News with Tags "reuters"

SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore's subway

operator SMRT Corp Ltd fell as much as 3 percent to a

29-month low after it reported a plunge in its quarterly

earnings and announced a cut in its final dividend.

At 0106 GMT, SMRT shares were 2.1 percent lower at S$1.645,

with 891,000 shares changing hands.

SMRT reported on Monday a 59 percent drop in fourth quarter

net profit to S$13.9 million ($11.2 million), hurt by higher

operating expenses and the impairment of goodwill on its bus

operations.

It declared a reduced final dividend of 5.70 Singapore cents

compared with 6.75 cents a year ago.

(Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by John Mair)

SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore's subway

operator SMRT Corp Ltd fell as much as 3 percent to a

29-month low after it reported a plunge in its quarterly

earnings and announced a cut in its final dividend.

At 0106 GMT, SMRT shares were 2.1 percent lower at S$1.645,

with 891,000 shares changing hands.

SMRT reported on Monday a 59 percent drop in fourth quarter

net profit to S$13.9 million ($11.2 million), hurt by higher

operating expenses and the impairment of goodwill on its bus

operations.

It declared a reduced final dividend of 5.70 Singapore cents

compared with 6.75 cents a year ago.

(Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by John Mair)

SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore's subway

operator SMRT Corp Ltd fell as much as 3 percent to a

29-month low after it reported a plunge in its quarterly

earnings and announced a cut in its final dividend.

At 0106 GMT, SMRT shares were 2.1 percent lower at S$1.645,

with 891,000 shares changing hands.

SMRT reported on Monday a 59 percent drop in fourth quarter

net profit to S$13.9 million ($11.2 million), hurt by higher

operating expenses and the impairment of goodwill on its bus

operations.

It declared a reduced final dividend of 5.70 Singapore cents

compared with 6.75 cents a year ago.

(Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by John Mair)

SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore's subway

operator SMRT Corp Ltd fell as much as 3 percent to a

29-month low after it reported a plunge in its quarterly

earnings and announced a cut in its final dividend.

At 0106 GMT, SMRT shares were 2.1 percent lower at S$1.645,

with 891,000 shares changing hands.

SMRT reported on Monday a 59 percent drop in fourth quarter

net profit to S$13.9 million ($11.2 million), hurt by higher

operating expenses and the impairment of goodwill on its bus

operations.

It declared a reduced final dividend of 5.70 Singapore cents

compared with 6.75 cents a year ago.

(Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by John Mair)

SINGAPORE, May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore's subway

operator SMRT Corp Ltd fell as much as 3 percent to a

29-month low after it reported a plunge in its quarterly

earnings and announced a cut in its final dividend.

At 0106 GMT, SMRT shares were 2.1 percent lower at S$1.645,

with 891,000 shares changing hands.

SMRT reported on Monday a 59 percent drop in fourth quarter

net profit to S$13.9 million ($11.2 million), hurt by higher

operating expenses and the impairment of goodwill on its bus

operations.

It declared a reduced final dividend of 5.70 Singapore cents

compared with 6.75 cents a year ago.

(Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by John Mair)

FINDLAY, Ohio, May 1, 2012 – Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) announced today that while it continues to evaluate strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value with respect to certain midstream assets, MPC`s board of directors has authorized and directed its evaluation team to further explore the formation and initial public offering of a master limited partnership (MLP) and to prepare a registration statement.

If MPC determines to further pursue an initial public offering of an MLP, the issuer would be a wholly-owned subsidiary, MPLX LP. MPC would contribute a portion of its midstream assets to the MLP and sell a minority interest in the MLP in an initial public offering. The potential MLP would support MPC`s strategy to grow its midstream business, initially through a contribution of an interest in certain onshore common carrier pipeline assets located in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the U.S.

If pursued, MPC would expect to file a registration statement relating to the common units to be sold in a potential initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission during the third quarter, subject to final MPC board approval and prevailing market conditions.

There can be no assurance that the evaluation process will lead to an initial public offering of an MLP or any other transaction, or that if any transaction is further pursued, that it will be consummated. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. This announcement is being issued pursuant to, and in accordance with, Rule 135 under the Securities Act of 1933.

