HLG - Hallenstein Glassons Holdings

[winner (n)]

Share price cycling upwards exponentially essentially means that when the share price goes over 12 bucks and sentiment temporarily changes the share price will only fall back to say $10.50 before cycling upwards again

So 10 bucks at the moment seems more than OK to me

[Basil]

$12.50-$13.00 this time next year is my call and about 65-70 cps, (Forsyth Barr reckon 69 cps) in dividends in 2026 as well. 

[winner (n)]

One shareholder took issue with the way the Chairman addressed female Directors & Management versus males.....something he needs to think about......

Warren made it into the 'general frippery' weekly column in BusinessDesk

Maybe time for the old fuddy duddy to stand down.

Hallenstein Glasson's AGM at Christchurch's Rydges Latimer was ticking along nicely on Wednesday morning.

Sales were up for the first 18 weeks of the year, the mood was warm, and everything had that familiar, slightly self-congratulatory AGM glow.

Then shareholder Joanne stood up. Clad in a blue shirt and glasses, she didn't look like a sniper, but when question time rolled around, her shot was lethal.

"Mine's more of a comment than a question. And I guess I'm thinking particularly for people looking online and thinking about investing ... I wonder if you're aware that in the introductions, every male was given his surname, and many of the women were not."

Chair Warren Bell reacted quickly, supplying the missing surnames, first one female panellist, then another, and eventually all of them, like a man mentally editing next year's runsheet in real time.

Joanne, however, wasn't finished.

 "And in terms of your executive team, it's not so much knowing exactly their name because we can look that up.  "But it's often a reflection of the place of women when men's surnames are always given, and women's are not. 

"I just wonder if it's something you might want to reflect on for further public presentations."

 Some AGMs are remembered for their forward-looking guidance announcements; this one may be remembered for the "mine's more of a comment than a question" that turned into a live gender-equity audit.

[lorraina]

I think women's revenge was well served by Joanne Appleyard who was quick to point out she left RYM board before the men buggered it.

[winner (n)]

I think women's revenge was well served by Joanne Appleyard who was quick to point out she left RYM board before the men buggered it.

Your Joanne only got 82% support from shareholders to be re-elected

[lorraina]

Resolution 3.1: To elect Peter Steenson as a Director.

Resolution 3.1 passed by the shareholders following a poll. Votes for 24,169,798 (99.87%), votes against 31,348 (0.13%). Total Votes 24,201,146.


Resolution 3.2: To re-elect Malcolm Ford as a Director.

Resolution 3.2 passed by the shareholders following a poll. Votes for 19,726,291 (81.44%), votes against 4,495,085 (18.56%). Total Votes 24,221,376.


Resolution 3.3: To re-elect Joanne Appleyard as a Director.

Resolution 3.3 passed by the shareholders following a poll. Votes for 19,956,550 (82.39%), votes against 4,265,061 (17.61%). Total Votes 24,221,611.

I spoke with Peter Steenson before the meeting.I am sure he is an excellent addition to the board.
I also think Malcolm Ford and Joanne Appleyard are adding a lot of sage advice/experience to the board.
Both would be difficult to replace as they are very well versed it their respective fields.

[lorraina]

I note NZSA's comments on the directors standing for reeclection.
Resolutions

1.  To elect Peter Steenson as a Director.

Peter Steenson was appointed to the Board 13 August 2025 and is therefore required to offer himself for election. He was formerly employed by EY for over 30 years. Peter has expertise in accounting, finance and tax matters particularly relating to property, construction, and financing. In his role at EY Peter provided a full range of reporting, financial, tax and strategic advice to domestic and international businesses. Peter is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) and holds a Master of Commerce in Economics (M. Com.Hons) and a Bachelor of Commerce (B. Com), majoring in both Accounting and Economics, from the University of Canterbury.

We will vote undirected proxies IN FAVOUR of this resolution.

 

2.  To re-elect Malcolm Ford as a Director.

Malcolm Ford was appointed to the Board in June 2010. His background includes 20 years' experience in direct sourcing, particularly in Asia. He also has experience in brand management across wholesale and retail markets.

We refer to our comments above under Board Independence and Board Composition above. NZSA believes the Board is too large for the size of the company, with a significant proportion of long-serving Directors. We believe the Board requires further refreshment and renewal. Specifically in the case of Malcolm Ford, while we appreciate the company's efforts to disclose its rationale as regards his independence status, we struggle to agree with that assessment.

Nonetheless, we note his experience in relation to procurement and/or sourcing from the limited disclosure that has been provided. We believe that these functional skills are highly relevant for HLG's governance.

