Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:12 on 4 Mar 2008. Participants in this chat were: Helen Thomas (HT) Neil Hume (NH)
HT: good morning and welcome to Markets Live
HT: Alphaville’s daily markets kick about
HT: once again we are without Paul Murphy who is at home putting up shelves
HT: but will attempt to struggle on
NH: it will be tough, but I think we can manage it
HT: plenty going on this morning
NH: there is
NH: but its results, results, results, results
NH: not much RAW market info
NH: although a couple of bits have just come through
NH: rumours of a rogue trade being discovered at Merrill Lynch
NH: on the FX desk apparently
HT: really?
NH: yep, that’s the rumour
HT: have we all got rogue trader paranoia?
NH: also talk of a tough trading at Burbbery
NH: stock down 4.5p at 412p
NH: apparently the problem is Spain
NH: anyway we digress
NH: what shall we start with GCap???
HT: OK, lets start there
HT: starting to get interesting
NH: it is
NH: let’s just recap on what’s happened
NH: last week
NH: Global Radio, the privately media group chaired by Charles Allen, raised its offer to 202p
NH: that followed an opening shot of 190p
NH: this morning GR has come back and plonked 225p on the table
NH: and importantly it has dropped some of the conditions attached to its [previous offer
HT: such as?
NH: is prepared to shoulder any regulatory risk
NH: and it has the support of its key equity and debt providers
HT: so it has financing in place?
NH: not quite
NH: GR says this offer is still conditional on limited due diligence and finalisation of exact financing arrangements
NH: now those conditions explain why the GR did not go hostile with this offer
NH: which on the face of it looks a knock out bid
NH: Based on the multiple paid by GR for the radio operations of Chrysalis
NH: GCAP is worth 229p
HT: So how does this play out??
HT: GR need to get an extension to bidding deadline do they not
NH: yep
NH: deadline is tomorrow
NH: if GCap ask for an extension to discuss this new proposal then I am sure it will be granted by the Takeover Panel
NH: but the market is not convinced GCap will ask for it
HT: why
NH: well, the fate of GCap is in the hands of its two biggest shareholders - Daily Mail and General Trust and Schroders
NH: they own 30 per cent of the company and are long term shareholders
NH: Now if they decide to back the turnaround plan of new GCap boss Fru Hazlitt then this deal does not happen
NH: and as we discussed earlier, GR cannot make a hostile offer because it can’t get the funding
NH: So this deal has to be agreed
NH: and there is a school of thought, which says that Schroders and DMGT will not sell with the shares at a cyclicaly depressed price
HT: so it's a stand off
HT: where are GCap shares trading
NH: well, they are reflecting this uncertainty
NH: up 17.2p at 205p
HT: big spread
NH: big discount
NH: real uncertainty out there
HT: and what are the analysts saying??
NH: right
NH: here are the thoughts of Altium Securities
NH: The intention behind this announcement is to persuade shareholders to encourage GCap’s board to accept this proposal and / or to ask the Takeover Panel to extend its current “put up or shut up “ deadline of 5pm on 5 March to allow further due diligence.
NH: Compelling price We believe 225p, which values GCap on FY 2009E PER and
EV/EBITDA multiples of 27x and 14.2x respectively is a compelling offer. Particularly when one considers that GCap is a cyclical company operating within a highly competitive industry at a time when advertising revenues are likely to come under pressure.
It is also debatable whether GCap’s new strategy (which focuses on FM and
broadband radio and involves a substantial reduction in its commitment to the DAB)
provides an adequate platform for growth as well as a robust attempt to maintain its
independence.
NH: Downside risk Based on the analysis set out above, we believe there is significant
downside from 225p if Global’s approach is rebuffed. To this end it is worth recalling
that GCap’s stock was trading at c.130p before news of Global’s initial interest leaked.
The emergence of another suitor cannot be entirely ruled out, but for now this certainly looks like an opportunity that shareholders should pursue.
