Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:59 on 5 Oct 2007. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy (PM) Robert Orr (RO) Jim Pickard (JP)
PM: Welcome to Markets Live – FT Alphaville’s market commentary
PM: It’s Friday – Neil Hume trad day of rest.
PM: So Rob Orr is here to discuss market developments.
RO: hi
PM: And we’ve ALSO got Jim Pickard, the FT property correspondent here.
JP: Good morning
PM: Which is very exciting for Rob and myself.
JP: flattered
PM: Jim’s losing his Alphaville cherry this morning
RO: We’ve got him loaded into the system
PM: Helen has managed to load Jim’s pic into the software.
PM: Pic of pickard.
PM: In doing so she inadvertently loaded Pickaxe in as her desktop image – across two screens – which gave us some brief amusement earlier.
PM: So are we going to go straight in to the property sector this morning boys?
JP: It’s a very good day to talk about it
RO: Hard hat territory today
RO: This is after british Land announced late yesterday that it was pulling the partial sale of Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheiffield.
JP: 
PM: The latest – and rather unexpected – victim of the credit crunch.
RO: Jim’s in with the emoticons already
JP: Frankly, no deals are getting done at the moment, well, not really any big real estate deals. The sector is pretty highly leveraged so getting loans for transactions of that size – Meadowhall was £1.7bn – is pretty difficult. And sentiment is declining rapidly
PM: Simple lack of debt investors – Bland could not achieve “appropriate value”
RO: was this news expected?
PM: Ritblat crunched.
RO: You’ve a bit out of date there
JP: Was it expected? In the sense that we’ve seen umpteen deals pulled. There was Robbie Tchenguiz and M&B, there was MWB’s hotels, then WM Morrison pulling a supermarket sale. There’s gridlock, basically
JP: When we say Ritblat we mean Sir John Ritblat, of course, former chairman of BL. A very intelligent guy. Proven by the fact that he sold his shares in November, or most of them, making more than £50m. He’s now working in the private sector with son Jamie at Delancey.
PM: We’ve seen falls across the sector this morning
RO: Liberty International down 55p to 11.29p, British Land down 55p to £11.09
RO: land Secs down 73p to 16.70
JP: Some of the property stocks have been massacred since January. Capital & Regional is down by more than 50 per cent, Mapeley is down by nearly 50 per cent….
RO: Jim’s got a question already.
RO: On Workspace.
JP: workspace is an interesting case, as the shares are still at a par with net asset value (NAV). Other stocks, particularly the new Reits (real estate investment trusts), are now at big discounts to NAV. Workspace has a load of industrial buildings in fringe parts of London. The attraction: turning them into residential in the coming years….I can see why Petchey likes it but the shares still aren’t cheap. The stock also has a very low div yield.
JP: Petchey has been active elsewhere. He bought 29 per cent of a fund run by Teesland only a few weeks ago. But it’s a big gamble that yields won’t keep on rising (ie prices falling)
RO: Petchey has a very good track record.
JP: Re the question on British Land and yield, we’re talking here about underlying yield on the properties (not the dividend yield). The thing is, average yields have now hit a low of about 4.5 per cent (initial yield) which is low compared to bond yields and the risk-free rate of borrowing. You might expect that to rise, and agents are reporting that it already is. In terms of where an acceptable yield lies….that’s the problem. Could be anywhere from 4.5 to 6 per cent, if you think about it….
JP: Depends on where interest rates end up
PM: Thanks for that Jim
RO: So looking at it now, is it going to get worse for the property sector before it gets better?
JP: They’re looking cheap, no doubt, down 30 per cent since January. But negative sentiment will continue for months if not years.
PM: Goodness, taht’s cheery
RO: Housebuilders also getting smashed of course
PM: yes, heard that’s on the back of a bearish note from ABN Amro
RO: have you got a copy?
PM: I have — will dig out
JP: incidentally…..we’re talking UK (commercial property) by the way, we’re currently ignoring the 80-odd new overseas listed property funds. That may be a different story
PM: Building uncertainty
We believe trading conditions for the UK housebuilders are likely to
soften
due to higher mortgage rates, stricter lending standards and lower
confidence. We cut EPS by 10% in FY08 and 20% in FY09, leaving us 11%
and
21% below consensus
JP: Housebuilders: worst-performing sector in London since Jan, right?
