Gapping up:
- JKS +5.9%, BCS +4.8%, CMCM +4.6%, VEON +4.1%, CSRA +2.7%, NWL +2.7%, UNFI +2.4%, APO +1.4%
Gapping down:
- OLED -7.6%, HL -5.2%, NVAX -5.1%, FB -3.4%, BZUN -2.6%, VIPS -2.4%, PCAR -2.3%, XNET -2.2%, TWTR -2.2%, JD -2%, CTRP -1.9%, TSLA -1.8%, RIO -1.7%, BBL -1.7%, PYPL -1.6%, NFLX -1.6%, BABA -1.6%, NVDA -1.6%, MU -1.4%, MT -1.4%, WDC -1.4%, AAPL -1.3%, DB -1.3%, AMD -0.7%
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Portfolio Ticker Matches: SCANX
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Newell Brands enters into cooperation agreement with Carl C. Icahn, expands accelerated transformation plan (28.66)
As part of the agreement with Mr. Icahn, Newell Brands has agreed to appoint each of the following individuals designated by Mr. Icahn to the Newell Brands Board of Directors effective immediately: Patrick Campbell, Brett Icahn, Andrew Langham and Courtney Mather, with Mr. Campbell elected to serve as the new Chairman of the Board. These designees will serve alongside James Craigie, Debra Crew, Michael Polk, Steven Strobel and Michael Todman on the Newell Brands Board of Directors. In addition, Judith Sprieser and another independent director nominee to be designated by Mr. Icahn, and approved by the Board, will be nominated to stand for election at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Pursuant to the Agreement, Mr. Icahn has agreed to vote all of his shares in favor of the Newell Brands nominees at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "2018 Annual Meeting").
- In addition, Newell Brands also announced today that it has expanded its accelerated transformation plan, which remains focused on creating a company that is simpler, faster and stronger. The Company believes there are further accretive divestiture opportunities that will bring the total yield of the accelerated transformation plan to approximately $10 billion of after-tax proceeds (although the Company will only make divestitures at competitive market multiples).
Exclu. Patrice Talon (President du Benin) : "Bolloré doit sortir du projet de boucle ferroviaire"
Par Thierry Fabre le 19.03.2018 à 07h00 ABONNÉS
Dans un entretien accordé à Challenges, le président du Bénin explique pourquoi le projet de l’industriel français de construire et réhabiliter 3000 kilomètres de voies ferrées en Afrique de l’Ouest est inadapté. Et pourquoi son pays se tourne vers la seule puissance capable de financer et réaliser un chemin de fer « moderne » : la Chine.
Au Palais de la Marina, un vaste bâtiment moderne en plein cœur de Cotonou, la capitale économique du Bénin, Patrice Talon, le président, n'a pas mâché ses mots dans l'entretien exclusif qu'il a accordé à Challenges, ce 16 mars. L'ex hommes d'affaires, qui reçoit dans un bureau sobre, a des idées très arrêtées sur le grand projet de boucle ferroviaire de 3000 kilomètres, qui doit relier Cotonou à Abidjan, la capitale ivoirienne, en passant par le Niger et le Burkina Faso (1170 kilomètres de voies à construire, le reste à réhabiliter). Un chantier pharaonique lancé par le groupe Bolloré, qui l'évalue à 3 milliards d'euros, mais stoppé depuis plus de deux ans par la justice béninoise. Les magistrats ont donné raison au rival de Bolloré, l'homme d'affaires béninois Samuel Dossou, qui estime avoir des droits concédés antérieurement par le gouvernement béninois. " Il faut sortir de cet imbroglio juridique, souligne Patrice Talon. Les deux opérateurs doivent se retirer, à l'amiable, du projet. Et il faudra qu'ils soient indemnisés de façon équitable ".
Investissement bas de gamme
Le message est clair : Bolloré doit abandonner sa boucle ferroviaire, qu'il avait démarré à la hussarde, en démarrant les travaux à Cotonou et en construisant un tronçon de 140 kilomètres, en plein désert au Niger, sans se soucier des droits acquis par ses concurrents. " Le modèle n'est pas bon. Un investisseur privé ne peut pas financer seul le chemin de fer que nous voulons. Nous avons besoin d'un équipement moderne. Avec le projet tel qu'il a été conçu par Bolloré, les investissements auraient été datés ". Le président béninois relève une critique récurrente du groupe français, en Afrique, sur son chemin de fer jugé " bas de gamme ", avec des rails à " écartement métrique " plus étroits que les rails de standard international et du matériel roulant d'occasion. " Notre chemin de fer ne doit pas nous éloigner de l'avenir ", résume-t-il de façon lyrique.
