FT Alphaville » Markets Live transcript 19 Sep 2011

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Markets Live transcript 19 Sep 2011

Posted by support on Sep 19 11:07.

Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:13 on 19 Sep 2011. Participants in this chat were: Bryce Elder/FT Neil Hume, FT

Hello!

Sorry – appallingly late today.

Because of a technology failure.

The weasels were here, but the megaphone was broken.

are we on?

is it working?

Its seems we are.

So – let’s start where we should’ve earlier.

Welcome to Markets Live.

FTSE Alphaville’s daily scratch around the market.

(@Milky: yellow.)

damn

I’d just done a SNAFU post

Sorry about this folks we are having trouble launching Markets Live this Monday morning.

Every time we hit the ‘Start Session’ button we get the following system message.

The relevant emergency services have been contacted and we hope to be up and running very soon.

In the meantime please accept our apologies

Best

FT Alphaville

One day, maybe, we’ll upgrade the Amstrad Emailer used to host this site.

It’d help if you all clicked on the adverts, I guess.

And bought whatever they’re advertising.

Which, on my screen, is Credit Suisse fixed income.

Anyway, Neil, are you up to running speed yet?

Not sure

is this coming up

Yes it is.

And should we start from the top?

why not

11:12AM

Right then

we are down

off a ton at the moment

down 104 points at 5,263

I’m blaming the Greeks for this

and the EU

decision on aid put off till October

and all sorts of recriminations

Yesterday, Greek FinMin Venizelos claimed the country was being threatened, humiliated and blackmailed by the troika. According to the WSJ, he said: “If we want to stabilize the situation, avoid default, always be within the Euro Area’s hard core, have the country stop being blackmailed and humiliated –because no Greek citizen must tolerate the country’s humiliation- then we have to make three grand strategic choices which constitute our national strategy.” This may have been aimed at his domestic opponents, but it is hardly the stuff to inspire confidence externally. See attached Cheatsheet for more details.

Hm.

I’m blaming lunatic volatility.

Up a tonne, down a tonne. <2% is the new "little changed".

However, the Greek stuff is interesting.

it is

basically there was no movement over the weekend

at the EU summit

things are still in the balance

for me

it’s not a question of when Greek defauls

but whether it says in the eurozone

or not

if it doesn’t

hello banking crisis

Though we have the Fed stepping in with another dose of twist this week.

Most likely.

As the world banks join together to try and create a virtuous cycle

(@zogomojom – Wenger if we concede 6 at White Hart Lane on October 3)

not sure Twist is gonna help

the bulls want full blown QE

not some portfolio fiddling

Yes, you’re probably right.

QE3 or nothing.

Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see the market rally on a bit more twisting.

for a time

If only temporarily.

then everyone will realise it won’t help bank lending

and then we come off again

actually I’m starting to wonder if some of the gains

at the back end of last week

were down to UBS

unwinding what ever mess they found

$2.3bn loss

the underlying trading must have been above $10bn

probably big enough to give the market a shove

although presumably they would have hidden a lot of it

in Friday’s triple witching

Hm. There’s an interesting theory.

Will have to get some volume charts on that.

Anyway, any useful comment to set us up for the week?

Yeah, here’s the ever reliable Gary Jenkins of Ev Securities

The Greek cabinet met yesterday and will continue its meeting today to try to
find further ways of cutting the budget deficit to reach targets set out in the rescue
programme and ensure the next tranche of funds is paid out at the end of this
month. EU/ECB and IMF inspectors are due to hold a teleconference with the
Greek finance minister today to judge whether Greece has done enough to bring
the reform programme back on track to allow the release of the €8bn of funds due
by the end of the month.

EU finance ministers meeting at the end of last week
failed to describe the extra measures announced by Greece as sufficient to tackle
the budget shortfall. The timing of a Greek default remains in the hands of the
troika and it is difficult to believe that they will decide to pull the plug at this
stage because of the potential impact upon the other troubled sovereigns and the
banking sector.

