TheChek News Flow

* Aroundtown Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 7 euros

* Brenntag Raised to Hold at Bankhaus Metzler; PT 54 euros (+)

* Consti Raised to Buy at Evli Bank; PT 10 euros (+)

* Covestro Raised to Hold at MainFirst; PT 35 euros

* Daimler Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 50 euros

* Deutsche Post PT Raised at Barclays on Protections From Crisis (+)

* Ebro Foods Raised to Outperform at BBVA; PT 23.30 euros

* Indivior Raised to Buy at Citi; PT 165 pence

* Indivior Raised to Buy at Jefferies; PT 200 pence

* Indivior Raised to Buy at Stifel; PT 190 pence (+)

* Kingfisher PT Raised to 325 pence from 275 pence at RBC

* Lonza PT Raised to 620 Swiss francs at Intron Health

* Loomis Raised to Buy at Carnegie; PT 255 kronor (+)

* National Grid Raised to Buy at Jefferies; PT 1,060 pence

* Sabre Insurance Raised to Add at Investec; PT 275 pence (+)

* Sonova Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

* Swatch Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse (+)

* TietoEVRY Raised to Buy at Oddo BHF (+)

>>> Down

* Autogrill Cut to Reduce at Banca Akros (ESN); PT 4.50 euros (+)

* Bankinter Cut to Sell at SocGen; PT 3.80 euros (+)

* Getlink SE Cut to Hold at HSBC; PT 14.30 euros

* Kinnevik Cut to Hold at SEB Equities; PT 295 kronor

* Sage Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 600 pence

* Sika Cut to Hold at HSBC; PT 217 Swiss francs

* TietoEVRY Cut to Hold at SEB Equities; PT 28 euros

>>> Initiation

* Cegedim Rated New Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 34 euros (+)

* Epiroc Rated New Buy at Liberum; PT 170 kronor

* GVS Rated New Neutral at Goldman; PT 10.20 euros

* GVS Rated New Neutral at Mediobanca SpA; PT 11.70 euros

* Idorsia Rated New Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

* Oxford Biomedica Rated New Outperform at RBC; PT 1,000 pence

* Serco Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT 195 pence

* Schaltbau Rated New Buy at Commerzbank; PT 33 euros

* Swedish Match Rated New Buy at SocGen; PT 800 kronor

* Zurich Airport Rated New Buy at Deutsche Bank

>>> Call

* AB InBev Set for ‘Tough’ 2Q Update, Margins Will Hurt: Bernstein (+)

* Atos 1H Sales ‘Broadly in Line,’ Cash Flow Weaker, Citi Says (+)

* Indivior Up to Buy at Citi, Jefferies After Suboxone Settlement

* Kingfisher PT to Street-High at RBC as Strategy Issues Addressed

* Kuehne + Nagel Is a ‘Port in a Storm,’ Bernstein Still Bullish

* National Grid Raised at Jefferies on ‘Opportunistic Opening’

* Ryanair 1Q Results Ahead, Virus-Related Challenges Remain: Citi (+)

* SAP’s Qualtrics IPO Plan Raises Integration Questions: Jefferies (+)

* Serco Gets Street-High PT at Berenberg on Strong Margin Outlook

* U.S. SOFTWARE INDUSTRY VIEW CUT TO IN-LINE AT MORGAN STANLEY

* VODAFONE NEW S-T CATALYST CALL BUY AT DEUTSCHE BANK

* Zurich Airport Is Preferred Way to Play Recovery: Deutsche Bank (+)

Demand for flagship EV from younger drivers boosts carmaker’s effort to take on Tesl

Volkswagen’s first purpose-built electric car, the ID.3, has attracted tens of thousands of pre-orders from younger customers new to the VW brand as its plan to overtake market pioneer Tesla picks up pace.

About 85 per cent of the 37,000 people who have paid to reserve an ID.3 had not bought VWs before. In contrast, 85 per cent of sales of the German carmaker’s popular Golf hatchback are to repeat customers.

“The ID.3 is igniting with a population that is about 10 years younger than the average profile [of our customers], which is around 58 in Europe,” Jürgen Stackmann, sales boss for the VW brand, told the Financial Times.

Deliveries of the ID.3, which was delayed by software problems, are due to begin in September. The success of the model’s launch is crucial to VW’s ambition to eclipse Tesla and become the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles.

Unlike other electric vehicles already marketed by VW which are variants of petrol- or diesel-fuelled cars, the ID.3 has been designed using the carmakers’ tailor-made underlying modular chassis platform, called MEB.

