For retailers, the countdown to Christmas has already begun with stores offering “pre-Christmas sales”, getting out the decorations and so on. Here at RCG, we have Christmas trees, spray-painted reindeer and presents brightening up the front door!
RCG Shopfront 11 Cheshire St Parnell
Shopper activity starts building in November and keeps increasing through until Christmas Eve, and the next five weeks are crucial for most retailers. Last year, many consumers left off shopping until a couple of days before Christmas – perhaps due to increased financial stress, or simply as a strategy to wait for the best deals. This year, shoppers will again be waiting for the discounts to arrive, and retailers will have little option but to drop prices, even at the one time of the year when shopper demand is highest.
The Hanover Finance debacle continued last week, with a proposed debt-for-equity deal from Allied Farmers. Investors will still be lucky to get more than 70 cents in the dollar back. Most investors aren’t sure what the best course of action is from here, and seem resigned to just take each new development lying down. Life simply wasn’t as it once was, and our expectations are lower.
DNZ are planning to raise $130 million through an IPO and list on the share market (see Share Watch below for more details). The directors of DNZ’s management company will receive $43 million worth of shares, or one third of the total money being raised. This works out to $21.5 million each for selling the management contract, a pretty good day’s work in anyone’s book. Still, this is a lot better than what happened in the Kathmandu IPO, where only $86 million of the $426 million raised actually made its way to the company! We will be watching developments with interest.
DNZ Share Prices December 2009 - December 2011
Disclaimer: We are retail experts, not financial market experts. This is an opinion and does not constitute financial advice.
DNZ Property Fund is launching an IPO and will list on the NZX in December, becoming only the second company to do so this year. The fund has a portfolio worth $730 million in total – including $260 million of retail and bulk retail property.
DNZ Property Fund has a somewhat confusing structure due to its history – it has been amalgamated from a number of smaller funds over the years. It makes up one part of what has been called “DNZ Property Group”. The other part is the Diversified NZ Property Fund, which is mostly owned by Australian super funds and is not part of the listing.
Sadly, the Diversified NZ fund owns some of the DNZ group’s juiciest retail assets. It owns the Remarkables Park centre and Pukekohe Mega Centre, and 50% of the Johnsonville Shopping Centre, which has been granted resource consent for a major expansion.
DNZ Property Fund – the one that is listing – owns the other 50% of Johnsonville, and several neighbourhood centres around New Zealand. It has a number of bulk retail assets, including LFR hardware stores and supermarkets.
To download a printable version, right click this link and select ’save as’: NZ Retail News 24th Nov 2009
