Headlines
Resources Per Region
Sports Direct International Plc shares headed toward a seven-year low after the U.K. sports-apparel retailer delayed publishing its results as auditors increase their scrutiny of its accounting, Bloomberg News reported. The U.K. retailer said Monday it needs more time to compile information as regulators review Grant Thornton’s audit of its fiscal 2018 results, and that the review may affect its financial guidance. The shares fell as much as 14% in morning trading in London.
JSW Steel Ltd., India’s most valuable steel producer, said it is likely to go ahead with a 197 billion rupees ($2.9 billion) offer to buy out a stressed steel mill even as a string of accounting frauds were uncovered at the target company, Bloomberg News reported. While JSW is “so far” not backing out of its offer to buy Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd., the company is anxious about the alleged frauds and its impact on the sale process, it’s lawyer Arun Kathpalia said Monday during a hearing at the National Company Law Tribunal. Earlier this month Allahabad Bank Ltd.
Film and entertainment group Eros International Plc on Monday swung to a loss in the fourth quarter due to an impairment charge and a rise in costs, sending its U.S-listed shares down more than 6% in premarket trade, Reuters reported. The company, which owns a vast library of Bollywood movies and music, has been struggling after a rating agency categorised its Indian subsidiary’s debt at “default” levels due to delays in payments.
It’s quite understandable that Steinhoff International Holdings NV wants to create a favorable impression. The embattled retailer is in the final month of debt-restructuring talks, after all. In its results presentation last week, Steinhoff proclaimed in standout pink letters on the first page that it operates in “more than 12,000 stores with 40+ brands in 30+ countries.” Zoom in and the small print below reveals this includes discontinued operations, Bloomberg News reported. It comes after revelations of accounting irregularities that have wiped out more than 95% of its share price.
Zambia’s new finance minister, Bwalya Ng’andu, said he wants to restart discussions with the International Monetary Fund about a bailout loan and that the government may delay the start of a controversial sales tax, Bloomberg News reported. “I will be quite keen to get us talking and see whether we can get the program,” the 64-year-old said Monday in Lusaka after being sworn in to replace Margaret Mwanakatwe, who President Edgar Lungu fired the night before. “At least we can get to some point where we are discussing constructively. There are things on our side that we need to do.
Investors in Indian corporate debt are watching whether a stressed wind-turbine maker will repay its dollar-denominated convertible bonds due Tuesday, and help avoid further widening of strains in the nation’s credit market, Bloomberg News reported. Suzlon Energy Ltd., which became India’s biggest convertible note defaulter when it missed payments in 2012, must repay $172 million outstanding on such securities that were issued as part of a debt restructuring.
South Africa’s indebted power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. was already searching for a chief executive officer and an executive to lead a turnaround of the company. It will now have to cast its net even wider to include a treasurer, Bloomberg News reported. Andre Pillay, who joined Eskom in 2011 and was made treasurer in 2016, will leave at the end of August. Chief Financial Officer Calib Cassim said Eskom requested Pillay remain at his post for the next two months, which sounds like he might have wanted to leave the struggling utility and its $32 billion debt sooner.
Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. plunged after the Indian shadow lender posted a quarterly loss and flagged doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern amid a funding crunch in the country’s credit market, Bloomberg News reported. The stock slumped 29% to 48.5 rupees in Mumbai to the lowest close since October 2013, after briefly crashing 33% in intraday trading. The embattled lender seen its market value erode 81% this year, compared with the 11% gain in the S&P BSE Finance Index.
Amlak Finance PJSC is nearing a deal to restructure debt for a second time as the Dubai-based Islamic mortgage provider navigates an ongoing property slump, according to two people with knowledge of the plan, Bloomberg News reported. The company is asking creditors to reschedule repayments on $1.2 billion of loans over the originally agreed period that ends in 2026, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Most lenders have agreed to the new terms but a final deal hasn’t been signed, they said.