x 0

another reason why fertilizer will be hot commodity..

BHP may go hostile after $38.6 billion Potash Corp bid

On Wednesday 18 August 2010, 10:32

MELBOURNE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global miner BHP Billiton may go hostile with its $38.6 billion bid for fertilizer group Potash Corp as early as Wednesday, a source said, as investors braced for a possible bid battle.

BHP Billiton, which wants to become the largest fertilizer supplier to a world where survival means more farm production, is considering bypassing the Potash Corp board, which has rejected its offer, and submit it directly to the Canadian group's shareholders, said the source familiar with the situation.

BHP Billiton declined to comment on Wednesday, saying only that it was reviewing its position after Potash Corp rejected its $130 a share offer, describing it as "grossly inadequate."

Shares in BHP Billiton slipped 3.5 percent on concerns among investors in the Anglo-Australian miner that it would be forced to over-pay for Potash Corp in what already amounts to the world's largest takeover offer so far this year.

"We're surprised at the multiple that they're prepared to pay for Potash Corp," said James Bruce, a portfolio manager at Perpetual Investments, which owns BHP shares.

BHP Billiton has long been interested in expanding into potash for its next spurt of growth, but investors had expected it to focus on growing its own assets, including the Jansen potash deposit in Canada.

BHP Billiton investors in Australia said that they expected the company to raise its offer, but were still calculating how much it could afford to pay.

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan has left the door ajar, saying it might consider a more attractive proposition.

There is some speculation that other bidders could enter the fray, but one investor said rival miners like Brazil's Vale and Rio Tinto would be hard-pressed to bid against deep-pocketed BHP Billiton.

"The organization (BHP Billiton) has exhibited a very disciplined approach to M&A activity historically. There's no reason it'll change from this point on," said Tim Schroeders, a portfolio manager at Pengana Capital, also a BHP shareholder.

Rohan Walsh, investment manager at Karara Capital, another BHP shareholder, agreed.

"It's a sizable acquisition. There are not too many companies that can do that. There are not too many dance partners Potash can dance with," Walsh said.

BHP is being advised by JPMorgan, while PotashCorp is being advised by BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital Markets.

(Reporting by Megan Davies and Michael Erman in New York and Sonali Paul in Melbourne)

x 0

reversal confirmation with high vol today..

i like fertilizer.. helps commodities grow..

vested 52

x 0

77..testing 78 soon..

x 0

Charts always tell u the story before it happens

August 17, 2010, 6.01 pm (Singapore time)

Olam to invest US$43.5 mln in Africa cocoa plant

SINGAPORE - Singapore commodities firm Olam International said on Tuesday that it will invest US$43.5 million in Cote d'Ivoire to set up a greenfield cocoa processing facility in Abidjan. -- REUTERS

ozone2002 ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 14:26) Posted:

Time to vest in olam... exposure to cotton..$2.55

As Cotton Prices Approach 15-Year High, Clothing Prices May Increase

By GIL RUDAWSKY Posted 8:19 PM 08/16/10 Economy

Comments Print Text Size A A A

The oft-ignored U.S. cotton market has been steadily gaining ground, and today cotton prices are nearing heights not seen in the last 15 years.

Natural disasters in top cotton-producing countries, coupled with an increase in demand for the commodity and a record crop year, spell good news for American cotton farmers. On Friday, the price per bale for December delivery hit $85 -- up from a $75 per bale price last month.

"The mills are screaming for cotton," said Mike Stevens, a cotton analyst and trader based in Manderville, La. "No doubt about it, it's a bull market for cotton. Prices have absolutely exploded."

The U.S. is the third largest producer of cotton in the world, next to China and India. Coming in at fourth is Pakistan, whose crops have been wiped out due to flooding. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates said cotton losses in Pakistan will reach 700,000 bales.

Another top producer, Russia, has been hit with fires and drought conditions.

