AMP: Nahe am ATL: Rebound? - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Prognoserich]

hochspekulativ aber interessant. Vergleichbar ist das Unternehmen mit MLP oder AWD in Deutschland. Eigentlich ein Big Player im Aussieland, aber gehörig unter die Räder gekommen...

[FujiPyjama]

AMP upgrades profit forecasts

Financial services giant AMP Limited has significantly upgraded its profit forecasts.
The company is not due to report its annual results until Thursday of next week.
But it says they will be considerably better than the forecasts in the explanatory memorandum for its recent demerger.
AMP says it is now likely that net profit after tax for the year to December will be between $600 million and $620 million.
The revision to forecasts follows improved business unit performance and a number of one-off items.
AMP will also take advantage of a stronger balance sheet to pay off its debts more quickly, buying back as much as possible of the $1.25 billion in outstanding income securities.
AMP shares surged 34 cents or more than 7.5 per cent to $4.84 at 9:30am AEDT.



Fujipyjama

[FujiPyjama]

aktuell bei 4,90 $ geht wieder nordwärts!


Fujipyjama

[Prognoserich]

der Chart oben ist auch nicht aktuell:



Sieht schon nach einem Rebound aus!

[Prognoserich]

Na das nenn ich einen Outperformer

[Prognoserich]

naja

[FujiPyjama]

Spekulatives Kursziel 5 Euros (in FFM)


Fujipyjama

[Prognoserich]

jetzt bin ich raus, ist mir zu unsicher

[FujiPyjama]

AMP options pair can keep their $10m profit
By Duncan Hughes
June 3, 2004

Page Tools
Email to a friend Printer format
The Fares brothers. . .evidence uncovered that they had been planning a splurge in AMP shares for a while. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones


Two brothers who made $10 million profit on derivatives based on AMP shares the day after National Australia Bank announced its bid for the insurer will not be sued for insider trading and can keep the money, a parliamentary committee was told yesterday.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the nation`s top securities regulator, said there was not enough evidence to bring an action, despite an intense joint investigation with NAB.

Jan Redfern, executive director of enforcement, told the Senate Committee on Economics: "I agree that the circumstances of the profits created some suspicion. However, we had to establish that there is possession of insider information and we could not establish that."

Michael Fares, 39, and John Fares, 38, both of Williamstown, were arrested before they could deposit about $11 million into a British Virgin Islands company called Teahouse Trading.

In April the brothers appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to two counts of structuring transactions to avoid reporting requirements under the Financial Transactions Reports Act. They face a maximum of five years` jail on each charge.

Advertisement
Advertisement
An ASIC probe failed to find any evidence of insider trading by the brothers and the $10 million profit, which had been held by ASIC in a "disputed monies account", has been paid to them.

Over four weeks to August 28 - the day NAB reported a bid for AMP shares to the Australian Stock Exchange - the brothers used $2.4 million transferred from their joint NAB account to pay for margin trading deals using sophisticated derivatives.

Ms Redfern said ASIC found that the brothers had been developing a strategy to invest heavily in AMP shares long before the announcement of the NAB`s book-build.

She added that the high criminal burden of proof made it particularly difficult to recommend an action to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

She could not say whether the Fares brothers had any direct dealings with NAB staff dealing with the book-build.

Fujipyjama

[Prognoserich]

AMP hints at better times

09jun04

SHARES in AMP moved up to within a whisker of $6 yesterday as investors warmed to the prospect of chunkier dividends now that the company`s debt levels appear firmly under control.

After the market`s close yesterday AMP announced its intention to repurchase $700 million in offshore bonds.
The move will shrink AMP`s debt to its target mark of $1.5 billion ahead of schedule and put it in position to reclaim an A credit rating.
Investors gave the developments a ringing endorsement, sending shares in AMP more than 3 per cent higher to $5.92 before they eased fractionally to close 16c higher at $5.90.
The last time AMP shares closed above $6.00 was in late April 2003 just before it stunned shareholders with a plan to demerge its Australasian operations from its ailing businesses in Britain.
The speed with which AMP has been able to turn its balance sheet around has led to speculation that there could be significant increases in dividend payments. Despite its woes AMP paid out 16c in 2003 and has committed itself to returning 60 per cent of earnings to shareholders in the future.
AAP

[FujiPyjama]

AMP to reward shareholders

28jun04

LIFE insurer and fund manager AMP aid yesterday it would decide within the next two months whether to return surplus cash to shareholders via a dividend payment, a share buyback or combination of the two.

