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Strategies & Market Trends : Fundamental Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spekulatius who wrote (2819)	2/25/2013 6:57:19 AM
From: bruwin	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4720

Hi there Clownbuck ... To provide a reply to your request, let me say, at the outset, that I tend to stay away from the Banking and Mining sectors. So I don’t have an insight into the likes of Anglo Plats, Anglo American, etc... However, what I can say, and what I have done, is to post some relevant info below regarding what has been happening in South Africa recently regarding the strikes and labour unrests on the mines which have negatively affected production and sentiment. I’ve also put together a scan from my local S.African broker, BJM, where they have expressed their opinion regarding Anglo American. I hope both “submissions” will go some way towards providing you with relevant info .... 1) MINER’S STRIKES & DISRUPTION ON THE MINES. The Marikana miners' strike or Lonmin strike was a wildcat strike at a mine owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa in 2012 (Rustenberg is one the main Platinum mining areas in South Africa). The event garnered international attention following a series of violent incidents between the South African Police Service, Lonmin security, the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and strikers themselves which has resulted in the deaths of approximately 47 people, the majority of whom were striking mineworkers killed on 16 August. At least 78 additional workers were also injured on 16 August. The total number of injuries during the strike remains unknown. In addition to the Lonmin strikers, there has been a wave of wildcat strikes across the South African mining sector. The Strike is considered a seminal event in modern South African history, and was followed by similar strikes at other mines across South Africa, events which have collectively made 2012 the most protest filled year in the country since the mid 1990’s. 2) BROKER’S REPORT ON ANGLO AMERICAN.

To: Spekulatius who wrote (2819)	2/26/2013 7:56:38 AM
From: bruwin	Respond to of 4720

Further to my post #2820 on the subject of Anglos (AGL), I've put a copy, below, of their Income Statement for the year ended 31 Dec.2012 as it appeared in our local Stock Exchange News Service. IMO, it should certainly make disheartening reading for current AGL shareholders, especially when compared to the year end of 2011 where they showed a Bottom Line profit of $7922mil. compared to their latest loss of ($614mil.) That's a substantial reversal of ($8536mil.) in 12 months. I don’t know about you, but I generally get “switched off” from a company as soon as I see Total Operating Expenses exceeding Gross Revenue. Things can't be going too well if you're already losing money at that level. Yes, there’s often several positive numbers that will appear below that EBITDA loss line, but quite often they are once-off entries, or ‘special items’, etc.. They can, IMO, sometimes be seen as “smoke and mirrors”, to give one the impression that things aren’t quite as bad as they appear. However, looking at AGL’s Income numbers things look bad, especially when one also sees major Interest Expense and Financing Loss numbers of $798mil. and $176mil., respectively, which only adds to the losses that they are already incurring. You say the Balance Sheet looks OK at the moment. Well, let’s hope that there are no more negative Bottom Lines which can only reduce the company’s current Retained Income number. Fortunately that’s still quite a large $40338mil. amount, so that should tide them over for a while. Of course one could certainly take the view that things couldn’t get much worse, so maybe now’s the time to buy a few more shares at a low price and bide one’s time until new management can hopefully turn things around .....