"You were wrong about the short term fallout, I was right. You...

"You were wrong about the short term fallout, I was right. You thought the market would shrug it off, I didn't."

@Orson,

I said the underlying performance of the business would shrug it off. I never expressed any views about what market movements might do at any given time, and I never will; for I have no idea what stock prices will do from day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month.

A view that I am most willing to express, however, is that share prices ultimately track underlying performances of companies.

And I I still say that the underlying performance of the business has shrugged it off.

Do you see any signs where the underlying business per se - as opposed to the share price which, in the short term, I sense is empirically just a derivative of the movements in the broader share market - has been affected in any way, shape or form?


"Don't consider the published figures as gospel. Figures are massaged under the current lack of oversight and, in doing so, the basis for fundamental analysis is altered. So you will come to one conclusion, and the market (with a nod and a wink and a quiet chat) will come to another."

and

"I want stronger corporate regulation so people like you, who accept audited ASX reports as fact, will be supported and not lose money."


Oh, believe me, I never take published figures as gospel, nor do I treat audited ASX reports as cash; instead, I have spreadsheets for every company I research, such spreadsheets which conduct all sorts of diagnostics involving umpteen reconciliations between P&L, Cash Flow Statement and Balance Sheet, in order to come to a view about the quality of a company's accounts, the extent to which financials are aggressively presented, whether profits are "manufactured", and if any outright accounting alchemy is being practiced.

Just because a company presentation declares "We made a Net Profit After Tax" of X millions of dollars", that doesn't mean I automatically believe it. I always reas ALL of the notes to the accounts and I put the financial accounts through the wringer and then i determine for myself how credible the reported NPAT figure is.


"With an eye to lawyering, I have no comment on the specific allegations you mention apart from encouraging shareholders to read Senate transcripts. Pretty scary."

In the light of your thoughtful reference about people like me being supported so that we will not lose money, instead of merely mentioning how damning the findings of the Inquiry are (but surprisingly, no one - the Fairfax media included, has omitted to publicise all the indictments against IFL that are, apparently, so very "scary"), why don't you enact your philanthropic ambitions and provide a precis of what it is that is so scary and what the company's executives have done that is so egregiously wrong?


"You really are bored!!!! Please, let me have a holiday."

Personally, when I am on holiday, I never even look at HotCopper (nor the stock market, for that matter).

Here's a tip: If you don't want to be bothered on holiday, then the solution quite simple: just don't post on HotCopper. That way you won't need to become indignant when some inconsiderate idiot like me responds to you.