Liams Last Post: Second darwinian attempt and better markets

Good evening ,

I was not really in the mood to write a last post on Tuesday as markets
continued their slide as confidence slipped into despair across global
markets so I wnet home and went cycling where I had an altercation with
a parked car. The Opel Corsa suffered a dent in the rear door and a
smashed rear window. The good news is that my celtic tiger carbon tri
bike is fine... I broke the window with my shoulder before putting my
left arm through it followed by my right arm and picked up some lovely
lacerations and shards of glass in my arms...So having rested yesterday
it was nice to come back intpo a world which seemed very different ,
some big recovery moves over the past two days, the despair sort of gone
or at least exhausted...good to see green screens and improved
sentiment. it would be good to think all the volatility has gone
away...methinks not... meantime.. sore but glad to be here...

Have a good evening...looking into tiddly winks for sure at this
stage...


Liam

---

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Liams Last Post : Volcano provides respite for fliers, Markets continue to react to money market and currency instability

Good Afternoon ,

 

Well at least the weather continues to be good…and the volcano has started to emit steam… Mind you the comments from the Icelandic Volcanologist who said that there was no way of knowing whether the fact that the Volcano has ceased to emit more Lava and only emitting steam now is a sign that things have calmed down or a pause before another eruption of this volcano or its fiercer neighbour Katla is a bit like judging where the market is going here right now.  

 

It is in the near term though good news for the airline sector with Ryanair bound to also benefit from the BA cabin crew strike. The news of the pulling of the applications for extra runways at Gatwick and Heathrow has to be good news for Aer Lingus and will help preserve value at some stage for their Heathrow slot portfolio.  

 

I was on a rugby trip with my son to France and I am happy to report that at least one Irish team travelled to France and won this year. I was not around on Friday but was keenly interested in whether the support levels would hold. Friday was somewhat re-assuring this morning opened up ok but with volumes constrained by a lack of news and a holiday in Europe the positive start dissipated quickly.

 

The Irish Market looks like a fish hook today , the usual sucker rally in the afternoon after a bright opening and a steep fall ?  The irish financials prices are telling us that the good weather and more bullish corporate news flow will be short lived  as the prices are now definitely discounting the re-emergence of the credit crunch mark part 2 , this time with feeling and the taxpayer already on the hook for part one of the bailouts.  As one commentator put it NAMA which is effectively state owned is buying assets from another State owned disaster namely Anglo and the banks which are in the throes of the re-capitalisation process are relying on a pick up in the economy or a return to some degree of normality. A second credit squeeze could endanger the whole system and this is the fear that we have to deal with.  From an Irish point of view the authorities have made their bets and have to hope the world recovers…The real Question is whether the Germans are interested in re-assembling credibility in Humpty Dumpty as the Euro now looks like and if they hesitate , then they are inviting sustained attacks on the currency.   

 

Another thorn for the Irish banks is the EU machinations on Government Guarantees. In the paper the EU published last week ( And already not reflecting the realities of the market)  there was an emphasis on the general improvement in market conditions for funding and saying that the risks for financial stability at large have subsided, and the distortions of competition between those banks that issue guaranteed bonds but are not currently under restructuring obligations and those that issue strictly under market conditions has become greater. The EU prescribe  a) increasing guarantee fees in order to bring the funding costs of beneficiary banks closer to market conditions and thereby reduce distortions of competition and b) requiring banks that continue to heavily rely on government guarantees but are not under restructuring obligations to demonstrate their long-term viability to the Commission. The combined effect of these adjustments would be to incentivise the banks concerned to scale down or terminate their use of government guarantees and/or to require banks that cannot convincingly establish their long term viability to undertake the necessary restructuring to address their structural weaknesses.

 

AIB dipped into the Eurosaver menu territory again today…but closed at 1.04 , holding just a tad higher than the Euro level. The Bank of Ireland Nil Paids drifted after a really strong opening and the pre rights equivalent price now actually in the Euro saver league at 97.7c.

 

Tomorrow we get results from C&C which should be good and Greencore which likewise should have no negative surprises. I was dismayed by the performance of Greencore after their investor day as I had anticipated that this was and is a value play with a catalyst.  The market will be looking at the results closely and also for news about the execution of their US strategy.

 

Have a good evening.

 

Liam  

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Another day in the bear pits...Markets near oversold and testing key supports..

Good Afternoon,

 

Another day, another gazillion dollars or whatever written off global markets today.  

 

Markets are reacting negatively to Germany placing a ban on short selling of certain instruments but in reality it is a market reaction to the very obvious lack of unity amongst the Euro nations and the attempt by Germany which is supposed to be the lynchpin of the Euro project to protect its own interests.

