Research and Markets: Nike: Corporate Analysis - Targets Business Opportunities & Risks

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nl4n62/nike_corporate_an) has announced the addition of the "Nike: Corporate Analysis" company profile to their offering.

This company profile is a premium company information product offering an unmatched depth and breadth of content. It analyzes the strategic positioning of the company - how the company has evolved and how it has been performing over the years.

Report Highlights

Structure of the organization, mergers & acquisitions and recent developments have been examined Business segments of the company have been explored along with analysis of key products and services SWOT Analysis highlights the weaknesses of the company and the threats to which it is exposed; the strengths of the company and the way the company has positioned itself to take advantage of the opportunities Business and marketing strategies boosting earnings, brand value and competitive edge have been discussed Key financial indicators have been analyzed Competitive positioning of the company has been evaluated in terms of sales, profitability and stock performance, as compared to its competitors

Key Benefits

Provides input for strategic business planning Targets business opportunities & risks Exploits competitive intelligence

Target Audience

Investment Managers Venture Capitalists Management Consultants Research Companies Other Industry Professionals

Key Topics Covered:

1. Company Backgrounder

1.1 Corporate Overview

1.2 Key Facts

1.3 Corporate Timeline

2. Business Focus

2.1 Major Segments

2.2 Products & Services

3. Corporate Overview

3.1 Organizational Structure

3.2 Executive Biographies

3.3 Ownership Structure

3.4 Mergers & Acquisitions

3.5 Significant Developments

4. Strategic Analysis

4.1 SWOT

4.1.1 Strengths

4.1.2 Weaknesses

4.1.3 Opportunities

4.1.4 Threats

4.2 Strategic Focus

5. Financial Analysis

5.1 Financial Performance

5.2 Sales and Earnings Analysis

5.3 Ratio Analysis

5.4 Stock Performance

6. Competitor Analysis

6.1 Major Competitors

6.2 Peer Comparison at a Glance

6.3 Financial Comparison

6.4 Stock Chart

7. Company Outlook

7.1 Revenue & Income Estimates

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nl4n62/nike_corporate_an

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Fitch: Collateral Transformation Drives Central Clearing Risks

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The shift away from over-the-counter (OTC) derivative contracts toward clearing via central counterparties (CCPs) may drive new business opportunities for large banks, but changing collateral posting rules could also create new pockets of systemic risk, according to Fitch.

We believe the move to central clearing will likely increase collateral requirements for end users since the benefits of netting derivative positions will be reduced as trades are cleared via multiple CCP operations. At the same time, clearing organizations will require market participants to post more cash collateral to mitigate counterparty risk in the clearing process. This will in turn lead to increased demand for collateral transformation services offered by CCP member institutions -- the banks.

The regulatory rationale for the switch to central clearing centers on the desire to create a buffer of safety through margin requirements, which would lead to reduced counterparty risk and some delevering of swaps trading. The goal of regulators is to dampen systemic risk and reduce volatility in derivatives markets.

We believe that when central clearing is fully implemented, many end users may have difficulty meeting the cash collateral requirements of the CCPs. Dealers, particularly those tied to higher rated banks, are evaluating ways in which they can transform non-eligible collateral, such as corporate bonds or equities, into CCP-eligible collateral to meet the increased demand.

However, provision of collateral transformation services could potentially magnify large banks' systemic importance in derivatives transactions, further complicating financial linkages among large institutions. They could also add complexity and blur transparency around relatively straightforward transactions. These risks should be weighed against potential problems faced by end users if cash collateral cannot be secured from banks. This could increase transaction costs and ultimately reduce liquidity in derivatives markets.

The simplest way to achieve collateral transformation is through reverse repo operations, where dealers engage in secured lending against ineligible CCP collateral. To make this business profitable, dealers would need to be able to fund these assets at a lower rate than they are lending. Providing collateral transformation through reverse repo could potentially cause meaningful balance sheet growth, and would also increase capital and possibly liquidity requirements at the banks. This may ultimately prove to be a material enough impediment to prevent meaningful collateral transformation services from developing or growing.

