>>> BlackBerry Reports Q4 -$0.08 v -$0.56e, R$976M v $1.04Be


BlackBerry Reports Q4 -$0.08 v -$0.56e, R$976M v $1.04Be
- Gross margin 43% v 34% y/y

- Outlook: The Company anticipates maintaining its strong cash position and continuing to look for opportunities to streamline operations. The Company is targeting break even cash flow results by the end of fiscal 2015.

- CEO: "I am very pleased with our progress and execution in fiscal Q4 against the strategy we laid out three months ago. We have significantly streamlined operations, allowing us to reach our expense reduction target one quarter ahead of schedule. BlackBerry is on sounder financial footing today with a path to returning to growth and profitability."

>>> Bellzone Mining : in discussion with shareholder China Sonangol to secure ad


Bellzone Mining PLC Spokesperson: Currently in discussion with shareholder China Sonangol International Singapore Pte Ltd. to secure additional funds
- The Board confirms the Company is currently in discussions with one of its major shareholders, China Sonangol International Singapore Pte Ltd ("CS"), with regard to securing additional equity capital which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.
- This announcement has been made without the consent of CS. At this stage there can be no certainty that the preliminary discussions will result in additional equity capital being secured, nor as to the terms on which any proposal might be made or pursued.

>>> Maersk: Very strong freight rate increases this morning. Shanghai- Northern

Maersk: Very strong freight rate increases this morning. Shanghai- Northern Europe +$371 /TEU to now $1214 and hence regains more than half of the $679 /TEU that market has retracted over the past 6 weeks due to cascading. On Shanghai-Mediteranian, the increase was $508 /TEU to now $1401 /TEU. This is well above hopes and whisper in the market of increases up to $250-300 pr TEU. Transpacific was more or less flat.

FT : Facebook works on drones and lasers

Facebook is working on drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to far-flung corners of the world, in its second big bet on future technology in a week.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive, said the company was working with leading experts from Nasa and acquiring a team from Ascenta, a five-person UK-based company whose founders helped create an early version of a solar-powered unmanned aircraft.

Internet.org, a Facebook-led effort to bring everyone in the world online, has made “good progress”, he said, but needed to design new technology to work.
“In our effort to connect the whole world with Internet.org, we’ve been working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote in a post on the social network.
“Today we’re sharing some details of the work Facebook’s Connectivity Lab is doing to build drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone.”
The new team is already working on planes and satellites to provide internet connectivity. It believes it will require different solutions depending on the density of populations. In higher-density areas solar-powered drones can be quickly deployed and deliver reliable internet connections, it said, but in rural areas, satellites could beam internet access to the ground.
The Ascenta team, based in Somerset in England, will stay in the UK. In a short unsigned post on the site the group wrote about forming a “special partnership” with Facebook built on a “shared vision” of connecting developing countries.
“Facebook has demonstrated a serious commitment to this effort and we are more excited than ever about the potential for our technology and our future impact in the world,” they wrote.
Mr Zuckerberg’s announcement came less than 48 hours after Facebook said it had bought Oculus, a virtual reality headset maker, taking the company in an unexpected direction.
The $2bn Oculus deal was a bet that virtual reality could become the dominant internet platform after mobile – and an effort by Facebook to ensure its relevance for decades to come.

Mr Zuckerberg stressed that investors should not expect Facebook to do many of these kind of deals and that it was a “rare” event to have bought Oculus so soon after the $19bn acquisition of chat app WhatsApp last month.
Facebook and Google are in an arms race to acquire companies which provide a gamble on the future of technology. Google in the past six months has invested in Calico, a company which aims to preserve life, and bought Nest, a company which produces wireless smoke alarms and heating systems for ‘smart’ homes, as well as Boston Dynamics, the creator of the world’s fastest-running robot and animal-like machines supplied to the US military.
Amazon was the first of the major internet companies to experiment with drones, announcing in December that it was developing unmanned aerial drones to deliver packages to consumers within five years. But some drone experts derided the move as a publicity stunt ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Facebook did not disclose the terms of the deal with Ascenta, which has a “deep expertise” in designing and building high-altitude long-endurance aircraft. The Ascenta team has a history of working in the aerospace industry with companies including Boeing and Honeywell.
Facebook has also hired experts from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, its Ames Research Center and the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

WSJ Intesa Posts Huge Loss on Write-Downs Ahead of stress te

Intesa Sanpaolo Posts Huge Loss on Write-Downs Ahead of Stress Tests

News Comes Weeks After Rival UniCredit Reported Massive Loss, Also Weighed by Balance-Sheet Cleanup

Intesa Sanpaolo's results were hit by big write-downs on bad loans and the value of past acquisitions. Bloomberg News MILAN— Intesa Sanpaolo ISP.MI +1.13% SpA posted a massive net loss for the fourth quarter on Friday, hit by huge write-downs on bad loans and on the value of past acquisitions as it cleans up its balance sheet ahead of a euro-zone check of the area's largest lenders.

The bank reported a net loss of €5.19 billion ($7.13 billion) for the three-month period, compared with a net loss of €83 million a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a net loss of €35 million.

The lender proposed a cash dividend of €0.05 a share for 2013—the same as for 2012.

