YOU would not have needed Warren Buffet to work out the moment Wharf announced its 1994 results yesterday.
Late in the afternoon, the hong's share price seemed to fall off a cliff as news hit the market that profits had grown only 13.8 per cent to $3.1 billion, instead of the expected 28 per cent increase to $3.4 billion.
Wharf blamed the less than stellar performance on a full stop on sales at Telford House.
Wharf pointed to a series of omissions in the March edition of The Estimate Directory , claiming that some new forecasts had not been entered.
In particular, it was noted that Asia Equity had dropped its estimate from $3,562 million to $3,316 million but although the date of change was recorded, the change in estimate was not.
Credit Lyonnais had dropped its figure to $3.3 billion while JP Morgan apparently managed to hit the figure on the button, but the change was missed.
Wharf feels it has suffered because the smarter analysts were already getting the corporate message on Telford and down-grading estimates, but the consensus figure was not moving.
