> Finance & Stock Exchange > Banks and financial institutions > Bank

PRESS DIGEST - British Business Press - May 17

Reuters: [2008-05-17 05:06:00]

The Times

BA FORCED TO CONSIDER '900 MILLION POUND FALL' IN PROFIT

British Airways <BAY.L> has been forced to consider a possible 900 million pound fall in profit as a result of the rising price of oil. Martin Broughton, the chairman, admitted on Friday that the board had discussed what the plan of action would be if the airline was in a "break-even position" by the end of this financial year, saying "the crude objective is not to get into a break-even situation but to stay profitable." The pessimistic comments alarmed investors. Nick van den Brul, aviation analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, said: "There is clearly a lot of bad news to come."

TAKEOVER BATTLE AT BRITISH ENERGY HOTS UP, 2 MORE APPROACHES

British Energy <BGY.L> is at the centre of an increasingly heated takeover battle as it emerged on Friday that the power company had received two more preliminary offers, one valuing it at almost 11 billion pounds. The company has received takeover or other approaches from EDF Energy <EDF.PA>, RWE <RWEG.DE>, Iberdrola <IBE.MC> and Suez <LYOE.PA>, the French industrial group. The company said it had been approached by "several parties wanting to make a full offer". The shares jumped 5.2 percent on news of the additional approaches, closing up 35.5 pence at 715.5 pence.

COMPUTACENTER SCREENS A GLOOMY QUARTER

Computacenter said it expected lower profits in the first half of the year due to slower trading in the UK and France. The company, which provides IT services to large companies, governments and investment banks, said like-for-like sales were down 1.5 percent in the first three months of 2008, while they fell 7.1 percent outside the UK, mainly as a result of weak sales in France. Mike Norris, the chief executive, said: "There's no doubt that if you have an economic downturn, IT spend will be hit."

The Daily Telegraph

QATARIS TOLD 100 MILLION POUNDS NEEDED FOR CARE HOME GROUP

The Qatari government-owned Four Seasons, one of the UK's biggest nursing home chains, has been told by bankers that a cash injection of more than 100 million pounds is necessary to stabilise the business. Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> and Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> are in fraught discussions with Paul Taylor, who heads Three Delta, the UK investment fund of the Qatari Investment Authority. Taylor has been trying to negotiate refinancing of Four Seasons' 1.3 billion pound debt, which must be completed before June to avoid a massive one-off interest payment. The banks have made refinancing conditional on the Qataris and Taylor pumping a minimum of 100 million pounds of fresh equity into the business.

SCOTS TV CHANNEL WOULD SHOW CLASSICS

The broadcaster SMG, which operates the ITV <ITV.L> franchise in Scotland, has put forward a proposal to the Scottish authorities for a new Scottish digital TV channel that would show BBC programmes and popular shows from its own archives. The plan was unveiled at the company's annual general meeting on Friday. Rob Woodward, the chief executive, said the channel would need 15 million pounds of public money.

MCKENNA CALLS TIME ON NEW BROKING ARM

Ingenious Securities, the stockbroking business of banker-to-the-stars Patrick McKenna, is being shut down. It is thought that all staff have lost their jobs, with one employee saying: "We have not been given a chance to show what we can do." McKenna, who recently paid himself between 75 and 100 million pounds in profits from the business, said: "The decision to close our securities business has not been an easy one."

The Independent

CENKOS FRUSTRATED AGAIN AS TALKS WITH ARDEN BREAK DOWN

Cenkos Securities <CNKS.L>, the broking house, has stumbled in its second takeover approach for Arden Partners <ARDN.L> after negotiations broke down. Cenkos said on Friday that discussions with Arden "have now ceased", just three months after a 1.6 billion pound bid for Close Brothers collapsed at the discussion stage. A source close to Arden said: "Cenkos were really keen to get a deal done and they got pretty close. Rivals came in and it was Arden's duty to the shareholders to evaluate them. It slowed the whole process down and Cenkos didn't want to hang around."

REGENT INNS SALES SLIDE 11 PERCENT AS SMOKING BAN HITS HOME

The smoking ban and falling consumer confidence were blamed for a sharp fall in sales at Regent Inns <REGI.L>, which operates the Walkabout pubs and Jongleurs comedy clubs. Like-for-like sales fell 11 percent in the period from 30 December 2007 to 14 May 2008. "This downturn in sales has principally arisen in Walkabout, while Jongleurs has continued to trade robustly," Regent said. The shares closed up five percent at 16.5 pence.

