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Deutsche Bank Profit Rises on Tax Gains, Asset Sales
- Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, said the fourth quarter started well and reiterated its profit targets after tax credits and asset sales increased earnings by 31 percent.
Deutsche Bank rose in Frankfurt trading after the company reported that third-quarter net income climbed to 1.62 billion euros ($2.34 billion), or 3.31 euros a share. Deutsche Bank estimated on Oct. 3 that profit would exceed 1.4 billion euros.
Gains from German tax changes and the sale of Deutsche Bank’s North American headquarters cushioned the impact of 2.16 billion euros in writedowns and trading losses linked to the U.S. subprime mortgage market crash. The results came a day after UBS AG, Europe’s biggest bank by assets, reported its first loss in almost five years and Merrill Lynch & Co. ousted Chief Executive Officer Stan O’Neal after a record $8.4 billion writedown…..
LSE and Tokyo plan new market
- Daily Telegraph
The London Stock Exchange and its main Japanese counterpart unveiled plans yesterday to lure fast-growing Asian companies to a new Tokyo-based market amid intensifying competition from regional bourses.
The LSE and the Tokyo Stock Exchange will establish a joint venture, owned equally by the two parties, to launch what they called a "risk capital market" loosely modelled on London’s junior Aim exchange.
The market, not yet named, is expected to be operational by the end of next year and will target smaller companies that do not have sufficient scale or credibility to tap existing public markets…..
Nasdaq Leads Race
To Buy the Phil-Ex – Wall Street Journal
Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. has emerged as the front-runner to buy the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the country’s oldest stock market, people familiar with the matter said.
The electronic-stock-exchange operator, based in New York, is in exclusive talks that may lead to a purchase of the two-century-old Philadelphia market, which specializes in the trading of stock options — contracts that give their holders the right but not the obligation to buy or sell securities at a set level.
Nasdaq has been in talks for months with the Philadelphia exchange, known as the Phil-Ex, but talks cooled for a while earlier this year as Nasdaq pursued a separate deal, announced in May, with Nordic operator OMX AB…..
Two-year low in US consumer confidence as home prices drop
- The Independent
Consumer confidence in America declined for the third month in a row this month to its lowest level for two years. The Conference Board organisation reported yesterday that its index of consumer sentiment fell more than expected in October.
The news comes on the back of growing concerns about weakening business conditions and the impact that could have on the job market, and a recession in the US housing market.
The severity of that was also confirmed in a separate report that showed home prices posting their biggest drop in 16 years during August. Fears of the effects the continuing credit squeeze is having seem to have intensified, with concerns focusing on the prospects for unemployment. Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s consumer research centre, said further weakening in business conditions had tempered consumers’ assessment of current conditions and might "very well be a prelude to lacklustre job growth in the months ahead"….
Countrywide shareholders sue CEO
Mozilo, board – Reuters
Countrywide Financial Corp Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo has been sued by a pension fund that accused the largest U.S. mortgage lender of helping executives pocket improper gains by artificially inflating its stock price through share buybacks.
The New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund accused Mozilo, other Countrywide executives and the company’s board of directors of gross mismanagement for improperly using $2 billion of cash to repurchase stock.
It said the move allowed executives to sell $842 million of Countrywide shares at artificially high prices between April 2004 and October 2007, at the expense of ordinary shareholders.
Countrywide had no immediate comment on the lawsuit….
Delphi rejigs new restructuring plan
- Financial Times
Turmoil in credit markets has forced Delphi, the bankrupt automotive parts supplier, to rejig a restructuring plan filed less than two months ago, trimming payments to some creditors including General Motors, its biggest customer and former owner.
Michigan-based Delphi also warned that, while it had largely succeeded in putting its operations on a more stable footing since it filed for court protection two years ago, its 2008 revenue would be reduced by $346m as a result of a recently announced cut in GM’s North American production. GM accounts for almost half of Delphi’s sales.According to court documents, the availability of financing terms assumed in the September 6 reorganisation plan “has not been realised”. As a result, less cash was available as “currency” to implement the plan….
Delphi Can’t Provide $3 Billion
In Cash to Creditors and GM - Wall Street Journal
Delphi Corp.’s bankruptcy financing package will give former parent General Motors Corp. less cash than expected as the auto maker undertakes a costly restructuring of its North American operations.
The tighter terms of the financing package are the latest example of the ripples from instability in the credit markets, which have complicated the efforts of several companies to emerge from bankruptcy.
The auto supplier, looking to exit from Chapter 11, is seeking a smaller financing package that won’t be sufficient to make more than $3 billion in cash payments to its unsecured creditors and GM. According to court papers filed late Monday, Delphi’s unsecured creditors will instead have the option to buy new Delphi stock at a discount through a rights offering…..
Writers, studios inch forward
- Los Angeles Times
With a strike deadline looming, negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the major Hollywood studios made limited headway in contract talks Tuesday as they met for the first time with a federal mediator.
After a months-long stalemate, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the writers union met until the early evening at the alliance’s headquarters in Encino. Previously, talks typically adjourned in the afternoon.It was unclear, however, whether the involvement of mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez would be enough to bridge the deep divisions between them and avert a strike as early as this week.
Even though all the thorny issues remain on the table, Gonzalez presided over the first serious negotiations since talks began in July, people close to the talks said…..
11th hour is at hand; talks go on
- Hollywood Reporter
The first day of mediated talks between the WGA and studio reps seemed less acrimonious than some past sessions, but strike prognosticators were still working overtime in Hollywood on Tuesday.
The parties didn’t break until after 6 p.m. and agreed to have at it again today, with the 10 a.m. session in Encino the last before the guild’s contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires.
Yet even though WGA brass is authorized to call a strike at any time after midnight, they won’t do so until at least after they hold a membership meeting 7 p.m. Thursday downtown at the Los Angeles Convention Center. There also appeared to be a gathering consensus that negotiations might stretch into next week….