That said who knows what contingency plans they have prepared
behind closed doors (although the fact that they have leaked like a sieve
throughout the crisis suggests we would have heard about them if they had…)
and on the day that all the ducks are lined up then that might be the day that
support for Greece is withdrawn

However comments from the German finance
minister that “membership in a monetary union is an opportunity, but also a
heavy burden…….the Greeks must decide whether they want to bear this
burden” might suggest that the endgame is nigh. Anyhow, promises to be an
interesting week.

indeed it does

and this came out late Friday

some of you may have missed it

Moody’s has announced that it is continuing its review of the Italian Aa2 rating.
They will try and resolve the situation within a month. Not a major issue as S&P
already rate the sovereign two notches lower at A+.

11:21AM

Ok – let’s get the legally sensitive portion of the show out of the way.

Neil – you’re editor ….

Please give us the disclaimer.

right

Kwakeu has now been charged

so that means

we have to be very careful about what we say

in fact we ALL have to be careful

including you rabble

Especially you rabble.

I don’t want to get had up for contempt of court

so please be careful

He’s innocent until proven guilty

that said

there are a number of things we can discuss

one is Sunday’s late statement from UBS

in which it revealed the loss was $2.3bn

(Student: could you phrase that as a hypothetical? I’m going to have to zap it in 10 seconds.)

Hm. Yes. I was quite surprised to read that UBS statement.

Admittedly, I’ve only done law under the Jocko system, but it looked dangerously near contempt of court to me.

However, I’m sure UBS have very well paid lawyers

Yes

Better able to navigate this stuff than some hack.

here’s the relevant bits from the statement

We have now covered the risk resulting from the unauthorized trading, and the equities business is again operating normally within its previously defined risk limits. The loss arising from this matter is USD 2.3 billion. As previously stated, no client positions were affected.

The loss resulted from unauthorized speculative trading in various S&P 500, DAX, and EuroStoxx index futures over the last three months. The positions taken were within the normal business flow of a large global equity trading house as part of a properly hedged portfolio. However, the true magnitude of the risk exposure was distorted because the positions had been offset in our systems with fictitious, forward-settling, cash ETF positions, allegedly executed by the trader. These fictitious trades concealed the fact that the index futures trades violated UBS’s risk limits.

Now what we have been spending a lot of time doing today

or rather Izy has

is finding out how ETfs settle

glamorous I know

but the fact is

there are lots of settlement failures in this space

and we want to figure out

how you settle positions in cash

well into the future

is this a market maker privillege

the trust is we don’t know enough about the way these things work

but we are trying to find out

(@Nobby – not at his desk but he was on UBS premise)

(@Head of IT: you can speculate as to how UBS lost money. You cannot — repeat, CANNOT — speculate as to who lost it.)

we can speculate

on what happens to UBS’s investment banking division

and the CEO

I reckon

it will be shrunk

to such an extent that it’s just there to serve

the wealth management business

that’s my bet

Think I said on Friday, and I maintain today, that the IB business has shown itself to be unfit for purpose.

(Nobby – no. he’d been grilled by management for around 12 hours)

I stick by that.

as for the CEO

he goes I fancy

can’t really survive this

Yeah – I’d imagine so.

in fact there was a blistering note from Bronte Capital today

blistering

Someone has to go, and that’s where the buck will stop.

Go on.

There has been lots said about the rogue trader at UBS. The best gag was that the name for a trader who makes money breaching risk limits is “managing director”. Matt Tabbibi argued that rogue traders were what banks hired when they hired “risk takers”.

All of that misses the point. A well organized financial institution – any financial institution – has a back-office and a front-office (and sometimes a “middle office”). The back office records and settles trades and sometimes measures risk. (The risk measurement function is sometimes at the “middle office”.) If you have your systems right you can hire “risk takers” all you like. They won’t kill you because the “back office” and “middle office” won’t let them.