BLOOMSBURY SHARES RISE ON UPBEAT REPORT

Bloomsbury Publishing <BLPU.L>, the group that published the Harry Potter books, reported "encouraging" operating performance since the start of the year following good sales of Khaled Hosseini's books A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner. "The group continues to make progress in all areas," the group said in a statement. "The measures that we are taking to reduce costs are already delivering positive results." The shares rose five percent, closing up seven pence at 154 pence.

EURO CORP-Spreads tighter but fade on poor U.S. sentiment

Reuters: [2008-05-16 17:22:00]

By Richard Barley

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - European credit spreads tightened on Friday, buoyed by European equities, although they pared some of the move after U.S. consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan came in weaker than expected.

The benchmark iTraxx indexes have been moving tighter throughout the week, reversing the widening seen last week, as the focus has moved more to new corporate bond sales that have been broadly well received, bringing support to the market.

By 1515 GMT, the Markit iTraxx Crossover index <ITCRS5EA=GFI>, made up of 50 mostly "junk"-rated credits, was at 413 basis points, according to data from Markit, 7 basis points tighter versus late on Thursday.

The investment-grade Markit iTraxx Europe index <ITRAC5EA=GFI> was at 68 basis points, 2 basis points tighter.

The indexes had earlier been indicated as low as 404 basis points and 65.5 basis points, respectively, but weakened late in the session after U.S. consumer confidence tumbled to its lowest in 28 years this month. [ID:nN16404511]

Traders said there was little activity in the market on Friday, with investors perhaps focused on digesting the heavy flow of supply this week, including sizeable deals from BMW <BMWG.DE>, France Telecom <FTE.PA> and Daimler <DAIGn.DE>.

"The new issue window, largely shut in Q1, exploded in April and May as investors sensed stability was returning to the markets," strategists at BNP Paribas said in a note to clients. "Stable market conditions will keep the primary pipeline busy, given the large backlog of financing required due to M&A activity."

"The good news is that investment-grade markets are still open."

BA, ICELANDIC BANK CDS RALLY

Among single names, CDS on British Airways <BAY.L> fell 20 basis points to 301 basis points after it released results that pushed its shares up nearly 4.5 percent.

BA said profits rose 45 percent, allowing it to pay its first dividend since 2001, but warned that the year could be turbulent with fuel costs set to rise 1 billion pounds.

The cost of insuring Icelandic banks' debt against default fell sharply on Friday after the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian central banks agreed a swap facility with Iceland.

Five-year credit default swaps on the banks fell by some 40-50 basis points, with Kaupthing <KAUP.IC> indicated around 425 basis points, Glitnir <GLB.IC> around 380 basis points and Landsbanki <LAIS.IC> around 220 basis points.

The Swedish central bank said the facility was aimed at supporting the Icelandic central bank in its task of safeguarding economic and financial stability.

In the cash bond market, the FTSE Euro Corporate Bond Index <EUCRAVSPG=> showed investment-grade corporate bonds in euros yielding an average 111.8 basis points more than similarly dated government bonds, 0.6 basis points more on the day. (Reporting by Richard Barley; editing by Sue Thomas)

((richard.barley@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7770; Reuters Messaging rm://richard.barley.reuters.com@reuters.net))

* Reuters clients can view related news by double clicking on:

[EUB] All Eurobond news

[DBT] Debt reports

[EUB-ISU] New debt issues

[IGD] Investment-grade bonds

[HYD] High-yield bonds

[ABS] Asset-backed securities

[CDV] Credit derivatives news

[AAA] Credit ratings news

[TOP/DBT] Top fixed income news

[TOP/CREDIT] Top credit news

Other market reports:

[GVD/EUR] Euro government debt report

[US/] U.S. Treasury market report

[USC/] U.S. corporate bond report

[.EU] European stock market report

[.L] UK stock market report

[.N] Wall Street report

Guides:

For prices or rates, double click on: <EUROBONDS>

For credit ratings, double click on: <RRS0001>

For credit derivatives, double click on <CDSINDEX>

For top corporate bond issuers, double click on <0#TOPISSUER>

Keywords: MARKETS BONDS EUROCORP

Keywords: MARKETS BONDS EUROCORP = 2

UPDATE 2-Turkish lira, bonds firm after cenbank rate hike

Reuters: [2008-05-16 16:22:00]

(Adds closing prices, new quote)

ISTANBUL, May 16 (Reuters) - The Turkish lira firmed 1.3 percent on Friday to 1.2300 against the dollar after the central bank raised key interest rates by 50 basis points the previous day, as forecast.

