Old Fart Bought Barclays at 7.20, Now 0.5. WELL DONE, CCB!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published January 26, 2009

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Barclays continues to fall as investors remain sceptical

<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20> </TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(LONDON) Barclays is trading at a price that indicates investors are ignoring management's reassurances and giving the bank a 70 per cent chance of nationalisation, according to analysts at Sanford C Bernstein & Co.

Barclays dropped almost 14 per cent to 51.2 pence, its ninth straight day of declines, on Friday. The stock is down 72 per cent since Jan 12, valuing the bank at £4.3 billion (S$8.8 billion).
'The stocks have massive upside if, and notice if, they avoid the perils of full nationalisation,' Bruno Paulson, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein in London, wrote. He has an 'outperform' rating on the stock.
Barclays chief executive John Varley has tried to calm investor concerns, saying in a broadcast on Thursday that the company can tap the UK's plan to help shoulder losses on toxic assets without selling new stock. He also reiterated on Friday that the Jan 16 statement that Barclays will report 'solid profit' in 2008 even after writedowns.
Still, Barclays may have to give three investors in the Middle East more than 50 per cent ownership under terms of the contracts designed to prevent dilution of their shares, according to Simon Willis at NCB Stockbrokers in London.
'It's highly unlikely that the UK government will grant Barclays access to the scheme unless it takes further writedowns,' wrote Mr Willis. 'This in turn means it's highly likely that Barclays will require further capital.'
<SCRIPT language=javascript> <!-- // Check for Mac. var strAgent; var blnMac; strAgent = navigator.userAgent; strAgent.indexOf('Mac') > 0 ? blnMac = true:blnMac = false; if (blnMac == true) { document.write('
'); } //--> </SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width=300 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle>

<!-- AdSpace --><IFRAME marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/html.ng/site=tbto&sec=btointhenews&cat1=bnews&cat2=btointhenewsart&size=300X250" frameBorder=0 width=300 scrolling=no height=250 bordercolor="#000000"><script language='JavaScript1.1' src='http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=tbto&sec=btointhenews&cat1=bnews&cat2=btointhenewsart&size=300X250'></script><noscript> </noscript></IFRAME><!-- /AdSpace-->

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group will cede a 70 per cent stake to the government after saying last week that writedowns of as much as £20 billion will mean the biggest loss in UK history. Lloyds Bank Group, 43 per cent owned by the UK, rejected the government's offer to increase its stake.
Barclays' market value dropped below that of Absa Group, the lender it has controlled since 2005. Johannesburg-based Absa was valued at US$6.1 billion on Friday.
Mr Varley, appearing in a broadcast on the website of Cantos Communications, said the bank would prefer to pay cash to use the UK's plan announced last week to guarantee toxic assets. Barclays' capital buffer is 'well ahead' of regulatory requirements, he added.
The company's Jan 16 statement 'clearly had little credibility with the market, as it's widely recognised that Barclays has provisioned lightly for its leveraged debt and toxic assets' relative to its peers, said NCB's Mr Willis. -- Bloomberg

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Lubricant_ky]

CCB LEEs will Always use our monies to subsidise the fucking Ang Mohs non-stop.

Ang Mohs are LEEs god.

Ang Mohs are waste of time & money. Forget them.

 

[Loofydralb]

LKY has never been known for his business instincts.

But his political skills in a small pond like Singapore using non democratic tactics are well known.

I felt that the recent actions of buying into banks and financial institutions are his last resort (before he retires) to establish his tattered reputation in business decisions. Obviously, these recent decisions were aproved by him.

Now that these have fallen flat on his face, it just reinforces his inability to make sound business deals. Its better that he did not do anything and remain a doubt his stupid business sense rather than do it and confirm everyones and history's final judgement.

 

[imperialarms]

nationalize means shareholders wiped out

 

[commoner]

I hope someone really keep scores of what TARMASICK/GIC/Town Councils investments since the last election. Not only knowing when they buy, have they sold the shares, hopefully knowing the buyer, keeping the share value when bought, the value when the election come accurately.

 

[whorejinx]

LKY has never been known for his business instincts.

But his political skills in a small pond like Singapore using non democratic tactics are well known.

I felt that the recent actions of buying into banks and financial institutions are his last resort (before he retires) to establish his tattered reputation in business decisions. Obviously, these recent decisions were aproved by him.

