This from the same newspaper that today announced that Mt Dobson skifield is in Marlborough. Nice work...
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This from the same newspaper that today announced that Mt Dobson skifield is in Marlborough. Nice work...
If Hellen and Cullen want to take an outrageous step and stomp on Rakons actual/potential sales......Rakon should make some VERY public inquiries about setting up shop in Aussie.....would be very sad for NZ.
G.
who owns apn and what are they into (I bet if we dig deep enough we will find some unusual business investment by the foreign owners of our only national paper). It is bad enough when the govt rape shareholder value (TEL) now we have foreign owned media trying to do it.
Isn't APN controlled by Tony Reilly's Independent News Group out of Ireland? I can't believe he would have any axe to grind with Rakon. Well known 'American' Rupert Murdoch may have been a more realistic candidate for such a conspiracy theory. I just think the Herald got lucky and jumped at the chance of an "exposee", especially as Rakon had just had such a successful IPO.
Think the company's responses to date have been appropriate, though interesting to see how they tackle Helen's Q&A.
I think don't think the company could have asked for a better ad for buying it's shares.I'm a very happy shareholder.We need to put a few of those GPS'S on our MP's so we can keep a better track on them.
ditto, and let the gargoyle kick up a fuss. Their entire technology could be loaded onto a laptop and in Sydney with a big juicy hello from the aussie govt trade ministry before Helen had a chance to roll over and ask heather to make breakfast.:DQuote:
quote:Originally posted by dabru
I think don't think the company could have asked for a better ad for buying it's shares.I'm a very happy shareholder.We need to put a few of those GPS'S on our MP's so we can keep a better track on them.
Rakon should go and tell Heellen to Fark-OOF.....or we will VERY PUBLICLY and our milti millions of future tax monies!..
NICE BB[8D]...... instead of being rude and telling Hellen to Fark-off they could just go see Heather very quickly.
G.
I bought some RAK at 2.50 on Monday.
3 days later it's at 2.75, up 10% !
This news shouldn't be bad for the stock:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/st...ectid=10384662
Herald story missed by mile
04 June 2006
By ROD ORAM
Good journalism contributes to economic progress; bad journalism detracts. This column is about the New Zealand Herald's naive and ill-judged coverage of Rakon.
Rakon matters because it is one of the few high-technology companies New Zealand has produced. For almost 40 years, it has developed unique technology, particularly in manufacturing, making it a world leader in a crucial component for GPS equipment and mobile phones.
Today, one in every two pieces of GPS equipment worldwide uses its components, as do one in three mobile phones.
Of course, there's no place for sycophantic journalism. Every company has to be examined warts and all. Only then can others learn the lessons, good and bad.
This is particularly true for Rakon. It is a crucial role model for ambitious New Zealand companies. They are heavily influenced by its evolution from a family-owned to a publicly listed company, how it ramps up investment in research, development and manufacturing and how it maintains technology and market leadership in a rapidly evolving sector.
But that is not what the Herald chose to write about. Its stories last weekend portrayed Rakon as a company that deceives its customers, the public and possibly the government. Its most inflammatory suggestion was that Rakon is involved in developing components for nuclear weapons.
Customers: The Herald said Rakon "has a significant documented issue with faults" and has sought to hide them from customers. Further, "it has struggled for years with product faults with the potential to cause a guided missile to go astray". And it has failed to deliver products on time.
The first two comments refer to components for Rockwell Collins in 2002-03 and the third to an 2003 incident involving parts for Motorola, both major US customers.
The Herald was wrong to extrapolate those into a wider claim of shoddy products and poor delivery. Rakon supplies about 40 million components a year thus the rate of product flaws is infinitesimally small. Responding to the Herald articles, Rockwell, a major US defence contractor and a Rakon customer since 1991, said it had always been satisfied with the company.
And the Herald was naive to extrapolate the Motorola case into a wider issue. Any journalist with a passing knowledge of the electronics industry knows it suffers sharp spikes in demand for components. At such times, all manufacturers scramble to deliver.
The public: The Herald said Rakon has continuously misled us by refusing to acknowledge its supply of components to Rockwell, a maker of GPS navigation equipment. Boeing incorporates the Rockwell gear into guided bombs it builds for the US military and US allies.
The Herald's surprise at the tight military security or the end use of Rakon's components was sheer naivety. The Rakon-Rockwell-Boeing connection was long documented and widely known to people who took an interest in Rakon.
Nuclear: The Herald said Rakon's components for smart bombs could also be incorporated in nuclear weapons, and that Rakon was developing specially for Rockwell a new line of "nuclear hardened" and "radiation hardened" components for nuclear weapons.
Rakon says it takes every precaution to ensure its components are not used in nuclear weapons.
On the second point, Rakon says the Herald lifted those phrases from a feasibility request from Rockwell that had nothing to do with weapons. Post-September 11, fears were running high in the US that terrorists might detonate a nuclear device. The radiation from it would knock out electronic devices such as aircraft navigation systems and telecommunication equipment. Rakon's work on making components capable of withstanding such shocks never got beyond the feasibility stage and never involved weapons.
The government: The Herald, extrapolating from its two wrong judgements on nuclear weapons, suggested Rakon might be compromising the government's licensing system for exports of sensitive military technology and New Zealan