Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:08 on 7 Mar 2008. Participants in this chat were: Helen Thomas (HT) Robert Orr (RO)
HT: good morning and welcome to Markets Live
HT: The weather was gloomy this morning
HT: and the markets are not much better
HT: Handy Andy Murphy is still labouring over his bathroom floor.
HT: He’s finished painting the kitchen but he’s still got to make a start on the garden.
HT: Neil Hume is off doing his column
HT: and chasing more on those two Lehman traders
HT: but Robert Orr is here
HT: or on his way
HT: he tells me it’s brightened up outside since I got into the office
HT: but the markets remain dreadful
RO: Morning
HT: it’s been a busy morning here at Alphaville HQ
HT: Sam’s struggling to keep up on the site
HT: hi Rob
RO: Hello H
HT: as the others would have it – tin hat time?
HT: 
RO: I think so
RO: Doom and gloom all round
RO: fTSE 100 has taken another pike downwards
RO: FTSE 100 currently down 58.9 PInts to 5,707.2
RO: Not much better in Europe.
RO: CAC 40 was down 65 points at 4,613 and DAX down 97 points at 6,496 earlier.
HT: credit market again doing the damage
RO: I think so. The cost of protecting corporate bonds from defaul are soaring to fresh all-time highs.
RO: Investment grade Itraxx Europe index widening by a further 9 per cent to new all-time wide of 152 points.
RO: Itraxx Crossover at 639 points – up 4 per cent on the day. Also pressing record highs
RO: Here’s some thoughts on CDS market today from BNP Paribas.
RO: Credit spreads continue to weaken, as the iTraxx master hits this morning an
all-time high of 152bp. As we wrote in one of our articles recently, the 150bp
level is a significant threshold since, according to our calculation, it is
where a “typical” CPDO may be forced to unwind its risk portfolio and trigger
a cash-out event (i.e. default). Were this to happen, more protection-buying
pressure could hit the iTraxx Europe and CDX indices. (See attached article:
CPDOs and CDOs unwinding: leverage hangover.) Therefore, although for a
long-term investor these elevated levels look attractive, in the short-term
continued market weakness seems likely.
RO: While deleveraging has taken an accelerated path since the beginning of the
year, we believe that this is only the beginning of a trend which will look to
unwind the excesses of the last few years. While this may sound extremely
bearish, we remain equally constructive on investment grade credit, especially
cash bonds, where we see value due to significant deterioration in valuations
over the last year and especially in a lower nominal growth rate environment.
RO: Besides the macro picture, which is the fundamental catalyst for the
deleveraging trade, there are three technical reasons also leading to the
unwinding of carry trades of all shapes and sizes. Leveraged accounts facing
realised losses on subprime are being forced to unwind other carry trades, due
to the need to maintain constant leverage, and those facing mark-to-market
losses are being forced to post more collateral, indirectly forcing them to
delever carry trades. Lastly, due to the rise in risk aversion, some prime
brokers are also forcing levered accounts to post more collateral, thus forcing
accounts to delever.
* There has been increasing news over the past week of hedge funds being forced
to liquidate or having to meet margin calls on deteriorating value. This will
exacerbate the trends that have been visible recently more so in CDS than in
cash. There is potential for some wild and possibly inexplicable price movements
as the unwinds get bigger. For now, therefore, it seems that momentum has the
upper hand, and we might see the trends over the past few months continue in the
short-term.
RO: That’s pretty technical – but the main point to note is the bearish tone.
HT: it does
RO: CPDO is a constant proportion debt obligation by the way. According to my colleague Paul J Davies, it was created by whizzkids at ABN Amro, who “wanted to create an instrument that would pay the same high interest rate as a “junk” bond but be as free from risk as a bank deposit”.
HT: hmmmm
RO: Yes, great idea. Thanks for that piece of failed financial alchemy.
HT: spot the problem there
RO: Anyway, further deterioration in the US housing market overnight also weighting on sentinent.
RO: And hedge funds defaulting
HT: yes – l’ve been looking at Carlyle Cap this morning
HT: 
HT: but before we get onto that – re the comments below
HT: pegnu – heard somthing similar but no details
HT: but there are stories flying around today
HT: many and various – all bad
HT: news out of Carlyle Capital this morning is bad
HT: worth pasting up the statement I think, lest anyone has missed it
RO: go on
HT: New York, NY – Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited (Euronext Amsterdam ticker symbol: CCC; ISIN: GG00B1VYV826) (the Company) announced that it is in continuing discussions with its lenders regarding the Company’s financing situation. The Company yesterday received substantial additional margin calls and additional default notices from its lenders. The Company was also notified that some of its RMBS securities had been liquidated by lenders who had previously issued default notices to the Company. It is possible that additional securities may be liquidated by the lenders.
