Powered by Truveo

Video

Search for video:
More Search Options
Daily Briefing, Wednesday February 27, 2008
Duration: 3:34Source: YouTube
IntroHello. I'm Bernard Hickey with the daily briefing from interest.co.nz...Today, we'll look at the latest results from finance company heavyweight Marac, which has improved its profit and is looking for other funding to continue growing.We'll also look at the details of BNZ's new perpetual tier one share issue to raise NZ$700 million.Story 1, But firstly we dig around inside the results from Finance company Marac. It is close to securing a multi-bank lending facility that will be bigger and include more banks than its current NZ$400 million facility.Marac's Managing Director Brian Jolliffe says he is confident about continued growth despite a fall in depositors funds because Marac is backed by diverse funding sources. Unlike some other smaller finance companies, Marac has kept its debenture reinvestment rates between 65-75% and has also secured funding from wholesale markets in the form of a securitization programme for NZ$300 million. Marac has an investment grade BBB minus rating from Standard and Poors.Jolliffe told interest.co.nz the new, bigger facility was another sign of its strength compared to the rest of the industry.He pointed to Marac's publishing of its arrears figures for loans more than five days overdue as a sign of its relative strength. Marac's installment loan arrears stood at 0.48% of out of installment loans of NZ$1 billion at the end of December, down from a year earlier.He says there's no evidence at the moment that its credit quality is deteriorating.Jolliffe said there had been a slowdown in new retail funds coming in, which had dragged Marac's retail deposits down to around NZ$600 million from just over NZ$700 million a year ago. Marac's move to increase its bank facility and look at other wholesale funding options would allow it to continue to pursue lending growth. Finance company collapses elsewhere mean there is plenty of choice for the lenders that remain. Story 2Now for a look at the Bank of New Zealand's perpetual share issue to raise up to NZ$700 million.This is interesting because it is likely to unleash a swathe of these pseudo bond issues with interest rates of over 10%. This will make life very difficult for finance companies who will have inferior credit ratings and interest rates that aren't that much higher.The BNZ 's offer be accredited as a Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) and have an A plus credit rating. It should be popular with investors focused on a high yield who want an investment grade credit rating and who want to use the PIE status to minimize their tax payments.ANZ National is expected to announce a similar issue within a couple of weeks and Westpac is also thought to be preparing an issue. The interest rate on the BNZ share issue will be reset every five years. The BNZ issue will follow similarly large and potentially liquid issues onto the NZDX last year from Rabobank and Credit Agricole.The BNZ has the right to suspend interest payments or dividends on the shares, but the rules are that any suspension of dividends from BNZ would also force the suspension of dividends from Bank of New Zealand to the National Australia Bank, so that is seen as very unlikely.I'm Bernard Hickey from interest.co.nz with the Daily Briefing. Catch you on Thursday.
Rating: (0 ratings) Views: 24 Added: Mar 2, 2008
Category: News Author: ofInterestNZ
Email This

About  Advertise  Contact  Privacy Policy  Terms
© 2008 Find Internet TV. All rights reserved.
All brand, company, and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.