As a result, firms are exploring ways to act as intermediaries for their clients, while limiting their balance sheet exposure. We will monitor the evolution of these activities and will likely adjust bank balance sheets to reflect the economics of these transactions, even if they are able to achieve off-balance sheet treatment. It is also unclear what, if any, regulatory response may result from the growth of collateral transformation.

We note that there are other important considerations in evaluating the impact of collateral transformation services on dealers. In particular, the question of how firms will manage liquidity risk during times of market stress is critical.

This would be especially important if access to repo markets is constrained, or if haircuts on collateralized assets are increased and asset valuations deteriorate quickly. We also believe that an assessment of how dealers' operational and counterparty risk-management infrastructure will absorb the additional business is an important factor to be considered in evaluating the potential credit impact of collateral transformation services as they grow in importance.

The above article originally appeared as a post on the Fitch Wire credit market commentary page. The original article can be accessed at www.fitchratings.com. All opinions expressed are those of Fitch Ratings.

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE.

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UPDATE 2-Nomura Q4 jumps on market boost, risks remain - Reuters UK

* Q4 net 22.08 bln yen vs 14.9 bln yen consensus

* Stock and fixed income trading, mutual fund sales provide boost

* Overseas deal mandates promising sign for banking fees

* Analysts see big profit improvement in year to March 2013

* Insider-trading probe in Japan seen as overhang on brokers (Recasts, adds CFO and analysts' comments)

By Nathan Layne and Emi Emoto

TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Nomura Holdings booked its biggest quarterly profit in 2-1/2 years on Friday, beating expectations on stronger Japanese stocks and trading gains, while cost cuts and overseas deals lay the foundation for an expected jump in profitability this year.

Japan's top investment bank is still struggling with big losses in Europe and remains vulnerable to a pullback in the Nikkei stock average, which has slipped 5 percent since the start of April. It also faces the risk of sanctions in an ongoing insider-trading probe

But its second straight quarterly profit and the largest since July-September 2009 shows Nomura has stabilised its operations after a rocky 2011 when tough conditions prompted it to launch a $1.2 billion cost-cutting plan and Moody's to cut its credit rating to one notch above junk.

Net profit came to 22.08 billion yen ($273 million) in the January-March fiscal fourth quarter, up 86 percent from 11.9 billion yen a year earlier. The result handily beat market expectations for a profit of 14.9 billion yen, according to a Reuters survey of seven analysts.

"The momentum from the fourth quarter is still with us," Nomura Chief Financial Officer Junko Nakagawa told a news conference. "The operating environment is tough but there are several deals that should translate into good business opportunities."

Trading commissions were boosted by the recent uptick in Japanese shares, with daily turnover on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rebounding to above 1.5 trillion yen in February and March from below 1 trillion yen in December, an 8-year low.

The solid quarter also reflects an increase in sales of mutual funds through banks and its nationwide network of 179 branches, including 300 billion yen alone for one Australian bond fund launched by its asset management arm.

Nomura's fixed income operations pitched in as well, echoing trading conditions seen in results from Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and some other U.S. banks. Net gains on trading at Nomura came to 99 billion yen, marking that category's best performance since October-December 2010.

PROMISING SIGNS, RISKS

Nomura has pointed to recently secured mandates in a handful of key deals as a sign it is gaining some traction in an overseas expansion built on the purchase of the European and Asian assets of failed Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Those contracts include advising mining group Xstrata on its mega-merger with commodities trader Glencore , and serving as joint bookrunner on Spanish bank Bankinter's 1.0 billion euro bond in March.

So far in 2012 Nomura ranks ninth globally for advising on mergers and acquisitions, up from 13th in 2011 and a lowly 32nd in 2007 before the Lehman purchase, Thomson Reuters data shows. It remains the top investment bank on Japan-related deals.

"From now on it's important that Nomura continues focusing on incrementally growing revenue in its overseas banking business at the same time as trying to maintain the positivity from Japanese retail returning to the market," said Makarim Salman, head of Japan financials research at Jefferies in Tokyo.

