Nestle SA - Reg European Patent Offices revokes patent Nespresso system - financial press
Israel IDF Spokesperson: Israel Air Force has bombed airports in Syria to prevent Russian arms from reaching the Syrian Army - twitter
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Invensys Holders Approve Special Resolution for Schneider Deal 2013-10-10 13:20:36.793 GMT
By Benjamin Dow Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- 99.95% of Invensys shares voted for special resolution to take effect.
Link to statement:{NSN MUGEY13HBS3K <go>} Link to Company News:{ISYS LN <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company News:{SU FP <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>} First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benjamin Dow at +7-495-771-7735 or bdow2@bloomberg.net
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European Billionaires Emerge With Stakes in Family Companies (1) 2013-10-10 13:28:54.132 GMT
(Updates foreign exchange data in the fifth paragraph.)
By Tom Metcalf Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- A bull market for luxury goods and rising demand for construction equipment and laboratory services has minted three new European billionaires who hold stakes in family-controlled businesses. The fortunes of Marina Giori-Swarovski, an heiress to the Swarovski crystal fortune; Mark Bamford, the youngest son of the founder of U.K. backhoe maker JCB Service; and Gilles Martin, who controls French food and drug tester Eurofins Scientific, have each surpassed $1 billion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. None have been cited individually as billionaires on an international wealth ranking. “Figures suggest family businesses in Europe make up more than 60 percent of firms and a third of employment levels,” Roger Pedder, president of industry lobbying group European Family Businesses, said by phone. “They’re the largest and least reported element of the European economy.” More than 20 billionaires have been identified within European families in the past 12 months, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, including nine from Germany’s Quandt and Reimann families, two from Italy’s Prada family, seven from the Hoffmann and Oeri families of Switzerland, and three from Denmark’s Kirk Kristiansen family, which owns Lego. Their emergence comes amid a broader recovery in the European economy. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index is up 10.3 percent in 2013, and the euro has gained 6 percent, the biggest increase this year among the 10 developed-nation countries tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar has risen 3.2 percent and the yen dropped 9.9 percent.
Trillion Euros
Family companies represented by Brussels-based European Family Businesses have more than a trillion euros in revenue and make up 9 percent of the European Union’s gross domestic product, according to its website. The companies are often controlled through holding entities in offshore financial jurisdictions such as Bermuda and Luxembourg. Many are providing greater transparency into their operations as a way of seeking goodwill from the financial community and governments, according to Goran Grosskopf, a Swedish economist who has advised a number of family dynasties in Europe. Such businesses probably won’t publicly disclose ownership details, he said. “Families prefer to keep this kind information private because of competition, taxation and security,” Grosskopf said. “I hope they will continue to do so. The entrepreneurship these businesses provide are critical to the development of the economy.”
Barbados Home
Mark Bamford, 62, is a director of five subsidiaries of Rocester, England-based JCB, Europe’s biggest construction- equipment manufacturer. He inherited at least 25 percent of the group after his father’s death in 2001, according to court documents filed in the U.K. crown dependency of Jersey in 2003. JCB had revenue of 2.7 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) in 2012, as sales doubled in Africa and jumped 20 percent in the Americas. The stake is valued using published 2012 financials and the average enterprise value-to-earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and price-to-earnings multiples of two comparable publicly traded companies: Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu Ltd. Enterprise value is defined as market capitalization plus total debt minus cash. The company is often associated with Bamford’s 67-year-old billionaire brother, Anthony, who’s been its chairman since 1975. Anthony owns a 200-foot yacht and Barbados home, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.
Longtime Mistress
Mark keeps a lower profile. He joined the company in 1969 and is on the board of five subsidiaries of JCB, according to regulatory filings at U.K. Companies House. The brothers control JCB through two Bermuda-based entities -- AB Bermuda Trust One and MB Bermuda Trust One -- their father created in 1996, around the time he passed half of JCB to his sons, according to court documents filed in 2002 in Jersey. When he died in 2001, the elder Bamford stipulated in his will the remaining half of the company be “subject thereto upon trust in equal shares,” for the benefit of his two sons, the documents showed. He made his longtime mistress, Jayne Ellis, the income beneficiary of the shares. The Bamfords sued over the will’s distribution and reached an out-of-court settlement with Ellis. Anthony Bamford was quoted by the Birmingham Post newspaper in May 2005 saying the “company continues in the exclusive ownership of the Bamford family.” The exact split between the brothers isn’t disclosed. Anthony is credited with 75 percent of JCB because of his operational control over the business. Mark is assigned the 25 percent he received in his father’s will in 2001. Nigel Chell, a JCB spokesman, said the Bamfords declined to comment on the calculation of their net worth, and said attributing the company to “Bamford family interests” is the most accurate way to refer to the company’s ownership.
Food Purity
Gilles Martin is chief executive officer of publicly traded Eurofins Scientific Group SE, a French laboratory services provider that moved its headquarters to Luxembourg in 2012. The Martin family controls 43 percent of the company’s shares through Analytical Bioventures SCA, a family investment vehicle. Martin holds 67.5 percent of that entity, according to Orbis, a database of company information published by Bureau van Dijk, valuing his stake in the company at $1.1 billion. He founded Eurofins in 1987, in his hometown of Nantes, France, as a way to market a technology created by his parents that helped ascertain the sugar content of wine.
