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cwericb

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Everything posted by cwericb

  1. cwericb

    New FBK

    annual results.... LONGUEUIL, QC, Feb. 8 /CNW Telbec/ - Fibrek (Toronto:FBK.TO) will release its 2010 fourth quarter and annual results after market hours on Wednesday, February 23, 2011. President and Chief Executive Officer, Pierre Gabriel Côté, and Patsie Ducharme, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss financial results. Members of the financial community will be able to access the conference call and ask questions. Media representatives may attend as listeners only. OPEN TO: Analysts, investors and all interested parties DATE: Thursday, February 24, 2011 TIME: 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) CALL: 416-644-3425 (FOR ALL TORONTO AND OVERSEAS PARTICIPANTS) 1-877-974-0445, access code 4404338# (FOR ALL OTHER NORTH AMERICAN CALLS) Please dial-in 15 minutes before the conference call begins. Participants not able to listen to the live call can access a replay of the archived call by calling 1-877-289-8525, access code 4404338#. The replay will be available from Thursday, February 24, 2011, 1 p.m. until Thursday, March 3rd, 2011, 11:59 p.m.
  2. cwericb

    New FBK

    RBC used to provide Level 2 live quotes but now you have to be a frequent trader to access them. It is certainly a disadvantage not to have the Level 2 info. Pulp price did not move today.
  3. cwericb

    New FBK

    'Jolting' drop in sales means paper industry 'must adapt' Says Andre Bernier, chairman of the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (Former CEO of SFK/FBK) now a productivity expert with Catalyst Paper Corp. in Vancouver. http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Jolting+drop+sales+means+paper+industry+must+adapt/4208545/story.html No doubt what he says is true regarding newsprint but it seems that in business and in home use computers have a tendency to produce prodigious quantities of paper. Also, does he factor in the increasing demand for paper in developing countries?
  4. cwericb

    New FBK

    FFHwatcher, Unfortunately I have held shares in several other companies where share prices were obviously manipulated and/or the companies involved were grossly mismanaged. So perhaps I tend to be overly suspicious. I have held shares in SFK/FBK for three or four years now and I haven’t seen a lot that has really impressed me. Yes, they avoided bankruptcy but so have others in the industry. I have seen very little effort put into promoting their company in any way. Why is that? Why did FBK’s share prices not increase to the same extent as some of their competitors? What steps have they taken to promote this company? Suppose a takeover deal has been in the works for some time involving ABH. Obviously it would be in ABH’s best interests to start with a low FBK share price. As far as FFH is concerned it may matter little where FBK’s share price sits but the less that ABH pays for FBK the better off and the healthier ABH would be going forward and that would be in FFH’s best interests, so I don’t see much incentive for FFH to do anything to pressure FBK to be more proactive in marketing themselves better. As far as management’s personal options are concerned, what exactly did they do, or what is expected of them to earn those options? If you had those options wouldn’t you be doing everything in your power to escalate investor awareness of this company and increase share prices? I would be doing everything I could to promote and polish the company’s image and make the company more attractive to investors. I would be putting out frequent news releases reminding the public of all the great things we were doing, I would have had a glossy website promoting all aspects of the company and featuring frequent updates for shareholders and potential investors. What about some publicity on the progress they are making on the power generation front - there is a web page in itself. I might even throw a few dollars at some ads to increase public awareness of my company and how it is a leader in the “green” movement with the power generation and the RBK plants. Perhaps I might look at a small dividend to show that this company is getting its act together and spur investor interest. Once you have elevated investor awareness and have positioned yourself where you have started to attract more attention, then if takeover talks start you are in a much better position to start a bidding war, rather than a passive takeover by a related company. Never underestimate the power of image and perception.
  5. cwericb

