Tufton Oceanic Assets Share Discussion Threads

[maywillow] 13/6/2005 14:40

Alstom "equal weight," target price raised

Monday, June 13, 2005 6:55:45 AM ET
Morgan Stanley


LONDON, June 13 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Morgan Stanley maintain their "equal weight" rating on Alstom (AOM.FSE). The target price has been raised from €0.50 to €0.93.

In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the upward revision of the target price is based on a decline in the company's liabilities and an improved operating outlook. According to the analysts, Alstom's debt/equity profile is expected to continue to improve in the near term, driven by the company's working capital inflows and further disposals.

[ariane] 02/6/2005 08:10

JP Morgan Ups Alstom Target Post FY

Thursday, June 02, 2005 2:19:47 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires





0607 GMT [Dow Jones] Alstom (12019.FR) is making "good progress towards targets," says JP Morgan, after FY results Tuesday. Increases price target to EUR0.65 from EUR0.5 following lower debt because of "better than expected," cash flow. Notes "key risk factor" is contract execution. Has an underweight rating. Shares closed Wednesday at EUR0.76. (SIN)

[maywillow] 02/6/2005 05:45

SYDNEY (AFX) - Engineering company United Group Ltd said it has agreed to
pay 267.5 mln aud for the Australian and New Zealand rail and infrastructure
services business of French industrial conglomerate Alstom.
United said the price represents 7.4 times the forecast earnings before
interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) of 36.3 mln aud for the year to March
2006.
It said it expects the acquisition to be at least 10 pct earnings per share
accretive in fiscal 2006.
The company said it will maintain a strategic alliance with Alstom, one of
the world's leading providers of rail products, services and systems.
The acquisition will be funded by a combination of debt and equity,
including a 140 mln aud institutional placement fully underwritten by UBS.
The placement comprises a firm 120 mln aud plus 20 mln conditional on
shareholder approval.
United said additional equity funds will also be raised through a share
purchase plan, allowing shareholders to each subscribe for up to 5,000 aud in
extra shares.
Alstom's Australian and New Zealand operations involve rail services,
including rolling stock supply and maintenance, and rail and road infrastructure
services and maintenance.

(1 usd = 1.33 aud)
[e-mail]
blh/dk

[waldron] 31/5/2005 12:31

Alstom FY "Confirms Their Recovery" - Aurel

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 3:35:03 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



0719 GMT [Dow Jones] Alstom (12019.FR) FY results "confirms their recovery," says Aurel Leven. Notes debt levels have fallen and company confirms guidance for '05, while marine division is "principal point of weakness," for group. Maintains buy rating on stock, EUR0.90 target price. Shares +4.35% at EUR0.03. (SIN)

[waldron] 31/5/2005 08:44

Alstom Six-Month Loss Shrinks on Job Cuts, Disposals (Update1) May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Alstom SA, the French engineering company bailed out by the government from near bankruptcy, had its smallest six-month loss in three years after Chief Executive Patrick Kron cut 11,500 jobs and sold a quarter of the business. The stock gained as much as 7.3 percent.

The net loss shrank to 550 million euros ($681 million) in the fiscal second-half through March, from 1.2 billion euros a year earlier. The Paris-based company plans to return to profit this year, it said in a statement today.

Kron, 51, was appointed in January 2003 to lead the turnaround of the maker of TGV high-speed trains and the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship. The state-led rescue restored customer confidence, prompting a 15 percent gain in full-year orders.

``The results we are presenting today clearly demonstrate the ongoing recovery of Alstom,'' Kron said on the conference call. Profit margins from recent orders are widening, he said.

Shares of Alstom gained as much as 5 cents to 74 cents and were trading at 72 cents as of 9:10 a.m. in Paris, valuing the company at 3.96 billion euros.

The stock, which has risen 29 percent this year, was first sold to the public at 31.25 euros a share in June 1998 and fell to an all-time low of 48 cents in March 2003, adjusted for capital increases.

