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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) launched a convertible preference share offer to raise $750 million. The company said the offer forms part of its diversified capital management strategy and follows reductions in Tier 1 capital following hybrid capital redemptions and notices of redemption totaling approximately $1 billion over the past six months.

The bank added that it has the ability to increase or reduce the size of the offer.

ANZ said prior to this offer, hybrid capital, both innovative and non-innovative, constituted approximately 14% of the company’s Net Tier 1 capital compared to the 25% maximum imposed by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority.

The company said the preference shares would convert into ordinary shares on 15 December 2016, with the offer expected to open on 18 November 2009.

ANZ said the offer would be open to Australian resident holders of ordinary shares or convertible preference shares issued by ANZ in September 2008 on the register Friday, 30 October 2009.

The company said the closing date for the ANZ Securityholder Offer and General Offer is currently scheduled on 10 December 2009, with the convertible preference shares to commence trading on 18 December 2009.

As at 1045 AEDT, ANZ shares were up 31c to $22.97.

RBS – Round Up – 101109

Breville Group Limited (BRG) said that the positive trading environment meant it was now expecting underlying EBITDA to be around $38.5 million for the year, with underlying net profit to come in at $19 million. Breville said this was higher than the consensus estimates of a basket of brokers, including Credit Suisse, GSJBWere, Macquarie and Wilson HTM.

Broker consensus estimates for the company forecast $35.2 million for EBITDA and $17.2 million for post-tax profit.

Not including an onerous lease arrangement relating to a Victorian property, Breville said that post-tax profit could be as high as $21 million.

The profit was expected despite adverse movements in the exchange rate of the Australian dollar.

CEO Stephen Audsley said the company had seen an improvement in trading particularly in Breville’s core Australian and North American markets.

”Sales in the first four months of the financial year have been pleasing and trading conditions continue to show positive signs during the important pre-Christmas sell in period,” Mr Audsley said.

”Breville’s Target’s Statement in relation to GUD’s takeover offer will contain further details in relation to the assumptions relating to Breville’s expected FY2010 earnings,” the company added.

At 1008 AEDT, Breville shares were trading flat at $2.30.

New Hope Corporation Limited (NHC) said saleable coal production increased 11% to 1.4 million tonnes in the three months to 31 October 2009 compared to the previous corresponding period. The company attributed a 20% jump in coal sold in the same period to strong demand from export customers coupled with higher production and available rail capacity.

New Hope said the increase to saleable coal production was due to slightly higher production from the company’s Acland mine, coupled with higher production from the Jeebropilly Mine during the quarter.

The company said production at the Oakleigh mine near Rosewood was lower than the previous corresponding period due to higher stripping ratios.

New Hope expects the expansion of the New Acland Mine to an annual production capacity of 4.8 million tonnes to be completed early in the next quarter.

“The scheduled 12 day shutdown of the New Acland Coal No. 2 coal handling & preparation plant occurred during September 2009, which enabled construction to be completed to increase its production capacity by 60%,” the company said.

“Commissioning was completed successfully in early October 2009.”

New Hope said its QBH export throughput moved 1.75 million tonnes during the quarter, up 14% on the pcp and that the expansion of the project is proceeding on schedule.

As at 1010 AEDT, New Hope shares were up 3c to $4.38.

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (CXC) reported an 86% rise in silver production during the third quarter of 2009 compared to the previous corresponding period to a record 5.2 million ounces. The company also reported a 222% increase in gold production to 29,000 ounces during the same period. Coeur d’Alene also reported record quarterly revenue of $89.8 million, a 146% increase over last year’s third quarter revenue, along with quarterly operating cash flow of $23 million compared to $1.2 million of operating cash flow during last year’s third quarter. Looking ahead, the company said it expects a 50% increase in silver production during 2009 and a 52% in gold production compared to the previous year.

The Dow climbed to a 13-month high as investors were buoyed by news global stimulus measures would continue. Energy and gold stocks rallied as all but one of the Dow components closed above the gain line.

The Dow Jones climbed 203.52 points, or 2.03%, to 10,226.94, the S&P 500 rallied 23.78 points, or 2.22%, to 1,093.08 and the NASDAQ gained 41.62 points, or 1.97%, to 2,154.06. 

Bank of America and Wells Fargo were the best of the major banks, gaining 4.8% and 4.7%.

American Express rallied 4.9%.

Kraft Foods dipped 0.9% after Cadbury rejected its takeover offer yet again.

Reports Comcast and General Electric have agreed on the value of NBC Universal sent their stocks 3.8% and 3.4% higher respectively.