    New FBK

    “...maybe they already know who will buy them and are not interested in marketing themselves...” “I think a deal is done in terms of a high level agreement. I think all the key players know how this will play out, and investor relations is kind of a waste of time at this point.” I think Alekbaylee & Myth are probably right on the mark. Why waste time and money on marketing and PR when you already know the company will be undergoing a major transformation in the future, likely with ABH and with FFH’s blessings. But if that is the case would it not be in those three parties own best interests to keep share price low?
  6. cwericb

    New FBK

    Nonub re "...in what sense do you find the current www.fibrek.ca website non-functional today?" Okay, it's barely functional but does little or nothing to describe or promote the company. The old SFK site was reasonably well done with seperate pages devoted to each of their plants with photos and detailed discriptions of their operations. Even if they had simply changed the name from SFK to Fibrek on the old site it would be better than what they have now. The website may be a relatively small thing, but the lack of attention to it seems to indicate a lack of interest in promoting their company. The very limited info on the site can be found anywhere and they even admit the site is unfinished where they say... "Sign up to be advised of the launch of our new website" One would think that when they converted nearly a year ago they would have had the new site ready to roll. Yes, its a small thing, but in this era not having a decent website is like not bothering to put up a sign outside your opperations telling who you are. If you are proud of your company and want to promote it shouldn't you show it? It should be a very interesting AGM this year.
  7. cwericb

    New FBK

    I probably don’t have a huge number of shares compared to some, but you can count me in on that as well. I too am uneasy to see management with all that cash on hand. I am also concerned about where management’s loyalties lie when they don’t seem to have a lot of shares in their own company. (But didn’t they get options back a while ago at $1.50 or something?) Then there is management's apparent lack of marketing ability as evidenced by their “website”. Conversion from SFK to Fibrek did not happen overnight, yet it took about six months after conversion before they were able to launch a website - and it still isn’t functional today. With zero web development skills or experience, I was able to create a site of my own in a matter of a few days ( www.SundancePEI.com ). If I could muddle through the process, surly with Fibrek’s resources they could come up with a decent website. One has to wonder why promoting the company would be so low on their priorities. Certainly this will not make or break the company, but it does seem to reflect on their marketing abilities and that concerns me. If they are not interested in trying to promote their own company... I also wonder about Fairfax's position in all of this. Perhaps FFH and ABH are not as interested in seeing the share price rise as we are?
  8. cwericb

    New FBK

    Agreed 100%. I find it hard to be as pessimistic as some are about a side of the operation that could be a large potential asset. Might these mills not be quite attractive to a US company who wanted to be a large player in the recycling industry. There is a certain PR aspect in saying "We are saving trees and efficiently recycling industry's waste paper". The plants are new and long term, RBK is not going to fade away. Also this is a segment that is in line with the times. Never underestimate the power of the green/recycle movement. If the production of RBK was a losing proposition where mills might be closed, I would think tax incentives and subsidies would be demanded to keep them in operation.
  9. cwericb

    New FBK

    Uccmal That was what I thought was the problem with the US mills. However, I am optimistic that this may not be permanent problem or at least there could be some improvement. Here is the way I see it. The economy had created a climate where industries were forced to make sudden cutbacks and recycling was not seen as a priority but more as a PR issue. But there is absolutely no way the green and recycle movement is going to go away, in fact it will only increase. As the economy gets back on the rails more focus put back on recycling and hopefully that will help improve the US mills situation - but it could take some time. However, there is an outside chance that some company may agree with this line of thought and make a move to pick up these mills in anticipation of a turnaround.
  10. cwericb

    New FBK

    Yup, just as I thought - those years in university many years ago simply taught me to realize how little I really know. SD, are you sure you didn't teach statistics at one time? I may get time to study today's lesson later but I think Watcher and I may have to stay after school. If nothing else, the posts over the last day have given me a few good laughs. See FBK is up to $1.36.
  11. cwericb