Full-year orders totaled 15.8 billion euros, while the annual loss shrank to 865 million euros from 1.84 billion euros. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted a loss of 617 million euros. The company was last in the black in the first half of fiscal 2003.

Middle East, China

Recent work secured by Alstom includes a 560 million-euro order for the Middle East's biggest power plant, 1 billion euros in orders from China for trains and locomotives, and a 150 million- euro order from the Washington subway operator.

Full-year sales fell 4 percent to 13.66 billion euros, reflecting a dip in orders prior to the bailout.

Kron is planning further asset disposals to raise cash and meet conditions imposed by European Union competition regulators in exchange for their approval of the French government-led bailout in 2003 and 2004.

Alstom, which has built power stations that generate a fifth of the world's electricity, will shed its Power Conversion unit, which had sales of 539 million euros last year, it said today.

Disposals such as last year's divestment of a power- transmission-and-distribution-unit to Areva SA for 920 million euros have helped to cut debt by one-half from when Kron took over in January 2003. A share sale last August cut Alstom's indebtedness to 1.27 times equity from about 15 times.

No Talks

Asked whether Alstom was in talks about partnerships or combinations with Areva of France or Siemens AG of Germany, Kron said there are no current discussions. ``We don't need anyone to help us recover,'' he said.

Of 20 analysts who cover the manufacturer, eight recommend buying the shares, eight say ``hold'' and four ``sell.''

The company was on the brink of collapse in mid-2003 after more than 4 billion euros of repairs and compensation for a faulty model of power turbine drained cash and new business slumped. After a planned 8 billion-euro rescue, the government is now Alstom's biggest shareholder, with a 21 percent stake.

Bloomberg News calculated second-half results by subtracting first-half figures from full-year ones.

[maywillow] 16/5/2005 07:30

BEIJING (AFX) - French energy and engineering group Alstom said it has
finalised a contract worth 80 mln eur with Dongfang Electric Group Corp to
provide power generation equipment for the extension of the Ling Ao nuclear
power plant in southern China.
It is the third nuclear power contract Alstom has won in China in recent
years.
China plans to increase its nuclear power generating capacity at least
five-fold within the next 15 years.
boc/mp/bmm/ak

[maywillow] 15/5/2005 16:57

Royal Navy's new supply fleet could be built cheap in China
By Clayton Hirst
15 May 2005


Britain could have its first fleet of naval ships built in China under plans being drawn up by shipbuilder VT Group.

The company is preparing to bid to supply the Royal Navy with up to 15 support vessels, in a contract thought to be worth £2bn.

But in a bit to reduce costs, VT is exploring the possibility of making the ships' hulls in China. The move would be controversial as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) insists that all warships be assembled in Britain.

However, VT believes that because the ships in the so-called Mars programme will be used to support front-line warships, the "made in Britain" rule will not apply.

Paul Lester, the chief executive of VT, said: "There could be an opportunity to get some of the hulls of those ships built in China or Eastern Europe and then brought over to the UK. The Mars programme brings that potential because they are support ships; they are not typical."

Assembling the hulls abroad would save a lot of money, he said. "There is no doubt that the cost of producing steel and doing some of the fabrication work offshore would be 25 to 30 per cent less than doing it in the UK. But a lot of work needs to be done to establish quality and reliability," he said.

The MoD kicked off the procurement process for the ships last month by asking companies to express an interest in bidding. It is understood that the MoD wants to sign contracts with a shipbuilder by the end of the year. VT is expected to face competition from BAE Systems and Swan Hunter.

The ships built under the Mars programme will replace out-of-date Royal Fleet Auxiliary craft that supply the Navy with oil, ammunition and food.

Mr Lester also confirmed that VT was planning to join an EADS-fronted bid to supply up to 100 air-to-air refuelling jets to the US Air Force. "We have 3,500 people in the US and we will be pitching to support the programme," he said.

The Pentagon is preparing to announce that it is open to bids on the $20bn (£11bn) programme after the collapse last year of a deal with the scandal-hit Boeing. EADS, which wants to supply converted Airbus A330 jets, is now in talks with US defence contractor Northrop Grumman about forming a joint venture.