The Euro currency is under enormous pressure with it touching a 4 year low vs the dollar.  The Euro/$ exchange rate is close to a key support level which is bound to be tested around the 1.21 level once the 1.23 level is broken. The Aussie Dollar also joins in the news with a big relative reversal vs the US$.

 

There is also much talk this afternoon about the Yen and about an unwinding of a yen related carry trade.

In terms of equities today has been yet another really tough day….but in terms of European sectors basic resources stocks were down -5% , Auto parts -4% , construction and materials -3.3%  . The beast performing sectors were also down Telcos -.6% and oil and gas -2%

Year to date positive performances have bee wiped out.. The Dow is down -13% , the Eurostoxx 600 index is -14% , the FTSE a strong relative performer -4%  with the PIIGS countries Portugal – 15%   , Italy -17% ,  and Ireland also a strong relative outperformer down -3.4% year to date.

In Ireland , Bank of Ireland Nil Paid rights started to trade today. Bank of Ireland has been a truly awful performer with the stock now down 45% from the high it hit just a few days after the successful firm placing of the Eur500m.  The underwriters who have underwritten the issue at 55c are within sight of their commitment price. The discount to Tangible NAV is now about 24% ….

Smurfit I have said for the past week is a key indicator of sentiment…the stock had been really resilient over the past few weeks but it finally cracked today to fall a further -6.5% . The stock is heading into oversold territory but like many stocks and markets is at the support levels now…

 

The Building materials stocks also took a tumble today with Grafton and Kingspan down -4% and CRH down -2%.

 

Even the food stocks like Kerry which should do relatively well in this environment fell -4% today  

 

 The ISEQ index now is very close to its support levels , it is approaching oversold though many stocks are already there. The Dow Jones index looks like it will test the 10000 level shortly and is also close to oversold territory.  The Eurostoxx 600 index is back testing the lows and the support level created in August of 2009.

 

Critical days for markets to hold these levels. With the rapidity of the moves and the fact that all are close to being oversold , maybe we might get a respite rally … who knows…The weekly closing levels will be crucial . Time again for the crackberries to get stuck into the closing action on Wall street this evening. The market is off the lows and has rallied into the European close but where it goes from here is anyone's guess…

 

Have a good evening..

 

Liam  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last post : Markets nosediving , US has broken down, Ireland and Europe in danger zone..

Good Afternoon

 

Well it is sunny in Dublin…and if you wear the right coloured tinted lenses the blood red colours dripping off the screens are hardly noticeable.

 

Well a rout today on relatively thin volume. The Dow Jones looks to have broken out oin the down side of its tradeing range with Europe , Ireland and the FTSE all near the bottom of their respective ranges having given away all the years gains in a very short space of time.

 

The last few weeks have been full of company meetings and once again , and it is reminiscent of 2008 , the stories are positive but told with conviction which is increasing rather than denial which was growing ever starker then  The mistake seems to be to meet any companies at all.

 

The macro picture is the driver , Spain is now fully in Focus. It is interesting that there are two I's in PIIGs now after a period of denial by markets.

 

Bank of Ireland stock TERP closed at an 8% discount to the Tangible book value that we are forecasting per share.  There was a rush to get into the stock at 1.80 c and up above 1.90c when the Taxpayer bought stock as the terms of the Bank of Ireland transaction were announced. Interestingly with the stock trading a full 33% lower, the bulls have all disappeared.

 

Yet another opportunity looms to buy stock at the bottom end of the range or one step closer to the second leg of the Great bear market of 2010. Some of the bears are smiling …. I am keeping a close eye on the ranges that the markets are in and noting that bull triggers are being ignored. A worrying time.

 

Smurfit remains one of the key indicators of sentiment… the bears looked to have the ascendancy here for a while but the stock is still resilient…It is the binary bet stock… if there is another leg to the credit crunch it is the biggest short around with the level of indebtedness…and conversely if this is a blip and meeting the management was re-assuring ,,,, then there is plenty to go for…if it breaks down below 6.60 however it will be a clear negative signal.

 

Meanwhile the Dollar and Sterling beneficiaries of Euro weakness are trading without any benefit of the potential earnings uplift.

 

As we approach 5pm , the Dow Jones index is nose diving again…hmmmm

 

Tomorrow is another day.

 

Have a good evening

 

Liam

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Ireland opportunities and O'Leary has a go at the Ash business

Good Afternoon ,

After the melt down that was going on last Friday , markets are in somewhat more resilient mode today. It is really hard to call it . The overtones of November 2008 are all too apparent except at that stage corporate earnings outlook was decidedly on the slippery slope. At this point however even with financial markets remaining as volatile and corporate and personal access to credit very much uncertain there is no doubt that the corporate earnings landscape is in decidedly better shape.