Patrice Talon affirme avoir la même vision que le président du Niger, Mahamadou Isoufou, autre partenaire du projet, qui jusqu’alors appuyait fortement la candidature de l’industriel français. Par ailleurs, il pousse le « tombeur de Bolloré » au Bénin, Samuel Dossou, à se retirer lui aussi de cet investissement gigantesque. Car cet homme d’affaires, qui a fait fortune dans le pétrole, au Gabon, au côté d’Omar Bongo, n’a pas la surface financière suffisante.
Alors, qui peut mener à bien un chantier, initié en …1905 par la puissance coloniale française ? Pas de doute, l’élue du président béninois, c’est la Chine. « C’est le partenaire le plus indiqué, le choix le plus réaliste pour un tel projet. La Chine dispose des moyens financiers nécessaires. Elle a annoncé qu’elle allait apporter 60 milliards de dollars à l’Afrique, pour financer notamment les grandes infrastructures, souligne Patrice Talon. Et elle a démontré son savoir-faire technique ». Les Chinois viennent, en effet, d’inaugurer la ligne électrifiée Djibouti-Addis Abeba, la capitale éthiopienne. Les 756 kilomètres de voies, réalisées par deux sociétés chinoises, ont coûté pas moins de 4 milliards de dollars, financés par l’Empire du Milieu.
Des risques judiciaires sous-estimés
De son côté, le Chef de l’Etat béninois affirme avoir déjà obtenu « l’accord de principe » des autorités chinoises pour examiner la faisabilité de son projet ferroviaire. Et les experts de Pékin ont chiffré le coût d’un tronçon allant de Cotonou à la frontière de Niger, soit 740 kilomètres : 4 milliards de dollars. Une évaluation similaire à celle réalisée par la société d’engineering canadienne CPCS, à qui le gouvernement béninois a aussi confié une expertise technique.
C’est donc un sérieux coup dur pour Vincent Bolloré, qui minimisait les risques de l’opération, notamment sur le plan judiciaire : « C’est inhérent à toutes les grandes aventures, les canaux de Panama ou de Suez », lançait-il dans une interview à Challenges, en janvier 2016, juste après une première condamnation par la justice béninoise, confirmée, en octobre dernier, par la Cour Suprême. Sa « méthode commando », qu’il affiche en Afrique, a pourtant révélé ses limites. D’ailleurs, ses équipes semblent déjà avoir fait le deuil du chemin de fer : « S’il existe des opérateurs capables de se substituer au groupe pour réaliser la boucle ferroviaire, nous sommes prêts à sortir de la société qui gère le projet », nous confiait récemment Philippe Labonne, le directeur général adjoint de la filiale Transport & Logistics. Bolloré va se concentrer sur ses acquis, la gestion portuaire où il est en pole position, après avoir conquis une quinzaine de ports africains. Et oublier la grande aventure ferroviaire dont il a rêvé.
Stockpickers show signs of turnround after lagging behind markets
More than half of active managers focused on UK and Europe outperformed last year
Just over half of the actively managed funds focused on UK and pan-European equities beat their benchmarks last year in a marked improvement in performance after a dismal showing by stockpickers in 2016.
The turnround will provide some encouragement to defenders of active management who believe that the gradual withdrawal of support measures for financial markets by central banks will lead to more volatile trading conditions and stronger demand for skilled stockpickers.
Arthur Grigoryants, head of investment strategy at RWC Partners, the London-based asset manager, said quantitative easing by central banks had produced a massive tidal effect of liquidity that had lifted all assets.
“Passive investment has seemed like a no-brainer in this environment. If the reversal in liquidity is accompanied by less noise around macro issues such as Brexit or the threat of a trade war, then there should be a renewed focus on individual company fundamentals, which should help active managers,” said Mr Grigoryants.
The annual S&P Dow Jones Indices Versus Active, or Spiva, report published on Monday, showed that nearly 54 per cent of actively managed UK equity funds outperformed the benchmark in 2017, up from just 22 per cent the previous year.
Actively managed UK equity funds on average returned 15.1 per cent net of fees last year, just over 2 percentage points higher than the 13 per cent returned by the UK equity index calculated by S&P.
Many retail investors, however, will have missed out on the improvement having pulled out last year following the poor performance of actively managed UK equity funds in 2016. About £2.8bn was withdrawn from UK equity funds in 2017 by retail investors, according to the Investment Association, the trade body.