If anyone is able to break the risk limits, managing director, lowly trader, then that is a failure of the system and reflects directly on senior management who have a core function of making sure the systems work.

and here’s where the attack starts on Oswald Gruebel

Oswald Gruebel (the CEO of UBS) took a different stance (hat-tip Kid Dynamite) and argued that management could not stop rouge trading. (Quoted Chicago Tribune.)

Speaking for the first time since UBS revealed the loss, Gruebel told the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag that the loss couldn’t have been prevented.

“If someone acts with criminal energy, then you can’t do anything. That will always be the case in our business,” the former trader said in the interview published Sunday.

No Mr Gruebel: there will always be criminals, there will always be people who want to steal from your bank or go to the casino on your dime. You cannot monitor all those people but you can and should build systems that are as robust as possible to human nature and when you fail to do that you fail in your job.

But worse: your statement that “you can’t do anything” is a statement that you are abdicating your duty. I hope that statement is misquoted because if I were on your board and you took that stance I would be seeking your resignation. To lose money to a determined rogue trader is an error – and all systems have holes. To deny you can do anything about it is to give up being a banker.

there you go

a resigining issue

Yes. Indeed.

To get back into the statement for a moment — and treading very carefully …..

I’m curious as to how a forward-settling, cash ETF position can be “fictitious.”

me too

A contract’s a contract.

it’s been amusing to see all these bankers express shock and disbelief

at how this happened

the fact is

most of them believe Delta One

is an airline

they haven’t a clue what goes on in their businesses

Yes – there was a rather amusing Twitter row on Friday

About bankers not wanting “traders” to be called bankers.

Ring-fencing of job titles.

That’s the point we’ve reached.

I have some sympathy here

traders are not investment bankers

the distinction should be made

Nah – not buying that.

We’re centuries away from the culture of jobbers and brokers.

you can’t call a market maker a banker

some of these people can barely write

would you call a money broker an investment banker?

they are the missing link in evolutionary terms

True. The guys at the IDBs are not really matching the bowler hat types.

Anyway, this is all a bit of a distraction.

I, personally, don’t much like the way the casino middle management are trying to distance themselves from the croupiers.

But that’s an aside, let’s push on.

lets

11:37AM

Elephant in the room?

or risers and fallers?

Webvan please.

Webvan 2.0

Our name for Ocado. The internet grocer with customer service so good that it will eventually result in bankruptcy.

breaking news

Michael Grade

has bought stock

following today’s fall

he’s picked up 80,000

Ocado Group PLC (OCDO:LSE): Last: 118.10, down 15.6 (-11.67%), High: 124.70, Low: 113.71, Volume: 2.17m

ordinarily I’d say

insider purchases can be interesting

in this instance I won’t

give Grade’s awful record with listed companies

Pinewood anyone???

He does. He’s one for the big picture (excuse the pun), not really a details man.

Which is just as well because, for Ocado, the details just keep getting worse.

An internet food retailer that many believe is the second coming of Webvan. Loss making yet valued at close to £1bn on flotation.

so growth has continued to slow

in Q3

“Capacity issues”

but does anyone really believe that?

Well, it does require a little bit of doublethink.

I’m sure every single person reading this has been bombarded with money off offers from Ocado.

I have

I get one through the door every single week, and I live in a hovel in the middle of a slum.

(Aka Shepherd’s Bush.)

Why are they spending so much on customer acquisition when they have capacity restraints?

Don’t get it.

nor do i

it’s one of the many things I don’t understand

why are they have to invest more in customer service?

why can’t they fix this warehouse

why are they spending £200m on other

when we can’t see this one works

why isn’t the price 50p

when it makes tiny profits on £600m of sales

more questions than answers

Because someone’s going to buy it?

John Lewis might buy back the bear

at 35p I guess

that would be trade of the decade

Or Aldi might replace Waitrose with their own brands and lose 90% of the custom.

talking of shorting Ocado, guess who the CEO Tim Steiner is blaming for the fall??

evil short sellers

Of course!

