Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- CI +0.5% (reaffirms FY21 EPS guidance)
Other news:
- NETI +10% (announces that Seajacks UK Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company and a leading provider of installation and maintenance vessels to the offshore wind sector, has signed a contract with Dutch marine contractor, Van Oord)
- BORR +8% (announces agreement to defer $1.4 billion of debt maturities and yard instalments to 2025)
- BCLI +4.6% (authorizes three additional does of NurOwn)
- DBDR +4.2% (shareholders approve business combination with CompoSecure Holdings)
- GDDY +4.1% (Starboard Value aiming to take "sizeable" stake in GDDY, according to WSJ)
- DOGZ +2.7% (announced its Discover Smart GPS Pet Tracker has become the 2nd most popular product in its category in China after only 3 weeks on the market)
- XXII +2.6% (receives authorized marketing for VLN from FDA)
- VLD +2.4% (announces first Sapphire XC delivery)
- TNET +2% (agrees to acquire Zenefits)
Analyst comments:
- LUCD +7.7% (initiated with a Buy at Ascendiant Capital Markets)
- CNHI +2.9% (resumed with an Overweight at Morgan Stanley)
New powers for UK pension watchdog hit dealmaking
Advisers say potential buyers now more cautious of companies with defined benefit schemes
New enforcement powers that let the UK pension watchdog seek jail terms if corporate activity damages a workplace retirement scheme have begun to affect dealmaking, according to pension advisers.
At least one deal that had reached an advanced stage has collapsed since the new criminal offences were introduced in October, according to a Financial Times survey of six of the largest pensions consultants that provide advice on mergers and acquisitions.
Potential buyers have also become warier of companies that have defined benefit (DB) schemes, where the employer is on the hook to fund pension commitments.
“I am aware of one good-sized deal — involving a DB scheme — that collapsed,” said John Harvey, partner with Aon, the actuarial consultancy firm. “The negotiations were advanced. The pension worry played a large role in the decision to withdraw from the deal.”
The findings provide the first insight into the impact of The Pensions Regulator’s new powers that are designed to offer better protection for pension scheme members. The watchdog can seek criminal sanctions, including jail terms and unlimited fines, against anyone engaging in activity that materially damages the funding of a DB pension scheme.
The penalties were brought in following a series of corporate pension scandals, including that of BHS, the former high street retailer, and Carillion, the outsourcing group, where the retirement savings of tens of thousands of members were put at risk due to underfunding of the schemes when these businesses collapsed.
Stephen Postill, senior director with Willis Towers Watson, said the new rules appeared to be particularly affecting private equity transactions, which typically are highly leveraged.
“There’s certainly an air of nervousness about deals,” said Postill. “It’s early days but I expect the new rules will make it harder for a business to sell if they have a substantial pension scheme,” he said, adding: “I would say these powers are a more of a deterrent for private equity deals.”
Charles Cowling, chief actuary with Mercer, said the new powers were slowing business activity because of the “additional conversations and legal advice” that were now required.
“The new higher bar has led to a fair amount of nervousness expressed by both trustees and employers about the potential for these new powers to give rise to fines and prosecution,” said Cowling. “It is slowing down the process because employers have to take much more care to ensure that [pension scheme] trustees are informed of any corporate activity that might have implications for the strength of the covenant.”
XPS Pensions said some companies looking for acquisitions now “do not want to go near” a business with a DB pension scheme, due to future regulatory risk. “I think inevitably we will see more companies pulling out of deals, or not proceeding with deals, where pensions are involved,” said Robert Wallace, a corporate adviser at XPS. “Even though the risk of a jail term may be small, it is not something that some buyers are willing to take on in a deal.”
The Pensions Regulator said: “We don’t intend to prosecute behaviour which we consider to be ordinary commercial activity. However, if someone is proposing to do something that would amount to a more serious example of intentional or reckless conduct putting members’ savings at risk, we will not hesitate to use the powers we have to protect members and the Pension Protection Fund.”
The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association said its members took their “pension scheme responsibilities seriously” and its code of conduct made clear they were “all expected to work to the benefit of the companies they support”.
