NY Post : No serious bidders for potential GoPro sale

No serious bidders for potential GoPro sale

GoPro won’t be snapping selfies with a merger partner anytime soon.


The struggling action-camera maker has failed to attract the serious interest of any bidders after hiring JPMorgan last year to explore a possible sale, two sources told The Post.

Nick Woodman, GoPro’s beach-tanned founder and chief executive officer, had said in TV interviews in January that he was open to a sale and confirmed he’d hired JPMorgan, goosing the company’s shares despite its worsening financial outlook.

Nevertheless, “no one wants to touch GoPro,” a source with good knowledge of the sales process said.

A second source close to the sale said, “A lot of people have kicked the tires and Nick Woodman is a complicated guy,” adding that there is no deal close at hand.

Woodman strongly hinted about a possible sale in both January and February.

“My job as CEO is to … create as big an opportunity for our investors as possible and … if we can achieve that more easily and more quickly with a partner, we would jump at the chance to have that opportunity,” Woodman told Bloomberg on Feb. 13.



GoPro’s shares Thursday closed down 5 cents to $5.74, an $839 million market cap.

Woodman on Jan. 9 reported disappointing earnings and the company’s shares fell to $5.09. Later that day, Woodman revealed the company was working with JPMorgan, causing the shares to rally to $6.56.

In 2017, GoPro sold 4.3 million cameras, a 9.6 percent fall compared to the prior year.

GoPro declined comment for this story.

FT : BNP Paribas failed to book trades in Germany for a week

BNP Paribas failed to book trades in Germany for a week
Revelation over 2015 glitch caused by botched systems upgrade comes in lawsuit by day trader

A botched systems upgrade by BNP Paribas prevented the French bank from properly booking structured-products trades in Germany for a week, potentially affecting thousands of trades.

The bank revealed the mishap in defence documents seen by the Financial Times and submitted as part of a €163m “fat-finger” lawsuit filed in Frankfurt against BNP by a German-based day trader.

The admission risks undermining recent efforts by the bank — stung in 2014 by a then-record $8.9bn of fines by US authorities for conspiring to violate sanctions that prohibit transactions with Sudan and other regimes — to get its regulatory systems and controls in order.

“As of December 2, 2015, a technical disruption of the BNPP Arb trading system prevented automated (further) processing of any transactions that concerned secondary-market transactions in structured products in the German market,” is an accurate translation of BNP’s defence document in the Frankfurt lawsuit, which was originally written in German and refers to its subsidiary, BNP Paribas Arbitrage.

It was not until December 9 that the bank noticed its long-planned migration to a different pricing platform had caused the new system’s execution engine to be disconnected from the rest of the bank’s systems, the document continues.

This means that about 8,500 trades may not have been properly booked, extrapolating from statistics provided in legal documents by the bank on the number of trades completed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart exchanges. It also raises questions over how well the bank was hedged if it was not fully aware of its market-risk position.

BNP declined to comment on the case, including on how many trades may have been affected, citing ongoing legal matters.

The bank denied in the defence document that the problem was down to “inadequate regulatory internal organisation.” It countered: “BNP’s risk management is considered exemplary.”

The European Central Bank’s supervisory authority, which oversees the biggest banks in the eurozone, is aware of the problem after the trader filed a breach report last month. The ECB declined to comment, as did BaFin, Germany’s markets watchdog, and the Banque de France.

The lawsuit, first filed in 2017, turns on an allegation from the trader that he is owed as much as €163m from a December 2015 trade in so-called certificates, which are retail structured products that are particularly popular in Germany. The certificate in question dropped overnight from €54,000 to €108.80 because of an inputting mistake by a BNP employee. The trader ordered 3,000 of the certificates off-exchange.

While banks can cancel fat-finger trades, they typically only have a day or so to do this. BNP’s systems-migration issue meant the trade was accepted but not logged and therefore not recognised as a mistake.

For its part, BNP argues that the trader deliberately sought out erroneously priced trades to exploit and has used public pressure to try to press his case, and has countersued him, alleging malicious deception.

The bank is moving to get the case thrown out of court before a trial scheduled for later this year, on the grounds that the Frankfurt court has no jurisdiction. It argues that the trader had a duty as a counterparty to report any obvious errors to the bank, and that it moved to cancel the trade as soon as it was aware of the problem.

The trader said: “I don’t think it’s fair if on the one hand, BNP wants to rely on statutory safeguard clauses but on the other hand they ignored all control-tasks imposed by the regulators — ECB, BaFin and AMF — for a whole week.”

FT : German exports fall most in seven months

Germany’s exports fell between January and December by the widest margin since June, in the latest set of patchy data on the eurozone’s biggest economy.

Exports dropped 0.5 per cent to €111bn in January on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, missing expectations in a FactSet poll of a rise of 0.75 per cent. Imports also slipped 0.5 per cent month-on-month to €89.7bn against forecasts of a 0.1 per cent rise.