You issue a profit warning and blame shorters for the price falling.

Brilliant. That’s the Goldman way.

he sounds like a Greek finance official

blaming the shorters

Yes. He does.

Anyway, here’s a bit of comment.

From Philip Dorgan at Panmure

Q3 was in line with expectations, although the comment on lower margins
probably wasn’t. At our target price of 50p, Ocado’s EV/sales ratio would still
be nearly twice that of Sainsbury’s. We continue to see downside.

What has been announced: Ocado has reported Q3 gross sales growth of 16.9%. This
was slightly slower than Q2’s 18%, and compares with Q1’s growth of 24.8%. According
to management, demand from customers is strong, but its ability to serve this demand
has been limited by capacity constraints at its warehouse in Hatfield. Its investment in
improving service levels is now expected to lead to a slightly lower than expected
increase in full year margins. Ocado expects a significant pick up in demand in Q4 and to
serve a peak of 140,000 orders per week, compared with an average of 110,945 in Q3.
Average orders continue to fall, if only slightly, at both customers who have a Delivery
Pass and also at those who don’t, by 0.2% and by 0.1% respectively.

What it means: The margin comment should lead to a fall in consensus profits and
there may also be some concern that the expected pick up in Q4 sales won’t materialise.
While Ocado entered Q4 with net cash of £10m, consensus expects net debt of £139m
at the end of FY 2012, compared with cash of £80.5m at the end of FY 2010. We are
concerned that the decision to spend £210m on another warehouse, before the existing
warehouse generates a return, means that there is a high risk that Ocado will continue to
underperform expectations, and that this will have further negative implications for the
share price.

The valuation: Given the uncertain outlook, we recently downgraded our target price
from 103p to 50p, at which level the EV/sales ratio would still be nearly twice that of
Sainsbury’s. As forecasts have been downgraded, it becomes difficult to value Ocado on
a DCF basis. Equally, as growth rates slow and returns remain low, it is not appropriate
to value Ocado as ‘another Amazon’. Increasingly, we believe that it will be valued
relative to its multichannel competitors. This appears sensible, but it is not supportive of
the current share price.

‘another Amazon’

And care for some Goldman?

‘another Webvan’

yeah

let’s have it

Here’s Ocado’s in-house brokerage.

I have JP Morgan somewhere

Our FY11 estimates imply 4Q (16 weeks to November 27) gross revenue
growth of c.21%. We forecast FY11 (November year-end) gross revenues of
£661.5 mn (+20% yoy), net revenues of £619 mn (+20% yoy; Reuters
consensus: £623 mn) and EBITDA of £35 mn (consensus: £36 mn). Our
current estimates imply FY11 incremental EBITDA margin (based on gross
sales) of 11.8% (FY10: 10.4%).

The company has also announced the roll out of the ‘Ocado Saving Pass’,
offering discounts of at least 10% off the standard Ocado retail price across
a range of over 500 leading goods (e.g., Pampers diapers, Kelloggs cereal,
etc) for an annual fee of £8.99, which would continue to differentiate its
offering from competitors’.

Implications
We retain our Buy rating on the stock. We place our estimates and price
target under review.
INVESTMENT LIST MEMBERSHIP
Pan-Europe Buy List

As informational as one would expect.

indeed

the very definition of maintenance research that

right

we have saved the best till last

Good old Clive Black.

He clearly wrote 1,000 over the weekend in anticipation.

And there’s a treat contained in every single paragraph.

Troubled on-line grocery retailer, or should we say Waitrose (John Lewis Partnership) distributor,
Ocado has released trading data for the 12-week period to 7th August 2011. We say troubled
because since flotation Ocado has been subject to a raft of market downgrades to EBITDA
estimates, including our own, reductions clearly not anticipated by its advisors and the general
broking community since its flotation in mid-2010. Those troubles have been reflected in a share
price that, to our minds, better reflects the nature, extent and prospects for this company; albeit we
remain to be convinced that its price yet represents anywhere near fair value.