PM: Softer trading conditions likely
After fairly resilient demand through most of 2007, we believe trading
conditions in the new housing market are likely to become more testing,
as
the combined effect of five interest rate rises and the recent credit
market crunch result in higher mortgage rates, stricter lending
standards
and lower confidence levels. Given stretched affordability, we now see
it
as prudent to assume 0% house price inflation through FY08 and FY09 (our
economists believe deflation is a possibility), which, when taken in the
context of lower volumes and rising costs, leads to average EPS
downgrades
of 10% in our FY08 forecast and 20% in FY09F, leaving us 11% and 21%
below
Bloomberg consensus respectively.
PM: Neutral sector view – Bovis most preferred, Barratt least
We lower Persimmon, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey from Buy to Hold, while
maintaining Berkeley and Bellway at Hold. Our least preferred play is
Barratt (Buy to Sell), where incremental market weakness may result in
above-average downgrades (given lower margins, higher leverage and
greater
investors/flat exposure) and greater scrutiny of the Wilson Bowden
acquisition. We keep Bovis at Buy, as we believe its P/B of just 1.13x
in
FY08F undervalues future land opportunities, while high margins, net
cash
and recent land market prudence offer reassurance. The key upside risk
to
our view is a pre-emptive rate cut by the Bank of England (a scenario
our
economists do not envisage), while the key downside risk is the
emergence
of price deflation.
PM: that’s from William Jones at ABN
RO: barratt developments down 29p to 768p, taylor wimpey off 9.25p to 291.75p and persimmon down 22p to £10.45
JP: re OJ’s comments on Jan and Reits….Sure, but some are right back where they were two or even three years ago…..eg Segro, formerly Slough Estates
PM: Hey Jim — you are being emailed across the City as we type
PM: This has just gone out on one of the email networks…
PM: FT’s JIM PICKARD “NEGATIVE SENTIMENT WILL CONTINUE FOR MONTHS IF NOT YEARS”
PM: 
JP: OK, here’s a bullish comment. Underlying occupier markets in real estate still okay….eg, office rents still rising. But how much longer given credit squeeze/job losses. Sorry, can’t help being bearish
RO: nagative sentiment. He could be talking about anything?
PM: Okay — thanks for that
PM: Any views on the housing market ?
RO: Gloomy piece on housing market from Martin Wolf in today’s paper
RO: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0ecb34d0-72a8-11dc-b7ff-0000779fd2ac.html
RO: Was mentioned on the Today Programme this morning actually.
JP: I think he’s right. You can argue all you like about tight planning, etc, but we’re in a speculative housing boom – prices tripled in 10 years – on the back of cheap debt. Now that debt is more expensive, time for a change in sentiment.
PM: Good point from OJ below
JP: The thing about dividend yields is that Reits were ideally high-income vehicles, but divs range from 1 per cent (Shaftsbury etc) to Land Sec (4.3 per cent). ie, not amazing.
PM: Jim — can you answer Fitz below?
JP: re social housing. Most of it is now provided by the private sector, through compulsory targets, so as long as they’re building homes there will be more social housing. re social housing developers, don’t know what you mean, sorry.
PM: Ok — we need to move on!
PM: Thanks Jim
PM: That Pickaxe on the commerical and residential property markets
PM: 
PM: Actually, mentioning Stephen Hester reminds me of a Crock-related tale that doesn’t appear to have had an airing during the Wreck’s recent passage from bank to former bank.
RO: What’s that?
PM: Well Stephen Hestor – now at British Land – used to be at Abbey National with Luqman Arnold. The two were drafted in to Abbey to stop it getting Crocked.
RO: What do you mean?
PM: Well, in similar fashion to the Crock it decided it was boring being a regular bank, so they ran up about £100bn of synthetic assets on their balance sheet.
PM: Basically, Abbey turned into one great big carry trade.
PM: It issued about a zillion FRNs – floating rate notes – at x% and then bought bonds in things like Korean steel companies, this that and the other.
PM: ….and Enron
RO: ?
PM: Yes – that was what set off the alarm bells. There was a danger of this bank becoming the Abbey Nationalised.
PM: So Arnold was trucked in from Warburg, along with Hester, and the two men had the job of unwinding all this stuff.
PM: They did it very quickly and rather quietly – and a crock-like disaster was averted.
PM: But while Arnold and Hester were great technicians, they didn’t really know how to run a retail bank – and the Spanish came in and bought it.
RO: Santander.
RO: Okay. Thanks for that ancient history lesson Paul
PM: Was only four / five years ago!
RO: Yeah, but maybe people want to talk about what’s going on today.
RO: Something they might be able to trade on.