Monday Morning Papers Summary
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-Investors should not be overexposed to what has worked in the past year, or even three years, said Bill Stromberg, the chief executive of T Rowe Price, who will retire at the end of this year. “Even if they are a year too early. Because when the market unwinds, it will be areas of risk that unwind the most.”
-Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vucic, who supports the Rio Tinto lithium mine, said it would not proceed unless the country supported it and environmental standards were applied. “People can choose.?.?. I’m ready to listen to both sides,” he told the Financial Times in an interview last week. “If it’s not [possible] we will not go for it,” he said.
-Vale is best known as one of the world’s biggest producers of iron ore from its sprawling Brazilian operations — but its chief executive wants to change that. For Eduardo Bartolomeo, being seen as a “one geography, one mineral company” is dangerous and Vale should be trying to highlight the value of its industrial metals business, which he says has the potential to be a key supplier of battery materials to the North American car industry.
-Cathay has been operating with passenger capacity at 93 per cent below pre-pandemic levels as a result of Hong Kong’s zero-Covid-19 policy, with weeks of quarantine for pilots and crew devastating morale. Strict quarantine measures in the city were made even tougher after the Omicron coronavirus variant prompted new travel curbs. Non-residents from more than 90 countries were banned from entry and passengers from the UK and the US were subjected to 21 days’ quarantine.
-CityDAO is one of the most visible examples of the hundreds of so-called decentralized autonomous organizations, loose groups of cryptocurrency users who band together for a central purpose, whether it be governing an open-source software program or buying real-world assets.
-A small group of hedge funds is enjoying some of the best trades in years thanks to huge volatility in shipping charter rates, fueled most recently by the collision of the Omicron coronavirus variant with the reawakening global economy.
-Lars Müller is chief executive of Synbiotic, a leading player in Germany’s burgeoning cannabinoid sector that invests in everything from growers to researchers and distributors. It is an industry experiencing a high of epic proportions. The trigger was an announcement late last month from the three parties in Germany’s new coalition government that they planned to legalize cannabis. Synbiotic’s share price doubled on the news.
-The Bank of Mexico’s outgoing governor has spoken out about the importance of protecting the bank’s constitutional mandate as the institution faces mounting political pressure from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his party.
-President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser warned on Sunday that the number of Americans infected with Covid-19 was likely to “go much higher” before easing off in the New Year.
-Moderna is fighting a shareholder proposal demanding the pharma group open up its Covid-19 vaccine technology to poorer countries and explain why its prices are so high given the amount of government assistance it has received.
-Xi’an, the city at the center of China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak in almost two years has tightened lockdown measures and launched another round of mandatory testing for its 13m residents in an effort to extinguish the virus.
-The Indian Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine in Australia will begin exporting coal after years of fierce opposition to the project, tapping a new multi-decade source of the fossil fuel despite global pressure to phase it out.
-Not all small businesses can afford the effects of recent changes at Instagram. And these have had a tangible effect on sales traffic and engagement from Instagram, according to Ruth Prada and Sam Bokma, founders of Trippy Tuesday, a small business that makes candles and jewelry in shapes that are “body normative” and reflect how real people look.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
-As Omicron spreads, some nursing homes struggle to boost residents. Medical experts say the government should do more to get booster shots into long-term care residents in New York.
-A 20-car pileup in Nevada and snow showers in Portland were part of a cold front in the Northwest that was expected to be followed by plummeting temperatures.
-Once officially banned, Christmas is coming out of hiding in Saudi Arabia, as its ultra-constrictive religious rules are eased.
-Like prospectors in the American West during the gold rush, companies and self-starters are racing to far-flung places around the globe to mine the natural resources that will drive the technology of the 21st century.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
-The Omicron variant pushed Covid-19 daily cases in the U.S. to the highest level in nearly a year, leading to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights over the holiday weekend and signaling the different kind of threat that the surging new strain poses to the economy and everyday life.
-US Christmas spending rose 8.5% over last year, fueled by shoppers hitting physical stores early over worries about supply: Fretters saved U.S. retailers from a gloomier holiday.
-US stocks are on track to end 2021 with another year of outsize gains. Many investors aren’t expecting a repeat in 2022. The S&P 500 has climbed 26% so far in 2021, after rising 16% in 2020. But earnings growth is expected to moderate next year, and the Federal Reserve is pursuing plans to raise interest rates, chipping away at key supports for the stock market’s rally.