Following this update we are minded to maintain our Ocado EBITDA forecasts for 2010/11F (a
November year-end) at £36.7m. For now, we’ll keep our 2011/12F EBITDA forecast of £46.5m -
which has fallen materially since flotation (consensus was £86m at flotation). To quibble about a low
millions of pounds of EBITDA is to miss the point on the Ocado investment case to our minds though.
This business makes a modest cash profit and an unattractive return on sales of c£600+m. We
struggle to see the Hatfield facility ever making an attractive return and we question whether the
additional fixed cost of CFC2 will contribute anything to returns either; far from it, they will probably go
the other way for a considerable period of time at least. Such a business model should carry a low
stock multiple to our minds, not an elevated one.

More to the point, we believe that Ocado’s dependency upon Waitrose is its Achilles heel, not least
with Waitrose competing head-to-head in Ocado’s most profitable market (i.e. London) and with
Waitrose’s parent now carrying no financial involvement in Ocado it has little incentive to ‘go easy’.
Indeed, we believe that we have good grounds to assert that we do not think Ocado has a viable
business model without Waitrose and, frankly the clock is ticking on that relationship too. Put another
way, we do not believe that Ocado can be competitive without Waitrose because it won’t have
enough product to sell nor a credible brand.

And, more to the point, Ocado’s profitability would crumble if it had to replace the procurement and
product management that Waitrose undertakes on its behalf. We feel that Ocado’s private label
stands for little whilst selling troubled Carrefour’s (CARR, No Recommendation at €17x) products in
the UK is pretty meaningless in our view – note: Marks & Spencer (MKS^, No Recommendation,
Coverage Pending at 335p) is introducing specialist international brands and we see M&S Food online
as a huge potential challenge to Ocado if and when Ms. Wade-Gery reveals her hand.

More to the point, at the sharp end Ocado’s strategic woes are not just about Waitrose, as new
entrants come into the market and existing players gain share. Ocado is a small fish in a pond
inhabited by larger, healthier, stronger and hungrier competitors. At the moment, Ocado has
operational leverage (i.e.: it is a small business with a debilitating central overhead on margin) . Over
the next year it may also have financial leverage as the CFC2 is built in Warwickshire. That potential
situation worries us so much that we have called for the company to focus on making CFC1 work,
mothball CFC2 in Warwickshire and, if it can justify a new centre in time, focus it on the London
market

I do like that he takes three “more to the point”s to drive the knife in further.

Here’s the conclusion.

Ocado is not, of course, going to listen to us, even though our proposals were made very much with
its shareholders’ interests at heart. Accordingly, if there is not a material pick-up in trade down the
line plus stepped adjustments to margin, shareholders should not be surprised if they are called to
provide further capital to fund the ongoing development plans of management – possibly at a
reasonable discount to the present price. Accordingly, given the decelerating trading, the multiple
downgrades to anticipated EBITDA (we believe advisors cut numbers for 2012 only last week), our
worries about the long-term involvement of Waitrose, the concern about a future possible capital call
and the challenges of the prevailing economic and competitive environment; we deem Ocado stock
be a SELL.

says it all really

And I think we have. Let’s push on.

11:51AM

where now?

Miners and banks

leading the market lower

I guess

we should have a look at Lloyds

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LLOY:LSE): Last: 33.45, down 2.35 (-6.57%), High: 37.08, Low: 33.33, Volume: 64.14m

so the FD is off

to join Resolution

they aren’t really down because of that

are they?

I wouldn’t imagine so, no.

I’m sure he’s a competent operator, but not really a celebrated one.

And there’s not much chance he’s leaving before the “funnies” are found.

wasn’t he a Daniels man?

and therefore

totally discredited?

can’t be a surprise

he’s walked

He was a Daniels man, yes.

And ex insurance.

Think he worked for the Pru before Lloyds.