PM: Ok – so are we talking Crock or crocket today?
RO: Crock-ish
RO: Former bank is no longer the former, former bank – actually scene of the wreckage is rather quiet this morning.
RO: Shares are down 7.2p at 154.5p
PM:
PM: End of another busy week – what have you been looking at today?
RO: While we’re on the subject of bank, Alliance & Leicester
RO: Downgrade for Alliance & Leicester is hitting the stock today.
RO: Deutsche Bank has cut the mortgage bank to a “sell” and flagged up fears about the impact of further mortgage bad debts.
PM: That makes sense. Do you have the note?
RO: I do.
RO: Like other UK mortgage banks A&L’s returns on equity have only been sustained through increased balance sheet leverage.
RO: We believe this is not a sustainable position and expect its returns on equity to decline
as its returns on assets are negatively impacted by further margin pressure and an
increase in mortgage bad debts. As this occurs we expect A&L to de-rate and therefore
downgrade it to Sell, TP 775p.
RO: Balance sheet leverage only driver of stable returns. Although Alliance & Leicester is
not as leveraged as Northern Rock (Sell, 161.80p) (58x assets:equity), its balance
sheet leverage has increased from 19x in 2000 to 38x in 2007e. This increase in
leverage has been the only driver of stable returns on equity as the return on assets
has declined by c45% from 99bps to 55bps. As the cost of wholesale funding increases
and its availability declines (a theme published in a separate note today) we believe the
ability of A&L to continued re-leveraging will diminish, which leaves its RoE susceptible
to a reduced return on assets.
RO: Declining margins, increasing credit costs to drive de-rating. Similar to the arguments
we have been using for being underweight the UK banks for 2007, we expect A&L to
suffer from declining returns as its retail banking margins remain under pressure as
mortgage competition has shown no sign of abating and its secured credit charges
begin to increase. To take this into account we have downgraded our 2008 EPS
forecast by 6% to 94.7p
RO: Downgrade to Sell, PT 775p. A&L currently trades 9.3x 2008 EPS compared to UK
domestic banks on 7.8x. A&L also trades on 2.0x P/TB compared to B&B on 1.4x. We
do not believe these premium multiples are warranted given A&L’s extensive balance
sheet leverage and the risks to earnings forecasts. We downgrade our
recommendation to Sell and our target price to 775p.
PM: Ok — thanks for that
PM:
PM: The wider market?
RO: Yup, FTSE is 10 points higher at 6,558 on track for a rise on 2 per cent on the week
RO: I make that a fresh 11-week high – the last time we were at these levels was the middle of July
RO: Of course, whether we can sustain this today depends entirely on the US jobs data.
PM: Ah, yes, it is pay rolls today.
PM: What’s the market looking for?
RO: Consensus is for 100,000 new jobs to be added in September
RO: But actually, I think the market will be just as keen to see what revisions are made to the August figure.
PM: Remind me again.
RO: The August pay rolls were minus 4,000 against expectations of a gain of more than 100,000
PM: Ah yes, 4,000 jobs were lost. The market took that news very badly as I recall.
RO: It did – that was the first monthly fall in employment in four years
RO: But payroll figures tend to be revised in the months after they are first announced and today should be no exception.
RO: So the challenge today is to prove that that minus 4,000 was either an aberration or else revise the number out of existence.
RO: Got a note here from Unicredit on the subject as it happens.
RO: Entitled “September payrolls to confirm August was a fluke”
RO: Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the
employment report for September. The report will reveal
whether the unexpected employment decline in August
was a fluke or marked the beginning of a severe labor
market downturn. We clearly lean towards the first
interpretation and expect nonfarm payrolls to rise by
90k. To be sure, this still represents a noticeable
weakening of labor market conditions. Following average
monthly payroll gains of almost 200k at the beginning of
this year, employment is now rising by about 50k to 75k
per month (cf. chart). This development reflects the
deceleration of the US economy that started in late 2006,
rather than being the harbinger of an impending
recession.
RO: Initial jobless claims clearly support our “not too
pessimistic” view, as they fell to 313k in the week that
corresponds to the Establishment Survey, from which the
monthly payroll figures are derived. This level has in the
past months been consistent with payroll growth of 180k
(cf. table). Yet, initial claims only represent layoffs of
workers and do not capture changes in companies’ hiring
activity, or voluntary separations. And the recent JOLTS
report (Job openings and labor turnover survey) reveals
that firms have indeed become somewhat more careful in
hiring: The hires rate went down from 3.8% in mid-2006 to
3.4% in June and 3.5% in July (cf. chart). For that reason,
we have been more cautious in translating the solid
claims figure into buoyant payroll gains
RO: This is from Lehman Brothers
RO: • We look for the economy to have added 115,000 non-farm payroll jobs in August and for the unemployment rate to hold at 4.6%.