AMP last week reaffirmed plans to reward shareholders after announcing it had paid A$747 million ($515 million) of offshore debt, marking the end of its accelerated debt reduction plan.
"We`ll determine over the next couple of months the position . . . and we`ll announce that to shareholders," AMP Chief Executive Andrew Mohl told the ABC`s Inside Business program.

Asked about the possible size of any buyback or dividend payment he said: "The more buoyant the markets are, then the more abundant our capital is and vice versa so I don`t think we want get into medium term numerical projections."

AMP has now repaid or repurchased about $2.9 billion of debt, lowering its overall debt to about $1.56 billion and saving $150 million in annual interest payments. The company has said the overall debt restructuring would lead to a one-off after-tax loss of around $25 million in its 2004 half-year accounts.









Since spinning off its struggling British operations, which listed as a separate company in December last year, AMP has been intent on strengthening its financial position and ultimately restoring its single-A credit rating.

Shares in AMP have climbed steadily in recent weeks and on Friday closed 1.28 per cent higher at $6.32.



Fujipjama

[Prognoserich]

AMP rewards shareholders
By staff writers and wires
18aug04

THE nation`s biggest life insurer, AMP, today reported a better than expected interim profit of $378 million, compared to a loss of $2.2 billion previously.

Recovering from restructuring costs and and billions of dollars in writedowns, the insurer said its strengthened position would translate into higher returns for its long suffering 960,000 shareholders over the coming year.
No longer weighed down by its hived-off UK operations and $10 billion demerger, today AMP lifted its first half dividend to 13c per share compared with 7c.

"While the timing (is) yet to be determined, AMP is likely to return capital to shareholders in one form or another over the next year," chief executive Andrew Mohl.

He said AMP made encouraging progress in its first six months post the merger.









"AMP is now a much more straight forward business with growth opportunities which remain attractive in the medium term."

Mr Mohl said a strong turnaround in investment performance had enabled the strong first half result.

He said that post the demerger, AMP`s focus had been on reducing unit costs, growing cashflows, outperforming on investments and lowering its gearing.

Controllable costs fell by 1 per cent to $396 million while inflows for AMP Financial Services grew 21 per cent and outflows were down eight per cent.

This resulted in a turnaround in net cashflows of almost $1.1 billion to $540 million for AMP Financial Services.

AMP`s gearing ratio fell to 29 per cent from 55 per cent over the half.

Mr Mohl said the group had done a significant amount of work to improve its financial strength, which should enable the restoration of its credit rating from its current level of BBB-plus to A.

"Post demerger, AMP is a more focused and agile company with a passion to succeed," Mr Mohl said, adding improvements had been made across the business.

AMP has debt of $1.55 billion, down from $4.3 billion at the time of its demerger of its British operations in December.

AMP`s equity base increased by about $300 million to $3.8 billion in the first half to June 30.

Mr Mohl said analysts had underestimated the strength of its investment performance in the first half – particularly gains from its UK offshoot HHG, which added $63 million to the first half result.

AMP`s capital position strengthened to $880 million at June 30, compared with required holdings of $500 million.

Since December, HHG shares climbed from 96c to $1.19 in the period.

Mr Mohl said AMP pays no tax on gains on HHG shares up to $1.73 and would probably hold on to its 10 per cent stake until it thought it was getting "fair value" on a sale.

"We`re really no different to any other investor in the stock, if we think we`re getting fair value we will probably leave, if we think it is undervalued we will stay," he said.

"We think it is undervalued at this time."

Mr Mohl said virtually every investment bank in Australia had approached AMP about taking the stake in HHG.

AMP shares have bounced 35 per cent higher since demerging in December from HHG, which reports its first half results next week on August 25.

All AMP shareholders were issued HHG shares when the companies demerged last year.

By 12.30pm (AEST), AMP shares sold off 19c to $6.27.

Wilson HTM client adviser Joseph Pagliaro said he had expected AMP shares to lift this morning.

"We`re a bit confused as to why the stock is down – the profit result looked to be above most of the market expectations," Mr Pagliaro said.

"It appears that one of the major reasons for the profit outperformance was with their investment income rather than on the operating side.

"So it might be the quality of the result the market doesn`t like but we would still expect it to move forwards rather than backwards."

Elswehere, AMP Financial Services managing director Craig Dunn today announced fee reductions for Australian superannuation and pension products that would affect around 800,000 customers.

The fee reduction scheme would take $40 million from fees taken. Mr Dunn said the reduction had been funded by cost savings and and fund manager fee renegotiations.

AMP shares lost 26c to $6.20, - with AAP