EADS refused to comment, but a spokesman for Northrop Grumman said: "The tanker programme represents a large opportunity in our industry. We are looking at all options, including teaming up with EADS."

If EADS joins with the US contractor then it is likely that the A330s be converted into tankers at Northrop Grumman's Florida facility.

[waldron] 07/5/2005 10:48

Financial Events

 


31/05/2005 Annual Results FY 2004/2005
12/07/2005 Annual General Meeting 2004/2005
12/07/2005 First Quarter Orders and Sales 2005/2006

[ariane] 16/4/2005 07:25

Amtrak High-Speed Service Canceled at Least 6 Days (Update6) April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger railroad, said the suspension of its Acela high-speed service connecting Boston, New York and Washington will last at least six days and as long as two months.

Amtrak canceled the service after routine inspections found cracks in brake rotors before today's runs. The cancellation of Amtrak's highest-priced service affects 34 daily departures of trains made jointly by Canada's Bombardier Inc. and France's Alstom SA, the railroad said in a statement. Passengers are being served by other Amtrak trains.

The 20 Acela trains, which provide a fifth of Amtrak's service in the Northeast, have a history of mechanical troubles. The railroad and the companies signed a $1.2 billion contract in 1996 to produce the trains. The start of service in 2000 was delayed almost a year by mechanical difficulties. Some trains were out of service for almost two months in 2002 because shock absorbers cracked.

``There is obviously going to be negative financial impact and passenger dissatisfaction,'' said David Johnson, assistant director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, a Washington lobbying group. ``Amtrak took the safe and prudent course rather than keep the trains in service and risk failure and a potentially damaging incident.''

Bill Crosbie, Amtrak's chief operating officer, told reporters that the service will be shut down at least through April 20. It could take as long as two months before all trains, which serve 9,000 passengers daily, are operating.

Acela trains have six coaches and are designed to travel at up to 150 mph. They accounted for $128.8 million, or 22 percent, of Amtrak's $579 million in train revenue through the first five months of the fiscal year, the most recent statistics available on the railroad's Web site.

Replacement Trains

Amtrak planned to run three trains later today to replace canceled departures. Travelers who cancel their Acela trips will receive a full refund, spokeswoman Tracy Connell said. Those who switch to other trains will get back the difference between the higher fare and the price charged for the train they ride.

Crosbie said Amtrak inspected every train after the first crack was found and discovered cracks in 300 of 1,440 brake rotors. He said the railroad doesn't know what caused the cracks, how much they would cost to repair and who would pay.

``This is no different than your auto if you found a crack in the brake rotor,'' Crosbie said.

Court Battles

The manufacturers and Amtrak have battled in court over responsibility for earlier defects. Bombardier sued first, in 2001, claiming the railroad's specifications for the equipment were defective. Amtrak countersued, and the dispute was settled out of court last year.

Bombardier and Alstom are responsible for maintaining the Acela trains. Amtrak takes over that responsibility in 2006.

``The priority is to get the trains back in service as soon as possible,'' said David Slack, a spokesman for Montreal-based Bombardier. He said the trains remain under warranty and that Amtrak and the manufacturers will later decide who pays for the fix.

Slack said the brakes on the Acela trains were made by Knorr Brake Corp., a unit of closely held Knorr Bremse AG of Munich. Crosbie said Wabco, a unit of Wabtec Corp. of Pittsburgh, also supplied brake parts. Wabtec spokesman Tim Wesley said Wabtec didn't supply the part that failed.

A call for comment to the U.S. office of Knorr in Westminster, Maryland, wasn't immediately returned. Paris-based Alstom didn't return a call requesting comment.

Quest for Funding

Amtrak is trying to win new federal funding to continue service after Oct. 1, when its current $1.2 billion subsidy will run out. President George W. Bush wants to break up Amtrak into separate operating and maintenance companies and force states to pay half of passenger-service costs.

``This is not a helpful thing,'' Amtrak President David Gunn told reporters today. ``I don't think this will be a factor per se in our funding. There are a lot of other issues other than a piece of equipment failing.''