The trade surplus held steady at €21.3bn, according to data from the Federal Statistics Office.

Friday’s disappointing report comes a day after another slate of data showed that new industrial orders dropped 3.9 per cent in January, significantly worse than the 1.6 per cent decline that had been expected by economists.

The trade figures come at a time of heightened uncertainty over protectionism that was sharpened on Thursday after a move by US President Donald Trump to apply hefty tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium.

Carveouts were given to Canada and Mexico, but the exemptions excluded the European Union.

In January, about 40 per cent of German exports were to countries outside of the EU, according to the data released on Friday.

“In recent days, some darker clouds have appeared at the German economic sky,” said Carsten Brzeski, ING chief economist for Germany and Austria.

“New protectionism would definitely hurt the self-proclaimed export world champion and the Italian elections could slow down current europhobia. However, at least for the near term, there is plenty of evidence that the German economy will power ahead.”

>>> Europe - Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 9th of March 2018

>>> Up
* Akamai Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan
* Allied Minds Upgraded to Hold at Jefferies; PT 1.18 Pounds
* Anglo American Upgraded to Buy at Investec
* Autogrill Upgraded to Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 12.80 Euros
* BHP Upgraded to Buy at Investec
* Cementir Holding Upgraded to Outperform at MedioBanca
* DNB Upgraded to Buy at Beringer Finance; Price Target 160 Kroner
* Esure Upgraded to Outperform at RBC; PT 2.75 Pounds
* G4S Upgraded to Hold at SEB Equities
* Hugo Boss Upgraded to Outperform at RBC; PT 80 Euros
* JCDecaux Upgraded to Hold at HSBC; Price Target 30 Euros
* Otello Upgraded to Buy at Beringer Finance; PT 30 Kroner
* Panalpina Upgraded to Sector Perform at RBC; PT 140 Francs
* Pennon Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 8.30 Pounds
* Severn Trent Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 22.50 Pounds
* Smurfit Kappa Upgraded to Hold at Kepler Cheuvreux; PT 38 Euros
* Telecom Italia Upgraded to Buy at Goldman; PT 89 Cents
>>> Down
* Africa Oil Downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC
* Ambea Rated New Hold at DNB Markets; PT 72 Kronor
* Belships Downgraded to Accumulate at Fearnley; PT 6.30 Kroner
* Hugo Boss Cut to Hold at Independent Research; PT 76 Euros
* RTL Downgraded to Hold at SocGen; PT 75 Euros
* Sparebanken More Cut to Hold at Beringer Finance; PT 307 Kroner
* Tomra Downgraded to Sell at Beringer Finance; PT 100 Kroner

>>> Initiation
* Acacia Mining Rated New Sell at Berenberg; PT 1.40 Pounds
* Bank2 Rated New Hold at Beringer Finance; PT 7 Kroner
* Hexagon Composites Rated New Buy at SpareBank; PT 35 Kroner
* Hochtief Reinstated at HSBC With Buy; PT 165 Euros

>>> Call

>>> Asian Update

Asia Market Update: Korean Won (KRW), USD/JPY gain as US and North Korea agree to talks; US payrolls and BoJ Gov Kuroda press conference in focus

***Headlines/Economic Data***
- Asian equities trade generally higher but pare gains
- China Feb CPI rises at fastest pace since 2013; Government cites Lunar New Year impact
- China Feb banking lending slows more than expected
- PBoC officials discuss the merits of M2 in terms of monetary policy
- PBoC Gov Zhou said the central bank is developing digital currency
- Few surprises seen in BoJ policy statement
- Markets now await upcoming BoJ Gov Kuroda press conference (prior was held at 6:30 GMT)
- Upcoming release of US monthly payrolls and wage data also in focus

Australia/New Zealand
-ASX 200 opened +0.1% closed +0.3%
ASX 200 Telecom Index +1.6%, Consumer Discretionary +1%, Financials +0.7%; Resources -1.8%, Energy -1.2%
- (AU) Australia sells A$M v A$500M indicated in 3.25% April 2029 Bonds, avg yield 2.8212% v 2.6438% prior, bid to cover 4.36x v 3.8x prior
- (NZ) RBNZ paper: natural rate of unemployment is estimated at about 5%