Apple jumped 3.7%, while tech heavyweight rivals IBM and Microsoft put on 2% and 1.7%.

Energy and other commodity stocks were boosted by the G-20’s decision to maintain global stimulus measures. ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil gained 1.4% and 1%.

NYMEX light crude oil for December delivery rose US$2 to settle at US$79.43 a barrel.

COMEX gold for December delivery rose $5.70 to settle at $1,101.40 per ounce after reaching a record intraday high of $1,109.90.

Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining jumped 3.3% and 3.1% as the greenback moved back towards $1.50 against the euro.

European Markets

European stocks made their biggest gains in three weeks to close at two-week highs after the Group of 20 agreed to maintain stimulus efforts. Insurers were boosted by a positive result from Allianz.

The UK benchmark FTSE 100 rallied 92.46, or 1.80% to 5,235.18. The French CAC40 added 78.20 points, or 2.11% to 3,785.49, while the German DAX put on 131.47, or 2.40% to 5,619.72.

Allianz climbed 4.3% after the German insurer reported a doubling in third quarter profit. 

Prudential jumped 5.2%, while Aviva gained 3%. 

Among the banks Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank rose 5.8% and 3.4%, while in France Société Generale and BNP Paribas advanced 4.1% and 2.8%.

Royal Bank of Scotland surged 6.3%. Barclays and HSBC added 1.9% and 1.3%.

Cadbury slid 1.5% following the rejection of Kraft Foods 9.8 billion pound takeover offer.

The world’s largest miner BHP Billiton led sector peers higher with a 4.2% gain. Aussie peer Rio Tinto put on 4.3%, while Antofagasta, Anglo American and Xstrata were between 4.3% and 5% above the line.

Steelmaker Arcelor Mittal added 2.4% on a broker upgrade.

Energy majors made ground. Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP rose 2.3%, 2.1% and 1.9% respectively.

Japanese Markets

Strong gains throughout the market saw the Nikkei close higher despite concerns surrounding the release of weaker than expected jobs data out of the US. Downgrades to forecasts sent a number of stocks lower.

The Nikkei 225 added 19.64, or 0.20% to 9,808.99.

Banks struggled as the G20 was pressed to make plans for banks to pay for future bailouts. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group lost 3.2% and 1.7%.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings climbed 8.6% after posting a better than expected first half profit.

Rivals Tokio Marine Holdings and Aioi Insurance Co. advanced 4.3% and 8.7%.

Mitsubishi Rayon and NOK Corp slumped 4.6% and 11% after they both downgraded their full-year losses.

Agricultural equipment maker Kubota Corp rallied 8% on optimism regarding China’s economic data due later in the week.

Hitachi Construction and Komatsu put on 2.7% and 1.9%.

A stronger yen sent exporters lower. Automaker Nissan fell 2.3%.

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone slipped 1.6% on reports the phone company’s profit for the April to September period had dropped 15% compared to a year earlier.

Hong Kong Markets

Hong Kong stocks ended 1.7% higher Monday with Chinese banks leading gains. The market found strength from the Shanghai Index, which recorded its seventh consecutive session of gains.

The Hang Seng has now nearly doubled in value since March lows.

The Hang Seng rose 377.83, or 1.73% to 22,207.55, its highest close since Oct. 23.

China Construction Bank surge 3.1%, while reports surfaced that Minsheng Bank plans to raise capital in what would be Hong Kong’s biggest public sale of shares since April 2007 by selling 3.32 billion shares.

ICBC added 3.1%, its highest close in two years.

China Life rose 2.5%, its highest close since January 2008.

Dongfeng Motor Group Co put on 1.65% after the carmaker said October sales increased 77% on the previous corresponding period.

Energy stocks were among the biggest improves. China Shenhua Energy Co. and China Coal Energy Co., added 3.9% and 5.7%.

Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. fell 3.8% on a broker downgrade.

Lijuan International Pharmaceutrical Co advanced 6.8% to a two year high.

Xinao Gas Holdings Ltd. advanced 2.3% after a broker lifted its price target on the piped-gas distributor.