The lira, backed by stronger U.S. markets, hit its firmest level since late March. It later closed Friday at 1.2315 against the dollar versus Thursday's 1.2460.

"Before the central bank's rate hike yesterday, a big foreign firm made large (dollar) sales and the central bank raised rates as the markets had expected and priced in," said Behram Camuscuoglu, a trader at Oyakbank.

"U.S. markets closed higher on the previous day and this is also lending support to us," he said.

The central bank on Thursday raised lending and borrowing rates by a half percentage point, hiking for the first time since 2006, and signalled further tightening could follow.

"Although the lira was hesitating to start with, HUF, TRY and ZAR (the Hungarian forint, Turkish lira and South African rand) have benefitted this morning from strong European equities and also Icelandic crown moves," said UniCredit MIB economist Simon Quijano-Evans.

Sweden's central bank said on Friday it and the central banks of Norway and Denmark had entered into a swap arrangement on Friday with Iceland's central bank, boosting the Icelandic crown, which along with the lira is one of the highest-yielding currencies in emerging markets.

The main stock exchange index <.XU100> fell 0.29 percent to 42,498.82 points. The yield on the Jan. 13, 2010 benchmark bond <0#TRTSYSUM=IS> fell to 19.33 percent from 19.60 percent.

Markets appeared to shrug off data showing the consumer confidence index fell 6.99 percent month-on-month in April to a data series low of 76.24 points.

"The shares index was flat throughout the day on a narrow band. Purchases were recorded for iron-steel and automotive shares because of their positive first-quarter results," said Meksa Investment's research director Tuncay Tursucu.

Yapi Kredi Koray real estate investment trust (REIT) <YKGYO.IS> rose the most on Friday, said Tursucu.

Yapi Kredi Bank <YKBNK.IS> said it was looking at selling its shares in Yapi Kredi Koray , sending the property firm's stock up 21.95 percent. (Reporting by Selcuk Gokoluk and Tolgahan Ozkan; Editing by Gerrard Raven) ((selcuk.gokoluk@reuters.com; Telephone: +90 312 292 7012; Reuters Messaging: selcuk.gokoluk.reuters.com@reuters.net))

UPDATE 1-Italy to raise taxes on banks - govt sources

Reuters: [2008-05-16 15:50:00]

(Adds share reaction)

ROME, May 16 (Reuters) - Italy's new government will raise taxes on banks to help finance increased spending on law and order and fulfil its promises to cut or eliminate some taxes, government sources said on Friday.

Silvio Berlusconi's administration has promised that among its first measures it will scrap taxation of primary residences, reduce taxation of overtime wages and approve a package of measures to crack down on crime.

These steps will cost between 4 billion euros ($6.2 billion) and 6 billion, two sources said. One said the money would be found partly through "soft" tax hikes on banks.

Another said the intervention on banks would probably involve the regional corporate tax, IRAP.

There are no immediate plans to increase taxation of oil companies, as some media had reported, one source said.

Banking shares hardly reacted.

By 1340 GMT, shares in Italy's biggest retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo <ISP.MI> were down 0.3 percent, its major rival UniCredit <CRDI.MI> had lost 0.6 percent, while Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena <BMPS.MI> was down 0.1 percent.

Milan's overall index <.MIBTEL> was up 0.7 percent as the DJ Stoxx index of European banks <.SX7P> was off 0.1 percent.