Then there's an increase in global consumption. For the fifth straight year, production of the commodity will not keep up with demand, according to the USDA.

Both VF Corp. (VFC) -- a clothing giant whose brands include Lee, Wrangler, Rustler -- and jean maker Levi Strauss are expected to increase sales increases this year.

The U.S. cotton industry accounts for more than $25 billion in products and services annually, creating about 200,000 jobs in industry sectors from farms to textile mills. This year, the USDA projects the U.S. will produce 18.5 million bales of cotton, up from 12 million last year. About 85% of U.S. cotton is exported.

U.S. stockpiles totaled 3.1 million bales on July 31, the lowest level since 1996, USDA reported. China is already making deep forays into its reserves.

While higher prices are good news for farmers, that may mean consumers will pay more for T-shirts and jeans.
Traders and VF's CEO Eric Wiseman said the rally in cotton may subside in September, given the strong crop expected this year.

"History tells us that more often times than not, if an early season rally gets out of hand, we wind up having to deal with much sharper corrections that are considerably more difficult to deal with," Stevens said. "At some time in the next few months the pipeline will begin to refill, and prices will level off."

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/9ndL5N

x 0

congrats to those who made the switch

genting down to 1.53

noble up to 1.65

ozone2002 ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 14:47) Posted:

suggest to switch to noble.. reversal from downtrend & oversold

ozone2002 ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 13:32) Posted:

genting has been moving up on dwindling vol..

may want to take profit for short term as kinda overbought..

x 0

makin a comeback...now flat

ozone2002 ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 10:30) Posted:

getting slammed 20 points off the highs today..

x 0

suggest to switch to noble.. reversal from downtrend & oversold

ozone2002 ( Date: 17-Aug-2010 13:32) Posted:

genting has been moving up on dwindling vol..

may want to take profit for short term as kinda overbought..

x 0

those who bought above 20c must be crying now..

greed is good.. ONLY when everyone is fearful...

x 0

Time to vest in olam... exposure to cotton..$2.55

As Cotton Prices Approach 15-Year High, Clothing Prices May Increase

By GIL RUDAWSKY Posted 8:19 PM 08/16/10 Economy

Comments Print Text Size A A A

The oft-ignored U.S. cotton market has been steadily gaining ground, and today cotton prices are nearing heights not seen in the last 15 years.

Natural disasters in top cotton-producing countries, coupled with an increase in demand for the commodity and a record crop year, spell good news for American cotton farmers. On Friday, the price per bale for December delivery hit $85 -- up from a $75 per bale price last month.

"The mills are screaming for cotton," said Mike Stevens, a cotton analyst and trader based in Manderville, La. "No doubt about it, it's a bull market for cotton. Prices have absolutely exploded."

The U.S. is the third largest producer of cotton in the world, next to China and India. Coming in at fourth is Pakistan, whose crops have been wiped out due to flooding. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates said cotton losses in Pakistan will reach 700,000 bales.

Another top producer, Russia, has been hit with fires and drought conditions.

Then there's an increase in global consumption. For the fifth straight year, production of the commodity will not keep up with demand, according to the USDA.

Both VF Corp. (VFC) -- a clothing giant whose brands include Lee, Wrangler, Rustler -- and jean maker Levi Strauss are expected to increase sales increases this year.

The U.S. cotton industry accounts for more than $25 billion in products and services annually, creating about 200,000 jobs in industry sectors from farms to textile mills. This year, the USDA projects the U.S. will produce 18.5 million bales of cotton, up from 12 million last year. About 85% of U.S. cotton is exported.

U.S. stockpiles totaled 3.1 million bales on July 31, the lowest level since 1996, USDA reported. China is already making deep forays into its reserves.

While higher prices are good news for farmers, that may mean consumers will pay more for T-shirts and jeans.
Traders and VF's CEO Eric Wiseman said the rally in cotton may subside in September, given the strong crop expected this year.

