INM REACHES DEBT DEAL WITH BONDHOLDERS - Independent News and Media has reached what is called a standstill arrangement, which will defer for six weeks until June 26 the repayment or the renegotiation of €200m worth of bonds which matured today. In effect, the company has reached an agreement which means its avoided defaulting on its debts.
Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst Gerry Hennigan says the new deal has given Independent News and Media some breathing space to negotiate a deal with its bondholders and their banks. The group is trying to dispose of some of its assets and the analyst says this along with the standstill arrangements will enable it to come to some sort of agreement with its bondholders. If INM had failed to arrange this deal, Mr Hennigan says that the bondholders - in theory - could have called in an examiner and tried to force the group to meet its obligations. In reality, however, he says everyone realised that option was in no-one's interest. INM will now look to sell its two small websites and its outdoor business in South Africa in an effort to pay off the €200m bond.
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MORNING BRIEFS - The cross-border business support organisation IntertradeIreland has carried out some research which reveals that three out of five companies on the island of Ireland reported a drop in revenue so far this year. But the All-island Business Monitor finds companies in the south are suffering more than those in the north.
*** Pharmacy chain Alliance Boots today posted a 11.6% rise in full-year profit, defying a recession that has hit many of its retail rivals. The group made a trading profit of £953m sterling for the year to March 31, on an 15.5% rise in revenue to £20.5 billion. No idea who the company is doing in Ireland because like most British retail brands, it does not share that information.
*** The Irish Times says telecoms entrepreneur Sean Melly has made a bid to buy Eircom with an offer above the €97m one made last month by the Australian venture capitalists and former Eircom executives Rex Comb and Rob Topfer. Their offer already rejected by the company and the ESOT.
*** The chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, which got itself into deep trouble by virtue of last year's takeover of rival HBOS or Halifax Bank of Scotland, has announced that he is stepping down before June 2010 or next year's annual general meeting. Lloyd's has suffered badly over last September's decision to snap up HBOS, then about to collapse. Normal competition rules were torn up to facilitate the deal which also saddled Lloyd's with its rival's bad debts which are estimated, in euro terms, at almost €16 billion.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.3452 and 88.85 pence sterling.
