Market Musings 18/7/2012

One of the most interesting developments since my last update has been the number of European countries with negative bond yields. This has been explained as a flight to safety mixed with a currency play, but to me it represents more of a delusion of safety, given that many large European non-financial corporates, which are sitting on a mountain of cash, can offer investors the same currency exposure, a much higher yield and a stronger balance sheet than many sovereigns. Should there be any shift in sentiment away from ‘defensive’ assets such as European government bonds and towards equities, I think stock markets could push significantly higher from here as investors scramble to escape from what to me (and others) looks like a bubble in the bond market.

 

(Disclaimer: I am a shareholder in Allied Irish Banks plc) Following on from recent similar moves by its local peers, AIB announced that deposits gathered in the UK will no longer fall under the Irish government’s guarantee scheme. This is a welcome move for AIB as it will lower costs, but it is a less positive development for Ireland’s fiscal position – the State raised €547m from ELG fees in the first 6 months of 2012.

 

(Disclaimer: I am a shareholder in Ryanair plc) There were a few developments in recent days around Ryanair’s takeover approach for Aer Lingus. Firstly, Europe’s largest LCC posted its offer document for the Irish flag carrier, which contained few surprises. Then the Irish Transport Minister said the government would review the bid based on four criteria, while this morning Aer Lingus rejected the offer, citing both competition and valuation grounds. With Aer Lingus this morning trading on an 18% discount to Ryanair’s bid price, the market continues to indicate a low probability of success for this approach.

 

(Disclaimer: I am a shareholder in France Telecom plc) There were some extraordinary developments in France yesterday, with the new government indicating that it is looking to block telecoms companies from laying off workers despite sliding revenues (Bouyges Telecom guides -10% this year, SFR expects revenues to weaken further after last year’s 3% decline, France Telecom sees average revenue -10% this year). Blocking companies from being able to right-size costs while allowing them be undercut by new entrants is a recipe for disaster.

 

The protracted takeover battle for Cove Energy appears to have reached the endpoint, with PTT winning out over Royal Dutch Shell.

 

In the blogosphere, Lewis has been furthering his knowledge of the UK motor retail sector, profiling Vertu.

 

And that’s about it in terms of what’s grabbed my attention since my last update! The main scheduled newsflow to watch out for here over the remainder of the week is DCC’s interim management statement on Friday, which I suspect should be pretty good due to the unusually poor weather we’ve been having in this part of the world.