Actively managed pan-European funds that can invest in UK stocks also posted a substantial improvement in performance in 2017. S&P’s data showed that almost 54 per cent of these funds registered outperformance last year, compared with fewer than a quarter in 2016.
The improvement in performance last year among UK and pan-European equity funds was not mirrored by US-based managers that use the S&P 500 index as their benchmark. The S&P 500 posted a total return, including dividends, of 21.8 per cent in 2017 — a high hurdle to clear. Just over 63 per cent of US large-cap managers failed to beat the S&P 500 last year, compared with 66 per cent in 2016.
Stockpickers focused on individual country markets in Europe registered mixed performance in 2017. Fewer than half the actively managed funds in France, Holland, Spain or Switzerland beat their national benchmarks last year, while there were stronger performances by country funds in Germany and Italy, where 60.7 per cent and 71.7 per cent respectively delivered outperformance.
But finding active managers that can deliver consistency remains akin to finding a needle in a haystack because the number of funds that beat their benchmark shrinks significantly over three, five and 10 years across all sectors. Only one in four UK actively managed equity funds has delivered outperformance over the past decade.
In nine of the 23 European fund categories, S&P identified above-benchmark asset-weighted returns over 10 years. But fewer than a third of the funds in those nine categories beat the benchmark over a decade.
“A minority of funds were responsible for success in each group,” said Leonardo Cabrer, senior analyst at S&P.
Barrons weekend summary: positive features on AGN, GPS
* Cover story: Short-term approaches to elderly caregiving can “stretch into years, upending lives, taking family dysfunction to new levels, and blowing up otherwise solid retirement plans,” making long-term care one of the biggest challenges of aging; Barron’s provides an overview of the stages of care to help people craft a plan that works best for all family members.
* Features: 1) Positive on AGN: Growing competition for Botox and the surprise loss of patent exclusivity for dry-eye treatment Restasis have prompted worry, but the concerns are overdone, and the stock “is ready for a major face-lift”; 2) Positive on GPS: Retailer’s Old Navy brand is seeing fast sales growth and plump profit margins, has exposure to strong areas such as activewear—and could end up boosting Gap shares by 25%; 3) Interview with Hedgeye Risk Management healthcare analyst Tom Tobin, who says medical costs could begin falling for the first time in more than half a century.
* Tech Trader: Now that the Trump administration has thwarted AVGO’s plan to acquire QCOM, Wall Street is focusing on what chief Hock Tan’s plan B deals will be; the two most likely targets are XLNX and MU, but others are conceivable, including MCHP, MRVL, MXIM, and ADI.
* Trader: There’s a good chance that if the market tumbles even more, it won’t be because of higher bond yields and concerns about inflation, says Michael Shaoul of Marketfield Asset Management; Investors shouldn’t be surprised if there are more highs ahead for banks, because the current environment seems right for a rally. The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: 1) Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine Capital, one of the few experts who predicted the financial crisis, doesn’t see any disasters in the offing, unmitigated or otherwise—but says that’s no reason to relax; 2) Ten years after the collapse of Bear Stearns, it’s clear that “no regulatory apparatus can be erected against complacency or the normal ebb and glow of the business cycle.”
* Follow-Up: GS, recently humbled by a trading slump, has created something of a hedge with its apparent choice of David Solomon, a lender and investment banker, to replace chief Lloyd Blankfein; The SEC’s recent action against Theranos is an attempt to address the Silicon Valley hype machine, and could begin to foster more truth and accountability among startups.
* European Trader: Positive on Umicore: For investors looking for a promising bet on the rising demand for electric vehicles, the Belgium-based battery-materials company could fit the bill.
* Asian Trader: Many investors see the potential meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a turning point for South Korea and its perennially cheap stock market.
* Emerging Markets: Investors concerned about the long-term outlook for emerging markets can compromise by seeking out funds that dampen the volatility of the asset class.
* Commodities: “Import tariffs announced by the Trump administration threaten to spark a global trade war that could put a dent in the U.S. agricultural market, and domestic soybean prices could suffer the most.”
* Streetwise: The Trump administration’s move to block the AVGO-QCOM deal may have been misguided, because Broadcom is really a collection of U.S. businesses, but what was more troubling was that it came without any signal government policy had changed.