Notwithstanding the risks associated with the current macro worries , I am and remain a bull of Ireland. The sharp fall in the value of the Euro against the dollar and Sterling has dramatically improved the underlying competitive position of the Irish economy. Given the wage adjustments that have already taken place in Ireland the total relative shift in Irish competitiveness is very large.  We have been laid low by a sense of misery and leaderlessness over the past year and a half and no one seems to have spotted what could be the single biggest stimulus to getting Ireland moving again. If they have they are being very quiet about it.

When Gary McGann of  Smurfit Kappa came in to talk to us last week , I asked him if I had mis heard his comments about the pick up in Ireland in the past four weeks. He said that I was not mistaken and that he had doubled checked his own figures prior to making the statement. So for the brave who are prepared to live with the sovereign debt uncertainty , there is a potentially very strong buy case to be made for Irish equities and for a recovery ion the Irish economy faster than expected.

I also quietly fancy Germany as a place to invest also . With interest rates likely now to have to stay lower much longer than the ECB woud naturally like and Corporate Germany also on an upgrade cycle , there is every chance that Germany may experience a bubble of its own.  

The Bank of Ireland Rights issue finally got underway today amidst the backdrop of the volatility in the markets and this is another positive step to putting the Irish economy back on its feet once the banks get re-capitalised.

The Ash Cloud returned today but Heathrow and Gatwick opened followed by the Dutch and the French airports.  Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary said "Airlines have known for some weeks now that there has been little evidence of any volcanic ash in the atmosphere over Ireland, the UK or Continental Europe (much of it, thousands of miles away from Iceland).  The fact that Heathrow and Gatwick airports have reopened this morning, despite the fact that the VACC charts show this imaginary black plume (or no fly zone) directly over these major London airports shows that the VACC charts have no credibility.  There cannot be one safety model for busy London airports, and a different safety model for smaller regional airports.  It should and must be the one safety rule for all," said O'Leary.
 
"It is frankly ridiculous that the flight plans of millions of air passengers across Europe are being disrupted on a daily basis by an outdated, inappropriate and imaginary computer generated VACC model and it is time that these charts were done away with.  If Heathrow and Gatwick are open today, when the VACC charts clearly shows they're in the middle of a no fly zone, then the VACC charts have no validity or credibility.  It is time to do away with this model now and replace it with the US model which is a practical, safe and sensible response to passenger safety in the aftermath of further volcanic eruptions in Iceland".

Need I point to the obvious and suggest that if O'Leary is right and I think he has a point….that there may be scope for a decent rally in the price of the airline stocks who have all been affected by the ash cloud.

Busy day ahead tomorrow with DCC results and a Paddy Power IMS due. Will they have comments that supports my thesis ? lets see…

Have a good evening

Liam

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Profit taking gives way to more resilience this afternoon.

Good Afternoon,

 

Looking at a chart of the ISEQ performance for the day looks like a broad smile…diving down in the morning and ently rising up again in the afternoon.  The ISEQ closed -1.2% oday thought the financials gave up 0ver 4% on the case of AIB and 3% in the case of Bank of Ireland and -3.5% for irish Life.

 

United Drug results this morning were positively received thought their underlying guidance was maintained. Management guided that they are back in the market for acquisitions and they can spend in the region of Eur100m. This is yet another company clearly signalling a return to more normal conditions though not without challenges.

 

Glanbia upgraded their guidance to mod tees earnings growth which was welcome news in the face f the narrow and unexpected defeat of the proposal by the Co-op to acquire the Dairy business from the plc. A 2% margin is all that lost it. 73 % in favour and he vote required 75% acceptance. We have heard stories of a hurling match in the vicinity which was a bigger draw for some of the co-op members who went there rather than travel to vote. So apathy rather than a coherent no seems to have been a t least a contributing factor. The 75% majority vote was a high hurdle to achieve. Never say never was the word from Glanbia CEO but there is no sign of the co-op rushing to have anther vote straight away.

 

The Airlines and travel stocks were in the news again and Easyjet was the driving feature with a sharp pull back in their guidance arising from Volcanic ash disruption. Easyjet revised their guidance to a range of 100m 1o 150m from 177m and the scale of the impact was felt across the sector with Aer Lingus down -2% , having been down -5%  at its lowest point. Ryanair closed -1.9% down again after recovering off the lows in the afternoon.

