Rolls-Royce maintains forecast and dividend 4 Mar 2003 The UK engineering group is delivering on its restructuring promises. But debt, pensions and contingent liabilities leave the group's equity perilously exposed to any fallout from war in Iraq.
Government shareholders sharpen up their act 4 Mar 2003 France's new State Shareholdings Agency promises a more transparent and rational approach to running government stakes in companies. The change is long overdue. The UK is doing something similar but the French could still teach it a thing or two.
Generali fails to kick Unicredito offside 4 Mar 2003 The insurer almost managed to use the crossshareholdings rule to stop Unicredito from becoming an important investor. Sounds outrageous? Maybe for another country. But in Italy there s no obvious alternative to the current rule.
IPO market open to price cutters 4 Mar 2003 Telkom is hardly a sexy asset. But the South African government has nevertheless floated its incumbent telecoms operator. The secret of Telkom's success was a 25% price cut.
Warren Buffett warns of derivatives timebomb 4 Mar 2003 It sounds likes the Sage of Omaha thinks the world would be a better place without derivatives altogether. That would be silly, but he has highlighted the need for greater transparency of derivative exposures.
Pension debate marred by flawed arguments 4 Mar 2003 Apologists for UK companies with big pension deficits do make one good point: look at the net rather than the gross figure. But another argument that one should ignore the deficit so long as the company is making topup payments is fallacious.
Generali battle heats up 3 Mar 2003 The Unicredito camp is fighting Mediobanca by building up a stake in the insurer. Loosening Mediobanca s grip is a good plan. Shame Generali will still be the centre of Italian power struggles.
Estimating the Iraqi war risk premium 3 Mar 2003 An approximation is wellnigh impossible. But socalled Saddam securities at least allow a rough estimate of how assets might behave if there was a war. Or none.
Accounting worries are back 3 Mar 2003 If a mere supermarket group like Ahold can post $500m of bookkeeping funnies, is any sector safe? In principle, no. But cash conversion may give investors a modest reality check on aggressive accounts.
Pearson tells a recovery story 3 Mar 2003 Gloomy investors have switched focus from the publisher's ailing FT newspapers to a decline in its much larger school business. But what about its stronger businesses, its dramatic deleveraging, and its generous dividend? Is it time to get positive about Pearson yet?
HSBC ups dividend 10% as bad debt provisions fall 3 Mar 2003 HSBC appears to have a better chance of driving earnings through costcutting than revenue growth. But the bank's latest numbers suggest new chief executive Stephen Green is not a man to wield the axe in a hurry.
Ericsson delays voting rights change 3 Mar 2003 The group s two main investors want compensation for diluting the voting rights in their privileged A shares. But they don t deserve it. If ordinary shareholders hadn t bailed Ericsson out in a rights issue, the main investors might be worse off than they are now.
Osmond finally goes hostile for SixCon 3 Mar 2003 Osmond has two weaknesses: the cash he is offering comes from SixCon's own coffers; and he will cream off a large chunk of the upside. But SixCon's management has a big drawback of its own: it is still there.
Directories deals say Wanadoo’s very pricey 3 Mar 2003 The bulk of the value in France Telecom's internet subsidiary comes from its directories business. But strip that out on the basis of recent deals, and the market appears to be radically overvaluing the rest of the group.
Agnelli family to revamp holdings 3 Mar 2003 How will the terms of this deal treat minority shareholders? The family is consolidating its control over the chain of companies through which it controls Fiat.
Osmond could net £1bn from SixCon 3 Mar 2003 That s what the entrepreneur and his team would make if they can deliver 20% a year growth in SixCon s share price That may look tough. But even at 10% a year, they would cream off over £400m. This is greedy.