Vicwest Inc VICUF

August

[Honestjane]

Not a lot of great news in August.  India bubble is bursting.  Not a lot of uplifting news from Italy and steel prices are on the up after a period of excess supply and low prices.  A number of steel companies reporting low earnings due to pricing pressures and oversupply.  Some companies reported to cut production over the winter to reduce supply and lift prices.  India to increase prices to cover higher input costs.  China looking at cutting production to increase prices.

[Steelironman]

VicWest stock seems to be doing well in the meantime.  Todays close matches high in July and near peak in March.  Canam Group's numbers who compete with Vic in the building construction products had pretty good numbers for Q2.  Q3 numbers are typically higher than Q2 and Q4 is usually the best in this Sector.  Solid dividend oesn't hurt this stock but I can't see it

[Honestjane]

Dividend could be nicer without costs of international business development including travel and opening of offices in struggling markets, opening and closing plants domestically, hiring and exiting cfo's hadn't happened.  International sales for 6 months ending in June are at the lowest since they started reporting these numbers in 2010 $9.9m, 2011 $7.6m, 2012 $6.6m, 2013 $4.3m