news blog from Cyndy

IBM’s quarterly revenue meets expectations

Esprit to close stores if no buyer found -paper

* Change of course means new shareholder structure -CEOFRANKFURT, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong-listed Esprit Holdings may shut its North American stores if it cannot sell them as the troubled fashion retailer seeks to bolster its sagging image, its chief executive told German business daily Handelsblatt.”If we cannot find the right partner, we will close our businesses there. That would take roughly 12-18 months depending on the rental contracts,” Ronald van der Vis said in comments to be published in its Monday edition.”That also applies for the other 80 stores in the rest of the world that we will be closing.”Esprit directly manages more than 800 retail stores worldwide and distributes products via more than 14,000 wholesale locations, according to its website.An investment bank is currently negotiating with potential buyers, a process which should be finished in the coming three months.Esprit lost as much as 46 percent of its market value in less than a week in September after annual profits were nearly totally wiped out, hit by restructuring charges, and the company admitted its brand had “lost its soul”.The apparel and accessories retailer, which was founded in San Francisco in 1968 and depends on Europe for 79 percent of its sales, is withdrawing from some underperforming markets and at the same time also spending millions of dollars to revive its brand.”I understand that I did not get any applause or fan mail for that, but none of our investors told us this was wrong. Just the opposite: the mid- to long-term investors were virtually relieved,” van der Vis told Handesblatt.”We were oriented on short-term interests far too long; that’s the main reason for our current situation. Our change of course naturally means a different shareholder structure,” he added.The excerpt of Monday’s article did not explain further what the Esprit CEO meant.The company competes with Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz , U.S. group GAP and Spain’s Inditex .

Standard Life sues insurers over pension fund loss

“Standard Life is pursuing a claim through the Commercial Court in London against its professional indemnity insurers,” a spokesman said.”This relates to the decision by Standard Life to make a payment of circa 100 million pounds into the pension sterling fund in February 2009, something the insurers have refused to indemnify.”Standard Life agreed to replenish the fund after some customers complained they had been given the impression it was invested in cash, whereas it was in fact also exposed to asset-backed securities, which fell heavily in value after the failure of Lehman Brothers.The court hearing began on Tuesday, and is expected to last about four weeks.ACE declined to comment, as did Catlin Insurance and AIG-owned Chartis Insurance UK , two of the other insurers involved.

UPDATE 1-Yields on Colombian peso bonds rise at auction

In the second to last auction of the year, rates on benchmark TES bonds maturing in August 2026 fell to 7.65 percent compared with 7.749 percent in the previous auction on September 28.Paper due in October 2015 sold at a yield of 6.245 percent, down from 6.267 percent at the last auction. Bonds maturing in October 2018 sold at a yield of 6.957 percent, decreasing from 6.967 percent at previous auction.”Market conditions have become much more favorable since the last auction, which is the main reason for higher bond prices. People had been a little nervous about the long end of the curve, said Daniel Lorenzo, a fixed income analyst at Serfinco brokerage.”Also, investors are taking advantage of the fact that there are fewer opportunities to buy bonds,” he said.The Finance Ministry said it issued 300 billion pesos ($156.7 million), with total demand reaching 1 trillion pesos ($522.5 million).The last bond auction of the year was scheduled for Oct. 26, when the final 300 billion pesos of the 28 trillion pesos ($14.6 billion) of government debt to be issued this year will be on offer.

Branson’s Virgin Group gets into peak oil

Dire predictions tend to grab the attention – especially when an international celebrity lends a voice. A report released in Britain this week with the unpromising title — the UK’s Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil & Energy Security – might have found only a specialised readership, but for the inclusion of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group in the six-member task force. (The others were Arup, Foster & Partners, Scottish and Southern Energy, Solarcentury and Stagecoach Group.) As it was the warning that oil shortages, insecurity of supply and price volatility will destabilise economic, political and social activity within five years was splashed across the press. Advocates of the peak oil supply theory have long argued world oil supply is nearing a peak from which it will decline, leading to skyrocketing prices. Some of them have reckoned the peak could be as early as this year. They have had publicity in the past, but not quite on the Branson scale. So far, the other side of the peak debate has yet to find celebrity backing, although it is quietly earning more adherents, who are asking whether demand rather than supply will be the first to run out as climate change policies change energy consumption habits. The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which advises 28 governments including the UK — said on Thursday oil demand, rather than supply, looks to have peaked in the developed world. If true, that would ease any strain on supplies that may develop in future and is a more reassuring message – provided of course you don’t own or work at an oil refinery in Europe or you’re not a major oil exporting country. So who is right? Time will tell, but future expectations for the oil price do not yet suggest extreme concern about supply. Investors expect the price of crude to trade at $95 a barrel in December 2018. That is around $20 more than the present level, but still some way short of the record high reached in 2008 near $150