• Although the construction and manufacturing sectors are likely to be nearly flat, we look for more modest gains in the education and health, leisure and hospitality and business services sectors. The government sector should post a significant gain as the level of teaching employment recovers.
• We look for average hourly earnings to continue to post modest gains of 0.3% m-o-m. This would result in year-overyear growth of 4.0%, indicating modest upward pressure on wages
PM: Right — thanks for that
PM: And funny comment from bshopboy below
PM: Good news — up. Bad news — up. Middling is the only thing that might disappoint
RO: Depressing tag that – mate of grim.
PM:
PM: Right, let’s get back to companies action then.
RO: Time for a Friday rumours I think – this ones come courtesy of Neil Hume
PM: Go on then.
RO: How about M&S to link up with private equity and bid 700p a share for Sainsbury?
PM: Oh, right
PM: Mentioned by VP earlier below — had seen it doing the rounds
RO: Sounds ridiculous, but don’t forget Stuart Rose had to put out a statement in March ruling out a bid for Sainsbury after admitting the board had considering it.
PM: I’m just getting hold of Tom Braithwaite on the shopping front
PM: here at the FT
PM: Send me a mail…..
PM: Source close to one of the parties says the rumour is rubbish. It bears remembering that M&S was forced to say it would not bid for Sainsbury back in March. Under Takeover Panel rules – after six months has elapsed it can bid again. So not impossible; just very very unlikely – especially at anything above 600p.
PM: I’m with Tom on this
PM: it was ridiculous when Rose was forced to deny interest
RO: So am I.
PM: What’s M&S/Sainsbury prices doing?
RO: M&S down 3p to 637p and Sainsbury up 1p to 581p
PM:
PM: I see Cadbury Schweppes is doing well – any reason for that?
RO: Positive comments from Andrew Wood, the top rated analyst at Sanford Bernstein.
PM: He won the Thomson/Extel award for top analyst as I remember.
RO: He did. Anyway, Cadbury has an interim management statement out next week and Mr Wood thinks they can put in a better showing than previous presentations.
RO: The “Interim Management Statement” on 10th October will be Cadbury management’s 3rd attempt in 4 months to convince the market that the business is in safe hands and is moving in the right direction. The 2 previous occasions saw Cadbury’s stock fall significantly: in the 4 weeks following the Investor Update on 19th June the stock fell by over 7%; and on the day of the H1 2007 reporting on 1st August the stock fell by 8%! Not surprisingly, investor frustration has been widespread and vociferous…and management’s credibility has probably hit an all-time lo
RO: As we explain in the attached note (please click the link)…we hope that Cadbury can please the market on 10th October (i.e. hopefully getting “10 out of 10” on 10/10!) and our research suggests they can. In addition, Cadbury voluntarily implemented a new 2008 EU Transparency Directive that requires mid-period updates for companies who report only twice a year. One could argue that it would be very strange for management to implement this requirement without having good news to give to the market…or then only to give a mundane update
RO: In advance of the update we have set out what we believe management needs to do to regain some credibility from the investment community. We look at the 3 major investment controversies: progress on the top-line, guidance on margins and progress with the sale/demerger of Americas Beverages
RO: On the Sale or Demerger of Americas Beverage
RO: We believe that the Americas Beverages sale saga has dragged on long enough. We believe that it is now time for Cadbury to make a decision on whether it will spin/demerge the business, and are hopeful that Cadbury can communicate this decision at the upcoming update. As we set out in our recent note “Cadbury: Time to stop dithering…as the value of the Americas Beverages spin or sale does not differ that much” (again, the link is below) we see this as the perfect opportunity for Cadbury management to remove the uncertainty that has lingered for too long, as well as force private equity players to “fish or cut bait”.
Our estimates for potential sale proceeds remain in the £7bn range…or 11x EBITDA. Below this level we believe it makes more sense to spin/demerge the business. In conjunction with our US Beverages Analyst, Robert van Brugge, we have assessed how Cadbury Americas Beverages might trade as a stand alone entity on the NYSE based on peer levels. If management announces a spin, at least it will initiate a debate about exactly how the Beverages business will be valued…which should arrive at a value well in excess of the £5.5-£6.0bn levels currently assumed by som
PM: Thanks for all that
PM:
PM: Siv lite — you are late!