"History tells us that more often times than not, if an early season rally gets out of hand, we wind up having to deal with much sharper corrections that are considerably more difficult to deal with," Stevens said. "At some time in the next few months the pipeline will begin to refill, and prices will level off."

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/9ndL5N

x 0

happily shorting..

now 16.5

gd luck..

ozone2002 ( Date: 12-Aug-2010 11:09) Posted:

rode it on the way up and now riding it on the way down.. gd luck to those who think by taking over a $1 m shippin coy can make it sustain it high 20s share price..

x 0

genting has been moving up on dwindling vol..

may want to take profit for short term as kinda overbought..

x 0

Swiber Holdings – Singapore
BUY
(Maintained)
Company Update
Share Price S$0.995
Target Price S$1.54
Upside +54.8%
Company Description
Swiber Holdings is a regional oilfield services
and offshore construction group
Stock Data
GICS sector Energy
Bloomberg ticker: SWIB SP
Shares issued (m): 508.4
Market cap (S$m): 505.8
Market cap (US$m): 371.0
3-mth avg daily t'over (US$m): 4.8
Price Performance (%)
52-week high/low S$1.25/S$0.815
1mth 3mth 6mth 1yr YTD
(2.5) (8.7) (7.0) 2.6 (2.5)
Major Shareholders %
Pang Yoke Ming 10.8
Goh Kim Teck 9.4
Jean Pers 6.1
Yeo Chee Neng 6.0
FY10 NAV/Share (US$) 0.66
FY10 Net Debt/Share (US$) 0.64
Price Chart
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
1.10
1.20
1.30
(lcy)
0
50
100
Aug 09 Oct 09 Dec 09 Feb 10 Apr 10 Jun 10 Aug 10
VolumeSWIBER HOLDINGS LTD Swiber Holdings Ltd/FSSTI Index (%)
Source: Bloomberg
Analysts
Nancy Wei
+65 6590 6628
nancy.wei@uobkayhian.com
Stella Tan
+65 6590 6629
stellatan@uobkayhian.com
Contract awards shifting to a higher gear
What’s New
•
US$10m from the sale of two vessels, this was offset by one-off losses:
a) US$2.3m fair value loss on bonds and b) US$1.1m loss on the
dilution of PT Swiber Berjaya as Swiber did not participate in its share
issue. Separately, associates contributions were close to zero vs
S$1.9m profit contribution previously due to the high operation
expenditure at the initial stage of operation of a JV in Thailand.2Q10: While Swiber Holdings (Swiber) booked in a large gain of
•
expansion. Administrative staff head-count increased by 30% and
business development was beefed up. Swiber is bidding for more
contracts in India and set up a new office in UAE.Administrative expenses in 2Q10 were 21% yoy higher due to business
•
Swiber and does not include its consortium partners’ shares.
Furthermore, Swiber’s current orderbook does not include contract
extension from Brunei Shell Petroleum for offshore installation work to
be carried out in 2011-16 as the contract value has not been finalised.
As the contract for 2010 is worth US$81.4m – which is included in
current orderbook – we estimate the contract for 2011-16 could be
worth about US$500m.Orderbook currently stands at US$915m. All of it is attributable to
•
markets. Given the close proximity between India and Middle East, the
same fleet can be deployed to these regions, thus achieving greater
efficiency on lower mobilisation and demobilisation costs.
- India: Of the four recent bids by Swiber, the Group won three. It is
very active bidding for subsea work as well the usual offshore
platform installation and pipe-laying projects. Expect Inspection,
Repair and Maintenance (IRM) jobs to follow.
- Middle East: Swiber has offices in UAE and Saudi Arabia. JVs are
beginning the bear fruits. Swiber is bidding for one job in UAE and two
in Saudi Arabia. The Group has been invited by Saudi Aramco to bid
(after it qualified for bidding) on a project which will require 600km of
pipeline and 14 platforms over 3-4 years.
- Vietnam: Swiber is moving aggressively in anticipation of large
projects of field development with long pipelines to be awarded.Contract bids: Management sees strong contract awards in most
Key Financials
Year to 31 Dec (US$m) 2008 2009 2010F 2011F 2012F
Net turnover 428.4 393.4 470.6 607.6 722.8
EBITDA 39.8 31.8 65.0 100.0 125.2
Operating profit 31.2 16.8 48.5 82.0 105.2
Net profit (rep./act.) 38.8 34.7 40.0 55.0 73.0
Net profit (adj.) 38.8 34.7 40.0 55.0 73.0
EPS (US$ cent) 9.2 5.8 6.3 8.7 11.5
P/E (x) 7.9 12.5 11.6 8.4 6.3
P/BV (x) 1.5 1.2 1.1 0.9 0.8
Dividend yield (n.a.) n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Net margin (%) 9.1 8.8 8.5 9.0 10.1
Net debt/(cash) to equity (%) 100.4 84.7 96.5 90.4 77.7
Interest cover (x) 3.9 2.4 3.3 4.7 5.3
ROE (%) 20.3 13.8 12.6 15.1 17.0
Consensus net profit - - 36.5 53.7 61.7