This announcement contains certain statements that are “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 concerning MPC`s possible initial public offering of interests in an MLP.  These statements contain words such as “possible,” “intend,” “will”, “if” and “expect” and can be impacted by numerous factors including the risk that an initial public offering may not occur, risks relating to the securities markets generally, the impact of adverse market conditions affecting MPC`s midstream business, adverse changes in laws including with respect to tax and regulatory matters and other risks.  There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ from MPC`s expectations.  For more information concerning factors that could affect these statements see MPC`s most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  MPC undertakes no obligation to update or revise such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur, or which MPC becomes aware of, after the date hereof.

# # #

MPC Update on Strategic Alternatives

The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.

Source: Marathon Petroleum Corporation via Thomson Reuters ONE
HUG#1607605

YANGON (Reuters) - European firms seeking to invest in Myanmar are unlikely to rush into business deals until more concrete reforms are put in place, despite a suspension of economic sanctions by the EU, its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Saturday.

The European Union and other powers have moved in recent weeks to ease sanctions on Myanmar, as the once pariah nation embarks on landmark reforms and seeks engagement with the world.

Speaking on her first visit to the former British colony, Ashton said punitive measures could be lifted fully before their next scheduled review in a year's time but only if all 27 EU members were convinced Myanmar's overhaul "cannot go backwards".

"There's a lot of delegations that have been here with business leaders very interested in what can be done here but they'll make their judgments like us," Ashton told Reuters in an interview during the EU's most high-profile visit to Myanmar since the military ceded power a year ago.

"The suspension is important for them, but they'll make their business decisions based on what they see on the ground. Companies need the rule of law to exist. They need to know that if they invest in this economy, it will be well looked after and secured. They want stability and a workforce that is trained."

European companies have lobbied aggressively as they seek to tap one of Asia's last frontier markets. Firms from Asian powers like Japan, China, India, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are already preparing to enter Myanmar's mining, energy, tourism, telecoms and manufacturing sectors.

Ashton said key targets to be met for a full lifting of sanctions would include freeing all remaining political prisoners, an inclusive political climate and permanent solutions to conflicts with ethnic minority rebels.

"They need to keep up the momentum and look at releasing all political prisoners. It's about trying to makes sure that after ceasefires, people can go home, that there's a role for them in the economy ... they can feel their own identity but also part of the country," she said.

"We'll assess (sanctions) over the coming months into next year and if there is a consensus, then that's when we can look to lift them... when the 27 countries are really confident this cannot possibly go backwards, that there are many indicators that this is not just for real, but long-term and irreversible."

Ashton will spend two days in the capital Naypyitaw and will meet key drivers of Myanmar's unforeseen facelift, including its top peace negotiator Aung Min, the influential lower house speaker Thura Shwe Mann and President Thein Sein.

Ashton said she would urge Thein Sein to introduce more changes, especially concerning the economy and the peace process.

"I'll be saying how impressed I am with what he's been willing to lead already," she said. "He knows very well what needs to be done, the difference is, I'll be telling him how much we want to support him in doing that."

She would not say what it would take for sanctions to be re-imposed and was confident the reforms were irreversible, as Thein Sein has repeatedly promised.

"What you see from his statements and the work going on is there seems to be a genuine commitment to make the changes," she said. "The point of suspending them is we haven't seen the end of this, but the beginning."

(Editing by Maria Golovnina)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - S&P credit analyst Takahira Ogawa listened politely as officials at the finance ministry made an hour-long pitch for a ratings upgrade, citing economic growth prospects, revenues and their efforts to contain the government's fiscal deficit.

At the meeting two weeks ago, officials argued that tax returns were rising and debt levels were on the decline compared to gross domestic product, two officials who were at the meeting told Reuters.

Singapore-based Ogawa gave no sign of what he was thinking - and could not immediately be reached for his version of events - but evidently he left unconvinced.

On Wednesday, the ratings agency cut its outlook on India's BBB- rating to negative from stable and warned it had a one-in-three chance of losing investment-grade status, sending shockwaves through the ministry. Its decision could raise costs for Indian borrowers and undermine foreign investor confidence in Asia's third-largest economy.

"We were not expecting this downgrade," one senior adviser at the ministry said.

