Smazz

I remember doing my dd in the shipping sector years (before meltdown) ago. I remember they were "cheap" then to (from a P/E perspective anyway). What I remember is many were high debt animals and possibilites of growth were not great. Now, Im not saying that is the case now or with some of the companys discussed here- thats just what i remember. I do remember high prob of buyouts of one or two of the companys i was following and that event did occur.

Yep we just need an enterprising investor to update it :D I can update that spreadsheet when i get some time over the weekend - if someone can list the link to the 13f (dont have it here) I just switched the sheet so anyone can edit it. If we end up with Viagra spam in the sheet, I'll have to reconsider that move... If someone else can take it on would be good because I dont think I can get to it for a while thanks and sorry

Yep we just need an enterprising investor to update it :D I can update that spreadsheet when i get some time over the weekend - if someone can list the link to the 13f (dont have it here)

Im not exactly sure when they made their purchases on Rim but if it was before I posted the most recent thread on Rimm, it was most likely in the high $4.xx- $5.xx acb

wow, approx 50% gain.. nice!

Cheers, lets all have a good 2011!

to be fair, people like me werent usiing the word depression we were saying then, what you are saying now: Now everyone else is catching up with the thought process. People have to remember, especially in the stock market- just because you land on 3rd doesnt mean you hit a triple.

Stone have you read the book? If you are a real Probert fan its a must - again its more like just sitting across from him then it is a normal book. Make sure you have time alloted when you pick it up cause like me, i couldnt put it down.

I was given this book as a Christmas present. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CSX09cRNL._SL500_AA266_PIkin3,BottomRight,-16,34_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg Wasnt a long read - knocked it off in a few hours but i'll admit I really couldnt put it down. The guy had some crazy stories - too bad he is not still around because after reading the book, even though he did some edgy stuff, I seemed to find him really likeable - he seemed have a code of honour to live by. Was definately a sad story though - the actual incident of his death they got it out of the way at the beginning of the book, probably so you could enjoy the ups and downs, trials and tribulations of his stories throughout.

Habs are my arch enemy but that Suban hit on Marchant was epic!

Great, now i have a craving for sugar. FTR, there are no shortage of crazy things going on.. Im starting to believe the conspiracies that hedgies ARE controlling alot. Where is that tinfoilhat?????????

I think so. I am thinking that they will get a good portion of ABH equity. My memory is not great but i thought they were up to $400M All in Seeing that this has been written off in M2M what does it look like they will reclaim out of bankruptcy? I guess its impossible to know or even shoot a dart at here.

Interesting stuff so far - thanks guys.

Well, Ive been volunteered by some of my family and friends to reclaim some $ for their old gold - I should have kept my mouth shut before telling them about the bubble in gold ::) but anyways. For the layman, what do you in the know think is the best way to reclaim some funds from this? Im not too keen on the send the package away thing - so Jewelry store? Anyone have any idea of how close to spot prices should be looking at? I have done some researching on the quality and % of gold that is in 10, 14, 18k etc but any info you can give me is appreciated. I actually found doing some research on this interesting. TIA Smazz

Does anyone have the written transcripts from this call for this quarter? I couldnt find it on SeekingAlpha

Mario is actually just a minority owner. He is a god in Pittsburgh with coming back from Cancer, what he did on ice and his cancer foundation so it is fairly understandable they would have some homage there for him. Dont forget, the street the Arena is on is called Mario Lemieux place Funny, I was at the 2nd or 3rd game in pittsburgh wearing a Maple Leaf Jersey and some suit came up to me asking how i liked the new arena. I chatted for a bit. Later we bumped into each other again at the Radisson i think? the hotel across the street, and i found he was one of the execs from the company that organized the building of the arena.

I was at the new Arena, in October. I saw the Mosaic - pretty cool!

I was going to buy Apple in the later part of the 90s. Even if I had I would not have owned it to this day - thats just me.

Sanj, you should really write a book on FFH. Ive owned FFH on / off since late 90s but your information is informative to me. I remember all the shinanigans from those days that you wrote about in your post. Crazy crazy times.

I was actually wondering if you could short a stock before its come out ;D It is surprising really, we all know who makes the money on the IPOs. As much as there has been craziness in the markets the last decade + some of the things Ive seen lately are taking the cake!

ABSOF***nLUTELY!!! When you see the market go up if things are REALLLY BAD as opposed to not so bad because the Fed will easy do some type of stimulus act (how deep is that top hat anyway) is absolutely INSANE!!!!!! Im just making popcorn!

Yes, I was recalliing the Crum unsecured senior notes @ 10.25% 2013. These obviously got wiped down a while ago.

I'd be a little surprised if the motive was to pay off existing debt. The preferreds yield 5% after-tax. The before tax equivalent would be roughly 5%/(1-taxrate), or roughly 7.5%. That's more or less the same as the stated interest on most of FFH's existing debt. I believe there is some Crum at about 10%. Unless those got paid off in the last little while and I missed it but i do remember seeing that many times and it sticking in my head wishing they could refinance it. Another possible reason for the financing though: can never have too much $ come hurricane season. Just like you can never have too much pitching in baseball or D in Hockey!

dont they still have the high yield Crum debt etc to get rid of?

Remember, when Prem & Co were buying the most, the company still went through years of pain before the fruits. It is an indicator, not always spot on and not always timely. In alot of cases (as per insider buys) its probably alot easier (on the heart and nerves) if you were ACTUALLY the insider.