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ue 10 July 2012 11:16 A A A Repsol has sued its former Argentinean subsidiary YPF in New York for deliberately not satisfying Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements. The Spanish oil company filed a suit on July 5th and explained that due to the nationalisation of YPF by the Argentinean government, the new 51% owner, it is required to file a 13-D form with the SEC. The form would specify Argentina's stake in the publicly traded company, its future plans, and the dividend policy. The new management team admitted to the SEC that it does not meet the requirements to continue trading on the New York Stock Exchange. YPF will hold a shareholder meeting on July 17th at which point a dividend policy should be approved. However, Argentina has not made any announcements regarding shareholder retribution plans. Repsol claims that the current situation is preventing investors from having the information needed to come up with a well-informed decision on how to vote in the meeting.

G4S, a global secure solutions group, has announced the acquistion of Protekt by G4S Beheer. Protekt is a a safety training consultancy with four training facilities in the Netherlands. G4S has made the purchase to further strengthen its existing position in safety training and consultancy, with both companies having "significant experience of providing customised solutions for safety training". Protekt was acquired from Arbo Unie and had gross assets of £1.1m as at December 31st 2011 and sales of £3.8m for 2011.

"We do not believe we can justify spending further money and management time on what has already been a lengthy process. "As a result, we have reluctantly decided not to proceed with the acquisition and have informed First we are withdrawing." The £2.8m acquisition was announced on March 12th.

Transport company Stagecoach Group is no longer going ahead with the acquisition of North Devon business and assets of First Devon and Cornwall. The firm changed its mind after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) referred the anticipated acquisition to the Competition Commission due to "concerns the merger will reduce competition in local bus services in the area". A Stagecoach Group spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed at the decision of the OFT to refer what is a relatively small transaction to the Competition Commission.

Fashion brand Burberry is expected to update the market, and the group does not often put a foot wrong, so expectations are that the firm is riding out the global economic slow-down well.

Pubs group JD Wetherspoon's founder and Chairman Tim Martin gets another chance on Wednesday to rail against the UK's tax laws which, in his eyes, blatantly favour supermarkets over pubs. Investment analysts will be more interested in how the business's margins are doing. In the 13 weeks to April 22nd - the group's fiscal third quarter - the operating margin (before exceptional items) had declined to 8.1% from 9.3% in the first half of the fiscal year, and Numis Securities thinks full year margins will come in at around 9.05%.

Recent updates from sector peers Michael Page and Robert Walters have not given any reason for shareholders to be overly optimistic about recruiter Hays's trading update on Wednesday. Michael Page said the first half of the year had been tough and it expected more of the same in the second half, while Robert Walters saw a slow-down in Asia Pacific put a dent in its net fee income. On the bright side, as recently as April Hays raised operating profit guidance for the full year, driven by international growth, including 9% growth in Asia Pacific.

Positive Points Assets under management rose, with the board highlighting a resilient portfolio performance. Management previously noted that “longer term trends are favourable to specialist lenders. The imbalance between demand and supply of credit will continue to provide opportunities to generate superior returns.” The group again highlighted that it was making good progress towards raising its next European mezzanine fund. A group debt extension has been agreed, with the board highlighting a ‘strong balance sheet.’ A total of £449 million of unutilised bank lines was available as of 30 June 2012. A progressive dividend policy continues to be pursued. A total dividend for the last financial year of 19 pence was announced, up from 18 pence in 2011.

Negative Points Concerns regarding customer defaults on financing it provides persist. Although management pointed to a resilient performance at its Investment Company, it also noted that the general economic conditions were impacting a small number of its weaker assets. Pre-tax profit for the current year is forecast to decline compared to the last financial year.

Financial Highlights: Assets under management increased by 3.5% to €11.8 billion New investments totalling £88 million were made An extension of £640 million of the company’s own debt was agreed

First quarter trading: The update was well received by investors. The share price showed a rise of over 2% come late morning trading. Management highlighted both a resilient investment portfolio performance along with a strong pipeline of investment opportunities. Intermediate closed on three deals during the quarter and remains in exclusive talks on a fourth. A second transaction was completed in Australia, whilst a £256 million portfolio of performing loans was acquired from a European bank on what management saw as attractive terms. Good progress on fund raising and fund launches was highlighted, while a debt extension for Intermediate Capital itself was completed, extending loan maturities to 2016.

Intermediate Capital Group plc is an independent mezzanine provider with investment portfolios in Europe, Asia Pacific and the United States. Just at the mezzanine lies between two conventional floors in a building, so mezzanine finance fills the gap between senior bank loans (which normally have first right of repayment in the event of financial difficulty) and equity capital. The company operates through two business groups: The Fund Management Company (FMC) and The Investment Company (IC). FMC is the operating vehicle of ICG plc that sources and manages investments on behalf of the Investment Company (IC) and its third-party funds. IC is the investment unit of ICG plc and co-invests alongside its third party funds.