The misplaced optimism before the cut suggests the finance ministry may be out of touch with opinion among private economists, investors and even the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about the faltering economy. But it also reflects the view in New Delhi that India is unfairly saddled with a low sovereign rating.

In February, the finance ministry's chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu complained that India's fast growth was not reflected in global agencies' ratings. "In relative terms, India has become a better investment destination," Basu said.

As the news broke, top finance ministry officials huddled in their offices, eyes glued to monitors and television screens for signs of an investor exodus from the markets.

"The initial reaction was all of us turned on our TV sets to see what is happening in the stock market," the senior adviser at the ministry said. Shares dropped more than 1 percent in the immediate aftermath but recovered to close down 0.33 percent.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's first public comment on the cut - "don't panic" - seemed aimed as much at his own ministry as at the general public.

While the shock news was a wake-up call, officials say the best they can do for now is take incremental steps aimed at restoring confidence in the India story.

India has lost some of its shine recently. After growing at an enviable average rate of more than 8 percent annually for the previous five years, it expanded less than 7 percent in the last fiscal year, its slowest pace in three years.

The same 2011/12 fiscal year, which ended March 30, saw its current account and fiscal deficits blow out way beyond targets because of a growing bill for subsidies, mainly of fuel, and soaring oil and gold imports.

"If we are able to keep our budget targets on track, it would improve our credibility in the market, and may encourage the rating agency to reconsider its decision," said a finance ministry official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The S&P cut added force to an avalanche of criticism about the government's economic management. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat silently as a panel of his peers, including the RBI governor, told him lack of progress on economic reform had left the economy in disturbing shape.

"The broader message for everyone in the government is that we need to move a little faster and a little quicker," said Dipak Dasgupta, the finance ministry's top economist.

"We might hurry along a little bit given that everyone seems to think that we need to hurry. Fine, so we will do it."

WE'RE NOT TUNISIA

S&P ratings for India are the lowest for any of the so-called BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - grouping of emerging economies that are reshaping global power.

Indeed, some analysts speculate that India is at risk of being replaced in the BRICS ranks by Indonesia, whose credit ratings were recently upgraded to investment-grade. S&P's warning effectively says India's rating is at risk of slipping to "junk".

Policymakers in India see their country as a superpower-in-the-making after 20 years of fast growth and it clearly rankles with some officials that S&P considers the economy as risky as those of some Central Asian and North African republics.

"We made the presentation arguing India's growth prospects, tax-GDP ratio, efforts to fix the fiscal deficit, are quite genuine and deserve better ratings than countries like Tunisia," said an official who was involved in the presentation to S&P.

Dasgupta, who recently travelled to Tunisia, also said it was unfair to club India together with an economy in tatters after last year's revolution.

The officials reminded Ogawa that India was still growing faster than any other major economy apart from China.

But sceptics say India is politically unable to take major steps to rein in ballooning subsidies, now more than 2 percent of GDP. Private economists also say the government will struggle to rein in its current account and fiscal deficits and revive GDP growth while world energy prices are high, and with a period of election spending looming.

PRAY FOR RAIN

Everyone from the finance minister to the RBI governor agree the most urgent step is to cut subsidies on fuel, especially diesel, which some officials say will happen in May. But the move is unpopular with the opposition and the government's coalition partners and has long been delayed.

Officials said India plans to take incremental steps to support projected growth and trim its fiscal deficit to 5.1 percent in the current year while - as one minister put it - "praying for good rainfalls and stable crude oil prices".

One measure likely to take effect soon is a duty on gold imports, likely to be passed in parliament in May and projected to cut gold imports to 1.7 percent of GDP from 2 percent last year. India imported gold and silver worth $60 billion in 2011/12, pushing up the trade deficit to near $185 billion.

Officials also tout recent moves to lift exports of sugar, grains and cotton to boost farm growth and foreign exchange, and point to a jump in approvals for infrastructure projects as the prime minister focuses on supply bottlenecks.

But hurt by corruption scandals and held back by rebellious coalition partners, it is far from clear that Singh will be able to deliver enough reform to improve perceptions.

"The real issue in India is not that the problems are unknown or that the solutions are unclear; it is that solutions are not being implemented," said Rajeev Malik, a senior analyst at CLSA Singapore. "That is unlikely to change substantially."

(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Tony Munroe and Catherine Evans)