He said issues such as the Administration's reform proposals and the budget process would have greater importance in the funding debate.

20 Percent

The trains account for about 20 percent of departures between Boston and Washington, where two-thirds of Amtrak's 25 million annual passengers travel. Connell said the service was stopped as a precaution and that no accidents had been reported.

Amtrak charges $157 one-way for a three-hour Washington-New York weekday trip, about double the price of other service, which takes about 30 minutes more.

Amtrak created the name Acela in 1999 to signify ``a combination of acceleration and excellence.'' The trains in the first five months of the fiscal year have arrived on-time 73 percent of the time, less than the 78 percent rate achieved by U.S. airlines last year, according to the Transportation Department.

The trains overall have a 72 percent on-time arrival rate, which was dragged down because 17 overnight trains that primarily use tracks owned by freight railroads such as Union Pacific Corp. had 50 percent on-time performance. Airlines and Amtrak define on- time arrivals as within 15 minutes of schedule.

Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman of US Airways Group Inc., said the airline hasn't seen an increase in East Coast shuttle flights because of the Amtrak cancellations. Flights in the region are already ``very full'' for the weekend, she said.

The railroad has received $29 billion in federal subsidies since it was created in 1971 and has never made a profit.

[maywillow] 07/4/2005 13:09

Areva to acquire Alstom in India


Thursday, 07 April , 2005, 15:08

New Delhi: French nuclear energy major Areva will acquire its compatriot Alstom's transmission and distribution business in India for Rs 80.6 crore and has also made an open offer for buying 20 per cent stake from Alstom's shareholders at Rs 75.03 per share.






Areva T&D SA has agreed to buy the shares of Alstom Ltd from its promoter Alstom Holdings SA at a price of Rs 30.45 per equity share. Alstom Holdings has 66.35 per cent stake or 2.64 crore shares in its Indian arm.

If Areva buys out all the shares, the total amount would be 14.5 million Euro (Rs 80.6 crore).

Areva has also made an open offer to buy 20 per cent stake comprising about 79.77 lakh shares from the shareholders of Alstom Ltd at a price of Rs 75.03 per share, the manager to the offer HSBC Securities and Capital Markets said on Thursday.

The offer would open on May 30 and close on June 18.

The total funds required for the open offer would be Rs 59.85 crore, HSBC said, adding Areva would use its own resources to acquire the shares.

Alstom Ltd posted net profit of Rs 16.9 crore over net sales of Rs 581.4 crore during April-December 2004-05. Alstom share closed at Rs 75.90 on Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is aimed at strengthening Areva's position in the electricity transmission and distribution segment in India.

The acquisition was initially supposed to be completed by December 31, 2004, but was delayed owing to differences over how much Areva will pay Alstom for its T&D business worldwide.

Areva had completed a deal in 2003 to acquire Alstom's T&D business worldwide, except India and some other countries.

The original price agreed for the worldwide T&D business was 950 million euro. However, Alstom France had demanded 1.1 billion euro and the dispute had been referred to global accounting firm KPMG.

[waldron] 05/4/2005 14:32

PARIS (AFX) - Alstom SA said it has won a 265 mln eur order to supply
turbines, generators and plant control equipment from India's National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation, for its 2,000 megawatt Subansiri power project
in Assam, India.
The main components of the power generation equipment will be built at
Alstom's production site in Baroda, India, and the plant will begin producing
electricity in 2010.
"We have been investing in our Baroda factory in order to develop it into a
world hub for hydro projects," said Philippe Joubert, president of Alstom's
Power Turbo Systems division.
[e-mail]
js/jsa

