Noble Group 01 (May 08 - May 10)

[winston]

Not vested. From CIMB:-

• Leading integrated global supply chain manager. Noble supplies agricultural commodities, energy products, metals, minerals and ore globally, along with logistics and financial services. It has supply chain infrastructure and production capabilities, sourcing products from low-cost producing countries and supplying to high demand growth markets.

• Ability to make profits in all markets, as the company is price-hedged. Besides making small spreads from supplying commodities, Noble also earns a return from hard assets (processing, production, storage etc.) and makes arbitrage profits from pricing inefficiencies in various markets.

• Rosy long-term fundamentals. Noble is likely to be one of the first stocks to rebound on any hint of economic stability/recovery. Moreover, with a strong balance sheet and proven business model, it is likely to emerge stronger as competitors fall prey to challenging near-term conditions.

• Initiate with Outperform and target price of S$1.50. We have a target price of S$1.50, set at 5.5x EV/EBITDA, a 15% discount to its historical average of 6.5x on account of challenging near-term conditions and high risk aversion, translating to 8.4x CY10 P/E. Management has proposed a dividend of US$0.044 for FY08, representing a yield of 6.6%.

[winston]

NOBLE - Credit Suisse downgraded commodity firm Noble on Monday to "underperform" from "downgrade", citing weak coal and iron ore demand despite a firm outlook for grain markets.

[winston]

Noble Q1 pft plunges 46% By OH BOON PING, Business Times

COMMODITIES trading firm Noble Group reported a 46 per cent plunge in its Q1 net profit to US$90.2 million, after seeing general global decline in commodity prices.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2009, the group reported sales of US$6 billion - down 36 per cent from US$9.5 billion for the year-ago period.

Earnings per share were 2.79 US cents - down from 5.34 US cents previously.

Meanwhile, Noble on Tuesday revised its bid price for Gloucester Coal to A$6 cash per share - up from A$4.85 previously.

The bid aims to thwart a reverse takeover deal between Gloucester and Whitehaven Coal.

[millionairemind]

May 11, 2009, 7.02 pm (Singapore time)

Noble Group in US$200 mln share sale: term sheet

HONG KONG - Commodities trader Noble Group was raising about US$200 million in a top-up share placement on Monday priced at a discount of 4.8-8.4 per cent to its closing price on Monday, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters.

Noble Temple Trading Inc, the firm's biggest shareholder, was selling the shares ahead of the placement at S$1.52-S$1.58 each in a deal handled by Cazenove & Co and JPMorgan.

Of the shares being sold, 70 per cent are new and 30 per cent are existing shares.

The deal can be increased to US$250 million, the term sheet said. Noble Group shares closed on Monday at S$1.66 each. -- REUTERS

[winston]

Not vested. Stimulus program not good for Commodity Players ? Why are they selling ?

Singapore Hot Stocks-Noble falls on share placement

SINGAPORE, May 12 (Reuters) - The benchmark Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> fell 0.9 percent as of 0220 GMT on Tuesday.

The following stock was on the move:
** NOBLE GROUP FALLS ON SHARE PLACEMENT
** Shares of commodities firm Noble Group fell as much as 15 percent on Tuesday on talk the company was planning a share placement, a trader said.

The group was raising about $200 million in a top-up share placement priced at a discount of 4.8 percent to 8.4 percent to its closing price, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Monday. [ID:nHKG69037]

Noble, which is based in Hong Kong but listed in Singapore, was down 10 percent around 0220 GMT.

[winston]

Noble share sale raises $126 mln; short of target

HONG KONG, May 12 (Reuters) - Commodities trader Noble Group (NOBG.SI) raised S$183.9 million ($126 million) by selling 121 million shares at $1.52 apiece, less than the $200 million originally targeted and at the bottom of an indicated price range, a person familiar with the deal said.

Noble Group, which is based in Hong Kong and listed in Singapore, had aimed to sell about $200 million worth of shares at S$1.52 to S$1.58 each on Monday in order to strengthen working capital and diversify its investor base.

Bookbuilding was hindered by a drop in U.S. stocks at the open on Monday as well as a raft of competing share sales by U.S. companies.

Shares in Noble Group dropped as much as 15 percent in early Singapore trade on Tuesday before they were halted at S$1.51, down 9 percent from their Monday close.

Cazenove & Co and JPMorgan (JPM.N) handled the deal.

[mocca_com]

UPDATE 1-Noble ups bid to $429 million for Gloucester Coal

Fri May 15, 2009 6:42am EDT

SYDNEY, May 15 (Reuters) - Commodity trader Noble Group (NOBG.SI) raised its offer for Australian miner Gloucester Coal Ltd (GCL.AX) by 17 percent to A$572 million ($429 million), as it seeks to foil a plan by Gloucester to acquire another coal company.

Hong Kong-based Noble upped its offer to A$7 a share from the A$6 a share it had bid previously for the 78.3 percent it did not already own in Gloucester.

Noble said its latest offer was conditional on a reverse-takeover by Gloucester of Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC.AX) not proceeding.

Gloucester is proposing a merger with Whitehaven via a scrip-based reverse takeover, which has an implied value of A$4.83 per share.

Shares in Gloucester, which produces power station coal and coking coal used by steelmakers, rose 1.55 percent to A$5.89 on Friday.

Noble's announcement of its new offer came after the market closed.

Noble, which buys about 25 percent of Gloucester's coal output, closed down 3.29 percent at S$1.47 a share. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Nathan Layne)

[iam802]

perhaps this is also a sign to have some coal stocks on the watchlist...outside of SGX (in US, HK...etc).

[millionairemind]

Noble Group says it now holds 62.25% stake in Gloucester Coal
By Mok Fei Fei, 938LIVE | Posted: 02 June 2009 1728 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore-listed commodities player Noble said on Tuesday that it now holds a 62.25 per cent stake in Australian miner, Gloucester Coal.

It gave the update after offering seven Australian dollars a share for Gloucester.

Earlier this year, Noble had been involved in a long-running battle for control of Gloucester with another Australian miner, Whitehaven.

But Gloucester eventually recommended that its shareholders accept Noble's takeover bid after the share price offer was raised from six to seven Australian dollars.

On Monday, Noble also said that it has received an US$800 million credit facility to replace an existing US$700 million facility.

It last traded at a dollar and 80 cents, up 10 cents. - 938LIVE/vm

[winston]

Noble Group to Report Interim 2009 Financial Results on 13 August 2009

HONG KONG, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Noble Group Limited (SGX: NOBL), a leading global supply chain manager of agricultural, industrial and energy products,today announced that it will report its interim 2009 financial results to 30 June 2009 after the Singapore market closes on 13 August 2009.

Noble's management will hold an earnings conference call and webcast on 13August 2009 at 18:30 Hong Kong / Singapore time (06:30 ET, 11:30 UK time,12:30 Berlin, Germany / Bern, Switzerland time and 20:30 Australia EDT --Sydney, Melbourne).

Dial-in details for the conference call are as follows: -- US Toll Free - +1 800 901-5231 -- US Toll - +1 617.786.2961 -- Hong Kong Toll - +852 3002-1672 -- Singapore Toll Free - (65) 800 1301 175 -- Switzerland Toll Free - (41) 0 800 56 4442 -- Germany Toll Free - (49) 0 800 181 3857 -- Australia Toll Free - (61) 1 800 002 971 -- UK Toll Free - (44) 00 800 280 02002

(Please dial the US Toll Number if you are in a country outside those listed above.) Passcode for all regions: "Noble Group"Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at http://www.thisisnoble.com.