(BFW) Publicis Board Mulls Team of Potential CEO Candidates, Levy Says

BFW 03/23 12:26 *PUBLICIS BOARD WILL CHOOSE A TEAM OF POTENTIAL CEO CANDIDATES
BN 03/23 12:26 *PUBLICIS BOARD WILL CHOOSE A TEAM OF POTENTIAL CEO CANDIDATES
BN 03/23 12:26 *PUBLICIS CEO SAYS TWO-TIERED BODY IS FORMING SUCCESSION PLAN
BN 03/23 12:26 *PUBLICIS CEO LEVY SPOKE AT ADWEEK IN LONDON
BN 03/23 12:26 *PUBLICIS BODY HAS MANAGEMENT AND NON-MANAGEMENT BOARD GROUPS
Publicis Board Mulls Team of Potential CEO Candidates, Levy Says
2015-03-23 12:39:37.6 GMT


By Amy Thomson
(Bloomberg) -- Publicis has two-tiered body formulating
succession plan, CEO Maurice Levy said to reporters at Adweek
event in London.
* Says body has mgmt, non-mgmt board members
* NOTE: French Ad Man Levy ‘Definite’ About Leaving Publicis
Job in 2017


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Kasper Viita, Mark Beech

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers

Gapping up: MCP +8.3%, FSM +4.8%, SVT +4.1%, OXGN +3.2%, BLRX +1.9%, SPLS +1.4%, RDS.A+1.3%, BHP +1.3%, DB +1.2%, BLBD +1.1%, ESLT +1.1%, SAN +1%, ABX +0.9%

Gapping down: GILD -4.9%, CERU -3.6%, NBG -3%, IBN -2.3%, CCL -2.1%, SHPG -1.8%, MT -1.4%,BIIB -1.4%, GSK -1.3%, PRGO -1.3%, MNKD -1.1%, ARMH -1.1%

Vivendi Says to Examine Requests on Dividend

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BN 03/23 11:45 *VIVENDI: MOST SHAREHOLDERS MET ARE SATISFIED WITH STRATEGY BN 03/23 11:43 *VIVENDI SAYS TO EXAMINE REQUESTS ON DIVIDEND

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Vivendi Says to Examine Requests on Dividend 2015-03-23 11:50:44.705 GMT

By Gaurav Panchal and Angeline Benoit (Bloomberg) -- Notes PSAM request to increase div. * Says return to shareholders is intended to amount to EU5.7b, which seems well balanced, keeping EU1 div. for 3 years and potential share buy-back of EU2.7b at max share price of EU20 * Says most shareholders met are satisfied with strategy * Management board opposes dismantling of company * Confirms it received a letter on Dec. 22 year from PSAM, asking for the sale of Universal Music Group. * Confirms it received a letter on Dec. 22 year from PSAM, asking for the sale of Universal Music Group.</li></ul> * Statment: Link * Earlier: Vivendi Says PSAM Fund Asked for Universal Music Spinoff Link

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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gaurav Panchal at +44-20-3525-0511 or gpanchal2@bloomberg.net

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers

Gapping up: MCP +8.3%, FSM +4.8%, SVT +4.1%, OXGN +3.2%, BLRX +1.9%, SPLS +1.4%, RDS.A +1.3%, BHP +1.3%, DB +1.2%, BLBD +1.1%, ESLT +1.1%, SAN +1%, ABX +0.9%

Gapping down: GILD -4.9%, CERU -3.6%, NBG -3%, IBN -2.3%, CCL -2.1%, SHPG -1.8%, MT -1.4%, BIIB -1.4%, GSK -1.3%, PRGO -1.3%, MNKD -1.1%, ARMH -1.1%

WSJ : India Won’t Pick Up China’s Oil Slack


India Won’t Pick Up China’s Oil Slack
As Replacement for Chinese Demand, India Will Fall Short.

Of all the candidates oil investors are interviewing to replace China as the world’s center of demand growth, India seems the most promising. But India won’t turn out to be as reliable as China used to be.

In February, India consumed a record 3.91 million barrels of refined oil products a day, up 9.4% year over year, according to Amrita Sen at Energy Aspects. So far this year, India’s usage is up more than 6% year-over-year, four times as fast as during the same period last year. The International Energy Agency thinks a rising India will make waves in energy markets over the next few years.

This is all the more noticeable when even optimistic forecasters reckon China’s demand has slowed to around 3% in the past year. That is down from an annual average of 6.5% between 2009 and 2013.

What matters to global oil markets, though, is India’s oil demand growth in absolute barrels. It is unlikely India will replace China’s heft as oil’s marginal buyer, but it is certainly getting nearer. Analysts are penciling in Indian demand growth of between 140,000 to 200,000 barrels a day in 2015. That is closer to the range of estimates for Chinese growth—190,000 to 300,000 barrels—than seen in previous years.

These different demand pictures reflect India’s economy accelerating while China’s growth is slowing. Also promising for India is that new Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to push policies that favor oil-intensive sectors such as infrastructure and manufacturing. Diesel use rose 5% in January and February from a year ago, says Ms. Sen, as more construction machines and trucks consumed India’s most popular fuel.

