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To: TobagoJack who wrote (32842)	5/1/2003 10:04:33 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Respond to of 74559

Lurk here also. Some very knowledgeable posters. Better traffic too than the SI thread. Many from SI are now there albeit under different aliases. stockhouse.ca

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32842)	5/1/2003 10:07:08 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Paris to target credit rating agencies at G7. Jay, perhaps it is going to be tougher to just increase artifically the risk of any country just to do looting. Paris to target credit rating agencies at G7 By Robert Graham in Paris, Jenny Wiggins in New York and Aline van Duyn in London Published: May 1 2003 20:50 \| Last Updated: May 1 2003 20:50 France plans to raise the issue of regulating the international credit ratings agencies with its partners in the Group of Seven industrial countries. The aim is to agree a set of principles with the ratings agencies to make them more transparent and accountable. The French finance ministry has already sounded out Moody's Investors Service, one of three big agencies that dominate the business. The move follows rising concern at the agencies' growing influence in assessing the financial status of businesses and the impact of such assessments on investors and banks. One French official said: "The rating agencies are one of the last areas in the whole financial industry which remain opaque and not really regulated." Separately, the French association of corporate treasurers (AFTE) is in talks with rating agencies about a code of conduct. Paul Taylor, group managing director at Fitch, the third largest agency, said a code was welcome but some issues, such as companies wanting to influence the timing of rating announcements, need more discussion. Moody's said it was "not opposed" to consolidating its policies and procedures into a public document such as a code of conduct and it took the views of European regulators and government authorities "very seriously". French finance ministry officials are anxious that the G7 register the fact that the rating agencies are privately-run profit oriented businesses that also risk conflicts of interest. Similar concerns have been raised in the US, where the Securities and Exchange Commission will this month issue a report on concerns, including whether the agencies should disclose more information about their decisions. Standard & Poor's, another of the big rating agencies, said it had made a great deal of effort to make policy, procedures, criteria and ratings actions wholly transparent and that it already held regular discussions with regulators around the world. xref www.ft.com/financialservices

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32842)	5/1/2003 10:42:54 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Brothel is Australia's steamiest stock By Anna Fifield in Sydney Published: May 1 2003 20:29 \| Last Updated: May 1 2003 20:29 `The oldest profession in the world became the newest - and hottest - stock in Australia on Thursday, when shares in The Daily Planet, a Melbourne brothel, more than doubled in their first day of trading. Although the company float raised only A$3.75m ($2.4m) - less than half the amount expected - as institutions stayed clear, enthusiasm among private investors took the shares from 50 cents to A$1.09 to give the business a market capitalisation of A$36.5m. Andrew Harris, chief executive, aims to create a A$500m empire, with global franchises. Initially he hopes to expand into Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. The launch was helped by the promotional efforts of Heidi Fleiss, the former Hollywood madam. "Obviously the price is going to go up - it's sex, and everyone knows sex is a smart investment," said Ms Fleiss, hired by Daily Planet as its "international ambassador". The Daily Planet describes itself as a five-star hotel that allows sexual services. It has listed only the property part of the business to get around the Prostitution Control Act. It tried to float as a brothel nine years ago but laws in the state of Victoria subjected all investors in sex industry businesses to police checks. The Victorian building boasts "state-of-the-art facilities" and the company makes its money by charging A$115 an hour. It takes no money from its "independent contractors", whom the guests pay directly, and has an annual turnover of A$6m-A$9m.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32842)	5/2/2003 1:07:19 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay - One the energy side, this site has graphs of prices of major energy components. www.oilnergy.com Here is NYMEX natural gas - oilnergy.com This site has storage under EIA-AGA statistics. Look for graph - www.highlandenergy.com Canadian / US Dolalr effects on Canadain trusts - I think this pretty small I would expect that a 10% change in the exchange rate would mean a less than 3% cahnge in distributions. Cost and Capital side - 1) First, some expenses, like royalties paid to land owners, the Crown, and some consultants, drillers, etc. tend to be percentages (like 1/8 or 12.5% for the land owner). These drop right out. 2) Major Capital equipment prices, like large pump jacks, pipe, compressors, etc. tend to be relatively uniform from Houston up to Alberta, with differentials limited by transportation costs. I think British Columbia will be a bit more expensive. Too easy to have a crane put stuff on a flat bed truck, have 2 guys drive it from Alberta to Houston or New Orleans to Calgary. 3) Labor is the biggest cost difference, but here's enough labor mobility to limit extreme differentials. Labor is also not that big a factor. 4) Debt Capital - Interest rates are a little higher in Canada, but not too much. Appreciation of the Canadain dollar vs. the US will tend to hurt a little. 5) Equity Capital - stock prices tend to be about 10-20% lower than the US for the equivalent property, and this differential is larger for samller companies. Pricing side - Much of the pricing for natural gas acts like one market in the middle of the US, and somewhat diffferent market on the US West Coast and BC. When the price is quoted in CDN or USD, it's the same at a given point. Close to City gates, prices are higher. Closer to the wells, prices are lower. This will mostly wash out exchange rate changes on the spot market. A company that hedges production selling gas forward for CDN or USD will have currency exposure, however. ->> I would expect most companies with loans in a currenncy would execute their forward sales in that same currency. This will then hedge out some of the currency risk. Stock prices are affected more by the exchange. the Canadian only stocks, like Advantage Energy (AVN.to, CA:AVN.un on Big Charts) tend to have a higher dividend than dual lsited stocks like ERF and NCN. My conclusion is that even a big currency move won't move the trust much, unless they have made a deliberate currency bet. Others disagree, most notably Tommaso, who has own these trust for a long time.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (32842)	5/2/2003 1:17:12 AM
From: smolejv@gmx.net	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay: put BASF on your radar screen Rev (B€) 1998 27.6 2000 35.9 2002 32.2 earnings (B€) 1998 1.7 2000 1.3 2002 1.6 empl (in 1000) 1998 106 2000 103 2002 89 Note: they sold off their pharma in 2001 We may not like cyclicals - it a question of what you believe in I guess - but ... it is a VERY tighly run ship. They have long-term contracts re oil with Russia (let's put it this way - they own their own oil wells), so when you come to Ludwigshafen, you see oil disapear into the maelstrom of towers, pipes, lines, conveyors, and at the other end (or ends) you have finishedd products coming out - pigments, fibers, composite materials... The word of choice is Verbund (the closest translation would be "comb-integration"...) and the current boss, Jürgen Hambrecht, has some experience with it - he built two such production facilities in Asia, ie China and Malaysia -. A little story at the end - when Hambrecht was elected president of the club of the plastic producers, he had lunch with his predecessor Kamps - from Rheinland, and they know how to enjoy life -. It was the season so they both had asparaguses as the main dish. Hambrecht had them no-frills, just potatoes, and left nothing on the plate. Kamps asked for extra prosciutto, but left rice and vegies - Which, they say, forced Hambrecht to express his astonishment over the unnecessary waste. Kamps is not anymore with the club of plastic producers ;) Disclaimer: this is not to be understood as blah blah blah. And I dont own any of BASF (they're actually called Anylin on the floor, historical reasons). But, I may ...