Member Info for jange

Real estate investment trust (REIT) Hammerson said that it is to acquire The Victoria Quarter in Leeds as it reinforces its presence both in the city and the fast-growing luxury retail sector. Hammerson has exchanged contracts to buy the shopping centre from Kennedy Wilson for £136m. The company said that the purchase complements its proposals for the first phase of Eastgate Quarters, which his adjacent. The company said in July that heads of terms have been agreed with John Lewis to anchor the first phase of Eastgate Quarters. The 36,000m squared project will create two new retail streets and will start in 2014. The Victoria Quarter, anchored by Harvey Nichols, comprises 19,500m2 with over 70 stores and two cafes and has "successfully established itself as a leading luxury retail destination in the heart of Leeds' retail core." David Atkins, Chief Executive of Hammerson commented: "Our purchase of the Victoria Quarter is a further demonstration of our commitment to Leeds, following the announcement of our plans for Eastgate Quarters in July. "Victoria Quarter is a retail landmark in Leeds, and our ownership of the scheme will help us to develop a comprehensive retail offer for Eastgate Quarters and expand the luxury and aspirational retail offer for the city.

Energy support services firm Cape has established a joint venture in Kazakhstan in a bid to expand it presence in the country. A newly created firm Cape Caspian is jointly owned by Cape and the Lancaster Group, which the company described as a "highly reputable private company". Lancaster consists of several divisions operating in different sectors of the Kazakhstan economy including the energy, oil services and mining sectors. Cape's Chief Executive Joe Oatley, said the joint venture would build on more than twelve years of safe and successful Cape operations in Kazakhstan. "This provides an excellent opportunity to expand our business and to deliver future success for our shareholders," he said

Oxford Instruments, the high-tech tools and systems provider, said order intake from its research markets remains good but there has been some softness in its industrial markets. In a statement prepared for the firm's annual general meeting, Chairman Nigel Keen said the company's Nanotechnology Tools business has made a good start to the new fiscal year, which kicked off in April. "The launch of our new XMax large area detector in August has further consolidated our position as a leading provider of advanced material analysis equipment," Keen claimed. The Industrial division is also trading in line with expectations, while the Service division has "performed well", with the recently acquired Platinum Medical Imaging business bedding in nicely. "The board anticipates that Oxford Instruments will continue to make progress in line with our expectations for the financial year," Keen declared.

Raven Russian, the Russia-focused property company, has invited shareholders to sell a small proportion of their shares to the company. The group has proposed a tender offer under which shareholders can sell one in every 46 of their ordinary shares in the company at 70p each, which will then be cancelled. If the maximum number of shares of around 13m are acquired, the company will pay a total of £9.1m to shareholders. The offer is open to all shareholders who are registered with the firm by October 16th and must exercise their warrants by September 28th. The tender offer will also present tendering shareholders with an opportunity to sell more than their pro rata entitlement (up to their entire holding of ordinary shares) to the extent that other shareholders tender less than their pro rata entitlement, Raven said.

"These results demonstrate the resilient nature of Ashmore's business," Coombs claimed. "The group achieved a satisfactory financial performance during a period of significant ongoing market volatility," he added. Coombs is backing the group's focus on emerging markets to pay off. "More and more investors are seeing Emerging Markets debt as an alternative to fixed income in general and with yields in the developed world either high for a good reason or yielding next to nothing, Emerging Market debt looks highly attractive," Coombs reckons. "Emerging Markets equities looks to be ripe for a good year given relatively low valuations, and specialist areas in small cap and frontier markets are bound to attract attention as investors lose their solely large cap bias in the search for high long term returns and outperformance," Coombs concluded. Share price reaction was muted, with the stock down 1.7p at 338p after an hour of trading.

The absolute increase in redemptions was due to a combination of equities outflows in the first year after acquisition of new funds, and from retail multi-strategy assets raised in Japan in the prior period, "undoubtedly amplified by the extreme market volatility experienced during the year." Net revenue for the year to the end of June of £333.3m was in line with market expectations and a tad lower than the prior year's £333.8m. The group enjoyed a 21% increase in management fee income to £302.6m, driven by an increase in average AuM levels, but this was offset by the reduction of average revenue margins which were largely in line with the levels reported at the interim stage. A fall in performance fees to £25.4m from £85.4m the year before was not unexpected, as it is determined by levels of absolute investment performance, which reduce "as is normal at this point in the cycle after peaking immediately following the credit crisis." Performance fees were further reduced through the significant market sell offs at the end of the first quarter which largely eliminated performance fees for funds which have a fiscal year which ends later than March. Profit before tax of £243.2m for the year to the end of June was down 1% from the previous year's £245.9m, but ahead of the £229.40m the market had been expecting. Basic earnings per share eased to 26.8p from 28.1p the year before. The final dividend of 10.75p takes the full-year pay-out up to 15p, up from 14.5p the previous year.