Yet to gauge India’s long-run oil demand, the key question is how sustainable this investment in infrastructure or manufacturing will be. China kept at it for more than a decade, unfettered by the level of environmental reviews or local opposition that is common in India.

In contrast, the longest period modern India has managed to expand its fixed assets in double digits annually in inflation-adjusted terms is five years, according to data provider CEIC. That was between 2003 and 2008, when all emerging markets boomed in a rare environment of easy money and rising trade.

Another problem is that India’s growth could, counterintuitively, destroy some oil demand. Liquefied petroleum gas accounts for 18% of the country’s oil consumption, much more than LPG’s share in China, partly because India’s government subsidizes it for household cooking and heating. Economic growth may provide cover to cut them, which would hit LPG demand.

A richer India may also build the infrastructure needed for more households to use piped natural gas, as in developed countries, says Citigroup’s Ivan Szpakowski. That would also undermine demand for LPG. In the same vein, if Mr. Modi reforms the coal and power sectors, as he says he intends to do, that should make electricity supply more stable, reducing the need for backup generators that burn diesel.

Though long-term forecasts deserve a pinch of salt, Mr. Szpakowski calculates that India will consume a total 5.6 million barrels of oil a day in 2025. Cumulatively, that’s about a 1.6 million barrel a day increase from 2015, not exactly impressive given China’s consumption galloped by 4.3 million barrels a day between 2004 and 2014, according to Citigroup.

India’s demand growth combined with that of other emerging economies such as Indonesia could one day equal China’s. But that in itself means investors can no longer depend on one big economy—with a single-minded drive for growth—to underpin demand forecasts. They will need to look for multiple workers, pulling at different speeds, to do the job China once performed on its own.

Re/Code : Cyber Security IPO Pipeline Grows as Data Breaches Boost Spending

Rapid7, LogRhythm and Mimecast are joining a growing list of cyber security firms planning to go public in 2015 to capitalize on investor interest following a spate of hacker attacks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Shares of publicly traded cyber security firms have outperformed the market in recent months, as high-profile data breaches at Sony, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Anthem prompt businesses to spend more to secure their computer networks.

“The cyber security market is in the early innings of a massive growth opportunity,” said FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives. “There are many innovative private security vendors. Tech investors’ eyes are glued to who has the ‘magic solution.'”

Boston-based Rapid7 provides software and services that help businesses assess and monitor security risks. It has more than 3,500 customers, including Amazon, American Express and Bank of America.

Mimecast, also based in Boston, is an email security firm with 10,000 customers. According to its website, revenue rose 30 percent in 2014 to $88.4 million. LogRhythm, based in Boulder, Colo., provides technology to help companies monitor activity across their networks.

All three companies are planning to sell shares to the public and are seeking valuations in excess of $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the plans are not yet public.

Rapid7, whose investors include Bain Capital Ventures and Technology Crossover Ventures, has chosen Morgan Stanley and Barclays to assist with an initial public offering, these people said.

LogRhythm, whose investors include Access Venture Partners, Adam Street Partners, Grotech Ventures and Riverwood Capital, has chosen JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley for an IPO in the second half of the year, the sources said.

Mimecast, whose investors include Insight Venture Partners, Dawn Capital and Index Ventures, has spoken to some investment banks about an IPO later this year but has not hired any firms, the sources said.

Representatives from the three companies and the banks working with them all declined to comment.

With global spending on IT security set to increase 8.2 percent in 2015 to $77 billion, according to market research firm Gartner, the shares of publicly traded cyber security firms have done well.

FireEye shares have risen 38 percent so far this year, while Qualys is up 24 percent and Palo Alto Networks has climbed 19 percent. The PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF has gained 9 percent over the same period, while the S&P 500 Index is up 1.9 percent.

But investing in cyber security is not without risk.

FireEye’s share price plunged more than 70 percent in less than three months last year, after Chief Executive Dave DeWalt and other insiders sold shares, spurring investors to take a more critical look at the firm’s finances and valuation.

The stock had more than quadrupled in the first six months after its September 2013 IPO, even though FireEye later reported losses of $121 million in 2013 and $444 million in 2014. Analysts do not expect FireEye to post a full-year net profit until 2018, though they are forecasting rapid revenue growth, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Amid investor enthusiasm for the cyber security industry, FireEye has recovered this year, though at around $42 a share, the stock remains far below its March 2014 high of $97.35.

Rapid7, LogRhythm and Mimecast are not the only cyber security firms planning to tap public markets this year.

Veracode, which protects Internet applications from hackers, has selected banks to lead a potential IPO that could value the company at between $600 million and $800 million, Reuters reported in December.

Another company widely expected to debut this year is Bit9 + Carbon Black, whose software protects computers from malware. The firm has not yet hired banks, according to people familiar with the matter. It declined to comment.

According to FBR’s Ives, emerging cyber security companies could earn a combined annual revenue of $15 billion to $20 billion in three years. That excludes the slower growing but larger market for traditional cyber security technology, such as anti-virus software.

Venky Ganesan, managing director at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, said average corporate spending on cyber security will rise from about 0.25 percent of total revenue to as much as 2 percent of revenue in the coming years.

“The window is wide open for cyber security companies. We have a perfect storm of opportunity,” said Ganesan, who had invested in Palo Alto Networks while at Globespan Capital.