HT: In the past several days there has been a rapid and severe deterioration in the market for U.S. government agency AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities. Based on the weakened market, several of the Company’s lenders marked down the value of the Company’s RMBS securities and informed the Company that they would soon materially increase their collateral requirements.
HT: Although the Company believed last week that it had sufficient liquidity, it was informed by its lenders this week that additional margin calls and increased collateral requirements would be significant and well in excess of the margin calls it received Wednesday. The Company believes these additional margin calls and increased collateral requirements could quickly deplete its liquidity and impair its capital.
HT: Management is closely monitoring the situation and considering all available options for the Company.
RO: jeepers
HT: so once yesterday’s bad news about the missed margin calls hit, other banks started making calls
HT: assets are already being liquidated
HT: the fund it at the mercy of the banks
HT: not a great place to be at the moment
RO: so what happens next?
HT: well since that came out there’s been a statement from the Dutch regulator
HT: the shares are suspended and we’re expecting a further statement – no indication as to when
RO: what are the options? either Carlyle proper extends funding or it’s curtains?
HT: seems that way – or some agreement with the banks
HT: they’re in the driving seat here
HT: James Mackintosh made a good point in the paper today that it’s the repo desks clamping down, rather than the prime brokers
HT: and the repo desks don’t have the same relationship with funds that the PBs do
HT: and it’s a problem across the board on the credit side – Peloton made that clear
HT: remember, CCC’s portfolio is in AAA-rated securities
HT: this is from one of the hedge fund blogs, Fintag
RO: who is he?
HT: ah well – his identity is a closely guarded secret
HT: but he is a genuine hedgie I can assure you
HT: he’s another one having conversations with his lenders
HT: The banks are in trouble and have been since last summer. But it is getting much worse. We had another meeting with a Prime Broker yesterday complaining why the terms of our lending have changed again. 2 years ago we were given a facility. We got cash no questions asked and we invested it. Today we have to explain the composition of our portfolio, how we monitor the daily positions, how our stop loss policy works, what our cash to invested assets ratio is, da de dah. Despite the lenders owning the underlying collateral, they are nervous. Very nervous. But they cannot pull the plug because they make so much money off our trading activities. It’s a dilemma.
RO: FXtrader – confess not sure how FT house price index is different to be honest.
RO: Foxrons in Angel is also like a bar I note.
RO: You can watch the footie on the big screen as you walk by
HT: never been in one myself
RO: Anyway, all this hedge fund stuff has led to some big falls across the globe overnight.
RO: US market took a tumble on news that mortgage foreclosures had hit a record high in the fourth quarter amid talk of a default at a big mortgage lender.
RO: Mortgages entering the foreclosure process rose to a record 0.83 per cent of total. Let’s face it – that’s a lot of homes.
RO: The heavy selling spread to Asian exchanges. The Nikkei 225 fell 2.9 per cent to 12,836.82, while the Topix was down 2.6 per cent at 1,254.56. Australian index was down 3 per cent to 5,368.9.
RO: Dollar has hit a new low this morning against the euro and the Swiss franc and a 3-year low of 102.45 against the yen.
RO: Oil trading just short of what would be a record $106.
RO: Amid all this, gold is pushing closer to $1,000 an ounce.
RO: Gold up $S2 to $US976.50 an ounce.
HT: dear oh dear
HT: What did we make of these rumours this morning that the China Investment Corp to stop investments in overseas equities.
RO: We saw that. Denied – according to Dow Jones. But would not be a surprise if they did would it.
HT: where did the story crop up originally?
RO: Beijing Times I believe.
HT: ok
HT: So how many negative sessions is that for the FTSE – seven?
RO: Seven out of the last eight.
RO: Index not far from its low for the year of 5,578 set in January.
HT: Who knows what will happen if the pay roll numbers today are bad
HT: what time is that?
RO: Yup, that’s right, all eyes are already on the pay-roll at 1.30 UK time. The most closely watched piece of US data.
RO: The market is looking for about 40,000 new jobs to have been created.
RO: Here’s a note from Lehman Brothers – which is looking for a more modest 15,000.
