UK Banks - The Chancellor has urged banks to use revenues that would traditionally be paid in bonuses and dividends to help to fund lending to small and medium enterprises instead. Mr Osborne said that the Government "will not tolerate" banks "piling the pressure" on SMEs, and said that banks have an "economic obligation" to help the sector. (Telegraph)
UK
BP (BP: 38.47 0.00 0.00%) - US Justice staff said to urge subpoenas for co.'s managers. Elsewhere, Imperial, Exxon and co. (XOM: 59.68 0.00 0.00%) form a Canadian arctic joint venture, says venture includes Beaufort Sea acreage acquired in 2007, 2008. Says Imperial and Exxon to have 25% stakes each and co. to have 50%. (Sources/RTRS) - In other news, co. could start plugging its broken deepsea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday night. BP engineers were preparing to pump heavy drilling mud and cement into the well in a procedure known as "static kill", retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said on Sunday.
- Co. faces a forced wind-down of its Gulf of Mexico operations after American lawmakers passed a bill that could halve its production there in five years. The so-called Miller amendment proposes to freeze BP out of new drilling leases for seven years. It would also bar the co. from being granted the permits it needs to maintain current production. A final bill not expected until the autumn, when lawmakers return from their summer break. (Sunday Times) - Co dismissed speculation about selling Aral, Its German petrol station chain (ARD)
- The owners of co.'s 11,300 US petrol stations are actively considering whether reverting to the traditional American Amoco brand might lead to a reversal in fortunes for the tarnished oil giant. (Telegraph) - Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), THE Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund, is currently considering its stake in co., citing an unidentified KIAS source. (Al-Anba). Co. has no plans to sell its Poland based fuel stations. (Parkiet)
Lloyds Banking Group (LYG: 4.30 0.00 0.00%) - Co. is expected to be the best performer among Britain's five biggest banks reporting their H1 results this week. It is expected to report a pre-tax profit of GBP 800mln vs. Prev. loss of GBP 4bln in H1 2009. (The Independent)
Barclays (BCS: 20.87 0.00 0.00%) - Co. is expected to report on Thursday H1 pre-tax profits of GBP 3.50bln vs. GBP 2.75bln in H1 2009. However, the GBP 3.5bln figure will be helped by a gain of between GBP 350mln and GBP 925mln on the bank's own credit which, if excluded, means H1 pre-tax profits are closer to the GBP 2.97bln mark. Co. expects overall impairment in 2010 to improve between 15-20% on 2009. Elsewhere, co.'s investment arm BarCap has already said it had experienced weaker trading conditions in May and June. In addition, Barclays Corporate is also expected to report higher impairments with provisions against falling Spanish property values. (The Independent)
HSBC (HBC: 51.08 0.00 0.00%) - Co. is expected to post another strong half-year performance today, with an estimated pre-tax profit of USD 8.6bln (GBP 5.5bln) vs. USD 5bln (GBP 3.5bln) in H1 2009. (The Independent)
Standard Chartered - Co. is expected to post H1 pre-tax profit of GBP 2.0bln vs. GBP 1.9bln in H1 2009. (The Independent)
Prudential (PRU: 57.29 0.00 0.00%) - Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive, is attempting to make peace with investors by boosting the co's. Dividend by 5% when the company announces its groups results in two weeks. Thiam is also expected to say that he has no plans to sell off the group's American operations, or its UK business. (Sunday Times) In other news, co. may be interested in Pacific & Orient's insurance business. (The Edge)
RBS (RBS: 15.76 0.00 0.00%) - Analysts expect the co. to post a pre-tax profit of about GBP 200mln for the first six months of the year, ending a two-year run of multi-million GBP loses. Co. is expected to announce the sale of 318 branched to Santander ahead of its results; the deal is worth about GBP 1.7bln. It is also close to selling its global payments business to consortium of private equity firms in a deal worth up to GBP 2.5bln. (Sunday Times)
British Airways (BAY: 79.44 0.00 0.00%) - Co. merger with Iberia moves closer after regulators agreed plans for Co. to slash its pension black hole. (FT)
Tesco/ASDA - Co.'s are planning a major expansion of their grocery delivery operations in London to challenge newly floated Ocado on its own doorstep. This month, the supermarket giants will each open a "ghost store" in separate parts of the capital to allow them to deliver more than 10,000 orders a week. (The Mail on Sunday)
Hammerson - Co.'s H1 net GBP 333mln vs. Prev. GBP 791.1mln loss. Co's interim dividend GBP 7.15 pence, co. improved occupancy levels since Dec 2009. (Sources)
US
Despite a sell off in equity markets post weaker than expected US GDP print, stocks have staged a remarkable come back, buoyed by better than expected Chicago PMI, Michigan and NAPM reading. Also, in spite of lack of fresh news flow and low volumes, equities managed to break out of the range-bound trade and move into positive territory led by basic materials and consumer goods sectors. The NASDAQ 100 has outperformed its peers on reports that Research in Motion (RIMM: 57.53 0.00 0.00%) (+3.29%) is to launch its own version of Apple's (AAPL: 257.25 0.00 0.00%) iPad, dubbed BlackPad. Finally, at the closing bell DJIA closed down 0.01% at 10465.94, the S&P 500 closed up 0.01% at 1101.60 and NASDAQ 100 closed up 0.20% at 1864.00.