PM: We’re crocked on crock
PM: Was formerly on ML — scroll up
PM: Confusedbloke — where’s the Footsie going to end this year?
PM: Rob — any ideas?
PM: To one decimal point will do
PM:
RO: I was debating this with Phil Stafford, former market reporter, about a month ago
RO: He said 5,800 and I said 6,500
PM: Tight spread there then
RO: Actually, I might bump that up up 6,666.6.
PM: I’m with Stafford — 20th anniversay of the crash around the corner
PM: You’re living in Draaismaland
RO: Stake you a £10 Murphy.
PM: What — up are doing from here — DONE
PM: 10 quid at 6559
RO: Up.
PM: DOWN
RO: The bet is official.
PM: Right — to Rahodeb’s q below
PM: have you heard this BATs rumour
RO: Yes, we heard the same rumour this morning. But that’s all I know too.
PM: On Richemont selling out
PM: It’s been a real rumour-driven morning
RO: BATS up 6p to 17.25p.
PM: Which doesnt support the story especially
PM: GKB — clearly we have no idea
PM: This bull market will end when China blows up
PM: Confusedbloke — asking about Absoulte Capital Loss
PM: Homm’s hedge fund, where he put half of punters money in US pink sheets
PM: Which was rather careless
PM: Heard some fresh troubles at AbCap’s German subsidiary
RO: Got the details?
PM: Will dig out
PM: here’s what they have sent investors…
PM: Dear Investors
ACM announces that Frank Siebrecht and Stefan Heieck have tendered their resignations as portfolio managers to the Absolute Germany Fund Limited, citing personal reasons. By mutual agreement, Frank and Stefan will depart immediately. The Absolute Germany Fund Limited is now being managed by Jens Peters and Antonio Porsia due to their experience and expertise. Jens Peters is currently a portfolio manager to the Absolute India Fund Limited, whilst Antonio Porsia is the lead portfolio manager to the Absolute Return Europe Fund Limited and the Absolute Large Cap Fund Limited. Biographical information for each of Jens Peters and Antonio Porsia is available on ACM’s website, at www.abcapman.com.
ACM is reviewing the status of the Absolute Germany Fund Limited and expects to make further announcements shortly.
In the meantime, please refer to www.abcapman.com/restructuring for our most recent updates which include a video interview of Jonathan Treacher; CEO, an Investor FAQ’s document and additional guidance on the voting procedures.
Thank You
PM: Complete mess — although must say the management are working throught it all very carefully
PM:
RO: EasyJet has traffic numbers
PM: How are they looking?
RO: Headline figures are good.
RO: Shifted 14 per cent more figures in September than the same month of 2006, although load factor was slightly lower.
RO: Pre-tax profits growth will be at the top end of earning guidance of up between 40 and 50 per cent
RO: On the negative side, second half yields, which are measured as total revenue per seat, were down 6.8 per cent versus last year
PM: How are the shares reacting?
RO: Up 22p to 569p
RO: Got a note from Numis here but it’s none too positive
RO: The easyJet September traffic data and pre-close statement is relatively positive. Yields in
H2 were down 6.8%, but with the expected good performance on costs the company has reaffirmed
that pre-tax profit growth for the year to September ’07 will be at the top end of the
company’s earlier guidance (pre-tax profit +40% to +50%). Our bearish stance on the shares
is predicated on likely significant weakness in Winter yields due to excess capacity in the
market. However, easyJet says that it expects total revenue per seat, including revenue from
bag charging, to be broadly in line with last year. We expect total revenue per seat to be
down about 3% in 2008.
RO: Yields still falling: Yields in the second half were down 6.8%, although there was an improving trend as the
second half progressed, with total revenue per seat ending the period down about 3% we estimate. It
appears that the additional charges for baggage check-in have not –thus far- affected the price that people
are prepared to pay for a flight
RO: easyJet has done well on costs: We believe that more can be done but that savings will be H2 weighted.
In the meantime fuel costs continue to rise with jet kerosene spot prices now 22% above where they were a
year ago in sterling terms.
Our Valuation: is based on a 10% discount to our DCF model for the company. Our near term eps numbers
are below consensus as we believe that the yield environment will continue to be challenging. We are not
anticipating a significant weakening in consumer demand but we do believe that there is supply/demand
disequilibrium in the market place
RO: We maintain our REDUCE recommendation
RO: Actually, I had first hand experience of EasyJet’s latest revenue earner at the weekend on my way back from Scotland. Want me to share it?
