The Beston Global Food Company has not exactly set the world alight with its plans to cash in on China's dining boom with a loose bag of assets that included "export grade lobster" interests, organic milk and a fine cheese maker.
The stock listed last year at 35¢, and after a dismal full year result - which included slashing the maiden dividend promised in last year's prospectus - the stock is now worth slightly less than what investors paid.
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Rinehart backs 'exciting' Trump
Australia should adopt similar policies to those of the US President-elect, says mining magnate Gina Rinehart.
That represents a poor return for investors who collectively invested $130 million in the IPO. So it is probably not the best time for the company to announce its chairman Roger Sexton will be getting a multi million dollar stock bounty in time for Christmas.
On Wednesday the company announced that he picked up more than 12.4 million "founders shares" for "nil" consideration this week.
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His freshly minted stock is worth $4.3 million despite the pedestrian performance.
Billionaire's blues
If you're worried about your mortgage with interest rates starting to climb, spare a thought for billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Her privately owned flagship group, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, now has long-term debts totalling $7.2 billion and an interest bill of $586 million last financial year, according to the latest accounts it has lodged with the corporate regulator.
This means her company pays interest of more than $2 million every working day of the year, largely thanks to the debt coming from fulfilling the family's dynastic ambition to build its own mine: Roy Hill.
Not that you would know it from the accounts, which showed a profit of $486 million after tax.
This is because most of this hefty expense was capitalised – a financial practice which involves apportioning an expense over future years when revenue is earned.
After all, Rinehart's Roy Hill mine was only considered operational as of September 1 this year.
It means that most of Hancock's interest expense for the current year – roughly $500 million by our estimates – will be recorded as an expense. You don't need to be an accountant to know what this will do to the group's earnings.
While her mining debts may have peaked, Rinehart has been on a massive acquisition binge in the cattle market recently – meaning her debt pile will almost certainly rise further.
She has agreed to pay $386 million for Australia's largest cattle station, S. Kidman & Co, and will pick up the whole bill if her Chinese partner, Shanghai CRED, does not receive government approval.
The good news for Roy Hill, and Rinehart's debt mountain, is that iron ore prices are holding up – but it underlines just how exposed her fortune is to any downturn.
But that does not appear to have any impact on her returns from the Hancock Group. The company paid dividends totalling $185 million last year, fully franked – up from $162 million the previous year.
The dividend bonanza might help explain another anomaly in the accounts. Despite her team delivering Roy Hill on budget and on time, compensation for "key management personnel" fell by more than $20 million to just $13 million last year – its lowest level since 2011.
What the accounts don't reveal is how much of this compensation has been paid to Rinehart herself – and if she reduced her pay cheque as the dividends rose.
Burning oil
In other news, the Gina Rinehart-backed oil and gas explorer Lakes Oil is seeking more than $2.7 billion in damages from the Victorian government over its ban on fracking.
Lakes Oil filed a writ in Victoria's Supreme Court claiming $92 million for money it already spent and more than $2.6 billion of lost future earnings.
"The unjust and unlawful actions of the Victorian Government, and its proposed bill to ban onshore exploration, have caused significant losses to the company and its 11,000 long-standing shareholders," it said in a statement to the ASX.
The company announced in September that it was formally considering legal action with its chief executive, Roland Sleeman, telling CBD he planned to inform Rinehart.
Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting – Lakes' largest shareholder – appointed Professor Ian Plimer to the Lakes Oil board.
Alexander Downer was another of her appointees to the board before he resigned to become Australia's high commissioner to the UK.
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