Updating Centerra Gold and Restoration Hardware

Article Excerpt

CENTERRA GOLD $11.78 (Toronto symbol CG; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-204-1953; www.centerragold.com; Shares outstanding: 216.2 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion) dropped from around $12.50 to as low as $10.25 in late March in response to reports that the parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic was discussing a bill that challenges the legality of the 2004 restructuring agreement that covers Centerra’s Kumtor gold mine. The bill would let the government collect additional royalties and taxes dating back to 1992, and expropriate gold deposits in the country. Since then, the newly appointed Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, Almazbeck Atambaev, has stated that it would not nationalize any gold mines. Even so, Centerra believes that the parliamentary action will still be used as a negotiating tactic to extract a new contract on more favorable terms. Centerra and the Kyrgyz Republic agreed to a restructuring of the Kumtor contract in 2004, when gold was around $425 U.S. per oz. Now that gold is up over $650, the…