alison Mary Watkins Non-Executive Director03/09/2021
Ms Vanessa Miscamble Wallace Non-Executive Director08/07/2010
Ms Jennifer Anne Westacott Non-Executive Director05/04/2013
Ms Sharon Lee Warburton Non-Executive Director03/08/2019
Mr Rob Scott Chief Executive Officer,Managing Director16/02/2017
Mr Rt Hon Simon William (Bill) English Non-Executive Director02/05/2018
Mr Mike Roche Non-Executive Director21/02/2019
Mr Alan John Cransberg Non-Executive Director03/10/2021
Mr Anil Sabharwal Non-Executive Director03/02/2021

 

[Dona Ferentes]

NAME POSITION NAME DATE APPT.

That's the Board. We were talking about management , of the various divisions

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Wesfarmers has produced a rare update last week on its half-owned lithium project in WA that it picked up when it took over Kidman Resources in late 2019.

News on the projects Kidman had in its portfolio disappeared after the takeover but it is clear Wesfarmers has fixed the Mount Holland development.

Wesfarmers brought in the big Chilean lithium brine producer SQM to the project as half owner which is still on track for first production in two years’ time, even though there has been cost pressures.

Mt Holland remains one of only a small number of vertically-integrated projects where sustainably-sourced, battery-grade lithium hydroxide will be produced from a single origin, Wesfarmers told the recent Macquarie investment conference.

“While there has been some cost inflation in development costs, and the Covalent (the project managers) team continue to actively manage and monitor these pressures, Wesfarmers’ expected share of the project capex remains in line with prior guidance of $950 million. And we expect average cash cost over the life of the project in the order of $US5,400 dollars a tonne of lithium hydroxide.

“… the Mt Holland project provides some valuable commercial options, which we continue to review in the context of their capacity to enhance shareholder returns from this project.

“These options include the potential to expand the capacity of the mine, concentrator and refinery, the option to sell spodumene ahead of the commissioning of the refinery as well as the option to evaluate adjacent opportunities within the broader industry.

“The project is supported by strong fundamentals with first production in the second half of calendar year 2024 and total production capacity of 50 thousand tonnes of lithium hydroxide per annum,” Wesfarmers said.


....... moving ahead nicely.

 

[divs4ever]

am guessing various governments will have to subsidize EV to get them to become mainstream

currently WES is my main exposure to EVs although i do hold a few VMT and expect APE and PWR ( i bought some PWR today ) to start selling EVs as demand increases ( sure i have copper exposure but copper is pretty useful in many areas , it would probably do fine without EVs )

 

[Dona Ferentes]

you sure make a lot of guesses, , Mr Divs

One of the bits I left off the article was along these lines:

Compared to the publicity for the likes of Albemarle, IGO, Liontown and Pilbara Minerals this project has had a low profile because it is buried within the larger Wesfarmers corporate structure....
But a 2024 start date would put it in company with a number of other projects on a similar timescale.

The supply response is in train; will the demand be there? Or will there be price destruction? Contract or spot? Boom n bust?

 

[divs4ever]

you sure make a lot of guesses, , Mr Divs

One of the bits I left off the article was along these lines:


The supply response is in train; will the demand be there? Or will there be price destruction? Contract or spot? Boom n bust?

well i am not a trained expert in anything , and folks should be doing their own research even if i was a trained expert in a topic

however some of my bizarre ideas turn out correct ( and sometimes for the wrong reasons )

for instance i bought extra WES after the COL demerger thinking they would expand the fertilizer business and work-wear venture , i suppose i should have taken more notice of the failed LYC bid , but here we are ,

cheers

 

[divs4ever]

i still think lithium will be superseded for use in mobile ( vehicle ) applications , that still does not exclude it from gaining acceptance in other applications , where research progress is continuing

 

[sptrawler]

i still think lithium will be superseded for use in mobile ( vehicle ) applications , that still does not exclude it from gaining acceptance in other applications , where research progress is continuing

Everything will be superseded, the issue is will it be supersede before it reaches peak value, that is the issue with nickel and lithium IMO.
Will solid state batteries develop at as fast a rate as E.V uptake happens?, will LiFe batteries get the energy density of Lion batteries and make nickel obsolete, will li ion batteries improve and still keep a huge advantage over LiFe, will H2 fuel cells make a breakthrough and H2 production drops below $2/kg.
That's the fun with buying specs.
The banks and the punters keep underwriting them.