PM: Oh go on then.
RO: Scratch cards
PM: ??
RO: They sell them on their flights these days. Not sure if it’s that new but was the first time I’ve bought one.
RO: I bought one out of curiosity
RO: Anyway, I won £2
PM: Er, well done
RO: So I went to claim my £2 off the steward and he said that I could only redeem it in EasyJet products that they had on the plane.
RO: I asked what I could get for £2 and he said two bars of chocolate
RO: So I got my two bars of chocolate, which I then felt compelled to eat even thought I didn’t want to
RO: Needless to say, I immediately felt ill
RO: The moral of this –EastJet’s money making schemes made my quite literally feel sick
PM: I think we should move on.
PM:
PM: What’s going on with Plus Markets these last few days?
RO: Good question.
RO: We picked up these rumours again yesterday that Plus Markets would be brought on board the new Project Turquoise trading platform that is being set up by Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and the rest to rival the LSE.
PM: Ah yes. Terrible code name – interesting idea.
RO: It is a terrible name isn’t it
RO: Plus Markets shares have been twitching higher of late, and when we called the PRs they were evasive, which is always a sure sign that something is going on.
RO: Not saying something is imminent but seems that Turquoise is talking/has talked with Plus, and OMX as well, about using their technology.
PM: Probably true, but surely it would make sense just to buy technology off the shelf?
RO: Good point. They might do that, but seems they are keen to explore options.
PM: How are shares doing this morning?
RO: Up a further 1.25p to 28.5p
PM: ta
PM:
RO: Tell you another share that’s flying today – SCi Entertainment.
PM: The computer games people. So they are – up another 24p to 408p.
PM: Those takeover rumours again?
RO: Sure is. We’ve been saying for ages that Ubisoft of France was ready to bid 550p a share for the maker of the Lara Croft series
RO: Rumour today is that they may up that to 600p to see off competing interest from the Chinese
PM: goodness
PM: Which Chinese company is that?
RO: No-one seems to know – they are always just described as an unnamed Chinese company but it seems they are interested.
PM: And where does Time Warner fit into all this – they bought 10 per cent of SCi as I remember.
RO: They did. Not sure is the answer.
PM: Have to say, if the market is hearing rumours of a 550p, or even a 600p, bid, why are the shares only at 408p?
RO: Errr, that is a good question!
PM: 
PM:
PM: Did you see that WH Ireland has admitted its been approached?
RO: Saw that – a number of approaches according to the statement
RO: Up 18p to 190p on the news
PM: Any idea who the approaches might be from?
RO: Well, the Icelanders are being mentioned unsurprisingly.
RO: Kaupthing bought Bridgwell of course
RO: The other name in the frame in Charles Stanley, from the UK of course
RO: Sarah Spikes is chasing this one so we should know more by tonight
PM:
RO: Another little one that’s doing well today in Avon Rubber.
RO: Up 24p to 178p after news that its going start producing its M50 biological and chemical protection mask for the US military
RO: Could produce 100,000 masks per annum for an initial period of five years, with orders in the first year exceeding $40m
RO: Which I guess shows that germ warfare isn’t all bad news
PM:
PM:
PM: Right to finish up — go to questions below and…..
PM: Just got a mail from my prime broking source
PM: re M&S
PM: One reason for the activity MIGHT be that GLG — the big hedge fund — have been filling their boots with M&S recently
PM: Hooving up stock i am told, by a reliable source
RO: Sorry, my mistake. it was the other icelanders who bought bridgewell.
RO: Anything to say on Barclays, Paul?
Bank of America, Citigroup etc?
PM: Well, the Bank of America rumour popped up again earlier in the week
PM: But it just sounds like rubbish — they are only just completing the LaSalle purchase
RO: Citi got other things on their mind right now
PM: My money — at some point — would be on JP Morgan coming in for Barlcays
PM: But not in this environment
PM: V funny joke from gp, by the way
PM: Right — we are done — got a lunch to go to
RO: Got a market report to write
PM: Sheekey’s perhaps
RO: Sandwich at my desk for me
PM: Thanks for joining us today — adn thanks for all the comments
PM: i will say “by” from Jim cos although his pic is still up there he has buggered off
RO: Silent Jim.
PM: Thanks v
RO: Thanks viktor!
PM: We will be back on Monday at 11am
RO: Bye