Barron’s (June 23 Issue)
“Non-GAAP numbers were to be used judiciously to explain extenuating or extraordinary circumstances, like a factory fire or the sale of a division.” Instead, they’ve become endemic. “For fiscal 2024, some 351 companies in the S&P 500 index, or 71%, reported either non-GAAP net income or non-GAAP earnings per share.” Of those, 89% of the adjustments made “their results look better” and the difference can be vast. “Intel had the biggest adjustment last year.” With “a GAAP loss of $19.2 billion” the chipmaker “categorized $18.6 billion as nonrecurring, so it reported a non-GAAP loss of $600 million.” And the sleight of hand can be performed year after year. For example, Oracle “has booked a restructuring charge every year for the past five years.” Especially in tech and healthcare, “non-GAAP numbers are now more accepted than the ‘generally accepted’ ones.”
Tags: Adjustments, Endemic, EPS, Extenuating, Extraordinary circumstances, Factory fire, Healthcare, Intel, Loss, Net income, Non-GAAP, Nonrecurring, Oracle, Restructuring, Results, S&P 500, Tech
Professional Pensions (April 17)
“As political tides shift in the US, many firms are pulling back on their DE&I commitments, restructuring or scrapping entire departments in response to legal challenges and cultural pressure. And the ripples are already reaching UK shores.” The appropriate response is not “about virtue signalling, it’s about smart governance.” US backsliding presents “a real, tangible issue that UK organisations, especially those working with global partners, need to pay close attention to.” They should secure their values and their supply chains as Transport for London did “by cutting ties with Accenture … after the consultancy ‘sunset’ key DE&I policies.” TfL disallowed Accenture “from bidding on a creative contract because it no longer met TfL’s diversity criteria, stating ‘We are proud to hold our suppliers to account… making sure they are aligned with our commitments on diversity and inclusivity.’”
Tags: Accenture, Cultural pressure, DE&I commitments, Legal challenges, Political tides, Restructuring, Smart governance, Suppliers, Supply chains, Transport for London, U.S., UK, Values, Virtue signalling
Reuters (November 16)
“Restructuring a restructuring isn’t good news. Alibaba scrapped the spinoff of its prized cloud computing business, blaming U.S. curbs on advanced chips,” causing its shares over 10% lower. “The U-turn dashes market expectations of stability among technology companies after the end of Beijing’s years-long regulatory crackdown. The country’s weak economy and bad geopolitics mean the sector hasn’t yet hit a bottom.”
Tags: Alibaba, Beijing, China, Chips, Cloud computing, Economy, Geopolitics, Market expectations, Regulatory crackdown, Restructuring, Shares, Spinoff, Stability, Technology, U.S.
Financial Times (January 28)
“Oaktree Capital is risking a showdown with Beijing over control of one of ailing property developer Evergrande’s most-prized projects in mainland China.” Seizing “the Venice development could have a profound effect on the wider restructuring of Evergrande, the property developer that has scrambled to reassure its creditors since its finances started to unravel last year.”
Tags: Ailing, Beijing, China, Control, Creditors, Evergrande, Oaktree Capital, Property developer, Restructuring, Risking, Showdown, Venice development
Reuters (August 16)
“Banks still have to work to rebuild public trust, despite years of restructuring and paying fines and compensation for misbehaviour.” A YouGov survey found that “66 percent of adults in Britain do not trust banks to work in the best interests of society.”
Tags: Banks, Compensation, Fines, Misbehaviour, Public trust, Restructuring, Society, Survey, Trust, UK, YouGov
Euromoney (November Issue)
With returns on some Ukraine sovereign debt exceeding 16%, there are obviously concerns over a possible default. “Ukraine’s policymakers, however, are adamant that default or even restructuring is out of the question. The main reasons given are national pride and, more cogently, a desire to maintain access to international capital markets.”
Tags: Capital markets, Default, Policymakers, Pride, Restructuring, Returns, Sovereign debt, Ukraine
Financial Times (June 22)
“Bond investors are already pricing Greece’s government debt as though it has defaulted.” The Financial Times presents the four scenarios most likely to play out in the ongoing Greek saga: Disorderly default, Orderly default, Staggering on and Leaving the euro. None of them are pretty and the actual course will likely be revealed in the next few weeks.
“Bond investors are already pricing Greece’s government debt as though it has defaulted.” The Financial Times presents the four scenarios most likely to play out in the ongoing Greek saga: Disorderly default, Orderly default, Staggering on and Leaving the euro. None of them are pretty and the actual course will likely be revealed in the next few weeks.
The Economist (June 9)The Economist (June 9)
By postponing difficult decisions about “the Greek mess,” Europe’s leaders are only creating future problems. “The rescuers think buying time reduces the risk of contagion from a Greek debt restructuring to other euro-zone countries. But the pall of an unsolved Greek mess will continue to hang over the euro zone, just as it has done for the past year.” Instead they should begin “an orderly restructuring of Greek debt now. That remains the only solution.”
By postponing difficult decisions about “the Greek mess,” Europe’s leaders are only creating future problems. “The rescuers think buying time reduces the risk of contagion from a Greek debt restructuring to other euro-zone countries. But the pall of an unsolved Greek mess will continue to hang over the euro zone, just as it has done for the past year.” Instead they should begin “an orderly restructuring of Greek debt now. That remains the only solution.”
Tags: Debt, Europe, Greece, Restructuring
The Telegraph (May 22)
Half the world thinks Greece should restructure its debt. The other half doesn’t. Prime Minister George Papandreou has come down firmly against any debt restructuring, but Greek citizens may think otherwise. Continued belt tightening could risk “further civil unrest. A poll published on Sunday showed 80pc of Greeks would refuse to make any further sacrifices to ensure continued EU and IMF support for the bail-out.”
Tags: Civil unrest, Debt, Greece, Restructuring, Sacrifice
New York Times (May 13)
A year after Europe’s leaders put together a $140 billion bailout packaged for Greece, they are now expected to propose “a further $86 billion dose of the same failed medicine.” They shouldn’t. Delaying the inevitable simply inflates the final bill. Greek debt needs to be restructured. “The longer Europe’s leaders hide from this fact, the bigger the eventual bill will be, and the longer Greeks will have to wait for renewed growth.”
Tags: Debt, Europe, Greece, Restructuring