RO: We look for the February’s non-farm employment report to post very modest job
growth of 15,000, even as the pattern of job growth across sectors remains steady.
We look for job growth in the health care and leisure sectors to be overwhelmed by
job losses in construction and manufacturing. We expect job growth in the
government sector to rebound after turning negative last month, but expect that
rebound to be offset by new weakness in retail employment. When these cross
currents are summed we expect very modest job growth of 15,000 but private
payrolls to be flat for the month.
The unemployment rate should move up to 5.0% from 4.9% last month as our
expected drop in household employment should be matched with a modest increase
in the labor force. The continued negative news on the economy and the talk of
recession, combined with the actual weakening of the labor market, will likely keep
employees cowed in their relations with employers and restrain average hourly
earnings growth to just 0.2% m-o-m or just 3.6% y-o-y.
Finally, despite the weakness in this report, we expect the non-farm work week to
hold steady at 33.7 hours. Throughout the weakening of the labor market this series
has proved remarkably steady and we expect that the declines in this series will
prove gradual.
RO: All will be revealed at 1.30 UK time.
HT: await with interest.
HT:
RO: You’re a bit grumpy this morning Helen – what’s up?
HT: oh not really
HT: tired after a latish night
HT: anything after 10 is a latish night doing this job
RO: Thoughts of England taking a beating in the rugby tomorrow upseting you? That’s if the England team can stay out of the pub long enough to get a team on the pitch.
RO: You weren’t at the PLC awards were you?
HT: a little unfair
RO: Cipriani you mean.
HT: on the rugby I mean – if the story that Cirpriani was only in the club for 10 mins and not drinking is right
HT: anyway – I wasn’t at the PLC awards
RO: I wanted him to play. Get a few high balls in his direction.
HT: was at another set of awards
RO: 
RO: How was your awards? Did you win?
HT: financial awards, not journalism related
HT: was an interesting evening
RO: go on . . .
HT: what about PLC?
RO: I confess I was not there. But was there last year.
RO: One of the winners was Carter & Carter.
RO: And look what happened to them.
RO: 
RO: We have a little supplement in the paper today.
HT: so who won this year?
RO: Glowing piece on Sepura by Phil Stafford. One of last night’s winners. Makes radios used by the Old Bill.
RO: Awards comes a few days after a profit warning.
HT: oops
RO: We have to be careful here – given that FT part-sponsors the PLC awards.
HT: A great award ceremony of course.
HT: just as the FT house price index is a great and useful tool
HT: 
RO: Of course.
RO: But there does seem to be a growing feeling that a PLC award is a bit of a kiss of death.
RO: But . . . .
RO: It’s not true.
RO: Statistically proven.
RO: I did a piece on Corin – another winner – and no profit warning from them this morning.
RO: Check out this research from Blue oar.
RO: UK small cap splash
The PLC awards: what hangover?
RO: Some readers may be nursing sore heads this morning after last night’s
PLC awards dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel. Those investors with
shareholdings in one or more of the six winning companies may also be
feeling rather nervous, given the reputation of such awards as a reliable
signal of imminent share price weakness. So here’s some good news: the
subsequent performance of previous winners has been nowhere near as
bad as the urban myth suggests (although there are some wide divergences
across the categories). Believe it or not, an analysis of the 42 winners over
the previous seven years shows that a majority have outperformed the FTSE
SmallCap index over the subsequent 12 months.
RO: We analysed the subsequent performance of each of those winners over the 12-
month period between awards ceremonies, calculating performance in absolute
terms and relative to the FTSE SmallCap ex-investment trusts index, which seems
the most appropriate benchmark. Overall, 22 of the 42 companies beat the
SmallCap index in the 12 months following their win, and the average relative
performance was a very respectable +1.55%. Admittedly, the range was
extremely wide: from +109% to -93% relative.
RO: There were also interesting divergences of performance across categories (see
the table below). Reassuringly, the company of the year winner was the most
reliable: six of the last seven winners continued to outperform. But it also appears
that strong investor relations are a better predictor of share price performance
than technology or entrepreneurial leadership. We suspect that the sample sizes
may be too small to draw reliable conclusions.
RO: So there you have it.
RO: Tea Break: have we met somewhere before?
RO: Hmm
HT: moving on
HT: or do you want to put up the winners?
HT: for our tea drinking friend below
RO: Winners were Sepura, Corin, New Britain Palm Oil , Hill & Smith
RO: Let’s check them a year from now.