NH: and this is from Lorna Tilbian at Numis Securities
NH: Global has made a final offer of 225p for GCap. This is an 86% premium to the undisturbed price and represents multiples of 28x and 20x our 2009 and 2010 forecasts, respectively. We view this as a knockout offer and would be surprised if it did not secure board recommendation. Global has indicated that it has the backing of its debt and equity funders and will bear the regulatory risk.
NH: Final offer: Global has made a final offer of 225p for GCap. This is a significant upwards movement on its first (190p) and second (202p) offers, and represents an 86% premium to the undisturbed price. The offer represents a multiple of 28x and 20x our 2009 and 2010 forecasts, respectively. We highlight that these forecasts are subject to significant cyclical and execution risks.
Conditions: Global has indicated that it has the support of its equity and debt providers and that the offer is not subject to any anti-trust conditions. Global has indicated that it wishes to complete ‘limited’ due diligence and finalise its funding arrangements and has urged GCap’s shareholders to encourage the board to recommend the offer. Global also wishes shareholders to ask the panel to extend the put up or shut up deadline to 2nd April.
HT: On the Altium note - "this certainly looks like an opportunity that shareholders should pursue"
HT: that sounds like a non-point
HT: from what you're saying the minority shareholders don't get a say in this one
NH: actually just looking at the GCap share register again
NH: looks like 50% of the company is in the hands of four shareholders
NH: so minority shareholders could get a rough ride in this one
HT: thanks for that
HT: where next?
NH: 
NH: back to this Merrill rumour
NH: its getting some traction
NH: here's the latest
NH: rmr about merrill in fx doing $500m is getting some traction - would
think it is immaterial next to the writedowns
NH: good points from FX trader below
NH: this is RAW market info and we don't have all the answers, or indeed the story at the moment
NH: let's just answer a few comments below
NH: Burberry is just market chit chat
NH: although analysts have heard the story too
NH: on FKI
NH: doing more work on the story
NH: now not sure Blackstone is correct
NH: they are looking but does not seem they have made an 80p approach
NH: the latest story in the market is that Melrose are set to increase their cash and shares offer to 80p
NH: whether that will be enough to get board recommendation not sure
NH: shares up 0.5p to 73.75p
NH: but the vibe seems to be that the two sides are talking
NH: and things were moving forward of the weekend
NH: as I said, this story needs more work
HT: ok - wider market?
NH: right
NH: FTSE 100 started brightly on the back of Wall Street’s overnight turnaround
NH: hit 5,872.9
NH: but now down 26.9.5 points at 5,791.6
NH: like yesterday, I think a lot of people are sitting on the sidelines
NH: there is loads of eco data out this week
NH: and investors don’t want to doanything until it is out of the way
NH: today for example we have
NH: UK, PMI, which was out at 9.30am, and in the EU; PPI and GDP are due this morning. No big news in the US, although Bernanke speaks in Orlando on mortgage foreclosures - also Fed's Fisher and Mishkin speak separately.
HT: ok - lot to look out for
HT: let’s get back to the results
HT: Some burnt fingers in Premier Foods this morning
HT: 
NH: lightly toasted I would say
NH: the bears have made serious profits in this stock
NH: and are just giving a little back this morning
HT: shares currently up 8p at 100p – the biggest riser in the FTSE 250
NH: got as high as 108p early on. seem to be fading now
NH: big relief rally first thing
NH: earnings were in line with (significantly downgraded ) market expectations
NH: the company also cut its dividend (again as expected) in an effort to reduce debt
NH: and provided detail on its banking covenants
NH: and announced that it has negotiated a revision to its
banking covenants and agreed additional banking facilities
NH: Now a lot of investors wanted this clarity
NH: So they could have some comfort that Premier would not require a rescue refinancing
HT: Given they have done all that
HT: I suspect Premier and its advisers are slightly disappointed by the share price reaction this morning
HT: if all the worries had really been put to bed this stock would be up 20% or more
NH: That said, the outlook statement is pretty gloomy
NH: Given the high level of input cost inflation in 2007 and the potential for
further inflationary pressures in 2008, we consider that it is prudent to
increase the financial headroom available to us to ensure that our investment
programmes can proceed to plan. We have therefore negotiated a revision to our
banking covenants and agreed additional banking facilities. In addition, we will
also be re-phasing non-integration capital expenditure and have decided to cut
our dividend with a total dividend payable of 6.5p per ordinary share for 2007.