China/Hong Kong
-Hang Seng opened +0.7%, Shanghai +0.1%
-Shanghai Property index declines less than 1%
- (CN) CHINA FEB CPI Y/Y: 2.9% V 2.5%E (highest reading since Dec 2013)
-(CN) China: March CPI growth to be lower as holiday (Lunar New Year) factor fades.
- (CN) China National Development and Reform Commission: sees 2018 China PPI growth at ~4% - Chinese press
-(CN) CHINA FEB NEW YUAN LOANS (CNY): 839.3B V 900BE
-(CN) CHINA FEB AGGREGATE FINANCING (CNY): 1.17T V 1.07TE
- (CN) CHINA FEB M2 MONEY SUPPLY Y/Y: 8.8% V 8.7%E; M1 MONEY SUPPLY M1 Y/Y: 8.5% V 11.0%E
(CN) PBoC comments on Feb lending data: Jan-Feb loan data should be read together due to the Lunar New Year holiday
-(CN) PBoC Gov Zhou: Global economy shows recovery signs; to rely less on quantitative stimulus, may reduce reliance on money supply to boost growth
-(CN) PBoC Dep Gov Yi: There is no quantitative target for China M2 in 2018
- (CN) China PBoC Vice Gov Pan Gongsheng: FX reserves to be basically steady in future; mortgages have risen rapidly; reiterates monetary policy is neutral and appropriate
-(CN) China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM): Firmly opposes US trade measures, urges US to withdraw measures on steel and aluminum; to take 'strong' measures to safeguard own interest
-(US) US Commerce Dept: Affirms preliminary determination on some China steel fittings; to impose 13.79% duties
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): To skip OMO (5th straight session) v: Net drain CNY40B v CNY100B drain prior; For the week, PBoC drained net of CNY240B v net CNY120B injection w/w
- (CN) PBOC SETS YUAN REFERENCE RATE AT 6.3451 v 6.3239 PRIOR
- (CN) Shanghai Rebar Steel declines over 4.5%
- (CN) China said to place curbs on OTC options trading by asset managers

Japan
-Nikkei 225 opened +1.1%; closed +0.5%
- (JP) Nikkei 225 March Futures and Options said to settle at ~21,575
(JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) LEAVES INTEREST RATE ON EXCESS RESERVES (IOER) UNCHANGED AT -0.10%; AS EXPECTED; Official Kataoka dissents for 5th straight meeting.
- (JP) Japan Jan Labor Cash Earnings Y/Y: 0.7% v 0.7%e; Real Cash Earnings Y/Y: -0.9% v -0.7%e
- (JP) Japan Feb Money Stock M2 Y/Y: 3.3% v 3.3%e; M3 Y/Y: 2.8% v 2.8%e
- (JP) Japan Jan Overall Household Spending Y/Y: +2.0% v -1.0%e
- (JP) Japan Finance Min Aso: US tariffs will disturb global steel and aluminum markets; to have 'big' effect on global economy; To work to get Japanese companies excluded from the tariffs; Will take necessary action in the WTO on the tariffs.
- Mazda and Toyota Establish Joint-Venture Company "Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc."; involves investment of $1.6B and expected to create up to 4K jobs by 2021, annual capacity seen at 300K units

Korea
-Kospi opened +0.4%
- (KR) South Korea Envoy Chung-Eui-Yong: North Korea to 'refrain further missile tests'; US President Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un to meet by May
-(KR) US White House: Confirms President Trump to accept invitation to meet with North Korea leader Kim; the time and place of meeting yet to be determined

Other Asia
-Taiwan Semi [2330.TW]: Reports Feb Sales NT$64.6B -9.5% y/y

North America
-US equity markets closed mostly higher: Dow +0.4%, S&P500 +0.5%, Nasdaq +0.4%, Russell 2000 -0.2%
-S&P500 Consumer Staples +0.9%, Real Estate +0.8%
-(US) Pres Trump: we need to show flexibility on tariffs to global friends; Confirms 25% tariff on foreign steel and 10% tariff on foreign aluminum; Canada and Mexico to be exempt while NAFTA talks go on; Open to modifying or removing tariffs for individual countries as long as we find way to ensure products no longer threaten security; US Trade Rep Lighthizer will be in charge of accepting offers from countries seeking exemptions - comments from White House
- (US) Fed George (hawk): Reiterates important to continue gradual normalization of rates; Risks appear to be 'predominately' to upside
- GoPro [GPRO]: Said to not receive 'serious' bid interest - NY Post

Europe
-(UK) UK govt officials reportedly don't see reaching a Brexit deal until next year – press
-(UK) Foreign Min Johnson: UK govt is prepared for a "no deal" Brexit scenario; No deal Brexit should not hold any terrors for UK because we'd 'do very well' under WTO rules
-(EU) Internal ECB staff calculations assume final €30B of QE purchases in Q4; Sources say there is broad agreement among members of the Governing Council that QE should probably come stop by the end of 2018 – press
-(EU) EU trade chief: to ask for clarity on tariff issue in days ahead; still believe EU should be exempt from US steel & aluminum tariffs



***Levels as of 01:00ET***
- Hang Seng +1%; Shanghai Composite +0.3%; Kospi +0.9%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 flat; Nasdaq100 flat, Dax flat; FTSE100 flat
- EUR 1.2295-1.2320 ; JPY 106.16-106.96; AUD 0.7776-0.7796 ;NZD 0.7249-0.7275
- Feb Gold -0.3% at $1.318/oz; Feb Crude Oil +0.3% at $60.24/brl; Mar Copper -0.1% at $3.074/lb