[waldron] 05/4/2005 07:22

PARIS (AFX) - Thales is about to start tie-up talks with France's
state-owned shipyard group Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) after
Thales shareholder Alcatel dropped its opposition to the deal, La Tribune
reported.
The paper cited an unnamed Thales source as saying Alcatel, which holds 9.1
pct of Thales, "is no longer vetoing or opposing" a tie-up between Thales' naval
business and DCN.
It cited sources as saying however that while DCN is ready to start talks
now and is prepared to merge its maintenance activities from 2006, Thales's
Thales Naval France division is suffering a downturn in earnings, which would
mechanically reduce its weight in a combined entity.
Thales would own 25-35 pct of the new group, the paper said.
Rumours of a merger between Thales and Alcatel have circulated on the Paris
market for years, most recently in March when reports claimed Alcatel has
offered to swap its space operations for a stake in the defence electronics
group.
According to La Tribune, Alcatel is not convinced by the merits of a
Thales/DCN merger but hopes DCN would be selected by the government to lead the
process of naval consolidation in France and Europe, leaving Thales and Alcatel
free to merge.
Alcatel has long said its stake in Thales is 'either too much or too
little.'
La Tribune added, without naming its source that DCN will unveil on April
21, 2004 net profit of 180 mln eur, after 41 mln in 2003 and expects this to
swell to 200 mln this year.
DCN's sales rose 37 pct to 2.6 bln in 2004.
[e-mail]
mrg/ra

[waldron] 03/4/2005 16:38

LONDON (AFX) - UK defence contractor BAE Systems PLC confirmed that it has
initiated legal proceedings against the Sultan of Brunei to court over a
disputed warship deal.
Confirming a story in the Sunday Telegraph, a spokesman for BAE Systems said
the group was in arbitration talks with the Sultan of Brunei. However, he
declined to provide any additional details on the case, which could be worth as
much as 600 mln stg to BAE Systems.
According to Sunday Telegraph, the dispute centres on an export order to
build three offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Brunei armed forces.
The contract was agreed several years ago and BAE launched the first ship in
Jan 2001. The other two ships have since also been completed.
However, all three remain moored at BAE's Scotstoun yard on the Clyde, as
the Sultan has refused to accept them because they failed to meet his exacting
standards, according to the report.
[e-mail]
sd/hjp

[waldron] 03/4/2005 16:31

News

Framatome ANP and Alstom close to winning Chinese nuclear deals
01 April 2005
Engineering groups Framatome ANP and Alstom are reportedly close to securing contracts to supply nuclear equipment to China.

Framatome ANP, a joint venture with Areva and Siemens, has apparently won the tender process for a control centre equipment contract for two reactors to be built as part of the Ling Dong project, also referred to as Ling Ao Phase II. The contract is worth around 3% of the estimated $4 billion cost of the project, or close to $120 million.

Alstom, meanwhile, with China's Dong Fang Electric Group, is expected to win the tender for two turbo-alternators at the plant with an estimated cost of 15-20% of the project's total cost or around $800 million.

[waldron] 03/4/2005 11:06

Alstom

NEELIE Kroes, the European Union's competition commissioner, may soon permit herself a small smile of satisfaction.

The public reprimand she administered to the French government a couple of months ago over its failure to honour commitments made during the rescue of engineering leviathan Alstom seems poised to deliver its first results.

While the Paris government has yet to deliver the opening of the French rail equipment market it promised, Alstom is in advanced talks to sell its generators and controls equipment maker, Alstom Power Conversion (APC).

The sale of the business, valued by analysts at around €340m (£235m), will be the first significant disposal in a €1.5bn (£1.03bn) programme pledged by Alstom to win approval for its €3.5bn (£2.4bn) bail-out last July.

According to trade unions Amicus in Britain and IG Metal in Germany, talks are under way with a consortium of private equity investors who look set to take over APC, with a target completion date in July.

APC is no small morsel. With annual sales of €500m (£342m), it accounts for 3.5% of Alstom's annual sales and employs 3,500 people.

The unions are worried. According to Amicus, APC has more than 1,000 British staff at sites in Rugby, Kidsgrove and Glasgow. The British union, like its counterpart in Germany, fears the sale will be followed by restructuring and job losses. Alstom shed 1,200 jobs at its train-building plant in Washwood Heath, Birmingham, last September, as chief executive Patrick Kron began tightening the bolts to squeeze more cash flow out of the business.