HT:
HT: See banks are rallying now. Any reason for that??
HT: or some of them
RO: Yup – rumours of emergency interest rate cut coming from the Fed after the pay rolls.
HT: Really?
RO: That’s the rumour anyway.
RO: Is having an effect.
RO: HBOS up 2.5p to 571p
RO: Lloyds up 1.25p to 415p
RO: This rate cut talk would also explain the biggest riser – housebuilder Taylor Wimpey.
RO: Up 38p to 169p
HT: this cut rumour isn’t getting much traction below
HT: rightly I’d say
HT: you have another spurious sounding for us?
RO: Other bit of raw info in the financials.
RO: Coming from bookmakers apparently.
RO: Barclays to bid for SocGen.
HT: You believe that?
RO: No.
RO: Barclays down 9.25p to 417.75p.
HT: nuff said
HT:
HT: any corporate news about?
RO: There’s not much around to be honest.
RO: Main talking point is figures from JD Wetherspoon
RO: Not great news from the pub group.
HT: tell me more
RO: Interim profits down 13 per cent to £28.5m.
RO: Company is warning that sales could fall further.
RO: Sales during the 26 weeks to January 27 were flat at £440.2m compared with £438.4m last time, with like-for-like sales declining by 2 per cent.
RO: Blaming the smoking ban among other things
RO: Comes as the Tories come up with a great new plan to curb teenage drinking
RO: Tax on alcopops.
RO: 
HT: great
HT: does anyone actually drink alcopops?
HT: even teenagers
RO: Great idea guys – nobody has touched an alcopop for 10 years.
RO: and even if you did tax them – the kids would drink something else
RO: got to do better than that mr cameron.
HT: teenagers drink cider don’t they
HT: or thunderbirds
RO: buckfast where I come from.
RO: rural scotland.
HT: we’re getting distracted
RO: You ever go to Wetherspoons Helen?
HT: not knowingly
RO: I went to the one in Greenwich with my Mum and Dad recently. They loved it. Nice and cheap.
HT: TVRs sounds quite advanced in teenage drinking terms
RO: Tequilla – ug. I have a self imposed ban on that stuff.
RO: Anyway, JD weth shares have unsurprisingly taken a bit of a tumble this morning. Down 30p to 281.75p.
HT: Anything form the analysts this morning?
RO: Note from Tea break: yes, FTSE slide getting worse.
RO: FTSE 100 now down 80 points at 5687
RO: Back to JD Weth.
RO: Landsbanki on JD Wetherspoon.
RO: J D Wetherspoon (Travel & Leisure, Buy, Mkt Cap £441m, SP 312p) – Interim results
J D Wetherspoon released its Interim results today at 12.9p versus 14.4p last year, which were in line with what was expected from their trading update. Like-for-like sales were down 2% and group sales +0.4% on new pub openings. 10 new pubs were opened during the half making the estate 681 in number, and 13 are expected to open during the second half. Operating margins slipped 5bp to 10.1%, which we think is an excellent result given the operating leverage in Wetherspoon’s business model and their growth from lower margined food sales. Food sales were up nearly 9% in the half. The company has done a good job in containing costs, benefiting this half from a utility contract struck last year. We are concerned about rising food costs in the industry and Wetherspoon notes in this statement that during the second half energy and higher food costs will be of concern. Food sales are a real emphasis for the pub sector as an offset to lost drinks profits. Surprises for us in the results were a slightly lower amount of expensed repairs, the inclusion in operating profits of a small loss on disposal, and a higher tax expense than we had forecast. Dividend growth, up 10%, was higher than we had forecast. We will not be changing our 2008 forecast of 27.8p on these numbers, but will be moving the July 2009 numbers down to 28.5p from 29.5p on concerns over food cost inflation. We are still bullish on Wetherspoon given their unique prospects for growth from new sites being built in smaller towns.
RO: THIS FROM EVOLUTION
RO: WETHERSPOON (JD) (JDW.L) – BUY – PRICE/TARGET : 312p/480p – INTERIM RESULTS
Not immune from slowdown
EVO TAKE – Despite some of the best preparations in the industry for the smoking ban, Wetherspoon has not been immune from a slow-down and today’s interims have come in slightly below our forecasts. The company is ‘slightly more cautious’ on outlook and we anticipate cutting our 2008 EPS by c 5-7%. We are cutting our recommendation to ADD from BUY.
