A Letter to Avangardco (AVGR:LN)

Tags

accretion, activist investors, Avangardco, Cal-Maine Foods, corporate governance, eggs, enhanced EPS/NAV, free cash flow, intrinsic value, Iryna Marchenko, lowest cost producer, M&A, majority control, minorities, Nataliya Vasylyuk, Oleg Bakhmatyuk, P/E ratio, P/S Ratio, Return on Equity, risk aversion, share buyback, technical analysis, Ukraine, Ukrlandfarming

Here’s a copy of a recent letter to the CEO & CFO of Avangardco.

Note I’ve updated all figures, as appropriate, to reflect today’s $10.50 closing price – otherwise, the text remains unchanged. For reference, I’ll also include Word copies of the original below. The letter speaks for itself, and is also a great reminder to readers of AVGR‘s extraordinarily cheap valuation! So, without further ado:

‘November 05, 2012

FAO:

Nataliya Vasylyuk, CEO, &

Iryna Marchenko, CFO

Avangardco IPL

121 V Prospect Peremohy

Kyiv, 03115

Ukraine

Dear Nataliya & Iryna,

Advertisement

The New Vegas: US Oil & Gas (USOP)

Tags

2P Reserves, Brian McDonnell, Caveat Emptor, Chris Comerford, delisting risk, disorderly market, Eblana, Fastnet Oil & Gas, FBD Holdings, GXG Markets, intrinsic value, junior resource stocks, Karim Akrawi, Las Vegas, M&A, Nevada oil & gas, Petroneft Resources, PLUS Markets, prospective resources, TGISVP, US Oil & Gas, USOP

I missed 2 Irish stocks earlier this year for The Great Irish Share Valuation Project (& here’s the latest TGISVP post). The first was Fastnet Oil & Gas plc (FAST:LN), which only IPO’d in June. The second was US Oil & Gas plc (USOP), which was actually suspended at the time (and finally delisted in April)! I must admit, I’ve put off looking at them for the past month or two – TGISVP gave me a real bellyful of junior resource stocks! I wasn’t feeling too hopeful about the analysis & prospects of these candidates either. My bloody bad..! Sorry, Fastnet, right now USOP’s beckoning!

Picture the desert, feel that heat, that blazing sun – you’re just a poor thirsty investor, simply trying to stay alive… You’re on your knees. But wait… What’s that you see? A shimmer, a glint just there on the horizon? You painfully stand, stumble, begin to walk, and then break into a shuffling trot. You begin to hope, against hope – maybe it’s water, an oasis, can it be..?

Nothing else matters, you stagger on as fast as your weakened body allows, and still you see it! That shimmer begins to solidify, begins to seem more real, it even draws closer, maybe just maybe you’ll make it… But suddenly that image, your goal, flickers and changes. You no longer see the water that’s been driving you crazy, that you were almost able to taste in all its cold glorious wonder. But wait, what do you see instead? Yes! Oh yes, it’s far far better, it’s amazing…it’s OIL!!!

Chasing Some Dividend Tail (III)..?

Tags

Autozone, Bernie Madoff, Big Ang, Character Group, dividend coverage, dividend yield, enhanced EPS/NAV, gold, income/dividend bubble, investment companies, JAKKS Pacific, Liquidations, Livermore Investments, M&A, share buyback, tender offer, trading sardines, wind-down

Continued from here. OK, so dividends kinda suck…but what’s the alternative? Well, let’s tackle that from the corporate perspective first:

– Obviously, share buybacks (and/or tenders & capital returns) are generally a far more tax-efficient means of distribution to shareholders. They enhance earnings, or significantly increase NAV/book value. [Just look at the amazing run on Autozone (AZO:US) – yes, they’ve had great execution, but much of its performance is down to aggressive/sustained stock buybacks]. It also permits management to be far smarter & more opportunistic in their distributions, and their response to share price volatility.

– Just as important, it frees management of the potentially absurd strait-jacket of maintaining an inappropriate dividend – which, in extremis, leads to management idiotically borrowing just to fund a (tax-inefficient) dividend. On occasion, this is exactly the point where management tips over from ‘gently deceiving‘ shareholders into downright criminal/accounting fraud…

Avon Products – All Pig, No Lipstick…

Tags

Andrea Jung, Avon Products, bad debt, Brink's, capital expenditure, Coty, debt, free cash flow, intrinsic value, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan, M&A, offshore cash, Pension Deficit, Risk Arbitrage, share repurchase, Silpada, Venezuela, Wal-Mart

– Avon Products (AVP:US) has high quality beauty products, a long/distinguished history and a premier reputation in direct sales. It offers its 6.4 million direct sales reps. (‘Avon ladies‘) a compelling income/empowerment opportunity, while offering investors attractive global/emerging markets exposure (83% non-US revenues)

– Sounds like the start of an interesting investment write-up?! But what on earth’s happened to Avon in the past several years? Good God, it’s like hearing your dear old maiden aunt’s been raped by Somalian pirates..!