RTRS-LLOYDS BANKING GROUP OUTGOING CFO TIM TOOKEY SAYS NO DISAGREEMENT OVER STRATEGY WITH CEO

With Andy Briggs

Who’s now at Resolution

So perhaps it’s an old-boys’-network thing.

the same goes for Lloyds

I think the new man has a CEO lined up

none of this is really surprising

just clearing out the old guard

making way for the new

I have some comment if interested

Sure.

Here’s ML

Lloyds FD to resign. Lloyds have just announced that Tim Tookey, the group
Finance Director, will leave the group. He will stay in his post until end February
2012. Lloyds will now begin a process to find a replacement. That Tim Tookey is
leaving Lloyds should not surprise investors, indeed the surprise is that he has
stayed with Lloyds for so long, post the CEO change

Given his role within the old
Santander speculation will build that Antonio Lorenzo (was Santander UK’s chief
financial officer prior to moving and is now head of Lloyds’ international and
wealth divisions) will replace Tim Tookey. Normally when FDs leave it raises
question marks on black holes etc, we do not think this will be the case, as the
change was more likely triggered by new personnel at the bank and an interesting
opportunity for Tim Tookey to move back into the Insurance secto

and Citi

Not A Surprise – Mr Tookey’s departure had been widely anticipated, as one of the
few remaining directors from the Eric Daniels regime. We therefore doubt today’s news
will come as much of a surprise to the market.

Credibility of Financial Targets – The FT seems to imply that one of the reasons for
Mr Tookey’s departure was his concerns surrounding the credibility of Lloyds’ new
financial targets. These comments seem somewhat odd when one considers that he
will remain with the firm until early next year and has already stated that he has no
disagreement over the strategy implemented by Mr Horta-Osorio.

External & Internal Search – A search process to appoint a successor will now
commence. While the FT article indicates an external search will now begin, we note
that Lloyds already has a wealth of experience internally. For example Mr Bostock (set
to become head of wholesale banking in early 2012) and Mr Lorenzo (director of wealth
& international) have both previously held the role of Santander UK CFO.

there you go

They don’t like our story on it much, do they?

Fair enough. We take all opinions here.

miners also weak this morning

I take if

that’s due to global growth slowdown fears

Kazakhmys PLC (KAZ:LSE): Last: 983.50, down 68.5 (-6.51%), High: 1,030, Low: 983.00, Volume: 986.22k

Antofagasta PLC (ANTO:LSE): Last: 1,219, down 81 (-6.23%), High: 1,266, Low: 1,219, Volume: 686.24k

Xstrata PLC (XTA:LSE): Last: 980.80, down 60.2 (-5.78%), High: 1,020, Low: 977.70, Volume: 5.11m

Vedanta Resources PLC (VED:LSE): Last: 1,359, down 63 (-4.43%), High: 1,396, Low: 1,350, Volume: 328.58k

Rio Tinto PLC (RIO:LSE): Last: 3,464, down 160.63 (-4.43%), High: 3,563, Low: 3,463, Volume: 1.90m

I can’t think what else

it might be

Likewise. Big rally, retracement.

12:00PM

Ok – what now?

Distinct shortage of news in the big caps

So should we take a look at the smalls?

oh yes

The next supermajor, potentially sitting on 60bn barrels of oil in Kurdistan. Loved by muppets across the globe.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd (GKP:LSE): Last: 163.75, down 5.75 (-3.39%), High: 167.63, Low: 162.50, Volume: 3.06m

finally confirmed the cash call

Terse statement.

which I hope was noted in Muppetland

Gulf Keystone notes recent press speculation and confirms that the Company is considering its options with regards to an equity fund-raising.

Took quite a while to write that. I make it about seven hours per word.

now this is RAW

RAW is market chatter – information that has not been formally tested through traditional journalistic channels (PRs etc). The story might be complete rubbish, but if we believe there is some substance to it we will say so. Either way, Reader Beware.

but I am told

it’s not proving easy to get away

and given the market backdrop I’m not surprised

Hm.

Yes.

Partly the market-wide volatility, I guess.