Laboratory Testing
The company has 14,000 employees and 180 laboratories, according to its website, and had sales of 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in 2012, up 65 percent in five years. It has expanded to include testing and support services for the pharmaceutical, food, environmental and consumer-products industries. Sylvain Besson, a spokesman for Eurofins, said Martin was traveling and not available for comment, and declined to discuss the family’s personal details. The billionaire’s brother, Yves- Loic, controls about 30 percent of the family business and their sister, Valerie Anne Marie Hanote-Martin controls 1.7 percent. All three siblings serve on the company’s board of directors, and Gilles is chairman. The brothers were listed on the Challenges Magazine ranking of the richest people in France with a combined fortune of $1.3 billion in July 2013.
Crystal Fortune
Giori-Swarovski, the sister of Gernot Langes-Swarovski, the largest shareholder of Austria-based D. Swarovski KG, the world’s top producer of cut crystal, controls 13 percent of the company, according to Orbis. She owns her stake through Marina Giori Beteiligungs und Verwaltungs GmbH, an Innsbruck, Austria- based holding company. Swarovski had revenue of 3.1 billion euros in 2012, and is valued at $9 billion, according to data compiled Bloomberg, based on the average enterprise value-to-sales, enterprise value-to-Ebitda, and price-to-earnings multiples of two publicly traded peers: Pandora A/S and Folli Follie SA. The company’s press office didn’t respond to an e-mail requesting comment on Giori-Swarovski’s net worth. “Swarovski is a family-owned and run business and not obliged to disclose anything beyond the legal and regulatory obligations,” the company said in a January e-mail. “Any numbers and valuations from third parties are purely speculative.” Giori-Swarovski is the second billionaire to emerge from the cut-crystal dynasty, which is owned by more than 60 family members. She is the great-granddaughter of Daniel Swarovski, the company’s founder. Her brother, Gernot, owns a 21 percent stake of Swarovski valued at $1.9 billion. “She’s got a very good relationship with her brother,” Reinhard Berger, president of Liechtenstein-based investment company Valluga AG said in a phone interview. “Together they control about 35 percent of the company and are the strongest branch of the family.”
For Related News and Information: Billionaire Swarovski Surfaces With Austrian Crystal Fortune (1) NSN MH6EKE6JTSET <GO> Lego Builds Billionaires as Most-Valuable Toymaker Passes Mattel NSN MJMD4Y6KLVR6 <GO> Seven Swiss Billionaires Found With Roche at Five-Year High (1) NSN MIMKMI6K50ZA <GO> Bloomberg Billionaires Index: RICH <GO>
--Editors: Robert LaFranco, Peter Newcomb
To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Metcalf in London at +44-20-3525-4919 or tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at +1-212-617-7210 or mmiller144@bloomberg.net
Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: RT -13.9%, CTXS -12.7%, CKSW -9.7%, VOXX -6.9%, PRXI -6.6%, HUBG -4.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie), BKE -3.2%, LNN -1.3%, HELE -1.2%, CVX -0.3%.
M&A news: MW -0.5% (Men's Wearhouse adopts limited duration Shareholder Rights Plan; Jos. A. Bank responds to Mens Wearhouse (MW); will cont to pursue $48 per share proposal).
CTXS peers are under pressure: NTAP -2.2%, VMW -1.8%, FFIV -1%, CRM -0.8%, EMC -0.6%, RHT -0.5%, JNPR -0.5%
Other news: CGR -7.3% (will voluntarily delist its common shares from the NYSE MKT), VISN -4.9% (continuing modest pullback), PCYC -2.9% (continued weakness), IRM -2.7% (Announces CFO Departure), BPL -2.3% (commences public offering of 6.5 mln limited partnership units representing limited partner interests; to Acquire Liquid Petroleum Products Terminals Network From Hess for $850 Million), CTRP -1.6% (announces proposed offering of $500 mln convertible senior notes), BBRY -1% (BlackBerry Z30 will be carried by Rogers Communications (RCI), according to reports; also BlackBerry open to breakup of company, according to reports ), GTN -0.9% (following late spike; Bloomberg Real M&A reporting that SBGI could be looking to acquire GTN), HES -0.4% (Hess announces sale of terminal network for approx $850 mln in cash).
Analyst comments: LF -8.2% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ascendiant), SNE -0.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup), RHP -0.7% (Ryman Hospitality downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman), GSK -0.4% ( downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse).
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*U.S. INITIAL JOBLESS CLAIMS ROSE 66,000 LAST WEEK TO 374,000 2013-10-10 12:30:02.249 GMT
-0- Oct/10/2013 12:30 GMT
Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance/SSS: DRWI +11.1% (light volume), IGTE +8.4%, SYNA +0.8% (to pay ~$92.5 mln in cash and stock to acquire Validity Sensors; co sees Q1 revs of $220 mln vs $206.31 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate).
