Star Cruises Downgraded
A poor operating performance and expensive valuation prompted analysts to downgrade Asia's largest cruise operator Star Cruises Group. The company reported it posted a loss last year following its acquisition of Norwegian cruise firm NCL Holdings. "We have downgraded it into a sell," said Teh Chi-Chang, analyst of SG Securities in Kuala Lumpur. Amelia Mehta of ING Barings also cut her rating from a hold to a sell, putting a price target of 36 cents while Teh cut his target from 78 cents to 46 cents. The group, part of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd, recorded a net loss of $26 million after including interest expense of $84.2 million for NCL's acquisition. Star Cruises said its results were not comparable to 1999 as they included a 10-month contribution from NCL.
SembCorp Shares Fall Short of Market Expectations
Shares of Singapore infrastructure conglomerate SembCorp Industries fell as much as 4.22 percent on Thursday after its half-year core performance came in below market expectations. SembCorp was down six cents at S$1.60 after hitting a low of S$1.59. Volume was more than 1.1 million shares. But analysts said the downside could be limited as investors were keen on the company's infrastructure businesses. The stock had climbed in the past few days in anticipation of good results. Shares in SembCorp, which is more than 50 percent owned by the Singapore government, have outperformed the broader Straits Times Index by 12 percent this year, while falling about five percent in absolute terms since the beginning of 2001. "The core operating performance was below expectations.
Oil's Merger Year Leaves Some In The Lurch
TotalFina's European energy merger with Elf has tied up the rejuvenated oil sector's last obvious pairing but more marriages may still be on the cards. The revival of oil prices from historic lows that spurred furious company consolidation has not fixed the energy sector's underlying problems and other firms will have to seek strength through size, analysts said. U.S. Texaco and Chevron need acquisitions to avoid being left as Big Oil's poor relations while in Europe Italy's ENI, Austria's OMV and Norway's Norsk Hydro, all slowed by state holdings, have been left trailing. "The structural problems facing the industry have not gone away," said J.J. Traynor of Deutsche Bank.
