UPDATE 1-Abu Dhabi’s IPIC H1 profit surges on investment gains
* IPIC total debt $31.8 bln; total assets $61.8 bln at June
30* Aabar raised Virgin Galactic stake to 37.8 pct -
prospectus
(Recasts with earnings, adds details)DUBAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi’s International
Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) saw its first-half profit nearly
triple as the energy-focused investment vehicle posted gains on
its financial investments, an updated bond prospectus showed.IPIC, which has stakes in Spain’s Cepsa and Austrian oil
group OMV , posted a $424 million gain on financial
instruments, compared with a loss of $1.1 billion for the
year-ago period, boosting profit after tax to $1.16 billion from
$413 million a year ago.Revenue rose 17 percent to $8.63 billion.State-owned IPIC, which has $61.8 billion in total assets,
gave a 7.3 billion dirhams ($2.0 bln) interest-free loan to its
unit Aabar in September, the prospectus showed. Unlisted IPIC
had raised the funds via an unsecured conventional loan, it
said.Aabar bought Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s (ADCB) 25
percent stake in Malaysian group RHB Capital earlier
this year. Sources told Reuters earlier this month that Aabar
would get a $1.9 billion loan through its parent IPIC from ADCB
to pay for the deal.The prospectus also showed Aabar has raised its stake in
Virgin Galactic to 37.8 percent from 31.8 percent after
investing a further $110 million in the company.IPIC, which has a mandate to invest in the energy sector,
had a total debt of $31.8 billion, according to the prospectus.
It has received six equity contributions from Abu Dhabi
totalling $3.5 billion since inception, the last of which was in
2008.IPIC will kick off investor meetings in Germany on Oct. 19
for a potential bond issue. .It tapped global debt markets in March when it raised about
$4 billion in three-tranche euro and sterling-denominated bonds
to fund its Cepsa acquisition.Earlier this month, IPIC also raised its stake in OMV to
24.9 percent.
($1 = 3.673 UAE Dirhams)
UPDATE 2-Sony Ericsson shifts to smartphones amid Sony buyout talk
* No comment on reports of Sony taking 100 pct controlBy Simon JohnsonSTOCKHOLM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Mobile phone maker Sony
Ericsson will focus entirely on the booming smartphone market,
going head to head with rivals like Apple and underlining the
importance of a tie-up with Sony amid reports the electronics
giant is preparing a buyout.The company said it would shift all its production to
smartphones during 2012 as it reported a swing back to profit of
31 million euros, just higher than forecasts.Last week, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told
Reuters Sony was in talks to buy Ericsson’s
50 percent stake in the joint venture. In an
interview with Reuters, Sony Ericsson chief executive Bert
Nordberg declined to comment.Analysts believe the world’s ninth largest handset maker can
only succeed in attracting avid gadget users away from its
rivals by being fully integrated into Sony’s wide portfolio of
devices and getting access to the Japanese electronic giant’s
entertainment assets, like PlayStation and music catalogues.Smartphones currently account for around 80 percent of all
Sony Ericsson’s sales and the company said its share of the
global Android-based smartphone market during the quarter was
approximately 12 percent in volume and 11 percent in value.”Speculation persists that Sony will buy out the JV,” said
Geoff Blaber from CCS Insight.”This is arguably the most desirable end game for a company
that needs full access to Sony content and services.”Controlling Sony Ericsson would help Sony recoup ground in
the battle against Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics
, where it has been hampered by a disjointed strategy
regarding mobile gadgets and online content.For Ericsson, a sale would insulate its profit and loss
account from the volatility Sony Ericsson has brought and allow
it to focus resources on loss-making chip venture ST-Ericsson.A Reuters poll put the price of Ericsson’s 50 percent stake
in Sony Ericsson at around $1.5 billion.SMARTPHONESThe road ahead will be tough for Sony Ericsson as it shifts
fully to smartphones.All handset makers are targeting a bigger share of the
smartphone market and players like Samsung Electronics
and HTC Corp. will be difficult to
dislodge.Sony Ericsson has been losing money for a while, although
its recent focus on smartphones based on Google’s Android
platform pulled the company back into the black.Third quarter pretax profit at the company was 31 million
euros ($42 million), just higher than the mean forecast of 27
million euros in a Reuters poll and a swing back from a loss of
42 million in the previous quarter.”On the sales side it’s actually a pretty strong quarter for
Sony Ericsson,” said Sydbank analyst Morten Imsgaard, who said
that customers like Sony Ericsson’s new product line based
around its Xperia smartphones.”On the earnings side it’s not that strong, and the company
will have to work on that side going forward to lift the
operating margin,” he said.The operating margin was 2 percent, down from 4 percent a
year earlier, indicating that after years of restructuring and
cost cuts, more remains to be done.
$1 = 0.730 Euros)