RO: DETAILS – Interim PBT of £28.5m was £0.7m below our forecast. The shortfall was split equally between a lower operating profit and a higher interest charge. The operating profit shortfall was due to a 2% decline in L4L sales and a margin squeeze from the shift from wet sales to lower margin food sales. Wetherspoon sees these trends continuing into the second half. It opened 10 pubs in the period and will open another 13 pubs. There has been no further trimming of capex and the dividend was increased by 10%. Wetherspoon has taken advantage of lower long-term interest rates to fix its coupon on £400m of its £434m of debt and has £60m of financial headroom. This is more than adequate.
VALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION – We anticipate cutting our 2008 PBT forecast to c£55m from £59.2m, our 2008 adj. dil EPS forecast to c25.7p from 27.6p and our 2008 EBITDA to c£131m from £140m. Our new 340p new indicative share price target is based on 7.0x (was 7.3x) our 2008 EBITDA forecast. The share price is likely to react negatively today (along with other pubcos) but the 11.6% FCF yield is attractive. Wetherspoon is one of the higher operationally and financially geared companies in our universe and is a recovery play. The H2 comparatives are easier but a real catalyst, sadly, may be 6-12 months away.
HT: thanks
HT:
HT: Pakora mix – you’re very kind
HT: I’ll be glad when the dynamic duo are back next week though
RO: Rumours that Murphy is on a spelling course are just hear-say.
HT: and it’s my turn for a holiday
RO: He’s on a DIY course.
HT: where next?
RO:
RO: We’re still tracking the slide in Yells shares price.
RO: Down a further 5p to 195p this morning. That’s a new all-time low.
RO: Here’s what we wrote at the start of the week.
RO: The misery continued for Yell shareholders yesterday, with the share price of the Yellow Pages publisher dropping to a record low.
Yell ended 6.8 per cent lower at 200¾p amid concerns about its debt levels and whether the company could breach its banking covenants if trading took a turn for the worse.
Last week, US rival RH Donnelley issued a profits warning and was forced to scrap its dividend in order to pay down debt.
Yell, which is the worst performer in the FTSE 100 this year, having lost 50 per cent of its value, is also heavily geared.
Net debt at the end of December was £3.7bn, against a market capitalisation of £1.55bn last night.
RO: THIS ON YELL FROM UBS TODAY
RO: Sorry to shout.
RO: Risks of a Perfect Storm
RO: Cutting March FY10F forecasts by 16%
We are reducing March FY09F estimates by c. 8% and March FY10F forecasts by c. 16%,
which puts our numbers significantly below consensus. We expect Yell to miss its March FY09F
top-line guidance in the UK (better than 2%) and the US (3%), and forecast overall top-line
revenues to decline by 2.5% pa in March FY09F and FY10F.
Cyclical problems could fuel structural issues
We fear cyclical issues could exacerbate structural problems, i.e. economic pressures force
advertisers to re-evaluate advertising spend in directories, and the spend does not return, even
if conditions improve. Given directories are a “network effect” business where scale is crucial to
attract readers and advertisers, a pull-out of advertisers could see this process go into reverse.
The evidence from the UK Competition Commission research into UK directories suggests this
is a risk.
Leverage could start to play against Yell
While PE multiples for Yell may look cheap, we think the correct measure – given Yell’s high
leverage – is EV / EBITDA, on which Yell trades generally in line with the sector for annualised
FY09F. The risk is that, like US directory incumbent Idearc, Yell sees its equity rapidly collapse,
even on modest downgrades, given the fact that c.70% of the EV of the company is now debt.
Valuation: Sell rating unchanged; new 150p PT
Our price target is based on a weighted average of the DCF and SOTP. On new numbers, the
shares trade at 7.3x annualised FY09F EV / EBITDA.
HT: sorry – cornwall trader
HT: fat fingers here
HT: things changing fast anyway
HT: TW now down
HT: 0.5p
RO:
RO: Right, did you see that UBS note yesterday? On Euro 2008?
HT: I saw it
HT: recognised it was football related
HT: and declined to read any further
RO: nah – it was interesting.
RO: For those who did not see, UBS has worked out the winners of this summer’s euro 2008 tournament before a ball has been kicked.
RO: In a shameless effort to get above 100 posts I invite you readers to gues who UBS has chosen.
RO: Euro 2008: And the winner is….the xxxxxxx
With three months to go until the Euro 2008 Football Championship, UBS Wealth Management Research (WMR) analysts are predicting that xxxxxxx will take the title. They forecast that the xxxxxx will not only take the field against Switzerland in the opening game on June 7 in Basel, but they will also play, and win, the final match in Vienna on June 29. And the UBS WMR analysts get rather specific, too: they say the xxxxxx team will defeat Italy in the finals in a penalty shootout.