HT: I think we need to look at the nitty gritty of the banking covs
NH: good idea
NH: here are the relevant bits from the statement
NH: note 14 of the results is the place to look
NH: On 29 February 2008, the Group amended its Term and Revolving credit facilities by agreement with its lending banks to provide greater covenant headroom for the remainder of its financing period. In addition it converted its £100m Acquisition line to a working capital line. Moreover it renegotiated a further £125m of short term facilities with three of its leading banks to provide
additional liquidity headroom for the remainder of 2008.
NH: As a consequence the availability of facilities over the next three years is as
follows
NH: March - December 2008 2,085.0
January - December 2009 1,940.0
January - March 2010 1,790.0
April - December 2010 1,690.0
NH: As part of the amendment process the covenant schedule for the Group has been reset to provide additional headroom. The two covenants which the Group is required to meet are calculated and tested on a 12-month rolling basis at 30 June and 31 December each year. For the next 12 months, those tests are as follows:
NH: June 2008 December 2008
Net Debt/EBITDA 5.25:1 4.50:1
EBITDA/Cash Interest 2.75:1 3.00:1
NH: For the purpose of the calculation net debt is defined to exclude the Group's
pension deficit, EBITDA is defined to include the pension financing credit and
exclude exceptional items and cash interest is defined to exclude the
amortisation of debt issuance costs and fair value adjustments.
HT: some much needed clarity
NH: yep
NH: not sure it will do much the nerves of shareholders though
NH: company does seem short of cash for things like working capital
NH: the headwinds facing this business are also very strong and most analysts are remaining negative
HT: diversion of acquisition financing to working capital doesn't sound great
HT: moves strategic financing into staying in business financing
HT: analyst comment?
NH: this is from Investec Securities
NH: Premier Foods have released their 2007 prelim results this morning, in what will
be an intensely scrutinised statement, particularly around balance sheet and
cashflow
NH: The key takeaways for us are:
2007 trading in line with the market’s expectations and marginally above
our forecasts
2008 outlook continues very challenging, particularly around input cost
inflation and competitive pressures, particularly in bread
The company’s financing position should be materially de-stressed via
combination of lower-than-forecast net debt, a substantially reduced
dividend, increased banking facilities and softer banking covenants
NH: On trading the company has reported 2007 sales of £2248m (vs. our £2248m).
EBITA of £280m (vs. our £275m), normalised PBT of £171m (vs. out £165m)
and normalised EPS of 15.5p (vs. our 15.0p)
The 2008 outlook statement reads as cautious and bearish. Premier incurred
£225m of annualised cost inflation (an astonishing year on year inflation rate of
probably 20%+) of which they estimate they have recovered £190m. £35m
therefore remains un-recovered and Premier are guiding to a £10m EBITA
shortfall relative to their expectations in Q1. Our initial assessment is that our
most recent 2008 forecast is capturing this under-recovery, but we will need to
review our numbers in detail
NH: this is from Cazenove
NH: Premier Foods - [PFD.L 92p] OUTPERFORM, Sector – Underweight
Premier has delivered earnings in-line with (significantly downgraded) market expectations. Since the RHM acquisition completed in March 2007, Premier has lost two-thirds of its value and is discounting a lot of bad news. While this morning’s announcement of a dividend cut (widely expected) and new banking covenants should ease fears of an impending rights issue, we believe the spotlight will remain on cash flows.
Net debt/ EBITDA 5.25x June 2008 and 4.5x December 2008 and EBITDA/ cash interest 2.75x June 2008 and 3.0x December 2008.