M&A news: PVR +17.5% (Regency Energy Partners to Acquire PVR Partners for $5.6 Billion), JOSB +0.9% (Men's Wearhouse adopts limited duration Shareholder Rights Plan; Jos. A. Bank responds to Mens Wearhouse (MW); will cont to pursue $48 per share proposal).
Select financial related names showing strength: ING +3.7%, PUK +3%, DB +2.4%, HBC +1.4%.
With sharp gain in futures, momentum stocks leading gains after showing relative strength amid recent selloff: TSLA +3.4% DDD +2.3% NFLX +2.6% ( initiated with a Buy at Needham), GRPN +2.3%, FB +2.2%, YELP +2%
Solar names moving higher: CSIQ +6.9%, JKS +6.3%, RSOL +4%, SOL +3.4%, STP +3%, YGE +3%, SPWR +2.8%, FSLR +1.2%
China internet names seeing upside move: YY +3.6%, DANG +3.1%, BIDU +1.2%
Other news: ACUR +29% (Acura Pharma announces settlement of Oxecta patent litigation with Par Pharmaceutical and Impax Laboratories), CHTP +9% ( announces FDA Advisory Committee to review NORTHERA), ACAD +6.7% (rebounding), ALU +5.4% (still checking), CLDX +4.6% (still checking), TTM +4.2% (still checking), DVAX +3.5% (initiates first human trial in asthma program), TEVA +3.2% (Teva Pharma announced steps to accelerate the reduction of costs and to optimize its structure and processes; $2.0 bln in annual cost savings by the end of 2017 including $1.0 bln by the end of 2014; reaffirms FY13 guidance), GILD +3.1% (Gilead to Stop Phase 3 Study 116 of Idelalisib in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Early Because of Positive Risk-Benefit), DRYS +2.7% (still checking), MU +2.5% (still checking), TASR +1.8% (enters into a definitive agreement to acquire Familiar; team will be joining EVIDENCE.com), SIRI +1.8% (Sirius XM Radio announces its Board of Directors has approved an additional $2 bln common stock repurchase program), IMMU +1.8% (announces termination of agreement and return of worldwide rights to veltuzumab for all non-cancer indications), ARUN +1.6% (announces additional $100 mln share repurchase authorization), LMT +1.6% (Lockheed Martin and US Air Force are close to $2.2 bln satellites deal, according to reports), NUAN +1.4% (announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Varolii), YHOO +1.2% (still checking), STX +0.7% (following reports SSNLF selling stake back to the company).
Analyst comments: ODP +5.3% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney ), SSYS +3.3% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan), TI +2.2% (upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital ), FCH +2% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman), HPQ +1.8% (upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Mizuho), DFS +1.4% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup), BA +0.5% (Boeing initiated with a Buy at Canaccord Genuity), CHKP +0.4% (Check Point upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen)
S&P's Kraemer: S&P would reconsider its sovereign ratings on the United States if there were no debt limit solution; still believe the Congress will raise the ceiling on time
***Note that S&P's US sovereign rating is at AA+, outlook stable. On June 10th, S&P revised the US sovereign outlook to stable from negative. ***Reminder: On Sept 30th, S&P said the debt ceiling debate was unlikely to change the firm's AA+ rating.
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Reports Q3 $0.72 v $0.40e, R$412M v $401Me; approves 3.5M share buyback program (10% of shares oustanding) - Guides FY13 $2.21-2.37 v $2.11e, Adj EBITDA $165-175M, North America contract sales +4-8% y/y (prior $1.94-2.10; Adj EBITDA $155-165M, North America contract sales +5-10% y/y on July 18th) - Adjusted net income reflects a $3 million increase in pre-tax income that resulted from the exclusion of $4 million of organizational and separation related costs, partially offset by the exclusion of $1 million of pre-tax income related to the impact of extended rescission periods in the company's Europe segment. - CEO: djusted EBITDA increased over 50 percent year over year, driven by VPG growth and solid development margin performance, as well as stronger results from our rental and resort management businesses,Based on our year-to-date performance and our outlook for the fourth quarter, we are increasing our full year adjusted development margin, free cash flow and EBITDA guidance."
Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: ACUR +29%, DRWI +11.1%, CHTP +9%, CSIQ +6.9%, ALU +5.4%, TTM +4.2%, DVAX +3.5%, TSLA +3.4%, GILD +3.1%, YGE +3%, DRYS +2.7%, MU +2.5%, DB +2.4%, MT +2.4%, DDD +2.3%, FB +2.2%, ARUN +1.6%, LMT +1.6%, HBC +1.4%, YHOO +1.2%, JOSB +0.9%, SYNA +0.8%, STX +0.7%
Gapping down: CTXS -13%, RT -11.3%, CKSW -9.7%, CGR -7.3%, VOXX -6.9%, PRXI -6.6%, VISN -4.9%, HUBG -4.4%, VMW -2.4%, BPL -2.3%, FFIV -2.2%, NTAP -2.2%, RHT -2.1%, CTRP -1.6%, AU -1.5%, HELE -1.2%, GTN -0.9%, EMC -0.6%, ORCL -0.6%, JNPR -0.5%, MW -0.5%, HES -0.4%