Directors' Interest Notices
09 November 09

Symbol	Shareholder	+/-	Prior	Now
MAP	Trevor Gerber		170,000	185,454*
MAP	Maxwell Moore-Wilton		602,690	657,749*
PLA	William Alexander Hansen		0	200,000^
SGX	Jacob Klein		3,209,800	2,209,800
SGX	Hanjing Xu		976,666	476,666
SGX	Peter W. Cassidy		125,675	55,675

* Pursuant to Entitlement Offer
^ Exercise of Options

Substantial Shareholder Changes 
09 November 09

Symbol	Shareholder	+/-	Prior	Now
ANZ	Barclays Group		5.06	6.50
BLD	National Australia Bank		5.15	-
CEY	Barclays Group		11.32	10.29
DOW	AXA Group		5.48	-
IFN	Kairos Fund Limited		9.10	8.35
OZL	Barclays Group		8.51	7.50

All movements are percentage changes

Better than expected results from CBA and Orica saw Aussie stocks start the week strongly with a 1.8% rally Monday. While each sector closed above the gain line it was banks and resource stocks that added the most points to the broader indices.  

In economic news, home loan numbers increased 5.1% in September seasonally adjusted after a 4% rise the previous month. The boost was attributed to the end of the Federal Government's First Home Owners Grant.

Meanwhile, according to the ANZ Bank's monthly survey jobs advertised dropped by 1.7% in October after a 4.4% rise in September.

At the end of the day, the All Ords had put on 82.1 to 4,686.5, while the ASX/200 gained 80.9 to 4,674.9. About 2.5 billion shares worth around $5.6 billion had changed hands.

After a relatively slow start to the day the two heavyweight miners, BHP and Rio, made ground to add points to the market.

BHP Billiton advanced 21c to $37.61, while Rio Tinto gained 75c, or 1.2% to $65.75, similar to the gains posted on the FTSE on Friday.

The broader Materials and Resources sector climbed 1.6%.

Orica surged 5.6% to $23.61 after saying its post-tax profit, not including one-off’s, jumped 13% to $646 million. The company said it expected profits to increase again the coming year.

Incitec Pivot rose 7c to $2.69.

Gold miners continued to show strength after the price of the precious metal moved over US$1,100 mark.

Newcrest jumped $1.22 to $35.30 and Lihir Gold put on 10c to $3.41.

Onesteel climbed 15c to $3.11, while larger rival Bluescope added 9c to trade at $3.04.

Among the banks, Westpac was down 27c to $26.28 after going ex-dividend today.

The broader Banks and Financials sector climbed 2.1%.

CBA spiked $2.37 per share to close at $55.08 after booking a quarterly cash profit of $1.4 billion.

NAB jumped 3% to $29.60, while Macquarie also went ex-dividend though managed to advance 24c to $49.84.

Among the insurers, AXA Asia Pacific shares soared 32.6% after rejecting a big from rival AMP, saying it considered the AMP offer to be not fair value.

AXA Asia Pacific contributed over 10 points alone to the stock markets gains for the day.

AMP reversed early falls to be 25c, or 4.3% higher at $6.12.

Among Consumer Staples stocks, Woolworths and Wesfarmers added 1.5% and 1% to $28.40 and $26.69 respectively.

News reports today cited a lack of competition to this supermarket duopoly for the reason Australian grocery prices had risen the fastest in the Western world over the last decade.

The sector added 1.2%, while the Consumer Discretionary sector put on 2.5%, led by gains from the retailers and gamers.

David Jones gained 21c to $5.68, while Harvey Norman climbed 17c to $4.28.

JB Hi-Fi gained 70c to $21.70.

Aristocrat rose 31c to $4.50, while Crown put on 29c, or 3.6% to $8.45.

The Energy sector advanced 1.3%.

 Santos and Woodside added 2.4% and 1.3% despite a softening in the price of crude on the back of worse-than-expected unemployment figures out of the US on Friday. They were trading at $15.30 and $48.51 respectively.

Industrials were also broadly higher, led by sector heavyweights Leightons, up 76c to $36.56, and Toll, up 30c to $8.69. The sector rose 2.2%.

Qantas added 8c to $2.72.

Telstra edged 3c higher to $3.23, while the Telecommunications sector was up 0.8%.

Solid gains among Property Trusts saw the sector finish 1% above the line.

Westfield put on 13c to $12.34, while Stockland dipped 1c to $3.68.

Around the region, the Nikkei 225 gained 29.5 to 9,818.8, while the Straits Times Index put on 7.9 to 2,666.1. Across the Tasman, the NZSE50 added 4.9 to 3,165.1. The Hang Seng advanced 233.4 to 22,063.2.

Spot gold was trading at US$1,104.10 per ounce, and the Aussie was buying US$0.926. 

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CBA posts quarterly cash profit of $1.4bn
Commonwealth Bank of Australia said its unaudited cash earnings for the September quarter was about $1.4bn, with the result supported by good income growth and the group’s approach to cost management. The company said competition remains strong, particularly in deposits where margins are under pressure.

At the end of the day, CBA shares were up $2.37 to $55.08.