-Omicron is changing the definition of what it means to be fully vaccinated, because early studies suggest that current Covid-19 vaccines will require three doses to offer sufficient protection against the variant. Yet given resistance to vaccinations, requiring a booster dose could be a thorny decision for policy makers and health authorities.
-Lawmakers say 2022 is shaping up as a pivotal year in their efforts to tighten regulations on social media and other internet platforms—and are pushing President Biden to come off the sidelines.
-A statute created to bring down the mafia is being used more creatively to go after individuals, like singer R. Kelly and Nxivm founder Keith Raniere.
-AT&T cut promised life insurance for former workers—and time runs out at year-end. The company, which is sparing its executives from the cut, says it brings benefits in line with what other firms offer.
-A decisive Russian military victory in Poltava in 1709 allowed Moscow to dominate much of this country for nearly three centuries. If Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to pull it off again with the tens of thousands of troops he has amassed around Ukraine, he will have to reckon with people like 39-year-old archaeologist Anatoliy Khanko.
-El Salvador—Latin America, once a hot spot of Covid-19 deaths, now leads the U.S. and much of the world in vaccinations, as supply concerns have eased and health policy makers rush to shield their countries from new variants roiling other regions.
-Salaried employees are joining hourly workers in getting hefty raises, thanks to the hot job market and inflationary pressures that are also boosting pay for workers including waiters and warehouse staff.
-Tens of thousands of seafarers are stuck at sea working beyond their maximum 11-month contracts, as the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant hinders cargo ship operators’ ability to change over crews. With the world’s 1.5 million sailors spending long stretches far from land, only about a quarter of them are fully vaccinated, ship operators, crewing agencies and industry trade bodies estimate.
-A Rome based tech company has been inspired by Hermann Einstein to do its part for renewable energy here in the countryside south of Milan. The husband-and-wife owners of an artificial-intelligence startup and tech incubator are resurrecting a hydropower plant designed more than 125 years ago by Albert Einstein’s father. If all goes to plan they will contribute more to the country’s electricity grid than they consume.
-After years of digging in its heels, Germany is on track to reduce its giant foreign surpluses, a potential boon for trading partners like the US. For four straight years through 2019, Germany recorded the world’s largest current-account surplus, making it the biggest creditor to other countries and inviting criticism from international officials.
-The consumer-finance arm of China’s Ant Group Co. is boosting its financial firepower with a $3.5B capital increase, with the biggest chunk of outside funding coming from a powerful state-owned institution.
-At least 38 people, including children, were killed in an attack by Myanmar’s military in a region of the country where resistance groups have been fighting forces from the junta, according to international aid group Save the Children and a local militia that opposes the military.
-When Saudi Arabia reopened cinemas for the first time in decades, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. swooped in to ink a deal with the government, gaining a foothold in one of the world’s final frontiers for theaters. Four years later, the American cinema giant lags behind local rivals.
INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY
-Tesla and BYD Co. are both fast-growing EV giants. While a lot of attention falls on startups such as Rivian Automotive, Lucid, Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto, as well as traditional automakers pushing into EVs, such as General Motors and Ford Motor, Tesla and BYD are setting the pace. Both have huge expansion plans.
- As cloud computing evolves and the metaverse becomes a tech industry buzzword, network gear makers find themselves once again basking in the spotlight. It's not exactly the networking bonanza of the late 1990s, but big-name tech stocks like Cisco, Juniper and Arista are once again grabbing investors' attention.
THE TIMES
-Students at leading British universities are routinely using performance-enhancing “study drugs” to prepare for exams or hit essay deadlines, The Times has found. Students and recent graduates from Oxford, Edinburgh, Nottingham and the London School of Economics said that the pills were easily obtainable for about £2 each.
-British Shoppers decided to stay at home on Boxing Day, with a number of retailers declining even to open their doors and footfall across the country almost half of what it was two years ago.
-Former US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort has been hit by Brexit-related labor shortages, according to its latest accounts. The course, set in Ayrshire, admitted that Britain’s departure from the European Union hurt the company by damaging the “availability of drivers and staff, reducing deliveries and the availability of certain product lines”.