Intesa said it wrote down the value of its bad loans by €3.10 billion in the last quarter—roughly twice to three times the amount it set aside to cover for souring loans in each of the last seven quarters.

The bank also said it wrote down its so-called goodwill, as well as the value of other intangible assets by €5.80 billion.

The last time the bank did so was in the last quarter of 2011, when it posted a net loss of €10.12 billion caused by a goodwill write-off relating to the merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI that created the company and reflected the lower value subsequently put on the combined entity.

Italy's No. 2 bank by assets also published a strategic plan for 2014-17 on Friday. In this plan it said it aims to reach an annual net profit of €4.5 billion in 2017, and set out plans to move toward a more fee-based business model in preparation for a potentially prolonged period of low interest rates.

Earlier in March, UniCredit UCG.MI +0.62% SpA, Italy's largest bank by assets, reported one of the largest losses ever recorded by a European bank, also the result of an aggressive cleanup of its balance sheet ahead of regulators' coming health check.

(Nomura) European Insurance : Neutral on the sector as outlook is mixed

>>> Top Picks :
1. Aviva (Buy) –Inexpensively valued relative to its peers.
2. Axa (Buy) –Strong earnings and dividend growth over 2012-15E.
3. Prudential (Buy) – Asian growth story, focus on cash, and the prospects of
optionality make it a outperformer.
4. St. James’s Place (Buy) – Differentiated business model ,and strong
dividend growth merit holding the stock.
5. Swiss Life (Buy) – One of the key beneficiary from rising interest rates,
rising dividend payout supported by improved balance sheet.

>>> Selected Reduce ratings
1. Baloise (Reduce) – As good as it gets.
2. Munich Re (Reduce) – Lack of catalyst post buyback announcement,
earnings outlook negative as pressure on rates continues.
3. Generali (Reduce) – Balance sheet still stretched and over-levered given
payment of second tranche for CEE buyout coming up; premium valuation
not warranted.
4. Scor (Reduce) – Current valuation reflects its return potential, bleak rates
outlook makes further outperformance unlikely.
5. VIG (Reduce) – Issues in CEE are continuing to weigh on results.
6. Zurich (Reduce) – Lack of earnings momentum, premium valuation.

>>> Dividends, interest rates, and non-life pricing, the key themes
- Post a number of years of underperformance, the European insurance sector
outperformed the market by 20% in 2012 and 12% in 2013.
- After this outperformance, we think the sector is fairly valued, and for 2014
further outperformance looks unlikely. This brings back focus to stock picking.
- On a P/E basis, the sector is trading at 10x 12m FWD P/E and is cheaper than
the market, but this has to be seen in the context of 6.6x 12m FWD P/E in
May 2012.
- Since the financial crisis in 2008, the sector has witnessed a number of key
themes/concerns coming into focus - peripheral European sovereign debt
crisis, stubbornly low interest rates, and Solvency II – to name a few.
- For 2014 (and beyond) we think the following three themes will be in focus,
and drive stock performance.
- Dividends: Current dividend yield as well as the potential of dividend
growth (positive capital surprises have been rewarded).
- Interest rates: In a rising interest rate scenario, life insurers should benefit.
- Non-life pricing: A mixed effect of factors such as underwriting
profitability, muted economic growth, increasing competition, increased
flow of non-traditional capital into reinsurance , and regulatory interventions
is set to mute the broad non-life pricing outlook .
- We expect non-life reinsurance rates to continue to be under pressure
as renewal seasons progress.

(BFW) Volvo Sells Commercial Real Estate for SEK2b

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Volvo Sells Commercial Real Estate for SEK2b 2014-03-28 07:38:15.415 GMT

By Veronica Ek March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Purchase consideration of ~SEK2b is on cash, debt free basis. * Net financial debt in Industrial Operation expected to be reduced by ~SEK1.9b * Deal expected to have ~SEK900m positive impact on 2Q op. income * Commercial real estate sold to cos jointly owned by Hemfosa Fastigheter, Sagax and to cos owned by Sagax * Completion of transaction subject to approval from Swedish Competition Authority * Statement: NSN N34Y6I3PWT1E <GO>

For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO> First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story: Veronica Ek in Stockholm at +46-8-610-0722 or vek@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or jludden@bloomberg.net

>>> Ark Therapeutics : Trading halted, Has signed heads of terms in connection w


Ark Therapeutics Group Plc Trading halted, Has signed heads of terms in connection with the possible acquisition of a revenue-generating and profitable UK-based private company in the healthcare support services
- The transaction would be structured by way of an acquisition of the Target by Ark in consideration for the issue of new Ark shares to the shareholders of the Target. Due to its size in relation to Ark, the proposed acquisition of the Target constitutes a "reverse takeover" for the purposes of the Listing Rules. However the intention would be that the existing Ark shareholders would retain a significant minority of the equity of the enlarged Company. The Company has requested that the listing of Ark's Premium listed shares on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange be suspended by the UK Listing Authority pending publication of the required shareholder documents. Shareholder approval would be required to approve the acquisition of the Target which would be sought at a general meeting to be convened in due course, after which the Company also expects to seek a lifting of the trading suspension.