Stock takes: Double trouble

In early May last year TVNZ news presenter Rawdon Christie made here comments on Twitter: "Wish I'd bought shares in Restaurant Brands last week. The KFC Double Down is getting unprecedented attention. Well done KFC marketing team."

Indeed, the discharge of the limited edition bun-less chicken burger may possibly have helped drive the ten per cent rally that passed off within the fast-food operator's stock during May.

But when he was imagining becoming an extended-term shareholder, Christie was probably at an advantage not buying.

Restaurant Brands shares hit a high of $2.72 on May 27, but since then the stock has shed around 30 per cent of its value, suggesting the Double Down effect was very shortlived.

The company's chief financial officer, Grant Ellis, said this week that the large sales of the bun-less burger hurt KFC's profits as higher-margin menu items went unordered.

"They probably didn't get the pricing right on it [the Double Down] considering the extent of demand," said BT Asset Management's head of equities, Paul Harrison.

Shares in Restaurant Brands, so one can release its full-year profit announcement on April 3, closed down 1c at $1.91 yesterday.

THE SHEEP'S BACK

Timaru might have began as a sheep station but come July new kid at the NZX Chorus would be rolling into town to start work at the ultra-fast broadband (UFB) network. Chorus (CNU) revealed further details of its fibre rollout yesterday and said in the course of the second year of its build it may start construction of its network in Invercargill, Nelson, Oamaru, Queenstown, Timaru and Whakatane, in addition to continuing to deploy fibre in areas where work is already under way.

As among the many Crown partners within the Government's $1.35 billion UFB scheme Chorus is already building the network at a rate of 50km of fibre every week in Auckland, Ashburton, Blenheim, Dunedin, Napier-Hastings, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Taupo and the greater Wellington region.

By 2019, Chorus hopes fibre will reach greater than 830,000 urban homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and medical facilities - providing them with internet speeds of 100 megabits per second.

Chorus shares closed up 8c at $3.40 yesterday.

JOINING THE CHORUS

While Chorus has already begun putting down fibre cables (mostly) within the posher parts of Auckland, the infrastructure company also revealed yesterday what suburbs of latest Zealand's biggest city it plans to hook up by June next year.

The recent list includes: Lonely Track area of Albany, Rosedale, Glenfield, Wairau Valley, Takapuna, Henderson, Freemans Bay, Ponsonby, Westmere, Newmarket, Gladstone Road and parts of Parnell, Woodbine Road area of Greenlane, Otahuhu, the remainder East Tamaki industrial area, Wiri and the George Bolt Memorial Drive area of Mangere.

Punters can look at the rollout plans at: chorus.co.nz/fibre-rollout-map.

INTERNAL AFFAIRS

The $2 million internalisation at NZX-listed Kermadec Property Fund is ruffling feathers.

"Having read the PwC independent report recently i'm at a loss to grasp why the industry appears to be just letting this transaction sneak under the radar.

"Did everyone fall asleep over Christmas or does everyone think that this can be a sweetheart deal for the shareholders?" asked one angry party.

But some institutional investors reckon Kermadec could be better under the hot structure and they're happy about it.

Everyone gets their say next week at a gathering.

Kermadec advised yesterday this can be at 2pm on the Northern Club on Wednesday.

DISPUTE SETTLED

Devon Funds Management and Macquarie-owned Brook Asset Management have reached a settlement over a dispute that dates back to 2010, when Devon arrange shop as a rival "boutique" fund manager to Brook.

The dispute centred on a choice by three staff members - Mel Firmin, Chris Gaskin and Slade Robertson - to depart Brook to soak up roles at Devon.

On the time, Devon Funds principal Paul Glass said the verdict by Brook to take legal action against its departing investment team was "corporate sour grapes".

During this week's statement, the parties said: "Brook Asset Management and Devon Funds Group today announced that the court case involving either one of them has now been resolved."

The statement went directly to say: "The terms are confidential and no further comment might be made by either party."

Glass arrange Brook with Simon Botherway and the pair sold 49 per cent of the business to Australia's Macquarie in 2004.

The remaining was sold to Macquarie on the end of 2008.

In 2010, Glass installation Devon Funds Management after a year-long restraint of trade agreement following the sale of the opposite 1/2 Brook to Macquarie.

The effort started when former Brook stalwarts Firmin, Gaskin and Robertson opted to leap ship, with quite a few former Brook investors following suit.

Botherway is now general manager of investment for ANZ Wealth.