 

In Europe there was a continuation of strong earnings numbers from Lanxess which saw volumes +50% year on year and Deutsche Post which saw significant upgrades. European corporate earnings like Irish earnings are on an upgrade cycle though obviously worries about the Sovereign debt problem remain every close to the surface. Again in Ireland Smurfit continues to be strong and closed today at 7.20  down just under -.5% . The share price action here is very indicative of where sentiment is. The market is not selling off this large indebted cyclical even in the midst of all the volatility.  One to watch closely as a leading indicator of sentiment changes,

 

Tomorrow we look to see what Tullow have to say. The stock has retreated sharply in recent weeks , I hope they can re-ignite interest in this one.

 

Have a good evening

 

Liam

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Shock and Awe bailout package drives huge relief rally.

Good Afternoon,

 

Well that is some turnaround. A shock and Awe number agreed by the Finance Ministers of  Europe under pressure from Barack Obama amongst others that a piecemeal approach is not enough to boost confidence. A cynic might suggest that this deal was motivated by the German Banks outing pressure on the German government as they are the largest exposed holders of Greek Sovereign debt.

 

The argument that a technical bailout solution financial does nothing to address the core issues of over indebtedness and a resistance on the part of the many people and governments to actually force their countries in to a period of sustained austerity.  The same bears also argue that once the shorts have been squeezed out of the market that the fundamental picture will become apparent again and the market may collapse….Lets hope not… For the moment today is a positive day , many stocks roard immediately at the opening and have continued to rally throughout the day.

 

In Ireland Bank of Ireland announced that the results of their Debt for Equity Offers. The bond holders tendered an amount (€852m) and at prices that the capital gain on the exchange is c.€233m. The amount tendered for shares is €61m. The capital gain generated (subject to a max of €100m) and shares issued on the exchange will reduce the rights issue to €1,723m.

The gain is positive and the share take up might be a little bit lower than anticipated. However, there is limited materiality to the news.   Shareholders will provide a slightly higher amount of the recapitalisation amount than the minimum, but see lower dilution. 

 

Huge moves today., AIB leading the charge higher +24% , Bank of Ireland and irish Life up 17.5% and +18% respectively.  CRH was roaring today also +14% to jump back abov e the eur20 level and Kingspan which will release an IMS later this week +10%

 

Glanbia co-op members vote today on the proposed acquisition of the PLC dairy business.

 

It is still all about the macro picture , Today is a massive relief rally. It is early in the week to be too assured yet..

 

Have a good evening

 

Liam

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Friday , Blood Red Friday...

Good Afternoon ,

 

Well little to be said today , a straightforward rout…

 

Smurfit figs were ok , but as I argued earlier it is also an outperforming play on the continuation of the recovery. Markets have got very squamish about this in the last few days and after weeks and weeks of shaking of worries about the sovereign debt issue , the markets are now looking at a possible spread of the contagion with multiple other countries now being mentioned as having very strained fiscal positions and high debt levels so a very worrying scenario is now front and centre.

 

With my screens oozing with blood red colours and stocks like Smufit down -7% suggesting that the short term trade idea of locking in the outperformance was heeded by at least some today

 

And by the way ,,,,Belmont under 8's did win 2-0 ….so you are all invited to come to the final….

 

Have a good weekend.

 

liam

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Nervous markets provide opportunities ?

Good Afternoon ,

 

Another day of weak sentiment giving rise to a dawn of hope and some opportunistic buying of European ,UK and Irish stocks only for sentiment to give way again mid morning and markets which had clawed their way to positive territory rolled over for the second day in  a row on cue at midday as the US woke up…The Dow jones weakness only helping to add further to the gloom.

 

The Grafton IMS statement was positive this morning , in so far as the tone of the wording was marked by the absence of negative language and we all knew January was a disaster so on the back of the CRH news yesterday , it looked obvious that if the market looked in anyway ok , that Grafton would be off to the races and so it was up just under 7% at one stage but giving away almost all of the gains by the end of the day.

 

Bank of Ireland trading at the 1.40 level is enough to make one sigh… I am sure Richie Boucher and the Department of finance and the other advisers who were on the fee gravy train last week, now look like they might have to wear some worry over the next few weeks with markets worried about a funding squeeze as bond spreads rise. I am sure that someone is bound to ask the question why no one took a decision during the firm placing of Eur500m which took place at Eur1.53 to just place as much stock as possible. It was afterall 3x to 4x oversubscribed ….if you believe the rumour mill.   Better value every day….but typical of markets now the price is lower , no sign of the stampede into the stock.