Assets under management (AUM) at Ashmore Group fell back in the year to end-June, despite the fund manager enjoying a net inflow of funds in both halves of the year. AUM at the end of June stood at $63.7bn, down $2.1bn from a year earlier, as overall negative investment performance of $3.4bn exceeded the level of net subscriptions achieved of US$1.3bn. The negative investment performance was primarily driven by the weakness in equities and foreign exchange markets, though this was partially offset by positive investment performance in the group's external, corporate and blended debt themes. "The group experienced positive net inflows during both halves of the year, with total subscriptions of $13bn," said Ashmore's Chief Executive Officer, Mark Coombs. "We are continuing to see strong growth in assets coming from Emerging Markets clients," he added. Average AuM over the 12-month period increased by $17.5bn (38%). Gross subscriptions totalled $13.0bn versus $23bn the year before. Gross redemptions increased in absolute terms to $11.7bn from $7.5bn the year before, "which at an overall level of 18% of average AuM remain on the low side by industry standards, although slightly up on the prior year," Coombs said.

Qatar Holding, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund and Xstrata shareholder, said that it hasn't yet made up its mind on whether or not to vote in favour of amended new terms that Glencore revealed this week. Commodities trader Glencore on Friday raised its share swap offer for Xstrata from 2.8 times to 3.05 times following fierce opposition from the merger's biggest obstacle, Qatar Holding, which owns around a 12% stake in the miner. Qatar Holding had said previously that it was not happy with the initial exchange ratio of 2.8 though it did "support the principle of a combination". In a statement on Tuesday morning, the group said: "QH wishes to make clear that it has made no decision yet as to whether or not it would accept the Revised Proposal," the group said on Tuesday morning. A decision will be made "in due course after giving careful consideration to the implications of the proposed management changes, the other elements of the revised proposal and the views of Xstrata's board."

Commenting on today's profit-warning analysts at Seymour Price said: "The trend Burberry is talking about may seem at odds with the rest of the sector news of late but we note that this is current news up until 8th September and would not be surprised if other luxury players are seeing similar trends. "The recent de-rating of the shares has already started to anticipate a slowdown and this slowdown is nothing like the brick wall the sector impacted in 2008 when the financial crisis hit. Indeed, Burberry is in a much stronger position brand and infrastructure wise to react to a slowdown given recent system investment so is unlikely to have the same stock issues. "This news will obviously hit sentiment towards Burberry and the luxury sector and the shares are likely to underperform until there is better news on demand so we are cutting our recommendation to Hold (Buy since 3 December 2010). However, we still consider Burberry a strong long term growth story with significant geographical and product mix opportunities."

"Given this background, we are tightly managing discretionary costs and taking appropriate actions to protect short term profitability, while continuing to execute on our proven five key strategies," she said. Even the economic powerhouse of China has been exhibiting worrying signs recently, with growth slowing more than expected. China, where demand for luxury Western goods had been very strong, reported falling imports and lackluster growth in exports for August. Imports fell 2.6% from a year earlier, while exports rose 2.7% in August from a year ago. In July Burberry warned that it was seeing a slowdown in gift giving in China, including small leather goods, cashmere scarves, but also trench coats. At the time the firm put this down to the once-in-a-decade political change at the top of the ruling Communist Party making consumers nervous about spending. Whatever the cause, the slowdown in key Asian markets has helped take the sheen off a previously rampant Burberry. The company reported a 24% jump in annual profits to £366m in its last financial year, while total revenues were also up 24% to £1.9bn. Seymour Price downgrades to hold (from buy)

Shares in British fashion house Burberry plunged in early trading after it warned profits this year would be at the lower end of expectations. The stock fell almost 18% when markets opened as the firm said it was taking steps to cut costs and maintain short-term profitability. Burberry, which has 196 retail stores, 207 concessions, 48 outlet shops and 58 franchise stores worldwide, said it expected profits for the year to the end of March 2013 to be at the lower end of market expectations. The designer added that trading conditions were becoming more challenging with like-for-like sales flat in the second quarter. The company, which had been riding on the crest of a retail wave driven by it popularity in the Far East, said retail sales growth at constant exchange rates was 6% in the 10 weeks to 8 September. Of this, new space contributed the whole 6%, while like-for-like store turnover was unchanged year-on-year, with sales slowing in recent weeks. Chief Executive Angela Ahrendts, said the second quarter retail sales growth had slowed against historically high comparatives.

Spanish gas company Enagas saw shares sink on Tuesday after a shareholder sold its stake in the company at a discount to the closing price the day before. Investment company Sagane Inversiones, which is formed by several savings banks such as Caja Murciam and Caja Granada, announced that it had placed in the market its remaining 5% stake of Enagas. The sale was realised through an accelerated bookbuilding process managed by Banco Santander and Credit Suisse. The stake, which is made up of almost 12m shares, was placed in the market for €14.70 per share for a total of €175.46m. The price is a 4.56% discount off Monday's weighted average price. The market quickly priced in the operation and took the share price lower to meet the price of the transaction in early trading.