    New FBK

    Thank you for that SD. I got about 50% of that. As Watcher said, I wish I had paid more attention to that statistics course I took in university many years ago. Bottom line here would seem that short of another big hiccup in the world economy, one has to be pretty optimistic on FBK. There seems to be no indications of any serious erosion in the price of pulp and every opportunity for FBK to be quite profitable. Also you can't ignore the implications of the ABH/FFH factor. Couple of questions though. Obviously there must have been good reason for the RBK plants to be built and they are supposed to be 'state of the art' so why aren't they profitable? What are the chances that they will become profitable? If NBSK and paper in general becomes more expensive shouldn't RBK follow? I wonder if the green aspect of recycled paper has suffered because it is seen as a bit of a luxury when industry finds it necessary to cut costs but will become more acceptable as the economy improves? Just 3-1/2 years ago FBK/SFK was in the $5 range and a few years before that it was $8-$10. Has anyone done a comparison of SFK/FBK's numbers back then to where they are now and numbers that might be projected for a year or so out? Pretty favorable, as a guess?
  12. cwericb

    New FBK

    I had regreated not dumping this when it was just shy of $2, but who knew it would drop back to a buck. Like you, at $4 I would be very happy. Aside from the toilet paper factor (which is a good point), I think that there are more reasons for prices to stay steady or increase than they are to drop. And even if they did drop back a bit the company should be able to remain profitable - unless everything starts to go down the toilet again. But I think the guys on this board who are forcasting a buyout or some sort of consolidation put forth a pretty convincing arguement and at this point I think i am probably going to be holding until something develops on that front or it becomes clear that it isn't in the cards. Its tempting to go for more but I am a bit too chicken. I got into this at around $1.70 which seemed to be a big mistake. But if I hadn't I would have never taken the initiative to buy a bunch more at .53 and 1.01 so as someone else said on this board, I have been able to take one of my big losers and turn in into a big winner. Hopefully even bigger.
  13. I sympathize with Partner, but who would screen the questions received as to what information could be properly released to to the public and what could not? There could be a fine line at times between what might effect share price. I'm not suggesting that the info should or should not be released, just that there would have to be a number of people involved in screening the information and that could be a problem. One of the reasons I am invested is that I trust these guys. just 2 cents worth...
  14. cwericb

    New FBK

    Ok Myth, That was GOOD, and informative. I would recommend this to everyone here that has an interest in FBK. Might this explain the recent end of the constipation in FBK's share price? And at one time I thought this had been my most sh*tty investment. I have a sh*tload of this stuff, should I add more? I could go on....
  15. Has anyone heard anything about FFH's lawsuit lately? I know the wheels of justice grind slowly but it must be at least a couple of years since I have seen anything about it at all.
  16. Asking this question is something like asking, "How long is a piece of string?" There are so many variables; what is your lifestyle, how old are you, what region do you live in, etc, etc. The Royal Bank website has a page somewhere (for Canadians) where you can plug in your numbers and and it factors in CPP, OAS, etc. Can't remember if it includes taxes or not. There must be numerous sites like this, get some numbers there and that might provide a starting point. But if say, a certain amount of savings is good for someone at age 65-70 its probably not enough for someone at 40. The other factor is how confident are you that you can achieve a decent return on your investments on an ongoing basis - a lot of people didn't do so well a couple of years ago - and being over confident here might not bode well for your future. Who was it that used to advertise the "Freedom 55" plan? Personally sometimes I think I'm on the "Freedom 95" plan.
  17. Forty-one percent!! I am impressed! Not just with the return, but with the concept of having someone of Prem's caliber donating his expertise to manage funds for a non-profit. Now that I think of it, I have also been a non-profit at times I wonder if Prem .... Oh yeah, I guess that is why I am in FFH.
  18. cwericb

