Blitz of earnings faced with dread - analyst

posted 22 Oct 2012, 02:54 by Mpelembe [ updated 22 Oct 2012, 02:54 ]

The pace of earnings accelerates with a welter of blue-chip companies reporting Q3 this week. So far the news is less than encouraging, according to Fiona Cincotta, market analyst at City Index.

LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (October 22, 2012) (REUTERS) - CITY INDEX MARKET ANALYST, FIONA CINCOTTA, SAID:

"Well, as you mentioned, I mean the earnings season is gathering momentum here inEurope this week. However, expectations have been set fairly low. For UK-listed companies, third quarter profit warnings are at a level that they haven't been since the dark days of 2008. And you know, mainly a weakening economy and even poor weather are what have been cited. So I mean, we're not really expecting too much. If the U.S. has anything to go by, where there have been some shocking revelations, we're in for a bit of a bumpy ride. (QUESTION: Analysts' favourite one there, always blame it on the weather. One major corporate story today of course is BP. They've just said there's no deal yet on its joint venture, the sale of its stake in TNK, but it's probably going to come soon. What do you think could be a good deal for BP and its shareholders?) Well, exactly, I mean it does seem that it is perhaps a good time to get out of this toxic relationship. They entered the deal in 2003 for $8 billion. They've taken $19 billion in dividends. However, the concern is that dividend stream is going to dry up. Rosneft is not going to be paying anything like the type of dividends that they've been receiving from TNK, and so it's just not going to be the same there. Concerns are also therefore, where the shareholders are going to be receiving that cash flow. And they actually don't want that money to be going to paying off more Gulf of Mexico disaster debts. They actually want it in a share buyback so you know, still lots of t's to be crossed and i's to be dotted."

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