Now that these have fallen flat on his face, it just reinforces his inability to make sound business deals. Its better that he did not do anything and remain a doubt his stupid business sense rather than do it and confirm everyones and history's final judgement.

LKY is obviously a coward and bully, he size people up and bully accordingly if possible. For those he is unable to bully he will ignore entirely.

See what he did to Gopalan Nair when he was here? He jailed him! When Gopalan Nair went back to USA and FUCKED LKY, what happened? LKY just LL& act blur!

 

[halsey02]

I hope someone really keep scores of what TARMASICK/GIC/Town Councils investments since the last election. Not only knowing when they buy, have they sold the shares, hopefully knowing the buyer, keeping the share value when bought, the value when the election come accurately.

"IT IS A LONG TERM INVESTMENT"....that is, your great..great..great..grandchildren will reap the benefits...in other words, it is all gone to the....

CSJ, wasn't wrong in asking, "where is our money, Mr. GOld"? right!?

 

[Man in the Street]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090126/tts-britain-banking-earnings-barclays-fi-cac1e9b.html

Barclays bank shares sky-rocket after bailout fears fade
AFP
AFP - Tuesday, January 27

LONDON (AFP) - - The share price of British bank Barclays soared more than 75 percent on Monday after the group insisted that it did not need a government bailout, following recent speculation to the contrary.

In late morning London deals, Barclays stock jumped 76.17 percent to reach 90.20 pence from Friday's closing level, as investors were reassured by a statement which said the group would not take state cash because it was adequately funded.

Barclays added that it expected a 2008 pre-tax profit of more than 5.3 billion pounds (5.6 billion euros, 7.1 billion dollars) despite credit-crunch writedowns of eight billion pounds.

The stock had almost halved last week on concern that it could turn to the government for extra cash -- like rivals Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group which are both now majority state-owned.

"We are not seeking subscription for further capital -- either from the private sector or from the UK government," Barclays chairman Marcus Agius and chief executive John Varley said ahead of the market open.

Barclays added that it would report annual pre-tax profit "clearly above" the 5.3 billion pounds anticipated by analysts.

The results would include total writedowns of eight billion pounds after losses on credit markets, with full details to be given on February 9.

Agius and Varley said in the letter that they would bring forward the bank's 2008 results announcement by one week to February 9 because of recent market pressures.

"In view of the events in the banking sector last week, we have decided to communicate now with employees, customers, clients and shareholders in this open letter in order to address the principal causes of concern which we are hearing," the pair said.

"Writing in this way ahead of the release of results is unusual, of course, but the turn of events is also unusual."

The figures showed that despite being badly affected by the credit crisis, the bank was still able to generate record revenues in 2008, allowing it to offset the damage and report solid results, the group said.

The bank had "confidence that our capital resources are sufficient to manage Barclays safely and prudently even in these difficult markets.

"Our starting point is that Barclays has 36 billion pounds of committed equity capital and reserves; we are well-funded, and we are profitable."

Barclays continued to have adequate capital levels, at some 17 billion pounds above the minimum required, and accordingly it would not be seeking to raise fresh funds, neither from the market nor the government.

Last week, the government announced a second massive bailout programme costing billions and which has seen it take large holdings in several banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.

Barclays said Monday that 2009 had got off to a good start, with high levels of business reported, especially at its Barclays Capital unit, which last year took over the North American operations of failed US investment banking giant Lehman Brothers.

Britain's banks have been hit hard as a result of the international financial crisis, which has plunged the economy into a recession and sparked massive government rescue packages for the banking sector.

However, Barclays has spurned state cash, opting instead to sell around one third of its stock last year to oil-rich Middle Eastern investors from Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

 

[imperialarms]

LKY is a genius

 

[makapaaa]

LKY has never been known for his business instincts.

But his political skills in a small pond like Singapore using non democratic tactics are well known.

I felt that the recent actions of buying into banks and financial institutions are his last resort (before he retires) to establish his tattered reputation in business decisions. Obviously, these recent decisions were aproved by him.

Now that these have fallen flat on his face, it just reinforces his inability to make sound business deals. Its better that he did not do anything and remain a doubt his stupid business sense rather than do it and confirm everyones and history's final judgement.

Luckily for the Familee, 66% made even worse judgement calls!

 

[imperialarms]

let's forgive LKY, he is a senior citizen after all

 

[DerekLeung]

LKY is a genius

Genius at oppressing and expoliting it's citizens.

Soon every bank and businesses in Singapore will be nationalised on the grounds of saving them.