Weekly Wrap: A focus on finance companies

Finance companies look like they are going to continue to be in the news this year if the past week is anything to go by.

Friday, February 1st 2008, 3:54PM

What is useful to recognise is that there will be good news and bad news, but the former may get lost by the mainstream media. I look at Hanover's six-monthly release this week as an example. You'd have to say that making a $17 million profit and having $80 million in the bank isn't a bad result in this current market where good deals are there to be done, but it's hard to get money in the door.

In reviewing the media, some writers tended to focus on the fall in profit. I wonder if that is doing anyone any good?

On the bad news side, we have the first receivers' report on C+M Finance, which isn't that pretty, and news that MFS shares have been suspended from trading on the NZX. Getting info on this is proving pretty difficult, however one view is expressed in today's Blog.

What's happening at MFS?
What is happening at MFS in New Zealand? Is it the end of the line? Yesterday the company had its shares suspended from trading on the NZX and it appears that the company has gone into lock down mode. [more]

In the 'somewhere in-between' camp, are the views from Dorchester and Brook on the state of the finance company sector and its outlook. My take on this is different again and next week I will write a Blog on it – Promise!

In People it seems the ING departure mentioned last week wasn't live on the site. Sorry about that, it is now and can be seen here. The other key announcement is a new chief executive at Equitable.
If you are looking for a job as an adviser then there is one going with a large South Island firm. Details here.

Over in the Insurance News section we have a little piece on Pinnacle Life and its new instant life cover.

It's election year and often superannuation ends up on the agenda for political parties. This year may just be different. AXA released its annual retirement survey this week and it showed that New Zealanders were pretty happy with their retirement planning. In fact New Zealanders came top in the international survey in terms of happiness with their preparedness for their retirement. Who would have thought that?

A story on our property investment site, www.landlords.co.nz, will interest Good Returns readers. There is talk that the government may look at changing the tax treatment of residential property investment. Read the story here.