Positive Points: The generation of profits at the lower end of current analyst forecasts for the full year would still see a gain in profits being made compared to last year. Accompanying management comments noted that "we are tightly managing discretionary costs and taking appropriate actions to protect short term profitability". Initiatives to strengthen the group's long term luxury brand status may have impacted near term sales performance. Management highlighted at its first quarter update that initiatives to elevate brand equity had been balanced by improved store productivity and new space. Operationally, investment in flagship markets continues. In the first quarter, six large stores opened including a fourth store in Brazil and an outlet in Hong Kong. Management then highlighted plans to open further stores later this year in London, Milan, Chicago, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The group already enjoys geographical diversity, an attribute which many retail rivals such as Marks & Spencer are currently attempting to emulate. A progressive dividend policy continues to be pursued.

Negative Points: Comparable Retail or same store sales in the period to date were reported as unchanged. For the full second quarter period last year, comparable sales rose by 16%. Management highlighted a 'deterioration' over recent weeks. The board currently expects adjusted profit before tax for the full year to 31 March 2013 to be around the lower end of current analyst forecasts. The current consensus analyst forecast for operating profit over the current full year is £446.8 million, an outcome which would be an 18.5% increase over last year’s reported figure. Management moves to protect the group's long term luxury brand status, axing cheaper fashion lines in order to buoy prices may have had some impact. Cheaper handbags, made in Asia have been reduced. Coats made from fabrics woven at Burberry's own mills in Yorkshire have been increased. The lowest price for a trenchcoat has risen to about £1,000. With over 60 stores in China highlighted as of its first quarter trading update, the health of the Chinese economy is a factor. Recent economic indicators appear to suggest a slowing in growth. China’s economic growth slowed to 8.1% in the first quarter, down from 9.2% cent in 2011 and 10.4% in 2010. GDP grew by 7.6% in the second quarter. While Asia proved to be the group's biggest revenue generator as of its last full financial year, the Americas (24.8%) and Europe (31.6%) also remained important. Economic growth in the US has to date proved disappointing compared to past recoveries, whilst the crisis in Europe remains ongoing.

Financial Highlights Retail sales growth at constant exchange rates came in at 6% in the 10 weeks to 8 September 2012 Of this 6% growth, new space contributed 6%, while same store sales proved to be unchanged year-on-year, with a deceleration in recent weeks noted. Management currently expects adjusted profit before tax for the full year to be around the lower end of current analyst forecasts.

Second quarter sales to date: While disappointing (same store sales remained unchanged), the cautionary update did not come as a total surprise. The group's own 'clean-up programme', where management is axing cheaper fashion lines in order to buoy prices, may well have taken some responsibility, while the group's exposure to China has already been extensively highlighted. Comparatives have become increasingly challenging, while a still spluttering US economy remains unhelpful. In all, and given the additional profits warning, investor appetite is now being thoroughly tested. The connectivity between the developing and developed markets appears to be making itself clear, while management moves to protect the group's long term luxury brand status may now be denting short term performance. For now, we believe that analyst opinion is likely to remain under pressure, having already moved from a buy to a strong hold.

Company overview Burberry Group PLC is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. The company has branded stores and franchises around the world and also sells through concessions in third-party stores. It runs a catalogue business and has a fragrance line. HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH, the Prince of Wales have granted the company Royal Warrants. Burberry's trademark products are its fashionable handbags and exclusive fragrances. Burberry is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

positive Points: Management outlook remains upbeat. "The Group achieved a satisfactory financial performance during a period of significant ongoing market volatility" The London based fund manager is a recognised leader in the management of emerging market debt. Group focus remains on long-term growth, in line with the company's strategy. The board have recommended a final dividend of 10.75p, making a full year dividend of 15.00p

Negative Points: Deterioration in the wider credit environment, or a sharp price correction in emerging market debt markets could lead to poor performance in investment portfolios. Ashmore has encountered significant market volatility in its core emerging markets during the reporting period. Performance fees were impacted as a result of significant market sell offs at the end of the first quarter which largely eliminated performance fees for funds which have a financial year which ends later than March. The group remains susceptible to short-term volatility due to global macroeconomic weakness.

Financial Highlights: Profit before tax of £243.2 million was reported, 1% down from 2010/11 (£245.9 million). Overall net revenue was £333.3 million, in line with 2010/11 of £333.8 million. As at 30 June, assets under management ("AuM") were US$63.7 billion, a decrease of US$2.1 billion (3%) from US$65.8 billion at 30 June 2011. Management fees rose 21% to £302.6 million. Performance fees were registered at £25.4 million, down from £85.4 million a year earlier.