Since VW started accepting orders through dealerships for the ID.3 last Monday, the model briefly overtook the Golf to become the company’s biggest-selling private retail car in Germany, according to Mr Stackmann.

However, he expressed disappointment that about 85 per cent of the electric hatchback’s orders were from men, a similar level to the brand as a whole.

“I had hoped for more female share,” Mr Stackmann said, adding that he was surprised most pre-orders had come from customers in urban and suburban areas, rather than rural regions where installing home-charging points is generally easier. The model has a range of approximately 400km so is expected to appeal even to more rural customers.

Most ID.3 customers were also “techies”, he said, and were buying a second car for their household.

After the fallout of the diesel emissions scandal, the Wolfsburg-based carmaker has committed to electrifying its 12 brands and has pledged to spend at least €33bn on producing 75 battery-powered models over the next decade.

Group boss Herbert Diess said success in rolling out its future range of electric vehicles could boost VW’s market value.

“In five to ten years, the most valuable company in the world will be a mobility company,” he wrote. “It could be Tesla, Apple or Volkswagen.”

Despite production delays, Mr Stackmann said VW was on track to deliver between 60,000 and 70,000 new electric vehicles this year, and produce about 100,000 units of the ID.3 and its sport-utility vehicle successor, the upcoming ID.4. Tesla sold more than 90,000 of its electric vehicles last quarter.

He also revealed that the company had sold out of battery-powered versions of its combustion-engine models, including the eGolf and eUp, helping VW avoid fines from the EU, which has imposed strict fleet-wide emissions targets for carmakers in Europe.

Germany recently doubled its subsidy for electric vehicles as part of a €130bn stimulus package designed to restart the economy after the coronavirus pandemic brought it to a halt. In total, customers in the country can get €9,000 off the price of a battery-powered car.

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The retailer acquired the German web site in 2014, and transferred the asset a few years later. Bankruptcy creditors are still crying foul.

In 2014, Neiman Marcus acquired the German luxury web site Mytheresa, an international e-commerce business that some of Neiman’s most vocal creditors have called its “crown-jewel” asset.

The apparent transfer of the asset four years later would appear to be a technical affair involving a group of affiliated entities, some of which are now in bankruptcy, and some that aren’t. And yet, it is an increasingly contentious feature of Neiman’s Chapter 11 proceedings, because it sparks a controversy around value, and who gets to have it — the quintessential question in a bankruptcy.

On Friday night, both, the unsecured creditors committee and Neiman’s leveraged buyout sponsors — Ares Management Corp. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which had purchased the retailer for $6 billion in 2013 — filed unsealed versions of their contrasting reports on the Mytheresa transfer.

In the telling of Ares and CPPIB, the transactions to distance Mytheresa from the retailer were simply a practical response to a somewhat mismatched union. Mytheresa’s flourishing e-commerce operations were not quite gelling with Neiman’s own faltering online infrastructure, Ares and CPPIB said in their report.

For Mytheresa, being part of Neiman Marcus’ capital structure also meant having to answer for the legacy retailer’s troubles with its credit ratings, their report said. Those circumstances, combined with Neiman’s ongoing financial difficulties, and challenges for brick-and-mortar retail more broadly, meant the company had to act to preserve Mytheresa’s value, according to their report.

“In the years after the initial investment, MyTheresa had not created the desired synergies that supported its acquisition thesis, and so the sponsors, as responsible stewards, pursued opportunities to increase flexibility and maximize outcomes for the different business lines and thereby the enterprise as a whole,” they wrote in the report.

The mechanics of the transfer appear somewhat convoluted, as described in court documents. The entity Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. LLC, under the supervision of Ares, moved the Mytheresa operating companies to Neiman Marcus Group Inc., the parent company of the Neiman entities currently in bankruptcy, creditors have said.

The Neiman Marcus Group parent and Mytheresa are not themselves part of the ongoing bankruptcy, but questions around the Mytheresa transactions are reaching fever pitch in the retailer’s bankruptcy proceedings as it works to build consensus around a reorganization plan.

Unsecured creditors, who typically stand to recover a fraction of what they’re owed in a bankruptcy, are essentially arguing that they should be allowed to seek monetary recoveries related to the Mytheresa asset.

To that end, they ascribe an underhanded motive to the 2018 transactions, according to their own 116-page report of their preliminary findings of the Mytheresa transfer, filed Friday night.

