The company has just released its yearly report with a very upbeat note about the strength of these shares.. Earnings were US1.18 per share
They also plan to repurchase $1.3bill. of the preffered shares.
They will close the heritage deal tomorrow. giving each htg share 1.328 pffd nws shares. The reason for the overhang was due to the arbitrage in this deal which will be moved out of the way tomorrow.
With a 1.3 billion dollar buy back their will be a tremendous boost to these share 1.3b= 100 mil. shares a huge amount.
I must assume there will be a big move in these shares soon.
here is 1 of the newsarticles
SYDNEY, Aug 20 ( ) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Ltd said on Wednesday it planned a buy-back of up to A$1.3 billion of preferred limited voting ordinary shares because it had cash in excess of its immediate needs.
News also said the group now looked forward to a rapid acceleration of its global growth strategy in the years ahead.
"The company has cash in excess of its immediate needs and intends to implement an on-market buy-back of its preferred limited voting ordinary shares, subject to obtaining any necessary regulatory clearances," News said in its 1996/97 annual results statement.
"The company expects to repurchase up to A$1.3 billion of such shares," News said.
A formal announcement would be released shortly which would contain all the details of the proposed buy-back, it said.
"With a solid group of core assets and the benefit of the steps taken this year to strengthen its operations, the company now looks forward to a rapid acceleration of its global growth strategy in the years ahead," News said.
Earlier, News announced a 2.5 percent rise in annual net profit before abnormals to A$1.295 billion, well below analysts expectations of about A$1.42 billion and well below the 20 percent rise forecast three times by Murdoch during the year.
Net profit after abnormals fell to A$720 million in the year to June 30, 1997 from A$1.02 billion in 1995/96 after A$575 million of abnormal losses.
News said the abnormal losses related primarily to charges associated with the restructuring of its HarperCollins book publishing arm in the United States.
It also said it related to losses on the sale of certain assets and investments, which it did not detail.
Earnings per share fell to 38 cents from 40 cents.
Overall revenues rose 10 percent to A$14.4 billion, while total operating profit before tax and abnormals rose 8.2 percent to A$1.474 billion.
British newspapers and the magazines and inserts division exceeded expectations, but the book publishing division reported sharply lower earnings due to very difficult industry conditions, News said.
Cash on hand at June 30 rose to A$3.616 billion from A$2.298 billion at June 30 a year ago, while total borrowings rose to A$11.33 billion from A$8.48 billion.
Total assets rose to A$41.36 billion from A$30.763 billion and shareholders equity rose to A$22.23 billion from A$17.16 billion.
The ratio of borrowings to shareholder equity rose to 50.8 percent by June 30 from 49.4 percent.
News' shares closed up three cents at A$5.95 on Tuesday. =17 9/16us
and the prefered at 14 1/8us
20:06 08-19-97 |