Though this kind of thing doesn’t help either.

KRG declines reports of suspension of oil exports from Kurdistan

The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government published a released on September 11 to state that there has been no policy decision for suspending oil exports from Kurdistan via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline. Over the past days, the export pipeline operated by North Oil Company (NOC) experienced serious technical difficulties, temporarily causing disruption of the exports from the Kurdistan Region. As such, all the false assumptions and accusations of export suspension should be totally discarded. The KRG remains committed to its interim agreement with the federal government of Iraq for exports of oil from Kurdistan’s fields, until a permanent solution is reached based on the Constitution.

http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=6D0DE9C1B9C53164D113194BE0E463D0

hmm

not that doesn’t help greatly

Anyway, we’ll see I guess.

Anything else worth mentioning?

someone was asking about IGAS

Igas Energy PLC (IGAS:LSE): Last: 50.50, no change, Volume: 0.00

announced a big acquisition

buying a package of onshore UK assets from Petronas for £110m, compared to its current market cap of £80m

so the stock is suspended

the sector watcher quite likes the deal

The deal will be financed by a new $140m debt facility from Macquarie, and will provide 2,800 boe/d of immediate production and 2P reserves of 11 million barrels oil equivalent. This represents a purchase price of around $13/boe, which sounds perfectly reasonable, and at current oil prices and production rates should generate around $100m of revenues/year.

On top of IGAS’s core business of developing coal bed methane sites in the midlands, this looks like an extremely attractive add-on. As the deal is being treated as a reverse takeover it will require shareholder approval at an EGM, hence the shares have been suspended, probably until the end of October. Our risked NAV for IGAS, prior to today’s news, was 160p/share vs a current price of 50p. Assuming the world hasn’t come to an end by the time the shares come back off suspension, I’d be a buyer.

from memory I thought this company was supposed to be a coal methane play

from that

it looks like the

strategy may have changed

12:07PM

What else

I know

a few rumours around in

Smith and Nephew PLC (SN.:LSE): Last: 593.50, up 1.5 (+0.25%), High: 595.00, Low: 585.50, Volume: 476.27k

takeover talk again

but I can’t see who is in a position to buy it

Tyco

has announced plans to split

RTRS-TYCO INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO SEPARATE INTO THREE INDEPENDENT, PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES
11:00 19Sep11 RTRS-TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD SAYS TYCO SHAREHOLDERS WILL OWN 100% OF THE EQUITY IN EACH OF THE THREE PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES
11:00 19Sep11 RTRS-TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD SAYS EXPECTS TO COMPLETE THE TRANSACTION IN APPROXIMATELY 12 MONTHS
11:01 19Sep11 RTRS-TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD SAYS CURRENT TYCO DIRECTORS ARE EXPECTED TO SERVE ON THE BOARDS OF EACH OF THE THREE COMPANIES
11:01 19Sep11 RTRS-TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD SAYS ONE-TIME TRANSACTION COSTS ARE EXPECTED TO TOTAL APPROXIMATELY $700 MILLION
11:01 19Sep11 RTRS-TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD SAYS NEW COMPANIES WILL CONSIST OF ADT NORTH AMERICA RESIDENTIAL SECURITY BUSINESS

and er…

I don’t think I have anything else

very quiet out there today

in spite of the wider market fall

Feels that way, yes. Volume looks pathetic.

Ok – having started late, should we wind up early?

good idea

I have a meeting at 1.00pm

across town

And it promises to be another long week.

So, thanks rabble for joining us

Only one yellow card today, which is a breakthrough in discipline.

yes

thanks

and yest

we loved the weasel

trying to think of a way to use it

on the site

Weasel with megaphones, working for paymaster Rupert Murdoch ….

Anyway, thanks again

And do join us tomorrow.

Until then, bye.

This entry was posted by support on Monday, September 19th, 2011 at 11:07 and is filed under Uncategorized. Edit this entry.

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Markets Live transcript 19 Sep 2011

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