UOBKH/Consensus (x) - - 1.10 1.02 1.1

x 0

great minds think alike..keke

Soros favored gold, may have sold Petrobras in Q2

On Tuesday 17 August 2010, 6:52 SGT

By Aaron Pressman

BOSTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros in the second quarter stuck with his big bet on gold but may have sold his holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Sao Paolo:PETR4.SA - News; NYSE:PBR - News).

In a quarterly securities filing on Monday, Soros Fund Management reported owning substantially fewer U.S. listed stocks than three months earlier. The fund listed $5.1 billion of equities as of June 30, down 42 percent from $8.8 billion at the end of March.

The fund firm said it owned 5.24 million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust (Pacific:GLD - News) worth $638 million as of June 30. Though down slightly from the fund's 5.59 million shares owned at the end of the first quarter, that was the fund's biggest holding by dollar value.

With the sale of so many other holdings, the Gold ETF constituted almost 13 percent of the firm's total equities, up from 7 percent at the end of the first quarter.

There was no sign in the filing of Soros's largest holding from the first quarter, Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. The fund owned almost 15 million shares as of March 31.

Other first quarter top holdings including energy producers Hess Corp (NYSE:HES - News) and Suncor Energy (Toronto:SU.TO - News) and telecommunications giant Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News) were slashed. At the end of the second quarter he had $1.5 million worth of Hess, down from $302.5 million, $13.6 million of Suncor, down from $285.3 million and $395,000 worth of Verizon, down from $175.1 million.

Soros does not typically explain his quarter-to-quarter moves. A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.

Money managers can leave stocks out of their quarterly reports or seek confidential treatment if they are actively trading in the shares.

The disappearance of Petrobras from the Soros filing comes as the state-owned oil producer has wrestled with a huge capital raising plan that also includes buying rights to billions of barrels of offshore oil from the government. In June, the company delayed the planned share sale and oil swap from July until September.

Money managers like Soros are required to file form 13-F within 45 days after the end of each quarter. The forms include only U.S.-listed equity securities and related derivatives. Bonds, other securities and short positions are typically not disclosed.

x 0

getting slammed 20 points off the highs today..

x 0

chiong ah!!!!

master ur charts well n u'll reap profits...76.5!!!

ozone2002 ( Date: 16-Aug-2010 19:48) Posted:

uptrend still intact..

continue to vest...

gd luck..

x 0

Gold
August 2010 contract

1,224.60
$ / troy ounce

+9.70
+0.80%

x 0

uptrend still intact..

continue to vest...

gd luck..

x 0

Gold rises to 7-week high as equities struggle

Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:57am GMT

By Lewa Pardomuan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold rose to its strongest in more than a month on Monday as pessimism about the global economic recovery sparked buying from investors, but selling from jewellers could cap gains.