HT: so not Italy
HT: I had Italy in the office sweepstake last world cup
RO: World Cup winner called in 2006
UBS WMR analysts accurately predicted Italy, who had only a 9% chance of winning, as the World Cup champions in 2006. They have again applied their modelling skills to EURO2008. Going into the tournament, the probability of a win by the xxxxxxxx team has been calculated at only 7%. While host country Austria is not expected to make it through the group matches, the forecast sees Switzerland advancing to the semifinals after a quarterfinal victory against Germany. At that point, our home team is projected to lose its rematch against the xxxxxxx.
RO: Euro harder to predict than World Cup
Predicting the winner of a European Championship is more difficult than for the World Cup. This is due to in the more uniform level of play among European teams, a smaller body of historical tournament data and fewer teams who have captured the title more than once – in fact, only Germany with three championships and France with two are repeat winners. In contrast, Brazil, Italy and Germany together have won 12 of a total 18 World Cup titles, playing in the final 20 out of 36 finals.
RO: Balanced player market value a factor for success
Studying team strength as a function of individual players’ market values, UBS analysts have determined that a relative balance in this area is an important indicator for success. Assembling a team of Europe’s most expensive soccer players would involve footballers from eight countries. The player with the highest market value is Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal. But relative market parity seems the key to success on the field.
RO: I’ll give you a clue – it’s not England.
RO: Or Scotland.
HT: errr – my football knowledge is limited
HT: but even I could have got that
HT: hang on a minute
RO: don’t give it away thomas!
HT: you have left a crucial clue in that text
RO: no!
RO: schoolboy error.
RO: all will be revealed after we’re talking about D1 oils.
RO:
HT: what’s to report?
HT: thanks to tuna by the way for the kind words
RO: shares on the slide this AM
RO: this is a compay that has set up a biofuels plant
HT: trendy
RO: trendy a few years ago. but we’ve alreast lost biofuels and what price this lot going rhe same way.
RO: Statement on Refining and Trading Operations
As stated in our Q3 Business Update of 4 December 2007, D1 Oils plc (D1) continues to review its downstream refining and trading operations, at both Middlesbrough and Bromborough, in the context of imports of heavily subsidised biodiesel from the US (B99).
As part of this ongoing review, D1 announces today that it has commenced a consultation process with employees at both its Middlesbrough and Bromborough sites. Consultations will begin immediately with employees at both locations.
A further announcement will follow when consultations are concluded.
Commenting on the announcement, Elliott Mannis, Chief Executive Officer of D1 Oils plc, said:
“The decision to begin consultations with employees is not one we have taken lightly. Imports of heavily subsidised biodiesel from the US, so-called B99, have eroded margins to the point where we have no choice but to consider how to reduce operating costs. We are taking this action in order to manage the business proactively in a difficult market.”
RO: Consultation process wirth employees?
RO: Does not sound good for the workers there
HT: no
RO: Margins eroded to the point where they have to cut costs.
RO: Down 25 per cent to 74p.
RO: where does all this leave the governments targets for renewable energy?
RO: or are we just going to sack that idea and go down the nuclear route?
HT: interesting – thanks rob
HT:
HT: the readers are onto you with your football game
RO: Last chance to guess???
RO: The offical winner./ . . . .
RO: accoring to UBS . . . .
RO: will be . . . .
RO: The Czech Republic
RO: Well done Vaclav Havel below
RO: Although as former presient you probably have an early version of the report.
RO:
RO: Not a bad bet. Rosicky.
HT: I would like to chip in here
HT: but I have absolutely nothing to add on the Czech team’s likely performance
RO: Petr Cech
HT: Rob – cease and desist
HT: it’s time to go
RO: Jan Koller.
RO: Baros – he’s rubbish
HT: I for one am knackered
HT: enough
HT: thanks for your efforts today
HT: and thanks to all the readers for their comments
HT: nothing more from Carlyle Cap – but definitely one to watch for that further statement
HT: The dream team – Murphy and Hume – will be restored on Monday
HT: I will be skiing
HT: thanks tuna
RO: did you read charlie brooker on skiing in last week’s guardian? hillarious!
HT: I’ll look it up
HT: have a good weekend all
HT: bye rob
RO: bye