The committee, which has led its own weeks-long investigation into the transactions this summer, said that the Mytheresa transfer represents significant value to them — they estimate it could provide “hundreds of millions of dollars” to the bankruptcy estates — but that Ares had used those transactions to effectively keep the asset out of creditors’ reach.

Israel Shaked, a litigation expert hired by the committee, found that Mytheresa was worth roughly $822 million at the time that it was transferred out of Neiman’s corporate structure in September 2018, the creditors’ report said.

“There is no doubt that the plan to siphon value from the debtors, and transfer assets outside the reach of their creditors, was directed by the sponsors,” the creditors committee wrote in its preliminary report, referring to LBO sponsors Ares and CPPIB.

The parties are also still discussing a possible settlement, their attorneys told a Texas bankruptcy court on Thursday.

Friday’s unsealed reports were filed ahead of an upcoming hearing on disclosure statements on its reorganization, which is scheduled for Tuesday. The hearing had been postponed for more than a week as the Mytheresa dispute flared on.

Nikkei -0.24% Hang Seng -0.44% CSI +0.04% Shanghai -0.19% Shenzen -0.10%

Eur$ 1.1697 CNH 7.0028 CNY 7.0013 JPY 105.63 GBP 1.2824 CHF 0.9180 RUB 71.5874 WTI$ 41.31 +0.05%

S&P +0.41% Nasdaq +0.59% EuroStoxx +0.15% FTSE +0.11% Dax +0.10% SMI -0.17%

Macro :

- Gold’s Surge Rips Up the Record Book With Test of $2,000 Looming

- 华⁎䕑夳䩗坄啌㤶

Keep an eye on :

- AED BB : Aedifica to Buy U.K. Care Home for GBP13 Million at 6% Yield

- ABI BB : Craft Brew Gains as CTFN Reports on Possible 3Q DOJ Approval

- ALM SM : Almirall Cuts Full Year Ebitda Forecast

- ATL IM : Italy’s Cassa Depositi Said to Buy Autostrade Stake In IPO

- ATO FP : Atos 1H Rev. Drops 2.8%; Operating Margin 8%

- ATO FP : Econocom in Talks With Atos on Sale of Digital.Security Stake

- BA US : *BOEING TO DELAY ALL-NEW 777X JETLINER AS DEMAND DROPS: REUTERS

- BOBNN SW : Bobst First Half Sales 2.8% Above Estimates

- DGNR/U US : Dragoneer Joins Blank-Check Craze With $600 Million U.S. Listing

- ECONB BB : Econocom in Talks With Atos on Sale of Digital.Security Stake

- EDEN FP : Edenred Targets FY Ebitda of EU540m-EU610m

- EDF FP : EDF Denies Rising Chinese Influence at U.K. Nuclear Site

- EO FP : Faurecia 1H Operating Loss EU114m, Est. EU94m Loss

- FVAC US : Blank-Check Fortress Value Acquisition II to Raise up to $300M

- GALP PL : Galp Second Quarter Adjusted Loss Narrower Than Estimates

- JTC LN : JTC PLC Says Performance is in Line With Expectations

- KPN NA : KPN 2Q Adjusted Ebitda After Leases Beats Highest Est.