Intel (INTC: 20.60 0.00 0.00%) - Co. in advanced talks to buy Infineon's wireless chip business, seeks up to EUR 1.5bln for unit. (WSJ)
AIG (AIG: 38.47 0.00 0.00%) - Co. Asian Unit AIA has submitted information need for a Q4 Hong Kong IPO to the Hong Kong Exchange. (Apple Daily)
Research in Motion (RIMM: 57.53 0.00 0.00%) - Regulators in the United Arab Emirates said Sunday they would prohibit BlackBerry email, instant-messaging and Internet-browsing services starting in October, after what officials in the country said has been a long-running dispute with the device's maker about how it stores electronic data. (WSJ)
Ford Motor (F: 12.77 0.00 0.00%) - China's Geely will complete its USD 1.8bln purchase of co.'s Volvo unit on Monday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. (RTRS)
Europe
Siemens (SI: 97.39 0.00 0.00%) - Private equity firms are in preliminary talks to take Nokia Siemens Networks stake, though deal might not yield. Sources say deal could be for up to a third of Nokia Siemens Networks. (WSJ)
SAP (NYSE:SAP) - Co's Co-Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott said the co. will have significantly more customers by 2015 and that he is very optimistic about its prospects and growth. (FT)
Deutsche Postbank - Co. was considering a rights issue as a potential option if it failed the European bank stress tests, sources say. (Sources)
Infineon - Intel in advanced talks to buy co.'s wireless chip business, co. seeks up to EUR 1.5bln. (WSJ)
Linde - Co.'s first half sales EUR 6.1bln vs. Exp. 5.48bln, co. reaffirms group 2010 outlook. Co.s op. profit expected to exceed year 2008. (RTRS)
Metro - Co. Q2 net EUR 44mln vs. Prev. 52mln. Co. raises full year capex to EUR 2.1bln from EUR 1.9bln, they confirm outlook. (Sources)
BNP - Co.'s Q2 net EUR 2.105bln vs. Exp EUR 1.61bln. Co.'s tier one ratio 10.6% June 30 vs. EUR 10.5% at March 31. Co.'s Q2 provisions fall 54% to EUR 1.08bln. Mitsubishi UFJ to buy China fund stake from co. for USD 50mln. (RTRS)
France Telecom - Orange is holding talks to acquire a 40% stake in Meditel. (Al-Jarida)
EDF - Moody's maintains review for downgrade of co. (Sources)
EADS - Co. Is preparing to invest EUR 1bln on acquisitions in the USA. (Le Figaro) In other news, Thai Tiger Airways plans to acquire 10 new airbus A320s in 2011 and 2012. (RTRS)
Air Liquide - Co.'s H1 net EUR 676mln vs. Exp. EUR 658mln. Co. confirms 2010 profit growth target. (Sources)
PPR - Co. is looking for acquisitions of brands with an international appeal in order to support its lifestyle division. (Les Echos)
ECB's Wellink in his role as chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, said the new capital and liquidity rules for banks are still substantial, even though they were softened last week. (NRC) He added that some banks may need to sell shares to raise capital.
Nokia (NYSE:NOK) - Private equity firms are in preliminary talks to take Nokia Siemens Networks stake, though deal might not yield. Sources say deal could be for up to a third of Nokia Siemens Networks. (WSJ)
Repsol (NYSE:REP) - Co. said to seek about USD 4bln in IPO of Brazilian unit. (Sources)
UBS (NYSE:UBS) - Co. has agreed a GBP 600mln property deal for its European headquarters in what will be the largest building in London's financial district, citing an unnamed person close to UBS. (FT)
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