Analysts like hedge-fund manager Man Group´s (EMG) drive to diversify away from its flagship AHL fund – the core of the new managemeant team´s strategy. The best example of this better balance are the successful negotiations with regulators so as to be better able to employ the group´s cash reserves now that its assets under management have decreased. Since it simply does not need as many it is using them for some strategic purchases. If late last month it acquired Boston-based rival Numeric, with $12.5bn under management, yesterday it was the turn of Pine Grove Asset Management, which sits on top of another $1bn. Just as important, the firm has also stopped haemorrhaging investors’ cash at its other units, all the while slashing costs and restructuring the business.
The company has had a hard few years, there is no doubt about that. Yet management is in control and taking action. Promising a near 5 per cent yield this year, if it hits its forecasts, The Daily Telegraph´s Questor team is keeping an eye on the shares with a view to possibly buying in at a later stage, although for now they remain a hold.
The market landscape for retail telecommunications services is changing and that may spell trouble for the newly created Dixons Carphone. EE and Vodafone (VOD) have expanded their own store estates and consumers are now more savvy when deciding on where to purchase their mobile telephones. Up until now Carphone and Phones 4U have been acting as 'middlemen', effectively taking margins away from the large telecoms operators. EE is thus now pushing for a better deal from Carphone and Phones4U. That can be a risky undertaking however, as Vodafone found out in 2006 when it pulled out of Carphone and saw its market share move quickly lower in that space.
However, for Carphone losing either EE or Vodafone would be a huge blow as it looks to tie-up with Dixons undermining a large part of the rationale for the merger. At 17 times´ broker Exane´s earnings forecasts “there may be better times to buy.” So for now, 'hold' says The Times´s Tempus.
BUSINESS PRESS HEADLINES:
The board of Sports Direct (SPD) has reignited a row with its minority investors over executive rewards by creating a £200m bonus fund that conceals a likely payout for Mike Ashley, its billionaire founder. Shareholders reacted with indignation as the sportswear chain came up with its third plan in two years for a performance-related payout scheme involving Mr Ashley. Two months ago, a scheme offering a £73m payout to the founder was withdrawn after failing to win enough support. - The Times
Tesco (TSCO) has outlined its biggest assault yet on Britain’s high street banks by launching its first current account, 17 years after it entered financial services. The retailer’s banking division, which boasts 6m customers through its sales of mortgages, savings accounts and insurance, plans to exploit its network of stores and incentives such as rewards for Clubcard subscribers to encourage customers to move away from the major lenders. - The Daily Telegraph
BP (BP.) has lost a last-ditch legal appeal to prevent having to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars of what it claims are “fictitious” and “absurd” compensation claims over its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The US Supreme Court last night rejected the oil company’s application to keep in place an injunction blocking contested payments. A New Orleans court had last week lifted the injunction, which had been in place since December, to give BP time to make its case over the compensation deal it struck two years ago at the heart of the dispute. - The Times
Fears among Britain’s top lenders that the recent rapid house price growth could lead to a crash are now close to levels seen during the Great Recession, according to a Bank of England survey. The Bank's twice-yearly Systemic Risk Survey showed 40 per cent of UK banks, building societies and asset managers said the risk of property price falls posed a "key risk" to the economy, compared with 36 per cent of respondents last November and just 14 per cent in the second half of 2012. - The Daily Telegraph
The boss of SSP played down recent “blips” in the stock market yesterday as the airport catering specialist served up appetising profits in advance of a possible £2bn flotation. Kate Swann, the former WH Smith Chief Executive who took the helm of SSP last year, acknowledged that the market for new issues had been volatile but said that the “fundamental strengths” of the business would prevail. - The Times
Supermarkets are being warned they are locked in a "race to the bottom" in a new report showing that a food price war dragged sales lower last month. The British Retail Consortium said like-for-like food sales fell by an annual rate of 2.2 per cent during March to May, in contrast to a year earlier when turnover grew 0.7 per cent. On one measure, it was the worst quarter for food sales since BRC records began in 2008. Non-food sales were better, buoyed by demand for TVs for the World Cup and summer clothes. - The Guardian