Orica posts growth, expects more in 2010
Orica reported a net profit of $542m for the full year to 30 September 2009, despite incurring expenses related to individually material items of $104 million. When not including one-off expenses, the chemical and explosives manufacturer reported a 13% jump in post-tax profit to $646 million.

At the close, Orica shares were up $1.26 to $23.61.

AXA rejects AMP takeover offer
AXA Asia Pacific Holdings advised that it has received and rejected an unsolicited and conditional scheme proposal from AMP and AXA Asia Pacific’s largest shareholder AXA SA. Under the proposal, which was received on Saturday, AMP would acquire all of the shares in AXA Asia Pacific, including those held by AXA SA, and the Asian operations of AXA APH would be sold to AXA SA.

By the finish, AXA Asia pacific shares were up $1.40 to $5.70.

James Hardie committed to asbestos fund
James Hardie reconfirmed its commitment to the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund after the Australian Government announced it would provide a loan of up to $160 million to the NSW Government that would go towards a loan facility of up to $320 million to be made available by the NSW Government to meet a short-term funding shortfall. The company said the provision of the loan facility to the AICF does not reduce James Hardie’s obligations under the Amended and Restated Final Funding Agreement.

At the end of the day, James Hardie shares were up 23c to $7.41.

Rocklands Richfield Limited (RCI) said Meijin Energy Group’s takeover offer of 52c per share announced last week was still superior to an offer made by Jindal Steel & Power Limited on Friday. Jindal increased its offer price from a previous 42c per share to 50c per share. RCI said its board had carefully considered the revised Jindal proposal, and its current view is that the Meijin proposal remains a superior proposal, principally due to the higher offer price proposed in the Meijin Proposal.

Territory Resources Limited (TTY) said it has reached an agreement to sell its 8.5% stake in India Resources Limited (IRL). The iron ore producer said the deal would involve the sale of Territory’s stake in India at $0.024 per share, raising a total of $456,456, and the transfer of a $1.5 million inter-company loan previously provided to India by Territory. The company said the agreement is conditional on IRL shareholder approval as well as approval by Noble Group Ltd, Territory’s third party financier. Territory said all proceeds received under the transaction would be paid to Noble to reduce the company’s debt to Noble.

Focus Minerals Limited (FML) said the recently completed milling campaign at its Coolgardie Gold Project delivered record gold production of approximately 21,900 ounces. The company said the record production comes as it makes final preparations to move all gold processing to its 1.2Mtpa Three Mile Hill gold processing facility, which is currently in the final stages of refurbishment ahead of recommissioning in December. Focus said it has available cash and bullion totalling $19.8 million.

Integra Mining Limited (IGR) announced high-grade gold intercepts to 123g/t from the Maxwells gold deposit at the Company’s Randalls Gold Project. The company said assay results for the final seven diamond drill holes have demonstrated high to very high grades of gold mineralisation, further emphasising the potential for underground production with high grade gold mineralisation expected to persist to significant depths below the base of the proposed open pit. Integra said in addition to the Phase 1 project development, Integra said it has identified further Phase 2 open pit production from a number of additional gold deposits and is currently evaluating the potential for underground gold production from the Maxwells, Cock-eyed Bob and Santa BIF hosted gold deposits. The company said it has the potential to expand gold production from an initial 75,000 ounces per annum to +140,000 ounces per annum.

Meridian Minerals Limited (MII) said Chinese company Northwest Mining and Geology Group Co Ltd. (NWME) has received Chinese government approval from the NDRC, for their investment of $10.5 million into Meridian. The Australian miner said the investment would be made through NWME’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary, Northwest Nonferrous Australia Mining Pty Ltd. Meridian said it would issue 131,250,000 ordinary shares to NWME, at a share price of 8c. The company anticipates the funds to be available to Meridian before the end of November. Meridian said as soon as practical following the receipt of the funds, it would commence its planned +20,000 metre drill program at the Kapok and Kapok West mineral resources.

St Barbara Limited (SBM) reported Monday that it would be economically viable for underground mining of higher grade ores near its Gwalia mine at Leonora in Western Australia. Expectations are that the ore would be suitable to be processed through the Gwalia mill with metallurgical recoveries expected to be in the range of 92-95%, with the development costing $20 million and taking until the second half of 2010 to complete.

Sundance Resources Limited (SDL) announced that it has completed a Placement Agreement to raise $85m from international institutional investors. The iron ore miner said subject to shareholder approval being obtained and other general conditions of the agreement, a total of 566,666,667 shares would be issued at 15c each. The raising is to be completed in two tranches.