Good Afternoon ,
What went down , then came up... See saw is the best way to describe today. Markets weak at the opening across the board , flattened out mid morning , traded in a tight range then recovered the losses as fast as they were lost...
Still interesting the technical analysts are saying there is still the potential for the rally to give way , however sentiment sems robust and the market now seems to be stable with good equilibrium in share proves despitew the volatility that we ar seeing intra day , it is a far cry from the massive volatility that we had got used to last year.
Irish Life was the loser in Ireland today , -5.2% , does not appear to be much by way of new news, the stock is trading in its new for aafter the corporate re-organisation andthe staock had rallied ahead of that so maybe just a bit of profit taking. This market is still voaltole enough to give you several bites at any trade...
DCC was corporately exonerated today when the Inspector appointed by the Director of Corporate enforvecment published his report in to the affairs surrounding the sale of the DCC stake in Fyffes in the year 2000. The inspectors report concluded that the actions and behaviour of DCC plc, S&L Investments and Lotus Green between 1995 and 2000 in connection with the transactions under investigation measured up to the standards required by law. He added that reassurance can be taken from one of
- the companies took their corporate responsibilities very seriously;
- the directors, officers and employees, from the then Chief Executive down, placed a high value on legal and regulatory compliance;
- the companies had good and effective corporate governance procedures and controls at board level;
- the officers and executive directors of the companies were qualified, competent, and careful individuals;
- DCC attracted and retained highly experienced and quality non-executive directors; and
- the companies took legal advice when it was appropriate to do so and followed such advice when it was proffered.
This is a remarkably strong endorsement of a corporate culture of a company , Reading the inspectors report though , I could not help develop my own personal impression that the Inspector had been charmed by the DCC team in his interviews as he tried to get to the bottom of the matter. The inspector ultimately puts the blame on a simple error of judgement on the part of Jim Flavin described as a ‘Costly error of appreciation’ on the part of the CEO.
Indeed there are sections of the report which make the Inspector seem like a cheerleader for DCC and for the culture of corporate governance in
On fundamentals rather than cheerleading ….DCC is one of our preferred stocks on the Merrion list , there is strong underlying momentum in the business and the management team under Tommy Breen as CEO can now go forward unencumbered by any further action arising from this matter.
Elsewhere the positive news in the paper sector continued with Mondi announcing a price rise and Mmurfit gained about 0.75%
Grafton was the weakest of the building materials stocks closing down -3% , CRH saw some decent interest in the buyside and held jsut above the 18.00 level.
Independent news and Media slipped down into the low 10 cents levels as the overhang of Bond holders shares continues to be sold. We think there is a play here but there is a technical tsunami of stock for the moment...
At 5pm with the Dow Jones +0.75% , lets see if it holds these levels after absorbing thenews of the massive $7.6bn Citibank loss for the fourth Quarter as it exited the US government sponsored bailout.
Have a good evening
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