(Editing by David Holmes) ((Rome newsroom; gavin.jones@reuters.com; Reuters messaging: gavin.jones.reuters.com@reuters.net; Phone: +39-06-8522-4232)) ($1=.6461 Euro)

Keywords: ITALY BANKS/

DIARY - Greece to June 13, 2008

Reuters: [2008-05-16 10:54:00]

This diary is updated daily and new listings or amendments 
are marked "*". All times are provisional and in GMT; +3 to get 
Greek time. 
_____________________________________________________________ 
DATE  GMT/LOCAL INDICATOR             PERIOD F/CAST  PRIOR 
------------------------------------------------------------- 
22/05    NA     Cbank C/A                   Mar      -1.843b 
29/05    NA     PPI                         Apr         9.9% 
30/05    NA     Retail Sales                Mar        -4.3% 
02/06    NA     PMI                         May         54.4 
03/06    NA     GDP (prov.)                 Q1          3.6% 
06/06    NA     Construction                Mar              
09/06    NA     Manufacturing output        Apr              
09/06 0900/1200 HICP                        May         4.4% 
09/06    NA     Ind. output                 Apr        -5.4% 
09/06 0900/1200 CPI y/y                     May         4.4% 
12/06    NA     Unemployment (monthly)      Mar         8.0% 
 
 
FRIDAY, MAY 16 
GENERAL/ECONOMIC EVENTS 
    *ATHENS - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew meets Greek 
President Karolos Papoulias, at the Presidential Hall, at 0800, 
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, at Maximos Mansion, at 0930 
and Foreing Minister Dora Bakoyanni, at luncheon, at the 
Ministry, at 1100 GMT. Bartholomew to deliver keynote speech at 
an event held by the Greek Economic and Social Committee on 
environment, at the Athens Music Hall, at 1700 GMT. 
    ATHENS - Economist Conferences organises Defence and 
Security Summit on "The outlook for stability in SE Europe and 
the Middle East", at Sofitel hotel.  
 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
16/05   0900  FHL Mermeren     <FHL.AT>      AGM 
16/05   0900  Bank of Attica   <BOAr.AT>     EGM 
16/05   1200  Post Savings Bank<GPSr.AT>     RGM 
 
 
SUNDAY, MAY 18 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
18/05   0700  ANEK Lines       <ANKr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
MONDAY, MAY 19 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
19/05   1400  Plaisio          <PLAr.AT>     AGM 
19/05   1100  Euromedica       <EMDr.AT>     AGM 
19/05   1400  Blue Star Ferries<STR.AT>      AGM 
19/05   1300  Axon Holdings    <AXOr.AT>     AGM 
19/05   1300  Benrubis         <BENr.AT>     RGM 
 
 
TUESDAY, MAY 20 
GENERAL/ECONOMIC EVENTS 
    BULGARIA - Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis pays two-day 
visit, to attend South East Europe Cooperation Process summit. 
 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
20/05   1200  Nireus Aqua      <NIRr.AT>     AGM 
20/05   0600  Petzetakis       <PETr.AT>     AGM 
20/05   1400  Sarantis         <SRSr.AT>     AGM 
20/05   1300  Infoquest        <IQTr.AT>     AGM 
20/05   1000  Titan            <TTNr.AT>     AGM 
20/05   NA    Jumbo            <BABr.AT>     9-month results 
20/05   NA    Mytilineos       <MYTr.AT>     Q1 results 
 
 
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 
GENERAL/ECONOMIC EVENTS 
    ATHENS - Yalco <YAL.AT> holds company presentation, at the 
Institutional Investors Association. 
 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
21/05   1400  Active           <ACTr.AT>     AGM 
21/05   0600  Frigoglass       <FRIr.AT>     Q1 results 
 
 
THURSDAY, MAY 22 
GENERAL/ECONOMIC EVENTS 
    ATHENS - Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises holds its 
annual meeting, at the Athens Music Hall. Prime Minister Costas 
Karamanlis to deliver keynote speech, at 1430 GMT. 
  
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
22/05   1100  Kego             <KEGr.AT>     AGM 
22/05   0900  Reds             <CAMr.AT>     AGM 
22/05   0730  Microland        <MCRr.AT>     AGM 
22/05   0900  Lambrakis        <DOLr.AT>     AGM 
22/05   1000  Lamda Developm.  <LMDr.AT>     AGM 
22/05   0630  Singularlogic    <LDSr.AT>     RGM 
 
 
FRIDAY, MAY 23 
GENERAL/ECONOMIC EVENTS 
    ATHENS - Alpha Grissin <CSSr.AT> holds company presentation, 
at the Institutional Investors Association.  
 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
23/05   1400  Proton Bank      <PRBr.AT>     AGM 
23/05   1200  Hellenic Fabric  <HFAr.AT>     AGM 
23/05   0530  Pouliadis        <POUr.AT>     RGM 
 