The Premier shares are likely to only appreciate to a relatively depressed level, in our view.
On our estimates the stock is trading on 2008E PER of 4.9x fully diluted adjusted earnings of 18.9p and 2008E EV/EBITDA of 6.1x (including pension deficit of £123m and securitisation of debtors of £100m). Post the dividend cut in 2007E the dividend yield is 7.1% on DPS of 6.5p.
NH: and finally this is from Panmure Gordon
NH: Increased banking facilities but many risks remain
Premier has slashed its dividend, is delaying non-integration capex and
cutting H1 promotional activity. Its banking facilities have been extended, but
net debt/EBITDA covenant of 4.5x for Dec 2008 doesn’t leave much room for
further disappointments, although our forecasts are already low. They have
given no profit guidance for 2008E aside from saying H1 will be weak. The
shares may bounce, but nervousness is likely to remain.
NH: Facilities extended: Premier has switched its £100m acquisition facility to a working capital facility and has also secured an additional £125m loan. Facilities are now £2085m, versus net debt of £1.62bn, but this falls to £1940m facility in January 2009 (we believe net debt could reach £1.8bn at December year-end, depending on working capital outflows).
NH: Lots of risk: Premier has given no outlook for 2008 other than to say H1 will be tough. Equally it has SAP implementation to manage, the move to a new divisional structure and major factory rationalisation. It is delaying normal capex to save cash, and slashing promotional activity to stabilise volumes during the transition period.
NH: While the shares should bounce today, we expect nervousness to remain.
NH: as you can see from the note above, headroom is going to remain very tight
NH: Premier have bought themseleves some time
NH: but this is a company in survival mode
HT: right – moving on
HT:
HT: shall we look at Admiral?
HT: shares down 11 per cent
NH: yes, but first more on the Merrill rumour
HT: 
NH: big loss on a long $ position
NH: right, back to Admiral
NH: shares have tanked
NH: the results actually looked fine
NH: But the devil is in the detail as it always is with insurance companies
NH: the outlook statement is also pretty gloomy
NH: and that has surprised a few people
NH: some of Admiral’s competitors have said the expect rates to rise by 6-8% this year
NH: but Admiral is not quite so confident
HT: and what about the figures
NH: I knew you were going to ask that
NH: and
NH: and I am going to leave it to Citigroup to explain
NH: they have downgrade Admiral to hold from buy this morning in the wake of the results
NH: and here is the note
NH: Lowering to Hold Awaiting Cycle Turn
NH: 2007 profits ahead of forecast — Pre-tax at £182.1m was up 24% on 2006
(£147.3m) and £11m ahead of our forecast. Of this, £3m was due to higher
ancillary profits, but the remainder (£8m) resulted from higher prior year
reserve releases and profit commissions on back years. The PE is nearly 21x
on the 2007 figures. With a 90% pay out, the yield looks attractive (4.4%).
NH: The cycle is still ‘taxiing for take-off’ — In 2007, rates rose 4%. Fortuitously,
claims rose by just 3% (5% long-term). Insurers (including Admiral) continue
to release from reserves at an increasing rate, thus assuaging the pain from
their current competitive excesses. Rates are unlikely to rise ahead of claims
this year – certainly early signs from January are not encouraging.
NH: Price comparison a net threat — Over half a dozen price comparison sites now
tout for business (and account for two-thirds of TV & press spend) where only
two existed a year ago. These sites improve price transparency, decrease
marketing efficacy and prevent market leaders from muscling the market up.
For Admiral, it is also likely to see falling profits at Confused.com this year.
NH: Profit headwinds — UK policy count growth is still plugging on at 10% and we
have no doubts that this will be mirrored in ancillary income. However,
Confused.com may come in lower, and the overseas operations, while starting
off well, will not contribute. Profit growth relies on reserve releases.
