News Round Up

New warnings about finance companies, Kiwi Income adds $60 mill, Researcher puts fund on hold.

Monday, March 21st 2005, 6:38AM

Advisers and investors are again being warned about the risks of investing in finance companies.

Standard and Poors director of financial services ratings Gavin Gunning told delegates at the FundSource conference on Friday that there were plenty of red flags which indicated potential future failure.

Among these are: All companies are growing strongly, there is concentration risk - a lack of diversification, and another “strong” red flag is the high level of asset growth.

Kiwi Income adds $60 mill
Kiwi Income Property Trust announced its property assets have recorded a total revaluation gain of about $60 million.

The gain is balanced across the office and retail portfolios, and compares with a gain for the same period last year of $50 million.

The revaluation gain will increase the value of the trust's total portfolio (including acquisitions and capital expenditure) to $1.2 billion, and lift net asset backing per unit by 9 cents to approximately $1.23.

Hanover looking to grow
Hanover Financial Services Group, owned by expatriate Eric Watson and chairman Mark Hotchin, will this year make a profit "well in excess" of $100 million, the National Business Review reports.

The company has big plans, including a possible stock exchange listing and acquisitions. Hotchin was quoted as saying Hanover aimed to grow its assets to $6 billion, with half in New Zealand and half in Australia. [MORE]

Rater puts funds on hold
Standard & Poor’s announced today that a number of Assirt ratings on Perpetual Investment’s international equity funds had been placed ‘On Hold’, pending a formal review of the new team, style, and process.

The move follows Perpetual’s decision to transition portfolios from Fidelity to its new in-house international equities team, based in Dublin. As a result, Standard & Poor’s has placed all funds affected by the transition ‘On Hold’ pending a formal review.

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