 
SATURDAY, MAY 24 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
24/05   0800  Karatzi          <KRTr.AT>     AGM 
24/05   0600  Vardas           <VRDr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
MONDAY, MAY 26 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
26/05   1400  MIG              <MRFr.AT>     AGM 
26/05   1400  ATEbank          <AGBr.AT>     Q1 results 
26/05   NA    OPAP             <OPAr.AT>     Q1 results 
 
 
TUESDAY, MAY 27 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
27/05   NA    Folli Follie     <FOLr.AT>     Q1 results 
27/05   NA    Fourlis          <FRLr.AT>     Q1 results 
 
 
WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 
GENERAL/ECONOMIC EVENTS 
    ATHENS - Profile <PRFr.AT> holds company presentation, at 
the Institutional Investors Association. 
     
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
28/05   1200  Omega            <ASRr.AT>     AGM 
28/05   NA    Bank of Cyprus   <BOCr.AT>     Q1 results 
28/05   0700  National Bank    <NBGr.AT>     Q1 results 
 
 
THURSDAY, MAY 29 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
29/05   1100  Autohellas       <AUTr.AT>     AGM 
29/05   1300  Nexans           <ALCr.AT>     AGM 
29/05   0930  Motor Oil        <MORr.AT>     AGM 
29/05   0900  Fashion Box      <BOXr.AT>     AGM 
29/05   NA    OTE              <OTEr.AT>     Q1 results 
 
 
FRIDAY, MAY 30 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
30/05   0700  Maxim-Pertsinidis<MAXIM.AT>    AGM 
30/05   0900  Reds             <CAMr.AT>     AGM 
30/05   0900  HDFS             <HDFr.AT>     AGM 
30/05   0730  Microland        <MCRr.AT>     AGM 
30/05   1100  Mytilineos       <MYTr.AT>     EGM 
30/05   0700  Motodynamics     <MTDr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
MONDAY, JUNE 2 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
02/06   0800  Athens Water     <EYDr.AT>     AGM 
02/06   0600  Elve             <ELBr.AT>     AGM 
02/06   0900  Euroconsultants  <ERCr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
TUESDAY, JUNE 3 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
03/06   1130  Alfa-Beta Vassil.<ABVr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
THURSDAY, JUNE 5 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
05/06   1000  C.Rokas          <ARCr.AT>     AGM 
05/06   1200  Global           <GEFr.AT>     AGM 
05/06   1400  Euroholdings     <EUHr.AT>     AGM 
05/06   1000  Dias             <DIAr.AT>     AGM 
05/06   0900  Mochlos          <MOHr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
FRIDAY, JUNE 6 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
06/06   0900  GEKE             <GKE.AT>      AGM 
06/06   0800  Alumil           <ALMr.AT>     AGM 
06/06   0800  Frigoglass       <FRIr.AT>     AGM 
06/06   0900  Iaso             <IASr.AT>     AGM 
 
GOVERNMENT DEBT ISSUES 
Date   GMT   City    Event 
06/06  NA    Athens  PDMA announces amount for 5-year  
                     bond auction 
 
 
TUESDAY, JUNE 10 
GOVERNMENT DEBT ISSUES 
Date   GMT   City    Event 
10/06  NA    Athens  PDMA re-opens 5-year bond 
 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
10/06   0700  Keramia-Allatini <KEAr.AT>     EGM 
10/06   1100  Balcan Export    <BALr.AT>     AGM 
 
 
THURSDAY, JUNE 12 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
12/06   0800  Public Power Corp<DEHr.AT>     AGM 
12/06   1100  Sidma            <SDMr.AT>     AGM 
12/06   1100  Logismos         <MCLr.AT>     AGM 
12/06   0700  Varvaressos      <VRV.AT>      AGM 
 
 
FRIDAY, JUNE 13 
EQUITIES 
Date    GMT   Company Name      RIC          Event 
13/06   0700  Fourlis          <FRLr.AT>     AGM 
 
((Athens Newsroom +30 210 3311813, fax +30 210 3311829, 
athens.newsroom@news.reuters.com, tatiana.fragou@reuters.com)) 
    * NOTE: The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily 
mean that Reuters will file a story based on the event. 
    INDEX OF DIARIES - double-click on [IND/DIARY] 
  

Next: INTERVIEW-Turk finmin sees 08 budget gap few bln below target