-Britain’s use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine may be one of the reasons that the nation is not seeing as many deaths as other European countries, according to a former head of the Vaccine Taskforce.
THE GUARDIAN
-It is more than 13 years since Nato’s Bucharest summit, the meeting that agreed that the western alliance wanted the former Soviet states of Ukraine and Georgia to become members. But in many respects the legacy of that April 2008 meeting – the last attended by Vladimir Putin – hangs over the Ukraine crisis today.
-Gibraltar’s regulators are reviewing a proposal that would prompt the blockchain firm Valereum to buy the exchange in the new year – meaning the British overseas territory could soon host the world’s first integrated bourse, where conventional bonds can be traded alongside major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin. It is a bold move for a territory of just 33,000 people, where the financial sector – which accounts for roughly a third of Gibraltar’s £2.4B economy - is overseen by a regulator staffed by 82 employees. If all goes to plan, the enclave could become a global cryptocurrency hub.
-Financial markets are poised for a bumpy ride in 2022 in the face of soaring inflationary pressure, rising interest rates and ongoing disruption to international supply chains caused by the Omicron variant of coronavirus, experts have said. Analysts and financial investors said Omicron’s emergence had raised the prospect of stagflation with weaker levels of economic growth despite intensifying price pressures in already stretched supply chains. The winter energy crisis will also weigh on Europe’s economies.
USA TODAY
-The omicron variant has thrown America's great return to the office into disarray – perhaps for months. Most companies who had notified employees they would need to come back to the office at least part time early next year have pushed back those plans or are considering doing so because of the latest coronavirus outbreak.
-Federal student loan payments will resume in May. This is to relieve those struggling with the effects of the pandemic.
NEW YORK POST
-A whole new Manhattan skyline will emerge when a dozen-odd planned new projects that have yet to break ground hoist their final I-beams. The big question is: Which, if any, of them will actually start construction in 2022?
-The Blackstone Group is among those investors who are picking through their duds. The private-equity giant has held a significant ownership stake in 10 companies that went public on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ this year, including one business that got sold to a so-called SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition company. Half of those companies — including the Bumble dating app and the Oatly oat drink brand — are now trading well below their offering prices.
CAIXIN
-China’s recent record fine on a top celebrity livestreamer signals that the authorities are tightening taxation on high-income individuals, but to close a loophole that enables tax evasion in the booming but underregulated sector, a formal tax system revamp is necessary, tax experts said. Huang Wei, one of the highest-earning livestreamers, known online as “Weiya,” was ordered to pay 1.34B yuan ($210M) in back taxes, late fees, and fines after tax authorities in the eastern city of Hangzhou found she avoided taxes totaling 643M yuan in 2019 and 2020.
- After a bumpy ride in 2021, China enters a politically important year ahead. Where are the trends headed toward? What are the things to watch? And what will surprise us most? The Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) that concluded on Dec. 10 became the most widely dissected document of this economically turbulent year. Every single word of the 4,000-character long statement was put under the microscope.
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- BORR +6%, DBDR +4.2%, XXII +3.6%, VLD +3.1%, TNET +2%, ORAN +0.8%, PFE +0.6%, FSR +0.5%, IEP +0.5%, MRK +0.5%
- Gapping down:
- UAL -3%, CCL -2.8%, DAL -2.1%, AAL -2.1%, RCL -2%, NCLH -1.9%, JETS -1.8%, NVAX -1.7%, LUV -1.5%, BABA -0.9%, HA -0.9%
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* Gurit Rated New Hold at Octavian; PT 1,615 Swiss francs (+)
