Hong Kong Standard (April 10)
“The share price of Tianrui (1252), China’s ninth largest cement manufacturer, “slumped 99 percent in the 15 minutes before the market closed yesterday,” creating a penny stock. The “free fall…also slashed the company’s market capitalization to just HK$141 million from HK$14.6 billion – meaning HK$1 billion evaporated every minute.”
Tags: Cement manufacturer, China, Free fall, Market, Market-cap, Penny stock, Share price, Slashed, Slumped, Tianrui
The Economist (April 7)
“America’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles is under pressure. Mr Musk is fighting battles on many fronts and they all exacerbate his main threat: a financial squeeze that could eventually push Tesla over the edge…. Rising interest rates, a wobbly share price and a continued inability to meet its own production goals would all conspire to make it harder for the firm to find capital. It does not help that General Motors, Volkswagen and other big rivals are making massive investments in EVs.”
Tags: Capital, EVs, GM, Interest rates, Manufacturer, Musk, Production goals, Share price, Tesla, U.S., Volkswagen
The Economist (July 18)
“There has always been an element of financial engineering about buy-backs. Can it really be good news if a firm feels it has nothing better to do with its money? An enthusiasm for buy-backs creates the sense that executives are more interested in short-term share-price performance than in the company’s long-term health.” According to some estimates, the number of available shares in U.S. stock markets has been reduced by approximately 6% since 2009 as a result of buy-backs, but the trend appears to be slowing.
Tags: Buy-backs, Enthusiasm, Executives, Financial engineering, Performance, Share price, Short term, U.S.
Euromoney (July Issue)
Suntory Beverage “successfully completed an almost $4 billion IPO, Asia’s largest this year” by listing on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. “Encouragingly for the wider market, Suntory’s story is not unique. In Japan, the opening–day share prices for more that 20 recent IPOs have exceeded their pre-market fixed prices as retail investors pile into companies in the firm belief that Japan’s growth path is assured. In fact, with the much-reported liquidity problems in China, Japan is emerging as something of a bright spot in Asia at exactly the right time.”
Tags: Asia, China, IPO, Japan, Liquidity, Retail investors, Share price, Suntory Beverage, TSE
The Economist (November 3)
Even as profits have tumbled, balance sheets have soared as companies across the globe put more cash aside. “The financial crisis has made firms more skittish about relying on banks or securities markets for funds.” At least in Japan, this “urge to save may be lessening. Japanese firms, with few growth prospects at home, have been making foreign deals. Marc Zenner of JPMorgan Chase notes that in the past 18 months firms that announce acquisitions have been rewarded with higher share prices.”
Tags: Balance sheets, Banks, Cash, Foreign acquisitions, Japan, Profits, Share price
Los Angeles Times (September 2)
“A relentless focus on share price can hurt not only employees, taxpayers and society, but shareholders too. Managers who are pressured to raise stock price quickly often resort to tricks — selling assets, cutting payroll and investment, draining cash through dividends and share repurchase programs — to bump up stock price for a year or two. But such strategies often hurt a company’s long-term ability to grow and prosper.”
Bloomberg (August 25)
“The Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc.’s purchase of its Osaka rival is off to a rocky start.” Shares in the “Osaka exchange plunged by a record 16 percent yesterday amid speculation the merger will hurt profit.” Many of the concerns center on trading disruptions at the larger exchange, for which executives had their pay docked following a reprimand by the Financial Services Agency.
Tags: FSA, Merger, OSE, Share price, Trading glitches, TSE