NH: Lowering Rating to Hold — With a high multiple and slowing profits growth, we
revert to a Hold (2L) rating and an unchanged target price. We would need a
clearer view of the cycle and Confused.com progress to return to the buy tack
HT: I suppose the key line in there is that rates unlikely to rise ahead of claims this year
HT: certainly early signs from January are not encouraging
NH: so, Admiral struggling to push through rate increases
NH: and things do not look great for Confused.com
HT: how does confused.com make money?
HT: do we know? I just use it to compare who’s offering what
HT: then go back to my current insurer and get them to match the lowest quote
HT: seems to work
HT: but I doubt Admiral get any money out of that
NH: I think Admiral tried to sell this business but pulled it
HT: I’d ask the readers – but they’ve gone off on their own tangent
NH: just been into the archive. looks like Admiral pulled the sale last August
NH: after investors were ONLY prepared to put a valuation of £650m on it
NH: Admiral Group Plc today reports that it has ended discussions with potential
private equity investors regarding its subsidiary price comparison business,
Confused.com. After careful consideration of the offers made, the Board of
Admiral Group have decided to terminate this consultation process.
In response to interest shown, discussions were held with a number of private
equity firms about the sale of a minority interest in the Confused business.
Potential minority investors typically expressed an interest with an implied
valuation of the entire business in the range of #600m to #650m. However, the
corporate structure and governance demanded by minority investors was
significantly more onerous than the Board had anticipated. The Board has
therefore concluded that this weakening in its flexibility to determine the
strategy of Confused would restrict the ability to maximise Confused’s potential
as part of the Admiral Group in the medium to long term.
It is for these reasons that the Board at present believes that it is in our
shareholders’ best interests for the Group to retain a 100% interest in Confused
and to continue to follow our clearly defined growth strategy for the business.
That strategy is focused on maintaining Confused’s strong market share of car
insurance price comparison; on maximising the value created for shareholders
from that position; and on exploiting fully the potential for Confused derived
from the growth of price comparison in other product areas.
NH: i bet they wished they had sold it now
NH: given what’s happened to Moneysupermarket.com
HT: indeed
NH: they would not get that valuation in today’s market
HT: Monkey – Sam did a post on rating agencies earlier. And good question on 24hr drinking licenses
NH: Moneysupermarket now worth £650m
NH:
NH: oh, just got some media gossip
HT: Alton to edit Independent
HT: From Media Guardian
HT: Former Observer editor Roger Alton is to replace Simon Kelner in the same role at the Independent.
Kelner will step up to be managing director at the Independent and Independent on Sunday, replacing Terry Grote, who is retiring in May.
Alton left the Observer after nearly 10 years as editor at the end of 2007.
A senior source at Independent News & Media, owner of the Independent titles, today confirmed the Alton and Kelner moves.
It is understood Alton will not take up his new job at the Independent for several months. He is said to be under contract until the end of this month to Observer publisher Guardian News & Media, which also owns MediaGuardian.co.uk.
HT: Neil is just trying to get more on Merrill
HT: and is swearing about the email system…
HT: …..again
HT:
NH: its rubbish
NH: never works properly
NH: thinking of getting all my mail forwarded to the hush mail account Paul set up
NH:
NH: Cable & Wireless – two way tussle with Admiral to be the biggest faller in the FTSE 100
NH: down 9.75p at 160.2p
NH: a fall of almost 10%
HT: what’s caused that?
NH: not sure really
NH: C&W have their strategy day today
NH: and it all looks fine
NH: they only thing I can imagine is that
NH: some people in the market were expecting John Pluthero, CEO, to announce a break up this morning
NH: In reality that was never going to happen because he is only just getting to grips with C&W’s international business
NH: and the company has yet to sort out its pension fund
NH: but the vibes from the presentation are fairly positive and about what the market was expecting
NH: So for its Europe, Asia and US business (“the UK”), C&W is targeting a five year CAGR of 5-8% for revenue, 20-25% for EBITDA, capex at 10% of sales and free cash flow growing to c. 50% of EBITDA. Guidance for 2007/08 is reiterated.