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- Sartorius Stedim Biotech (56S1 TH) +1.8%
- Vodafone (VODI TH) +1.3%
- Yara (IU2 TH) +1.2%
- Maersk (DP4B TH) +1.1%
- Philips (PHI1 TH) +1.1%
- Diageo (GUI TH) +0.9%
- EDF (E2F TH) +0.9%
- BAT (BMT TH) +0.8%
- Bechtle (BC8 TH) -1%
- Vopak (VPK5 TH) -1%
- Hannover Re (HNR1 TH) -1.1%
- Delivery Hero (DHER TH) -1.1%
- Hexagon (HXG TH) -1.1%
- Anglo American (NGLB TH) -1.6%
- Watch Europe Miners as Iron Falls on Surplus Concerns
- Lufthansa (LHA TH) -2%
- CD Projekt (7CD TH) -2.3%
- IAG (INR TH) -4.9%
- TUI (TUI1 TH) -5.1%
- Cases Surge Globally; China Battles Local Outbreak: Virus Update
- France Reports Record 100,000 New Covid Cases as Omicron Rages
- Airlines’ U.S. Holiday Flight Cuts Top 2,800 on Crew Shortages
DAX:
- Continental (CON TH) +0.7%
- SAP (SAP TH) -0.7%
MDAX:
- Aroundtown (AT1 TH) +0.8%
- Lufthansa (LHA TH) -2.2%
- Cases Surge Globally; China Battles Local Outbreak: Virus Update
- France Reports Record 100,000 New Covid Cases as Omicron Rages
SDAX:
- LPKF (LPK TH) +1.8%
- PVA TePla (TPE TH) -1.1%
- About You (YOU TH) -1.3%
- MorphoSys (MOR TH) -1.3%
- Shop Apotheke (SAE TH) -1.3%
- SGL (SGL TH) -1.5%
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Asian stocks were mixed and U.S. equity futures were steady Monday amid a mood of caution as traders evaluated spiking coronavirus cases and a weekend pledge of greater economic support from China’s central bank.
Shares declined in Japan and fluctuated in China, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts edged up following an all-time high for U.S. stocks on Thursday before the Christmas break.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield slipped, West Texas Intermediate crude fell and gold retreated. A dollar gauge ticked higher. Reports indicated new daily U.S. infections with the omicron virus variant have surpassed those in the delta wave, while China posted the highest number of local cases since January. The pathogen is causing disruption, including the cancellation of almost 2,400 flights over the holiday weekend in the U.S.
In China, the central bank on Saturday pledged greater support for the real economy and said it will make monetary policy more forward-looking and targeted, amid expectations of easing as a property slowdown saps growth.
China’s possible policy loosening contrasts with steps by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to fight high inflation by scaling back stimulus. The outlook for monetary policy, the virus and company earnings are shaping thinking about whether global stocks can keep rising after nearly doubling from pandemic lows.
Chinese regulators also plan tighter scrutiny of overseas share sales by domestic firms and intend to ban those that could pose a national security threat, Beijing’s latest step to crack down on listings abroad.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the nation has abandoned interest-rate hikes as a tool to control price pressures.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was trading at about $50,500 after a steady weekend.
Nikkei -0.37% Hang Seng +0.13% CSI -0.18% Shanghai -0.18% Shenzen -0.06%
Eur$ 1.1324 CNH 6.3718 CNY 6.3700 JPY 114.41 GBP 1.3414 CHF 0.9193 RUB 73.5795 TRY 11 WTI$73.28 -0.69% Gold 1,810.75 -0.35% BTC 50,970 +0.32% ETH 4,080 -0.13%
S&P +0.06% Nasdaq +0.18% EuroStoxx -0.26% FTSE / Dax -0.23% SMI
Macro :
- China PBOC Injects Net CNY40 Bln via Monetary Tools; Details
- Brent Oil Climbs as Investors Weigh Spread of Omicron, Demand
- Evergrande Races to Restart Projects as Debt Repayments Loom
Keep an eye on :
- ACE IM : Equitix to Get Majority Stake in Acea Photovoltaic Assets NewCo
- CBK GY : Commerzbank to Expand Private Client Unit Business in 2022: HB
- CSGN SW : Credit Suisse Starts Legal Action Against SoftBank: FT
- DAI GY : Daimler Cuts Stake in Chinese Electric-Car Venture With BYD
- FRAS LN : Frasers Has Approached JD Sports About Buying Footasylum: Times
- LUNE SS : Fitch Places Lundin Energy on Rating Watch Negative
- MBTN SW : Meyer Burger to Build Solar Module-Making Facility in Arizona
- ORA FP : Orange Belgium Signs Deal With Nethys to Buy 75% in Voo
- ROG SW : Roche Covid-19 At-Home Test Gets FDA Emergency Use Authorization
- STORB SS : Storskogen Buys LNS Holding for CHF185m
- VIV FP : Amber Capital Says Not Planning to Buy Vivendi’s Editis