Factoring in the higher fees and the benefits of its cost-cutting, the market expects Nomura to have its best year in six in the current year to March 2013, with 11 analysts forecasting an average 86 billion yen profit.

But like other global investment banks, Nomura has dialed back its risk-taking in the wake of the European debt crisis and to prepare for tougher capital requirements and regulatory restrictions on proprietary trading.

That could hinder the efforts of CEO Kenichi Watanabe to address its relatively weak earnings power. Nomura registered an annualised return-on-equity of 0.6 percent, compared with Goldman's 12.2 percent.

After a blistering rally in the first three months of the year, investors are once again focused on the perceived limits to Nomura's earnings potential. Ahead of the results, the stock closed on Friday at 330 yen, well off the 11-month high of 417 hit on March 19.

Daiwa Securities Group is also thought to be on a recovery path, with analysts predicting a return to profit this year after two years in the red, helped by its recent move to scale back overseas, and firmer Japanese stocks.

On Friday, Daiwa posted a net profit of 10.9 billion yen for January-March, returning to the black after five quarters in the red.

Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, Australia's top investment bank Macquarie Group reported a second-half net profit of A$425 million, just ahead of analysts' expectations.

ESCALATION OF PROBE

A probe by Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) into insider trading, launched in 2010 amid suspicious trading around a string of public stock offerings, is seen as a risk for all major brokers in the nation.

On Wednesday the regulator sent officials to Nomura's offices in an escalation of its investigation into the broker's suspected involvement in leaking inside information, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The SESC suspects that a Nomura employee tipped off a fund manager client about at public offering of energy firm Inpex in 2010, sources have said. The regulator is also looking into the possibility of insider trading around a share offering by Tokyo Electric Power. Nomura was an underwriter on both of those offerings.

CFO Nakagawa said that so far there has not been a major impact on Nomura's operations, but declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.

"Earnings beat the consensus mainly due to a strong market recovery in the quarter. But the outlook looks unclear with share prices in a downward trend since April," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"We also cannot be optimistic now because the market is nervously watching the developments of the insider trading investigation. Nomura's business could severely be affected if the probe develops in some serious way." ($1 = 80.7900 Japanese yen) (Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Rising prices and food scarcity 'present risks, opportunities' - Gulf News

Dubai: Rising commodity prices and food scarcity are posing both risks and opportunities to import-dependent Gulf countries, said Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade.

Amid the urgency of securing sustainable food sources, there is also a chance for the UAE to develop as a hub for food re-exports and investments, Shaikha Lubna said at Gulfood 2012 yesterday.

The event was inaugurated yesterday by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, in the presence of Shaikha Lubna.

"Such a well-defined and comprehensive platform is exactly what we need, given the importance of food security, the uplifting of local industries and the reduction of food imports to our regional agenda," she said in her opening speech at the Food Leaders summit titled "International flavours, world-class business".

Article continues below

Amid mounting concerns over Europe's debt crisis and soaring commodity prices, international food companies descended on the Gulfood exhibition as an opportunity to sell their exports to the UAE, which imports about 80 per cent of its food supplies.

UAE food imports are expected to jump $8.4 billion (Dh30.82 billion) by 2020, Shaikha Lubna said. A surging population will drive this growth as food consumption increases by 5.4 per cent annually from 7.8 million tonnes in 2011 to 9.7 million tonnes in 2015. The UAE spends about $3 billion on importing 80 per cent of its food and is, therefore, closely monitoring fluctuations in price and supply, she added.

But the UAE is also a "favourable destination" for food business and investments, Shaikha Lubna said.

The UAE is the Gulf's second largest food market and accounts for just over 18 per cent of the GCC's total food consumption, securing the largest share of industrial food production in the region that estimated at $9.5 billion, she said.

Re-exports

Food demand in the UAE could rise by up to 10 per cent this year as it re-exports some of these food supplies to sanction-strangled Iran and other countries in the region, food manufacturers said on the sidelines of Gulfood.