Stocks in Asia were mixed, with Japanese shares declining as the country’s political drama tests investor nerves and as Apple Inc.’s move to make its own displays for the first time hit regional producers.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks fell, with technology shares weighing after Apple was said to be making a significant investment in the development of next-generation MicroLED screens. Stock benchmarks in Japan dropped more than 1 percent at one point, while shares also declined in South Korea. Equities in Australia, Hong Kong and China nudged higher.
Nikkei -0.90% Hang Seng +0.17% CSI +0.44% Shanghai +0.29% Shenzen +0.27%
Eur$ 1.2266 CNH 6.3294 CNY 6.3301 JPY 105.75 GBP 1.3925 CHF 0.9540 RUB 57.5295 WTI 62.202 -0.30%
S&P -0.30% EuroiStoxx -0.39% Dax -0.49% SMI -0.33% FTSE -0.26%
Macro :
Keep an eye on :
- AF FP : Air France CEO Says Growth to Trump Wages in Coming Months: JDD
- AAPL US : IPhone Suppliers to See Earnings Deterioration in 1H: Nomura
- BKG LN : Berkeley Mulls Approach for CapCo’s Earls Court Site: S. Times
- BMW GY : BMW to Pause Production For New Emissions Tests: Automobilwoche
- CSGN SW : Credit Suisse CEO Says Bank Will Be ’Very Profitable’: CNBC
- DAI GY : Daimler to Raise Car Production to 3M Units: Automobilwoche
- DEXB BB : Dexia Sells 58.9% Participation in Dexia Israel Bank for EU82m
- G1A GY : GEA’s Oleas to Leave Next Year, Seeks Swift Change in Leadership
- GYC GY : Grand City Properties FY FFO Per Share Beats Highest Est.
- G IM : Benettons May Raise Stake in Generali to 5%, Sole Reports
- GKN LN : *DANA PLANS LONDON LISTING AFTER GKN DRIVELINE COMBINATION
- GKN LN : Melrose Proposes to Inject Up to GBP1B in GKN Pension Scheme
- HMSO LN : Kleppiere Says Hammerson Rejected 615p-a-Share Offer on March 9
- HIAG SW : Hiag Immobilien Full Year Ebitda CHF73.1 Mln
- KER FP : Kering Says It’s In Full Compliance With Tax Regulations
- MRL SM : Merlin Aims to Expand Madrid, Barcelona Portfolios: Economista
- NEX FP : Nexans Says CEO Poupart-Lafarge Has Asked to Leave
- NOKIA FH : Nokia Unlikely to Be Keen on EU10B-EU20B M&A Soon, CEO Tells HS
- PSM GY : Ebeling to Get EU7.1 Mln in Severance Pay From Prosieben: BZ
- RR/ LN : Rolls-Royce to Work on Next-Generation Batteries: Telegraph
- SHA GY : Schaeffler Seeks EU1b in Sales From E-Mobility: Automobilwoche
- TSLA US : Tesla May Rise as Model 3 Order Book Continues Growing: KeyBanc
- TLX GY : Talanx Full Year Net Income Forecast 4.2% Below Estimates
- TIT IM : Telecom Italia Not Informed of Any Sanction Process
- TIT IM : Telecom Italia’s Recchi May Give Up Some Powers: Sole (Correct)
- UNA NA : Unilever to Benefit From EM Growth, Still Has Headwinds: Goldman
- VIV FP : Vivendi May Put Part of Mediaset Stake Into Trust: Repubblica
>>> Up
* AstraZeneca Upgraded to Buy at Jefferies
* Axel Springer Upgraded to Reduce at AlphaValue
* Carrefour Upgraded to Hold at Deutsche Bank
* Munich Re Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan
* Rotork Upgraded to Buy at Peel Hunt; PT 3.25 Pounds
* RWE Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse; PT Set to 22.70 Euros
* SGS Upgraded to Add at AlphaValue
* Swatch Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 475 Francs
* Unilever GDRs Upgraded to Neutral at Goldman
* WPP Upgraded to Buy at Pivotal
>>> Down
* Close Brothers Downgraded to Hold at Berenberg
* Dometic Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 77 Kronor
* MLC LN Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse; PT 4.72 Pounds
* Neinor Downgraded to Hold at Deutsche Bank
* Pernod Ricard Downgraded to Neutral at Goldman
* Scor Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan
* Sunrise Downgraded to Sell at Citi
>>> Initiation
* Lonza Rated New Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 284 Francs
* Metrovacesa SA/Old Rated New Buy at Deutsche Bank
* PARAGON ID Rated New Hold at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 1.30 Euros
>>> Call