 

The reality though is that based on our homework done by Sebastian the Guru ….it is our belief that buying the stock now and taking up the rights does present an opportunity to buy Bank of Ireland stock at a diluted post transaction average price of approximately Book Value which should provide support.   Time to be brave…

 

CRH is back trading at attractive levels again also ….despite the further cut in 2010 expectations , 2011 looks like it will be brighter.

 

Time though to focus on the real big issue of the day…. The semi final of the under 8 Major League Cup where my sons team (that I co-manage) face the journey to Neilstown to take on mighty Oatfield FC…

 

The Greeks and the Spanish worries will still be unresolved by tomorrow , but hopefully Belmont will be in the final…

 

Have a good evening

 

Liam

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.

 

 

 

 

Liams Last Post : Just then spain came into focus, US materials companies disappoint , markets tank...Aer Lingus bright spot

Good Afternoon ,

 

Markets in a straightforward downhill tumble driven by increased liquidity concerns and the re-emergence of a global Liquidity crunch with rumours this time surrounding the potential cash requirements of Spain.

 

Irish Life and Bank of Ireland bore the brunt of the market falls in Ireland with both down in excess of -7.5% , AIB fared a tad better and fell only -5.5%.

 

CRH is scheduled to release an IMS tomorrow. Our current forecast for 2010 EPS is €1.12, with profit before tax forecast at €1,015m. We expect CRH will also comment on the difficult weather related start to the year in both Europe and the US, with peers noting an improvement in March and April. In recent days, Cemex, Vulcan and Martin Marietta have all discussed the positives from stimulus-related infrastructure spend in the US while noting that private non-residential sector remains difficult. According to peers, Europe remains very mixed with trading in markets like Portugal, Spain, Ireland and the Benelux tough. Any change in outlook from CRH's comments in early March will be very noteworthy as well as an update on acquisition activity.

 

Martin Marietta reported Q1 EPS loss of $0.54 comparec to Bloomberg consensus of a loss per share of $0.338. Like Vulcan and Cemex, Martin Marietta also notes the impact of adverse weather in January and February. Q1 heritage aggregates volumes declined 12% in Q1, but March showed a volume increase of 9% yoy with the yoy increase in April in the double digit % range. The volume increase in March/April is being driven by stimulus related infrastructure projects. In Q1, aggregates pricing declined 3% compared with Q109 and varied widely by market. Martin Marietta notes that it is seeing "pricing pressure in a growing number of geographic areas" for aggregates "consistent with its view of a more challenging pricing environment in 2010". For 2010, the company expects infrastructural driven demand to drive aggregates' volumes, with residential demand to increase moderately and non-residential volumes expected to decline. Overall, the company has not changed its guidance for aggregates volume growth (+2-4%) nor pricing growth (flat-+2%). If commercial demand is weaker than the company currently expects, volumes may be flat with the previous year. Vulcan reduced its expectation for aggregates' price increases in its earnings release last night from +2-3% to flat-+2%.

 

Martin Marietta was down -6.4% at the Close of European trading with Vulcan -5.2%. CRH was down -6.5%.

 

The negativity was spread throughout the market with the other building and construction stocks also falling , Kingspan -1.9% and Grafton -1.9% .

 

Volume was light today and in the food stocks Greencore gave up some of the recovery stage after the Investor day last Thursday. Glanbia was -4.8% on the back of a media survey saying that only 30% of Cop members are in favour of the deal to acquire the Dairy business from the PLC. It has been a win win in terms of market perception and so it is interesting to see the various elements of real politik coming into play as the voting approaches.  The stock is unlikely to perform against this background of uncertainty and may drift pending clarity of the vote outcome itself.

 

We met Aer Lingus management this afternoon , I have to say I was impressed with Christophe Mueller and his sense of focus on profitability at these levels of demand and the focus on cost and his success at managing the Unions and also the implementation of a new yield management focus so far. The stock looks cheap. The company embarks on a roadshow now after their IMS , I think the team will be well received as they do the rounds..

 

Smurfit gave up some of its recent strong gains and closed -4.8% …The markets have a good track record of sweeping away concerns these days….this looks like it is going to be a continued drag for a while.

 

With Wall street is down -2%

 

So we look forward to tomorrow and IMS from CRH in the morning and a further IMS from Kerry at lunchtime. We meet the management of Petroneft tomorrow too. A busy day in store.

 

Have a good evening

 

Liam

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Liam Boggan

　

Merrion Stockbrokers

Tel.: 353-1-2404171

Mob:353-87-2313505

www.merrion-capital.com

Disclaimer www.merrion-capital.com/disclaimer.html

Merrion Stockbrokers Limited (registration no. 307878) is a limited liability company whose registered office is at Block C, The Sweepstakes Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.