NH: Now, according to Cazenove these targets are around 20% ahead of its forecasts for 2012/13 and some 25% ahead of the market
NH: but as I said before everyone thought Pluthero would do this morning and he has
HT: better to travel than arrive then
NH: seems that way
NH: here’s what Caz thought of the update
NH: Whilst we still need to digest the presentations that will support these targets, their mid-point would suggest a c. 10% uplift in our UK valuation from £3.2bn (128p per share) to £3.5bn (140p per share). This compares with consensus valuations of closer to 100p per share. In addition, assuming free cash flow will equal operating profits, the mid-point would suggest a 10% upgrade to group EPS for 2012/13 to around 20p.
NH: In respect of International, management has reiterated its EBITDA guidance for 2007/08 and is confident that it can continue to grow the business and improve its profitability. This should reduce recent concerns regarding Jamaica and Panama.
NH: Conclusions
The recent share price move will have anticipated at least some of today’s news whilst there appears limited scope to increase our near-term forecasts. In addition, more bearish analysts will no doubt question the achievability of these targets and highlight that they remain some way off.
Nevertheless, management is presenting a story that takes the UK business beyond its original targets of £2bn of revenue, £400m of EBITDA and £200m of free cash flow towards one that continues growing with longer term targets of £2.5-£3.0bn of revenue, c. £600m of EBITDA and £300m of free cash flow. In addition, the International story remains robust.
A strong pensions buyout market might support further value realisation: OUTPERFORM.
NH: and this is from Mark James at Collins Stewart
Collins stewart
NH: Whilst the C&W restructuring story hasn’t gone away, the stock has rallied strongly in anticipation of today’s announcement and we would be surprised if there wasn’t profit taking. With limited news flow between now and the full year results (22 May) and an implied £1.8bn valuation for the UK arm, we are downgrading to Hold and reducing our target price to £1.80.
NH: No cost cutting numbers from International
NH: There may be some disappointment that the International presentation will be more qualitative than quantitative: the competitive environment remains tough and we, for instance, had anticipated a quantified cost-cutting program to keep pace with the challenging market backdrop.
Implied value for EAUS now £1.8bn
Backing out the International business at 6x FY1 EBITDA implies a value of around £1.8bn for the UK arm, vs. £1.3bn when we upgraded C&W to Buy in late January. We believe the restructuring process will continue, but at current levels, a lot of this is already in the price in our view. As an indication, default Quest™ value is £1.30, whereas our Quest™ modeller-derived valuation is nearer £2.20. The current share price, which sits somewhere between the two, seems fair for now given recent sharp appreciation and limited near term news flow.
HT: great – thanks
HT: Neil – did you see this today?
HT: Caught my eye – list of who is late paying their bills
HT: or slow to pay I should say
HT: can’t paste the tables – it’s a legaue of FTSE 100 and 250 cos and how long they take to pay suppliers
HT: done by the Institute of Credit Management
HT: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0eb3c28-e95b-11dc-8365-0000779fd2ac.html
NH: sorrry forzen for a moment
NH: interesting table
NH: who was the worst offender??
HT: top offenders apparently are
HT: United Utilities
Aga Foodservice Group
Carillion
Cable And Wireless
Astrazeneca
Hikma Pharmaceuticals
Ashtead Group
Speedy Hire
Daily Mail And General Trust
Aegis Group
HT: further down the slow payers list there are some ML favourites, Vedanta at 14, SABMiller at 18, Debenhams at 25
HT: the big surprise– which sent me scurrying back to check the lists – is the absence of the big, bad supermarkets
HT: where I read this
HT: Supermarket chains such as Tesco and J Sainsbury release information only for their holding companies, which do not trade and are therefore registered as having no payments
HT: handy
HT: of course some would argue that pushing your creditor terms is good management – keep cash on board
HT: especially at the moment
HT:
NH: right back to a few questions below
NH: Xstrata
NH: what do we think
NH: well, I guess the question is can Vale afford to miss out on Xstrata??