- MOCORP FH : Metso Outotec Says 2Q Results to Be Better Than Market Expects

- NWG LN : NatWest Denies Report It’s Eyeing $3.8 Billion Cost Reductions

- RECIB SS : Recipharm Second Quarter Net Sales SEK3.08 Bln, +65% Y/y

- RR/ LN : Rolls-Royce Seeks Quick Sale of ITP Aero Unit, Telegraph Says

- RYA ID : *RYANAIR 1Q LOSS EU185.1M; `BIGGEST FEAR' IS VIRUS SECOND WAVE

- SAP GY : SAP Plans to Take Qualtrics Public Through U.S. IPO

- SAP GY : SAP Raises 2020 FCF, Operating Cash Flow Forecast

- UBI IM : UBI: Website Share Info Is Math-Based, Unrelated to Intesa Bid

- UCB BB : UCB First Half Core EPS Beats Estimates

- WIE AV : Wienerberger Sees FY Ebitda at Higher End on Better 2Q, Catch-Up

- WDI GY : Wirecard Administrator Says 77 Investors Eyeing Core Business

* Aroundtown Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 7 euros

* Covestro Raised to Hold at MainFirst; PT 35 euros

* Daimler Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 50 euros

* Ebro Foods Raised to Outperform at BBVA; PT 23.30 euros

* Indivior Raised to Buy at Citi; PT 165 pence

* Indivior Raised to Buy at Jefferies; PT 200 pence

* Kingfisher PT Raised to 325 pence from 275 pence at RBC

* Lonza PT Raised to 620 Swiss francs at Intron Health

* National Grid Raised to Buy at Jefferies; PT 1,060 pence

* Sonova Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

>>> Down

* Getlink SE Cut to Hold at HSBC; PT 14.30 euros

* Kinnevik Cut to Hold at SEB Equities; PT 295 kronor

* Sage Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 600 pence

* Sika Cut to Hold at HSBC; PT 217 Swiss francs

* TietoEVRY Cut to Hold at SEB Equities; PT 28 euros

>>> Initiation

* Epiroc Rated New Buy at Liberum; PT 170 kronor

* GVS Rated New Neutral at Goldman; PT 10.20 euros

* GVS Rated New Neutral at Mediobanca SpA; PT 11.70 euros

* Idorsia Rated New Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

* Oxford Biomedica Rated New Outperform at RBC; PT 1,000 pence

* Serco Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT 195 pence

* Schaltbau Rated New Buy at Commerzbank; PT 33 euros

* Swedish Match Rated New Buy at SocGen; PT 800 kronor

* Zurich Airport Rated New Buy at Deutsche Bank

>>> Call

* Indivior Up to Buy at Citi, Jefferies After Suboxone Settlement

* Kingfisher PT to Street-High at RBC as Strategy Issues Addressed

* Kuehne + Nagel Is a ‘Port in a Storm,’ Bernstein Still Bullish

* National Grid Raised at Jefferies on ‘Opportunistic Opening’

* Serco Gets Street-High PT at Berenberg on Strong Margin Outlook

* U.S. SOFTWARE INDUSTRY VIEW CUT TO IN-LINE AT MORGAN STANLEY

* VODAFONE NEW S-T CATALYST CALL BUY AT DEUTSCHE BANK

Deepening tension between Washington and Beijing boosts investor appetite for havens

Gold rose to an all-time high and the dollar weakened to a multiyear low on concerns over the US economic outlook and deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington.

The price of the precious metal, which investors typically view as a haven in times of uncertainty, climbed as much as 2.2 per cent to a record $1,944.71 per troy ounce in Asia trading on Monday.

Gold has rallied in recent sessions as doubts have deepened over the prospects for a smooth economic recovery in America. The US reported a total of 62,000 new coronavirus cases on Sunday with states including Florida, Tennessee and Arizona recording the highest number of new cases per million people.

The jump for gold came as the greenback lost ground against a swath of currencies. The dollar index, which measures the currency against a basket of trading peers, fell 0.5 per cent to its lowest level since June 2018.

Tension between the US and China was heightened at the weekend by the arrest of a Chinese researcher who American authorities said had been hiding in the country’s San Francisco consulate. Washington has alleged the researcher is a member of the Chinese military.

“Markets are quite alert to both the virus’s spread and the rising tensions, and [investors] prefer to hold gold to hedge against these kinds of uncertainties,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian foreign exchange strategist at Mizuho Bank.

The dollar’s weakness came ahead of a meeting by the US Federal Reserve’s rate-setters on Wednesday. Republicans are also set to unveil their proposals for a new round of stimulus later on Monday. Existing benefits, passed at the start of the coronavirus crisis in March, are set to expire at the end of the month.

The Japanese yen, another perceived haven, strengthened 0.5 per cent to a four-month high of ¥105.60 per dollar. The pound rose 0.3 per cent to $1.2833 and the euro gained 0.4 per cent to $1.1701.

China’s onshore-traded renminbi added 0.2 per cent to 7.0022 per dollar.

Qi Gao, a currency strategist at Scotiabank, said that tit-for-tat closures of consulates in Houston and Chengdu last week had stoked tension to the point that it had weighed on the US currency. “In the coming weeks you’ll see the dollar weakening further,” he added.

Asian equity markets reversed earlier gains. China’s CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks was down 0.3 per cent in early afternoon trading while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.6 per cent. The Hang Seng Tech index, a new internet-focused equity benchmark that launched on Monday, dropped 2.5 per cent.

HSBC’s Hong Kong-listed shares were down 2.6 per cent a day after the UK-headquartered bank, which has been dragged into the clash between Washington and Beijing, denied “setting traps to ensnare” Huawei.

Japan’s Topix index was little changed as traders returned from a long weekend.

Futures markets tipped US and UK stocks to climb when trading begins later in the day. The S&P 500 was set to rise 0.4 per cent while the FTSE 100 was tipped to gain 0.1 per cent.