    New FBK

    Here is a little better news - "Raymond James Raises Fibrek Inc to market perform from underperform"
  19. I have not seen anything on FFh's lawsuit for nearly a year. Has anyone seen anything about it? Surely something must be happening?
  20. Here`s my two cents worth. Like Mark Jr. I have dabbled in gold for a long time and have learned a few lessons. A long time ago - when I certainly could`t afford it - I bought a few Krugerrands and Maple Leafs. First off I had to pay a commission to the bank to purchase them, then I had to pay to have them shipped to my branch. Then they sat in a safety deposit box for a year or so while the price of gold dropped to half. Then I decided to get rid of them and I discovered that I had to pay to ship them, have them assayed (required before I could cash them and wasn`t cheap), then there more bank and shipping charges. Things may have changed since but that cured me of the gold bug - at least as far as holding the metal itself was concerned. However, five or six years ago I put some money into the RBC Precious Metals Fund that is now worth just about exactly four times what it was then. The more trouble the world currencies are in, the more valuable gold will become. However it will peak at some point and while I`m not quite sure about the $2,500 figure, I think Mark Jr has got the signs of a gold peak exactly right. The only real surprise gold has given me in the past few years was the decline after the financial meltdown when gold dropped from $1,000 to $700. But I have chalked that up to the fact that there was just so much money taken out of the system that everything got hit hard - however FFH helped make up for that at the time. :) Here is a chart of the price of gold 1975-2010, factor inflation into it when you read and today's chart looks eerily like about 1980. http://www.kitco.com/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_graphs.plx
  21. Yes, my Asus also came from Newegg - newegg.com for US or newegg.ca for Canada. I guess the smaller keyboard is just the price you have to pay for a 10" but it really is very portable and the keyboard is not a big problem. I've had mine now for about 9 months and the only complaint I have is that it is just a bit slower than my 17" Dell that I use at work. But slow is defined as taking perhaps 5 seconds to do something instead of 3 or 4 (have we become spoiled or what?). But nice screen, seems well built, and I wouldn't want to go any larger or smaller because the portability is excellent. I have a 15" laptop I use at home (soon to be replaced with a 17") and I keep the Asus for the cottage on weekends and travelling. It will do pretty well anything any other computer will do except there is no disk drive. I would think there will be some really good buys as we go towards Xmas.
  22. Couple of things, mine cost about $300. I did a lot of research and found that the Asus was probably one of the best. You probably want to get something with good battery life -watchout for the chepies or ones that are power hungry. My netbook has Bluetooth which I found useful as I bought a cheap Bluetooth headphone & mic combo that allowed me to use Skype without being wired directly to the netbook. Also remember that with wireless internet you either have to be within range of free 'hotspots' or pay for a roaming setup.
  23. Myth, I bought a netbook last year. I find it a bit slow but it goes forever on a charge (6-8 hrs), which is an important factor (it is an Asus eee). I used it while on vacation in Hawaii this Spring and found it to be excellent. I could get on the web and check things and use my email. I also set up with Skype and it allowed me to call anywhere for little or nothing. The netbook comes with a decent webcam and I was able to make video calls (free) back to the East Coast with no problems at all. I also use it when travelling on weekends - like the ad says "don't leave home without it". It is small enough to easily pack in a pouch on a carry on. I have been thinking about a Kobo, etc, but I'm not sure that the two are really interchangable.
  24. cwericb

    New FBK

    LONGUEUIL, QC, Oct. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - Fibrek (TSX: FBK) will release its 2010 third quarter results after market hours on Thursday, November 4, 2010. President and Chief Executive Officer, Pierre Gabriel Côté, and Patsie Ducharme, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call on Friday, November 5, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss financial results. Members of the financial community will be able to access the conference call and ask questions. Media representatives may attend as listeners only. Participants not able to listen to the live call can access a replay of the archived call by calling 1-800-642-1687, access code 18790366#. The replay will be available on Friday, November 5 as of 1 p.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, November 12, 2010. Complete unaudited consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis will be available on the Company's temporary site at: www.fibrek.com and SEDAR web site at: www.sedar.com. Unh, y'all got that last sentence, right................
  25. Further to questions regarding the connection between Chou & Fairfax, from the prospectus for the Chou Associates fund... "As at August 27, 2010, Fairfax Financial Holdings holds approximately 23.2% of the Series A Units of the Fund."
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