Positive Points: Profit guidance for the current financial year has been maintained. Total and like-for-like food sales increased. The retailer has launched 'Simply M&S', a range of 800 product lines which attempt to combine value on everyday basics with quality. During the last financial year, gross margin for food increased by 0.5% to 31.4%. A number of management changes have been announced, including a new Executive Director of General Merchandise. The new director has been with the company for 26 years. He has a track record in a variety of roles, most recently Executive Director of Food. The key International markets of India and China both traded strongly, enjoying double digit growth. Group International sales on a constant currency basis rose by 0.9%. Multi-channel sales grew by 14.9%. Management launched a number of new initiatives aimed at improving its customers' shopping experience, including the re-launch of its mobile website. The group previously launched a series of pilot stores designed to trial a more inspiring shopping environment. The board highlighted "good progress with the roll-out of our new store concept, which is being delivered on plan and on budget." The dividend payment remains attractive. A yield of over 5% is currently enjoyed by shareholders. Dividend cover (earnings per share divided by the dividend per share) of two times was reported over the last financial year. Management outlook comments noted £strong progress against our goal of becoming an international, multi-channel retailer."

Negative Points: General Merchandise sales continued to decline (-6.8% on a same store basis), falling by more than analysts had expected (-5.5%). Management again blamed clothing merchandising issues, along with the unseasonal weather. Within 'Home' sales, the group's prior decision to withdraw from technology sales again hindered performance. Weak consumer demand for big ticket items also proved unhelpful. Despite the group targeting international growth, sales on an actual currency basis fell by 3.5%. Sales were impacted by currency translation of Euro denominated countries as well as continued macro-economic weakness in the Republic of Ireland and Greece and ongoing restructuring of its Central European business. Underlying International operating profit over the last financial year declined by 9.2% to £133.4 million. The Executive Director of General Merchandise is to leave. Kate Bostock is arguably well regarded. Speculation suggests that tensions existed between her and the Chief Executive. Rumour also suggests that she may be joining internet retailer ASOS. Management outlook comments noted that it expects "the short term trading outlook to continue to be challenging". The dividend payment over the course of the last financial year was only maintained compared to the year before. Rival retailer Next for example, increased its full year dividend by 15%.

Financial highlights: Total group sales on an adjusted currency basis fell by 0.7% Total UK sales declined by 0.9%. Food sales rose by 2.9% while General Merchandise sales retreated by 5.1% Like for like or same store UK sales fell by 2.8%. Food sales rose by 0.6%, while General Merchandise declined by 6.8% Multi-channel sales increased by 14.9% International sales rose by 0.9% on a constant or adjusted currency basis. They fell by 3.5% on an actual or unadjusted basis

First quarter update: As largely expected, the weather resulted in an update which proved to be something of a damp squib. In particular, the decline in General Merchandise sales continued, albeit for different reasons. This in part has caused yet another management change, which is unsettling given the perception that M&S has yet to find its new niche. Whilst sales remain under pressure in a fiercely competitive environment, the more successful retailers have themselves reported numbers which could imply a deeper problem at M&S. On the upside, Chinese and Indian sales and the online channel continued their promising progress, Food is still holding its own and the dividend yield of 5.3% (as of 10July2012) is attractive in the current interest rate environment. The jury is likely to remain out, particularly as both the new strategy and board have yet to make their mark. The shares are interestingly priced, having fallen 15% over the last year (and 13% in the last three months alone) as compared to a 6% drop for the wider FTSE100 in the same period.

It was 1894 when Michael Marks met Tom Spencer and founded what is today a major UK retailer for clothes, food and home products. The group has over 1000 stores in more than 40 territories around the world, over 700 domestic and over 300 international. It is the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being a niche player in the food sector focused on premium quality convenience foods. Marks and Spencer Group PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Meanwhile revenue at the institutional foreign exchange business remained stable compared to 2011 however margin pressure has resulted in the net contribution being 26% lower than the same period in 2011. Elsewhere ProSpreads, the Direct Market Access (DMA) financial spread betting business in Gibraltar, has recently been granted a retail license opening up the potential client base for this product. Low volatility during the early part of the year has meant the business incurred losses of £0.4m for the first 6 months. The business in Gibraltar is undergoing reconstruction to bolster future profitability. Overall London Capital continues to trade well, is well capitalised and as at 30 June 2012 had net cash resources and amounts due from brokers amounting to £25.6m. The Board is focused on ensuring the group's cost base remains low whilst maintaining sufficient flexibility to progress its growth strategy, it added.

Shares of spread betting firm London Capital Group plunged 10 per cent on Tuesday as it said it expects to report adjusted pre-tax profit of £2m for the six months ended June 30, down from £3m a year earlier. This is stated before recognising a charge for share based payment expense and a provision for £1.9m as previously disclosed relating to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) claims, it explained. "Although market volatility and volumes remained low in the first half of the year, the retail spread betting and CFD business continues to trade well and revenues were 10% higher than the same period last year. Client acquisitions grew by 4.2%," it said in a company statement. London Capital said it has added a number of significant new white label partners, which are due to start trading in the second half of this year. The group said the Australian CFD business has doubled both its client base and trade volumes. As expected, it has continued to generate losses of £0.3m, unchanged from last year.

Young & Co's Brewery has said recent trading has improved significantly since the poor performance in the first seven weeks, as reported earlier in the year. Consequently managed house revenue for the first thirteen weeks was up 10.1%, and up 4.0% on a like-for-like basis. Managed house trading has benefited from a number of factors including the impact of last year's investments in new pubs, the addition of three sites transferred from tenancy, and strong trading during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The firm is anticipating a strong period of trading during the Olympics and it remains confident in its strategy, believing well-invested estate and management focus on growth should continue to drive superior like-for-like performance.