"We could see demand for food increase by 5 per cent to 10 per cent in the UAE because it does not just feed the domestic market but also neighbouring countries. Sanctions on Iran mean that food is imported into the UAE and re-exported to Iran," Essa Al Ghurair, Chairman of Al Ghurair Foods and Al Ghurair Resources, told Gulf News.

The UAE is a top re-exporter of rice and a major hub for re-exports of tea and coffee.

"As a re-exporting hub I would like to note that our opportunities lie beyond just direct trade of food; we offer the full spectrum of food business prospects, from machinery and logistics to food services and investment mechanisms, all of which will be addressed by this conference," said Shaikha Lubna.

The less tasty prospect is the increasing commodity prices globally that had food manufacturers groaning under the added costs.

Agthia, the Abu Dhabi-based food producer, saw its profits decline 25 per cent as soaring commodity prices ate into their profits.

The rising prices of PET, a type of plastic derived from oil, at 50-60 per cent and grain at 42 per cent "severely impacted" the company's profits, said Fasahat Beg, General Manager of the Consumer Business Division at Agthia, during an interview at Gulfood.

Specialised programmes

It is now monitoring prices carefully, sourcing raw materials better and consolidating the business after the launch of products such as Yoplait, he said.

As businesses seek new opportunities in a difficult market, Gulfood appeared busier than last year during its first day.

The four-day event, which ends on February 22, had 3,800 companies from more than 88 countries doing brisk business during the opening. A record 110 national pavilions are trying to get a bite of this lucrative market. More than 1,080 new exhibitors are taking part in Gulfood this year. The event includes specialised programmes that reflect the industry's latest trends: Food Leaders summit highlights keys to leadership success, Foodpreneur Forum will offer practical advice on new market development or product launch and the food processing packaging forum discusses key challenges in today's economy.

The Gulfood workshop on franchising will offer a session on food franchising by industry experts and will familiarise delegates with options and feasibility issues.

The Gulfood awards will reward achievements and innovations in the region's food and drink industry. This year, 20 categories will be judged.

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Business Insurance summit to feature critical risks - Business Insurance

NEW YORK—Expansion. Efficiency. Technology. All offer companies tremendous opportunities to grow and thrive. All also bring rapidly evolving—and potentially catastrophic—risks to businesses.

To get cutting-edge insights into how to manage these risks, risk managers from the largest companies in the world will gather at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York next month for Business Insurance's 2012 Risk Management Summit?.

The annual Risk Management Summit?, now it its third year, provides attendees with focused insight via specific, timely general sessions and strategic, thought-provoking discussions with industry leaders and peers.

The Risk Management Summit?, to be held Feb. 29-March 1, is open to senior risk managers at Fortune 1000 companies and international companies of comparable size, as well as to past Business Insurance Risk Manager of the Year? and Risk Management Honor Roll? honorees still serving as risk managers. Summit partners include Dempsey Partners, FM Global, Sedgwick and Zurich.

The 2012 Risk Management Summit? will provide case studies on four current issues of greatest concern to risk managers, as identified in a survey of target attendees:

• Cyber liability;

• Risks of global expansion;

• Supply chain risk and business continuity; and

• Captive insurance strategies

Each case study will be followed by panel discussion on the same topic featuring leading academics, executives from industry partner companies and other experts.

Confirmed speakers include: Christopher Soghoian, a prominent technology security activist and a cyber and privacy specialist at the Center for Applied Cyber Security Research; Jorge Luzzi, group risk management director at Pirelli Group and president of the Federation of European Risk Management Assns.; and Edward Erickson, founder of the Supply Chain Risk Management Leadership Council.

In addition, a luncheon on the first day of the event will highlight the winners of Business Insurance's 2012 Innovation Awards.

Eligible risk managers can register by visiting www.Business Insurance.com/RMSummit or by contacting Event Manager Rebecca Briggs at rbriggs@BusinessInsurance.com or 212-210-1032.

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