Market Pulse
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Harbinger, SkyTerra plan offer for Inmarsat
24 Jul 2008 at 11:31pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) — SkyTerra Communications Inc. and U.S. hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners said Friday that they intend to make an offer to acquire satellite communications group Inmarsat on terms that will be announced once they’ve received regulatory approval. Harbinger said earlier in July it had made a preliminary approach to Inmarsat, though talks were subsequently halted. Harbinger, which owns 48% of SkyTerra and is also Inmarsat’s biggest shareholder, said it expects regulatory approval will take 12 to 18 months to obtain. Assuming a successful conclusion to the regulatory process, Harbinger said it intends to enter negotiations with Inmarsat’s board over the terms of a deal.
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Munich Re cut to neutral by Merrill Lynch
24 Jul 2008 at 11:32pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Munich Re was downgraded to neutral from buy at Merrill Lynch. The broker said a bigger buyback is off the agenda for now, and its expectation of reserve releases has cooled down. Its large estimate cuts and expectation of a difficult second quarter also damage to some extent the perception of Munich Re’s defensiveness.
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Infineon loss widens as it writes off more of Qimonda
24 Jul 2008 at 11:21pm
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — German semiconductor company Infineon Technologies AG Friday posted a third-quarter net loss, chiefly due to poor performance and an additional write down on its stake in memory chip unit Qimonda AG . Infineon said its net loss for the period ending June 30 was EUR592 million compared with EUR197 million a year earlier. The net loss includes a further write-down of EUR411 million on its 77.5% stake in Qimonda. Infineon wrote down EUR1 billion on its Qimonda stake in the second quarter. Revenue in the April to June period was EUR1.03 billion, down 2% from the previous quarter. Earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, rose 97% on quarter to EUR71 million on a EUR41 million gain from the sale of its hard disk drive, or HDD, business to LSI Corp. . Infineon’s revenue and EBIT came in above analysts’ expectations, which called for revenue of EUR1.02 billion and Ebit of EUR47 million according to a poll of Dow Jones Newswires of 15 analysts. Infineon also said it expects revenue in its current final quarter of fiscal 2008 to increase by a mid-single percentage sequentially, while Ebit is expected to be stable or to decline slightly.
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Danone says comparable sales growth slowed to 8%
24 Jul 2008 at 11:18pm
PARIS (MarketWatch) — French water, dairy and baby food company Groupe Danone SA Friday said organic growth slowed in the second quarter due to a slight drop in sales volumes as the economic slowdown and higher inflation turned consumers away, notably in the water business. In a statement, Danone said its organic growth rate in the second quarter stood at 8%, down from 11.6% in the first quarter and compared to 7.3% in the second quarter last year. The figure was though above analysts’ expectations of an organic growth rate of 7.6%, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll. Danone also reiterated its full year guidance of growth of 8% to 10% in revenue, an increase of at least 15% in earnings per share, at constant foreign exchange rates. Yet it upgraded its full-year guidance for its operating margin and now sees an increase of 40 to 50 basis points. It had previously seen an increase of “at least” 30 basis points.
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Mitchells & Butler sees in-line year as sales rise 1.1%
24 Jul 2008 at 11:17pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.K. pub chain operator Mitchells & Butler said earnings for the year before exceptional items will be in line with its own expectations as comparable-chain sales in the 10 weeks to July 19 rose 1.1%. Market conditions continue to be characterized by robust demand for good value pub food and associated sales of drinks while on-trade beer market volumes have continued to fall by around 10% over the past quarter.
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J.P. Morgan in talks to lead possible HBOS break-up: report
24 Jul 2008 at 11:15pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) — J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has held talks with several other firms about forming a consortium to break up U.K. bank HBOS according to a report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper Friday. J.P. Morgan has approached a large Australian bank, thought to be National Australia Bank, as well as private equity firms and may also approach Santander the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. The report said J.P. Morgan could provide advice and financing for a deal and pick up some assets, but is unlikely to want to buy any of the bigger parts of HBOS as it has no U.K. retail presence and is still in the process of absorbing Bear Stearns. A consortium hasn’t yet been formed and talks could fall through the newspaper added.
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Britvic ups cost guidance as 40-week revenue rises 30%
24 Jul 2008 at 11:13pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Beverage maker Britvic said raw material costs are seen rising by 4.5% for the fiscal year, which it said was marginally ahead of earlier forecasts, as it reported 40-week to July 6 revenue of 690 million pounds, up 29.9%. Into next year, Britvic anticipates further raw material and energy cost increases and is working to at least partially mitigate these increases through continued
management focus on overall cost management and extensive product initiatives.