Holdings in the world's largest bullion-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, were unchanged, suggesting that some investors were happy to hold on to bullion after recent U.S. economic data pointed to weakness in the economy.

Spot gold added $5.60 to $1,220.10 an ounce by 0634 GMT, having hit an intraday day high of $1,220.60 -- its highest since July 2. Bullion struck a record around $1,264 in June.

For a 24-hour gold technical outlook, see: here

"Our in-house analysts have been bullish on gold because of the state of the global economy," said a physical dealer in Singapore who trades gold bars. "They are still looking at gold reaching $1,300 and they want us to buy gold on dips."

"But we do see selling from the physical side because they are price sensitive. There is selling from Thailand and Indonesia. I guess the buying is more from investors, and not from jewellers."

U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose $5.7 to $1,222.3 an ounce, extending Friday's gains, when weak U.S. economic data prompted investors to buy gold as an alternative investment.

Japan's Nikkei average ticked down on Monday as figures showed Japan's economy slowed sharply from the previous two quarters and after U.S. stocks closed out their worst week in six with a whimper on Friday on poor economic data.

Despite the current uptrend in the gold market, some investors might have factored in the bad news from the United States and may start looking for fresh impetus to help bullion challenge a July high of around $1,222.

"For the next two weeks we expect gold to trade in a range between $1,180 and $1,240 an ounce. The downside gets very critical only once the metal falls below the $1,150 mark," said Heraeus in a report, referring to a low seen in April.

"It will be important to see how the investors behave after the summer recess and whether they will return to the market again as buyers."

The euro edged up 0.3 percent against the dollar to $1.2795, having pared its losses after dipping to $1.2734 on trading platform EBS earlier on Monday, its lowest against the dollar in almost a month.

Oil prices edged higher towards $76 on Monday, boosted by a weaker dollar, while a fall in Asian stock markets on news of a slowdown in Japan's economic growth restricted gains.

x 0

SC Global’s 2Q net profit jumps five-fold to $40.4m

Written by The Edge

Friday, 13 August 2010 17:12

SC Global’s 2Q net profit jumps five-fold to $40.4m

SC Global Developments, the developer of high-end luxury residences, today announced it nearly tripled its net profit to $53.8 million for the half year ended 30 June 2010, from $18.3 mil last year.

Net Profit for the second quarter of $40.4 million was five times the net profit for the same period last year of $7.8 million. Higher revenue recognition from the Group’s development projects, including The Marq on Paterson Hill, Hilltops and Martin No. 38, contributed strongly to the reported profit as construction progressed for these projects.

Group revenue for the half year increased 28% to $458.4 million from $357.6 million last year. Revenue from the group’s development project in China, Kairong International Gardens in Shenyang and the group’s subsidiary in Australia, AV Jennings (AVJ), also contributed to Group Revenue.

Gross Profit for the half year rose by 83% to $136.1 mil as compared to $74.5 million last year. Gross margin improved to 30% from 21% last year.

As reported earlier, AVJ achieved a 176% increase in net profit after tax to A$9.6 mil for the full year to 30 June 2010, reversing its loss of A$12.7 million ($15.6 million) in 2009. The full-year results reflect the total review of operations undertaken early in 2009.

AVJ recently announced the completion of the sale of its contract building operations to a division of the Japanese-listed company, Sekisui House Limited. The transaction includes Sekisui paying royalties for the right to use the AVJennings brand for its contract building operations for the next three years as well as a land alliance arrangement between the two companies.

The sale allows AVJ to fully focus on its residential development operations comprising land development, integrated housing and low-rise apartments, which has been an integral component of AVJ’s operations for 80 years.

x 0

morning marikita..afternoon also marikita..

ozone2002 ( Date: 13-Aug-2010 10:01) Posted:

it's been a long time since i've seen STI marikita..