Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 26, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May 2000 b3 editor Julian Rachey 6977235 portfolio can be loaded for Bear Are you ready for a Bear mar Ket those of you with great memories might remember an Arti Cle by this title that we ran on july i was asking the question because markets were at record High and that always a Good time to assess your prepared Ness for a bad now in asking the question because its just possible that we Are in a Bear a Bear mar Ket is different than a Quick in that it can last quite a a rapid correction is easier in Many because the pain is Over in a real Bear the Market can decline for months or even with Short rallies in Between to keep our Hopes the possibility of a Bear Market is not a reason to pull out of the markets or to Stop like a Bull a Bear Market can Stop at any time and turn the technology Stock bub ble that weve talked about a num Ber of times during the last year has burst and investors Are realizing the sky High valuations awarded to new companies were every time a new Economy com Pany announces it will miss a profit or Revenue the Market Ham mers the difference in the cur rent climate is that All the surrounding technology stocks also suffer from collateral the real question int whether we Are in a Bear Market or not no one will be Able to answer that question for a number of the real question is if this is Are you ready Are you ready financially will you be Able to ignore your investment portfolio for the two or three years that could be required better will you be Able to add More Money and buy stocks As they approach real bargain Levels if you will need Cash from your portfolio in the next year or make sure youve put that Money aside in Money Market funds or other guaranteed the new rates on Manitoba builder Bonds look very for if you want to have some Money that is redeemable every six Are you ready psychologically do you have what it takes to ignore All the pundits who Are going to Start coming out of the saying they told us so Market gurus tend to want to make head lines by Over dramatizing a Situa the Media tend to exaggerate these dramatic comments even because they make great when these stories Start to Sug Gest that All of our assumptions about a rising Market in the future were wrong and the Market will never Rise Are you prepared to ignore the noise and continue to invest according to your personal investment policy you examined the bal Ance in your portfolio when the mar Ket was and made sure that you had adequate amounts in Bonds and Money if you might want to make sure you do that this is not to abandon the but rather to make sure that you have the staying Power to remain invested throughout a bad Market and have the Cash reserves to invest More if the Market continues to go Down for a prolonged period of and dont if your adviser has seemed too conservative for you in the last six Send him or her a than you they May have been protecting you from your own also even if it is a Bear nothing lasts forever and the Good times will the important thing is to stay the course and stay invested according to your own personal optimal asset the preceding article is provided As an introduction to this topic and should not in any Way be construed As a replacement for proper professional David Christianson is a principal and senior advisor with Shymko in Winnipeg his column appears you can email my at . Versatile Sale clears hurdle Ken Oliou Otto Winnipeg free press Buhler is optimistic a Deal can be announced soon in his bid to buy versatile Stan Ana pen owned arid operated i since when they took and renamed the ugg adds Arborg retailer to its stable by Geol Kirbyson it want the biggest Deal in the com pants nearly 100year but United Grain growers acquisition of an agricultural products retailer fits in with its Lon term strategy to the Winnipeg based Grain giant completed an earlier Purchase of the shares of Lake Centre farm service in Arborg this the company Sells granular and anhydrous ammo Nia crop Protection products and seed in the Interlake Region and will now add eggs full line of ser vices this Brian ugg chief executive said the company will continue to diversify its business there Are a number of business ser vices that Farmers currently hire or buy products from where we think we could provide value and our presence would be seen by Farmers As he declining to give specifics for competitive a decade the Winnipeg based Grain giant made 75 per cent of its operating income from its Grain ele Vator a figure that has dropped to less than 40 per cent in the last Cou ple of Hayward Selling crop inputs like seed and chemical to Farmers is just As big As our Grain he the company sales of crop input products have gone from million 10 years ago to million its thanks in Large Hayward to the 1993 launch of proven a Lead ing Brand of seed in Western ugg is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy in livestock ser crop inputs and merchandising in Eastern Manitoba and across the last the company announced it was spending Mil lion to double the capacity of its Beausejour Grain Ken eggs acquisition co said the company has acquired 23 Independent farm Supply outlets across Western most of them in in the last three Buhler Hopes to Complete Purchase in two weeks by Martin Cash Winnipeg Buhler Indus tries says it has cleared one of the last hurdles in its bid for versatile farm equipment and expects to buy the fort Garry tractor Plant within the next two Buhler announced yesterday that regulators have determined it is an eligible Pur Chaser of the ver Satile Plant after were How 8 yesterday they to said we didst qual finish what today we a w6 so Happy John Buhler said late yesterday aggressively we started expect to have All the contracts com j0hn Buhler plated and signed within one to two we had virtually everything a for Sale sign went up at versatile in Early november after a department of Justice decision regarding the merger of farm and construction equipment giants new Holland no and Case the regulator signed off on the merger on condition the Winnipeg tractor formerly owned by new be As Well As its four wheel drive and two wheel drive tractor declared intention Buhler anted up immediately and declared its intention to make an there was speculation other american companies were interested in the Winnipeg factory but no offers were now looking to finish what we so aggressively Buhler in Buhler and chief operating officer Craig Engel were on a plane to new York to Complete negotiations with officials from Canh glob the name of the newly merged heavy equipment at the the Buhler executives had every reason to believe they were nearing the end of the purchasing process that started in but upon their arrival in new York they were told that the Justice department deemed them an ineligible intense negotiations with officials substantial Canadian political this is a huge Engel said originally we didst think the do would be a big part of the so far it has been the biggest both Buhler and Engel said they believe negotiations with Canh global to acquire the Winnipeg Plant will proceed there has been speculation the Selling Price might be As High As but neither Side has commented on continued please see versatile b4 Arctic group warms up to new name sales but ice maker reports loss by Martin Cash the Arctic group is changing its name to Arctic Glacier the change was announced at its Annu Al general meeting in Winnipeg yester the Winnipeg based company has bought More than 30 packaged ice companies in Canada and the Midwest in the last two one of its stated strategies since it began the process in 1997 was to establish a Strong Brand name and company president Bob Nagy said the name change will help the last Arctic Glacier replaced 15 different labels utilized by predecessor Nagy said adding there has been substantial redesign of the graphics on the company 250 creat in hundreds of moving sales last year up 64 per cent to Cash flow was up 120 per cent to one time costs associated with restructuring As Well As Goodwill charges of million resulted in a net loss of close to million for the the company now has about 50 locations in six provinces and 10 while there were several reasons for management to be pleased with the com pants performance and optimistic for its its Stock Price has not per formed Well even since it earned a listing on the Stock Exchange in Nagy answered several shareholder question regarding the flagging share Price by saying the company plan has always been to acquire a critical mass of make them operationally More efficient and then work the Brand name to enhance value All shareholder said Hes held the Stock for 17 months and it has lost 42 per cent of its we think we re substantially under Nagy we have been work ing hard on presentations to retail brokerage firms and institutional Nagy said one of those institutional investors made a Large Woc Purchase of Nagy told shareholders at the annual meeting that the company has been substantially under Val free Preh Arctic shares earlier this the shares closed unchanged at yesterday on substantial the company shares went Public at in the Spring of a year later the Price was close to but has fallen steadily since Mike the company chief operating said the company needed to have a Strong Story to Tell before it can Hope to Garner broader interest in the analysts Pyle More importantly we need to increase profits and create real if we can continue to deliver numbers like 30 per cent Cash flow margins relative to Revenue then the Market will recognize our Nagy told shareholders the Pace of acquisitions will not the company nominated and elected Gary Filmon to its Board of directors one Day after he officially resigned As Leader ;