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Rentokil Initial cuts profit forecast on revamp problems
24 Jul 2008 at 11:10pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Rentokil Initial warned that restructuring problems continued into the second quarter, leading the services group to cut its own adjusted profit before tax and amortization forecast for the year by 35 million pounds ($69 million). “While City Link has made good progress in improving service levels, the problems associated with the restructuring of our U.K. washrooms business and the integration of our washrooms and pest control acquisitions in Australia have continued throughout the second quarter. In addition, trading has deteriorated in our Textiles & Washrooms division during the quarter,” it said.
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Samsung Electronics shares drop as profit growth disappoints
24 Jul 2008 at 7:01pm
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Samsung Electronics Friday reported a lower-than-expected 51% jump in second-quarter profit, sending the South Korean electronics giant’s shares down 3.4% in Seoul trading. Net income jumped 51% to 2.14 trillion won ($2.12 billion) from 1.42 trillion won in the year-ago quarter, but fell 2% from the January-March period. A Reuters poll expected net income of 2.3 trillion won. Quarterly sales grew 24% on-year to 18.14 trillion won, boosted by strong growth in liquid crystal display televisions and mobile handsets.
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Japan’s June core inflation jumps to 1.9% on-year
24 Jul 2008 at 6:32pm
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Japan’s core inflation rose at a decade-high rate of 1.9% in June from the same month a year ago, on increases in transportation, utility and food costs, according to official data released Friday. The inflation rate matched estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.4% from the previous month. Core consumer prices in the Tokyo area, available a month before the nationwide data, increased 1.6% in July from the same month last year.
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Banks, exporters take Tokyo stocks sharply down
24 Jul 2008 at 5:32pm
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Japanese stocks fell sharply early Friday, with financials such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shedding a part of their recent gains, while Toyota Motor Corp. dropped on a strengthened yen. The Nikkei 225 Average gave up 183.13 points to 13,420.18 and the broader Topix index fell 18.23 points to 1,314.34. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index tumbled 124.10 points to 5,020 and South Korea’s Kospi lost 21.93 points to 1,604.21, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 index gave up 18.49 points to 3,268.73.
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Fitch downgrades McClatchy to ‘B+’ from ‘BB’
24 Jul 2008 at 2:54pm
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Fitch Rating on Thursday downgraded McClatchy
Co.’s issuer defualt rating to B+ from BB with a negative outlook. “The downgrade and negative outlook reflect the continued top-line
revenue pressure and resulting decline in EBITDA,” said the ratings agency in a statement. B-grade ratings are viewed as speculative.
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Wachovia CFO Wurtz to leave company
24 Jul 2008 at 2:38pm
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Wachovia Corp. said late Thursday Chief Financial Officer Thomas Wurtz will leave the company. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia said Wurtz will leave “after a successor is named to the role. The company will begin an immediate search for a replacement.” Shares of Wachovia fell more than 1% in late trading, to $15.38.
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WaMu spokesman: no need to rely on outside funding sources
24 Jul 2008 at 2:38pm
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Washington Mutual does not need to rely on funding from outside sources, a spokesman for the nation’s largest thrift said on Thursday. “As we stated publicly months ago, Washington Mutual funds all of its business through its banking operations and does not rely on commercial paper,” the spokesman added. At end of June, WaMu had more than $40 billion in liquidity, or access to cash and other assets that can be easily converted to cash. The thrift stopped using commercial paper roughly a year ago. The comments came in response to a report by Gimme Credit analyst Kathleen Shanley which said unsecured creditors are reducing their exposure to the thrift.
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Eastman reports 9.5% gain in earnings
24 Jul 2008 at 2:28pm
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Eastman Chemical Co. reported late Thursday second-quarter net income of $115 million, or $1.48 cents a share, up from $105 million, or $1.19 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, Eastman earned $1.53 cents a share. Revenue for the three months ended June 30 rose 3.4% to $1.83 billion from $1.77 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had predicted the Kingsport, Tenn.-based chemical producer would earn $1.53 a share on $1.8 billion in sales. Eastman shares closed ahead of the report with a 1.4% loss at $66.38.
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source: MarketWatch
November 27 2007 09:09 am