But for investors and competitors alike, the long-awaited progress on sell-offs is an encouraging sign.

The commission approved Alstom's rescue, which involved the French government acquiring a 21% chunk of the enlarged equity as part of the refinancing, only after long drawn-out and often bitter negotiations.

To get the deal through, France had to agree to the disposal of businesses peripheral to Alstom's core activities of making and installing turnkey power stations, railways and ships. The company also pledged to form an industrial partnership with a competitor for one of these three core businesses, within four years, and that the state would sell up once that was done.

Since then Kron has begun to achieve progress on the slow business of asset sales and cost reductions. Besides putting APC on the auction block, Kron has also launched a restructuring of his Utility Boilers business.

The willingness to wield the biggest axe in France, despite complex job-protection law there, is particularly encouraging, although investors need to see many more such announcements to be convinced of Kron's determination to achieve a sustainable turnaround.

A new voice on the board may keep Kron from backsliding. In place of the hapless Lord Simpson, who drove Alstom's one-time British partner Marconi into the ground, Kron has co-opted Francis Mer.

In a past guise as industrial manager, the former French finance minister turned then French state steel group Usinor into a success and merged it with Spanish and Luxembourg rivals to create Arcelor, now the world's second-largest steel maker and a money-spinner.

Investors will hope Mer's experience and good sense can help Kron achieve a comparable miracle at Alstom.

[maywillow] 24/3/2005 09:33

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Alstom is poised to announce the sale of its generator
manufacturing unit, Power Conversion, said a spokesman for Germany's IG Metall
union.
The buyers of the unit, which has annual sales of around 500 mln eur, are a
consortium of investment funds, the spokesman added.
The comment followed a report in French daily Les Echos which cited union
sources. The transaction will be part of a divestment programme required by the
EU Commission, it said.
Alstom declined to comment.
[e-mail]
mha/js/jms

[waldron] 14/3/2005 08:29

MILAN (AFX) - Siemens AG is interested in acquiring the civilian transport
and energy equipment businesses of Finmeccanica SpA, the daily Il Corriere della
Sera said without citing a source.
The daily added that Siemens has officially informed Finmeccanica of its
interest in writing.
But because of political interference, Finmeccanica could find it difficult
to sell outright the businesses and could seek to set up joint ventures with the
German group, it added.
The French group Alstom is also interested in creating a Franco-Italian
group that would include Finmeccanica's civilian activities and the Italian
government owned ship builder Fincantieri, it said.
The French government, which has a stake in Alstom, could promote the idea
by also offering a link up between Finmeccanica and the French defence group
Thales, the newspaper said.
Finmeccanica is seeking to focus on aerospace and defence and has been in
protracted talks to spin off its civilian business to Fincantieri.
pw/ra

[ariane] 06/3/2005 17:35

PARIS (AFX) - Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said talks on the merger
of France's Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) shipyards with the
shipbuilding business of Thales SA are back on track.
In an interview with US weekly newspaper Defense News, Alliot-Marie said:
"At one point, there were problems because some Thales' shareholders were not
interested in the move because it didn't fit in with their main activities."
"But things are moving again. We're not looking at a matter of weeks, but
we're moving in the right direction," she said.
Alliot-Marie said a DCN/Thales naval merger was important because it would
create a supplier of integrated systems and be a step towards European
industrial consolidation.
"The link-up could also be the basis for a European alliance, which for the
naval industry could be the equivalent of what EADS has been for the aeronautics
industry," she said.
Alliot-Marie also said she was not opposed in principle to a possible
alliance between Thales and Italy's Finmeccanica SpA, but said no merger plan is
on the agenda.
Thales and Finmeccanica last month declined to comment on a report that they
have started talks on the possibility of an alliance in the defence sector to
create the largest global player in the sector with 9.6 bln eur in annual sales.
[e-mail]
lwl/ra

[grupo] 22/2/2005 08:05

TODAY'S PRESS
-Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier candidates for 3 bln eur SNCF train order (Les
Echos)