 

[divs4ever]

Everything will be superseded, the issue is will it be supersede before it reaches peak value, that is the issue with nickel and lithium IMO.
Will solid state batteries develop at as fast a rate as E.V uptake happens?, will LiFe batteries get the energy density of Lion batteries and make nickel obsolete, will li ion batteries improve and still keep a huge advantage over LiFe, will H2 fuel cells make a breakthrough and H2 production drops below $2/kg.
That's the fun with buying specs.
The banks and the punters keep underwriting them.

but i am trying to pick long termers

stocks like APE , CSR , BHP , and SOL that survive ( fairly healthy ) for decades

 

[sptrawler]

stocks like APE , CSR , BHP , and SOL that survive ( fairly healthy ) for decades

Well I don't have any of them and sold MLT, because I was going to inherit SOL, so obviously we work on different parameters.

 

[divs4ever]

Well I don't have any of them and sold MLT, because I was going to inherit SOL, so obviously we work on different parameters.

and that is not a bad thing either , a crowded trade often means somebody over-pays

and SOL bought in 2011 was better value ( but still not a jaw-dropper ) than SOL in 2021

i still think SOL's value was the shareholder newsletter/report alerting you to other companies they had invested in ( several of which i have bought into over the last decade )

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I'm off to Bunnings and Kmart this morning.

I have a lazy big one burning a hole in my CDIA after trading FMG from H2 to O and discovering wine some weeks ago, which is more than present holders have, so I may be tempted to add to my WES.

I will discuss p/e, debt to earnings and all that other rubbish with the trolley boys and girls, the tradies and shoppers, and throw tomatoes at any passing politicians.

gg

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Citi has slashed its Wesfarmers price target from $50 to $42 a share and slapped a sell rating on the business.

“We reduce our Wesfarmers earnings forecasts by ~3-4% incorporating a weaker earnings outlook for Bunnings. This reflects a more cautious view on margins normalising back towards pre-COVID levels and slower revenue growth as the housing market cools,” the broker said.

Meanwhile the latest iterations of Bunnings are appearing. The new stores feature "some of the latest in-store Bunnings concepts which are currently being rolled out across the store network, to provide customers with more inspiration and an easier shopping experience".

These include a Kitchen Design Centre, a newly laid out paint department, bathroom displays, new look trade service area, a wider range of site safety and workwear products in the one location, as well as an aisle for transport and moving needs.

And basically, these are multi-level shops that are being shoe-horned onto smaller footprints. Parking underneath and at least two levels of service hubs and the like. The catalogue looks like it's giving HVN (or even Ikea) a run, in terms of product and how concepts are developed, rather than just individual items....

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/inside-new-80-million-bunnings-pymble-store/news-story/7c0f86432df3e43065f0bb1dd440cf90

 

[divs4ever]

i was waiting to see if they would sell more ( in-house ) work-wear in Bunnings

seems they are smarter than WOW cross-selling among brands/outlets

 

[mullokintyre]

Citi has slashed its Wesfarmers price target from $50 to $42 a share and slapped a sell rating on the business.


Meanwhile the latest iterations of Bunnings are appearing. The new stores feature "some of the latest in-store Bunnings concepts which are currently being rolled out across the store network, to provide customers with more inspiration and an easier shopping experience".

These include a Kitchen Design Centre, a newly laid out paint department, bathroom displays, new look trade service area, a wider range of site safety and workwear products in the one location, as well as an aisle for transport and moving needs.

And basically, these are multi-level shops that are being shoe-horned onto smaller footprints. Parking underneath and at least two levels of service hubs and the like. The catalogue looks like it's giving HVN (or even Ikea) a run, in terms of product and how concepts are developed, rather than just individual items....

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/inside-new-80-million-bunnings-pymble-store/news-story/7c0f86432df3e43065f0bb1dd440cf90

As soon as I saw that I immediately put some low ball bids in.
CITI are no better than monkeys at stock recos.
what is more likely is that they have a big hedge fund looking to buy in at prices below current levels, so the first thing you do is drive the price down.

 

[divs4ever]

As soon as I saw that I immediately put some low ball bids in.
CITI are no better than monkeys at stock recos.
what is more likely is that they have a big hedge fund looking to buy in at prices below current levels, so the first thing you do is drive the price down.

somewhere near $30-$31 will get me interested ( to add more ) i already participate in the DRP and have a comfortable amount ( for me )

good luck if you buy in at this stage

X-factor is still the fate of Office-Works ( stay , sell, IPO or slice off a new property trust )

DYOR