On this basis, we will reluctantly vote undirected proxies IN FAVOUR of this resolution. We remain concerned as to the company's Board succession plan and the extent of underlying board independence.

 

3.  To re-elect Joanne (Jo) Appleyard as a Director.

Jo Appleyard was appointed to the Board in November 2022. She is a partner at Anderson Lloyd and is a senior practitioner with over 30 years' experience. Jo specialises in employment, commercial and resource management law. Jo was a member of the NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal between 2011 and 2020.

We will vote undirected proxies IN FAVOUR of this resolution.

[Ferg]

Did she need to?  Of the 3 directors seeking re-election, I was most impressed with what she said.  I don't understand the animosity towards her and the votes against her....is this related to her time at Ryman?

Edit: my bad Basil.  I see you are referring to Joanne the activist shareholder, not Joanne Appleby the Director.  But I still wonder why 20% voted against her.

[Hectorplains]

Did she need to?  Of the 3 directors seeking re-election, I was most impressed with what she said.  I don't understand the animosity towards her and the votes against her....is this related to her time at Ryman?

Edit: my bad Basil.  I see you are referring to Joanne the activist shareholder, not Joanne Appleby the Director.  But I still wonder why 20% voted against her.

I doubt shareholder opprobrium was due to her Ryman past.  Ford received very similar numbers to her and he has no such taint.  It's clearly a signal of some sort though.

[winner (n)]

Basil mentioned 'operational leverage' ... ie doing lots more with a little more

NPAT as % Sales is one way of measuring this

HLG used to consistently achieve about 10% profit margin. This fell to 7.3% in F22 but has slowly crept back up to 8.4% in F25

Operational leverage is likely from here on in. Doing good things distribution wise and NZ businesses should see sales growth this year.

If they got back to 10% profit margin that's about $52m in F26 or EP about 85 cents

Seems that all analyst forecasts and what Basil is expecting is very much on the cards

Things going well I reckon

[winner (n)]

Hay Basil - HLG tax rates last 2 years been 32.4% in F25 33.8% in F24

F24 saw the property depreciation changes impact. F25 saw a 'prior year adjustment'

If F26 saw a more normalised tax rate we could see a $2m odd more on bottom line

Wishful thinking or some substance to this thinking. What you think

[Ferg]

Fair comments winner.  Keep in mind the USD cross-rates impact their buy prices so the weakness in the past 12 months won't help if that was the basis for forward cover, but it looks like rates are on the turn:

https://www.xe.com/en-nz/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=USD&view=2Y

https://www.xe.com/en-nz/currencycharts/?from=NZD&to=USD&view=2Y

[winner (n)]

Fair comments winner.  Keep in mind the USD cross-rates impact their buy prices so the weakness in the past 12 months won't help if that was the basis for forward cover, but it looks like rates are on the turn:

https://www.xe.com/en-nz/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=USD&view=2Y

https://www.xe.com/en-nz/currencycharts/?from=NZD&to=USD&view=2Y

NZD v AUD good for bringing back / translating Glassons AU profits to NZ

[Basil]

Hay Basil - HLG tax rates last 2 years been 32.4% in F25 33.8% in F24

F24 saw the property depreciation changes impact. F25 saw a 'prior year adjustment'

If F26 saw a more normalised tax rate we could see a $2m odd more on bottom line

Wishful thinking or some substance to this thinking. What you think

Yes I think there is substance to that and am expecting a tax rate of about 29.3% this year, (28% here and 30% in Australia with more profit in Australia).  Glassons Au sales could be ~ $300m this year !

[Basil]

KPG shareholders, (I hold a considerable number) will be pleased to know on my visit to Lynnmall this morning the mall was very busy. The newly refurbished and modernized Hallenstein store was a MASSIVE step up from how it was presented before, much brighter and more upmarket and was very busy.  The recently refurbished and expanded Glassons store also looked really classy and light and bright and was really pumping with customers.

P.S. We all know the Glassons Au division with its incredible growth over the last 9 years is the rock star part of the business but after my mall visit this morning I am cautiously optimistic that Hallensteins can make a meaningful recovery and make decent coin for the group going forward, (yes the refurbished store was that impressive !).  I also took heart from comments at the AGM last week that both Hallensteins N.Z. and Glassons N.Z. are ahead of where they were this time last year, (no easy feat considering the depths of the recession this year in N.Z.).. 

Gosh, if Hallensteins recovers its margins and gains some decent sales volume and the N.Z. economy claws its way out of recession, together with very strong ongoing growth with Glassons Au and some Glassons N.Z. growth, this stock could really fly over the next few years.  Metrics look truly compelling to me. 
HLG, TRA and TWR are my top three highest conviction picks for 2026.  My opinion is backed up with large positions in all 3.