In the end, it took just two of the independent MPs to provide the support on confidence votes and supply to get the Labor Party across the line and into a second term in government – just.

Casino company Crown turned in a creditable performance in 2010 considering the soft consumer spending environment. The Melbourne and Perth casinos increased turnover and operating profit despite substantial refurbishment activity at both properties. Crown is the best run gaming business in Australia by some distance, but we retain some caution around the Macau properties and its influence on the Crown share price.

About half of Fletcher Building’s business is sourced in New Zealand with most of the rest in Australia. The Christchurch earthquake could eventually be a strong source of demand as rebuilding efforts will eventually create demand around the city. It is too early to estimate the damage bill but the repair bill should be a boost for construction material demand.

In the current market environment of increased volatility we are more focussed on larger blue-chip companies. This is simply because smaller companies tend to be thrown around considerably more during these stormy times. That’s not to say that good opportunities don’t exist at the smaller end of the market. Indeed, we recently met with a small company that operates a very attractive business.

Suncorp CEO Patrick Snowball recently oversaw his first set of full year results since he took up the position in September last year. The fact that Suncorp’s earnings came in ahead of the market’s expectations made his job that much easier. Although there is still a long way to go, his leadership is certainly taking the bancassurer in the right direction and this has seen a reduction in the perceived level of risk attached to the stock.

Among the many different segments of the very broad retailing industry, Super Cheap Auto is a brand that has thrived and expanded successfully, both organically and by acquisition. This is another company that has had enough financial and operating discipline to steadily grow its business to the point where the underlying systems are really driving the earnings as much as the appeal of the brands. Even so, with a market capitalisation of $747 million, it is by no means a large stock.

Woodside’s past was all about oil, but its success in this area has provided the cashflow to set the foundations of a potentially far more lucrative future in the form of LNG. There are many LNG projects in Australia, but Woodside’s Pluto project stands out as one of only two that have actually reached a final investment decision (FID) in the last 5 years. The other is of course the monstrous Gorgon development, also located in WA.