Hi Portfolio Certainly doesn't tally with those comments. I...

Hi Portfolio
Certainly doesn't tally with those comments. I wasn't actually aware of those - so cheers for that, and good stuff asking some detailed questions.

You can see that the key management personnel costs went up by about $1.5m, and Wages and Salaries jumped by $9.5m (overlaps with key management costs). Occupancy expenses also more than tripled - wonder if there are some upfronts in that cost increase? Their marketing and professional fees are up about $2m as well. Anyway doesn't sound to me like the expansion is a cheap thing to do, but another half year of accounts will be helpful to see how much of this is one off. However we are at an early stage in the expansion and need to see if the seeds that have been planted are going to provide a good harvest.

I think also we need to be watching the income side of things - which is very lumpy. If they can get their rolling 3 year ROE over 15% as the "harvest" occurs I will obviously be happy, but there looks like there might be a need to force some snouts out of the trough if wages keep rising at shareholders expense. Might need to vote against remuneration at the next AGM if earnings aren't heading strongly in the right direction as I expect. It will not hurt to make management aware that the expenses are being watched carefully.