NH: if they want to be the biggest mining company in the world
NH: this is the only way to do it
NH: at the moment
NH: one suspects Glencore know that and are pushing them to the limit
NH: i reckon a deal over the marketing rights is agreed and this gets done
NH: that said, I reckon the shares are too high if the offer comes out at £45
NH: given the time it will take to get the deal through, regulatory risk and the chance that the Vale price falls
HT: what about the Code considerations that came up yesterday?
NH: good point, we don’t know on that. The Panel will insisst all shareholders are treated equally
HT: if Glencore gets too sweet a marketing deal, then leaves them open to accusation that they’re favouring one class of investor over another
HT: and presumably legal action??
NH: indeed
HT: on payments below – I’d agree with you Monkey
HT: but then in today’s CSR focused world of mutual love and affection no one wants to be seen to be squeezing the little guys
HT: or so it seems – from the protestations of those featuring on the worst list
HT:
HT: what else is left?
NH: just want to follow up on something we mentioned on Sports Direct yesterday
NH: analyst called this morning to point out that SPD can only buyback 5m more shares under and then the repurchase programme is done
NH: apparently some hedge funds have noted this and are starting to short the stock, hence recent weakness
HT: recent weakness?
NH: it has rallied from its lows
Sports Direct International (SPD:LSE): Last: 110.25, down 2.25 (-2.00%), High: 115.50, Low: 108.50, Volume: 916.97k
NH: and finally, a plea
NH: is there any grey market price out there in Northern Rock
NH: has anyone dealt????
NH: if so can they get in touch pls
NH: and one final rant
HT: oh no
NH: ITV
HT: I know what this is
NH: shares up 1.1p to 66.5p this morning
NH: which is puzzling
NH: have you seen the schedule for tonight
HT: no – strangely
HT: I haven’t yet pored over the TV pages
NH: right, AC Milan vs Arsenal in the Champions League
NH: who would have thought in the SE East at least this would have been on ITV 1
NH: no its on ITV 4
NH: on ITV 1 we get Man Utd vs Lyon
HT: so? don’t you have ITV 4?
NH: now I accept that most Man Utd fans live in the South
NH: but this is ridiculous
NH: I mean what is the bigger match
NH: with scheduling decisions like this no wonder the stock is stuck firmly in the doldrums
NH: it also shows us the pro Man Utd bias that exists in the media, and the FA, and with referees
HT: do you think it’s somehow cheaper/easier for them to show a UK game than one abroad?
HT: actually I don’t know why I’m even entering into this rant
NH: FXTrader – lowly market reporters don’t get freebies like that
NH: you have to be on the companies desk and following a sector
HT: more bitterness
HT: 
NH: for example drinks – i reckon Heineken would have loads of spare tickets
NH: right I must stop now I have got that off my chest
HT: probably for the best
HT: we’re done
NH: before I go flash from CNBC
NH: CALIFORNIA STOPS INSURING STATE BONDS – CNBC
NH: and a few responses to my rant
NH: I can get ITV 4 just don’t think it should be on there
HT: ah ha – this is a rant of principle
NH: and it was Paul who went to the rugger with GSK
HT: enough, enough, enough
HT: Libor highest in two months
NH: good point from Super SWF below
NH: will get our money market people on to it
NH: certainly weighing on the banks
HBOS (HBOS:LSE): Last: 543.00, down 15 (-2.69%), High: 570.00, Low: 536.00, Volume: 24.86m
Barclays (BARC:LSE): Last: 456.50, down 5.5 (-1.19%), High: 474.25, Low: 456.50, Volume: 25.99m
HT: ok – we need to call a halt
HT: entertaining (and informative on sporting fixtures) though this is
HT: neil’s back tomorrow
NH: probably wearing a black arm band after we get beaten tonight
NH: see you tomorrow
HT: if neil’s in a football-related strop, I might see if someone else can partner him
HT: Sam??
HT: until then