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Cadbury rejects Kraft takeover bid

Cadbury management said it was offering shareholders maximum value by keeping the company independent, notably as it was raising its long-term financial targets.

“Kraft is trying to buy Cadbury on the cheap to provide much needed growth to their unattractive low growth conglomerate business model,” said Cadbury chairman Roger Carr in a circular to shareholders.

“Don’t let Kraft steal your company with its derisory offer.”

Cadbury said it now foresaw organic growth of 5 to 7 per cent a year, a profit margin of 16-18 per cent by 2013 and double-digit growth in dividends per share starting next year.

Kraft, which has been repeatedly snubbed by Cadbury management, had appealed directly to Cadbury shareholders with details of its offer, now worth about 9.9 billion pounds ($17.6 billion) in cash and shares, down from an initial 10.2 billion pounds ($18.2 billion).

Kraft is the world’s second biggest snacks group after Nestle. Cadbury is the second largest confectionery company behind Mars.

Exxon Mobil buys XTO Energy in $41bn deal

US oil giant Exxon Mobil is buying natural gas producer XTO Energy in a deal worth $41bn (£25bn).

XTO Energy, based in Texas, is an on-shore natural gas producer. The deal includes $10bn of debt from XTO.

Exxon chairman Rex Tillerson said the combined resources should benefit “consumers both here in the United States and around the world”.

The transaction is still subject to approval from XTO shareholders as well as regulators.

Mr Tillerson also said that the agreement was good news for the US economy and energy security, as it would lead to job creation and investment in the production of clean-burning natural gas resources.

XTO chairman Bob Simpson said: “As the world’s leading energy company, Exxon Mobil will… open new opportunities for the development of natural gas and oil resources on a global basis.”

The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of 2010.

“Exxon is making a bold statement about getting into the exploration and production business, but it’s hard to tell if this will start a wave of acquisitions,” said analyst Tom Schrader from Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets.

British Airways dispute

Union members at British Airways have voted to take strike action.

The industrial action will take place over 12 days from 22 December to 2 January.

This is the first walkout by British Airways cabin crew since 1997.

The action could affect up to one million air travellers.

How disruptive will the strike be?

The Unite union has asked for BA to restart talks, so there is a chance that the strikes might not go ahead.

If they do, the seriousness of the disruption will depend on how many staff decide not to turn up to work on the 12 days of the strikes.

It is impossible to say yet which flights will be cancelled. BA says it is currently reworking its flight schedules for the strike period and aims to announce them as quickly as possible.

It says it will inform affected customers directly by e-mail or text.

BA will use the contact details provided at the time of booking, so is asking customers to make sure these are correct and up-to-date.

It also says that customers who are booked to travel between 22 December and 2 January, and 48 hours either side of those dates, can change to another BA flight departing in the next 12 months at no charge.

If a customer’s flight is cancelled because of the industrial action, BA says it will offer them the option to refund their ticket, rebook on to a different flight or reroute their journey on another BA flight.

Further details can be found on the BA website.

During past strikes, the airline has chosen to cancel domestic UK flights first and keep as many international services flying as possible.

The reasoning is that passengers on domestic routes have the option of taking the train instead.

What is at the heart of the dispute?

In November, BA reduced the number of cabin crew on long haul flights from 15 to 14 and introduced a two-year pay freeze.

The Unite union said this would hit passenger service, as well as the earnings and career prospects of cabin crew.

The company has also proposed new contracts for fresh recruits and newly-promoted staff. These include a single on-board management grade, no seniority, promotion on merit, and pay set at market rate plus 10%.

The plans for the changes were first presented to company workers and unanimously rejected at a mass meeting in July.

The union said those measures were brought in in November and argues it should have been consulted because the changes are contractual.

But BA disputes this and says it was not obliged to consult.

The union applied for a High Court injunction to block the airline’s plans but failed.

Energy Stocks Jump As Investors Eye Next Target

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Competitors of XTO Energy Inc. (XTO) traded higher Monday as investors looked for the next potential takeover target in the sector.

Early Monday, oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) announced an agreement to acquire XTO for $31 billion in stock, valuing XTO at a 25% premium to Friday’s closing price and boosting Exxon’s presence in the natural-gas industry at a time of low prices for the commodity.

Analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt called the acquisition a surprise and said the deal will “overshadow all else today and will reverse energy investor rotation out” of exploration and production stocks. They said the purchase could kick off a major consolidation trend as “majors tend to be lemmings around trends” like joint ventures and consolidation.

The analysts added that the next major targets could include EOG Resources Inc. (EOG), Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN), PetroHawk Energy Corp. (HK), Encana Corp. (ECA), Devon Energy Corp. (DVN), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC).

“The industry has been expecting this kind of consolidation for some time,” said Joan Dunlap, PetroHawk vice president of investor relations. “It is a signal in the right direction for resource style assets.”

Representatives from EOG, Devon and Chesapeake declined to comment, while Southwestern and Anadarko weren’t immediately available.

In recent trading, XTO soared 16% to $47.93, while Exxon slipped 4.1% to $69.87. EOG increased 5.6% to $90.83, and Southwestern climbed 7.4% to $44.51. PetroHawk increased 7.3% to $23.80, EnCana rose 5.5% to $29.80, and Devon grew 5.3% to $67.25. Chesapeake jumped 6.6% to $24.55, and Anadarko gained 3.3% to $59.91.

Other energy companies trading higher included Range Resources Corp. (RRC), up 8.6% to $47.11, and St. Mary Land & Exploration Co. (SM), up 4.4% to $34.70. Stone Energy Corp. (SGY) gained 2.5% to $18, and Quicksilver Resources Inc. (KWK) climbed 6.9% to $14.09. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) jumped 9.7% to $42.04, Comstock Resources Inc. (CRK) rose 4.3% to $39.23 and Exco Resources Inc. (XCO) grew 6.9% to $20.48

Many oil and gas companies have seen profits decline as prices tumbled from last year’s peaks, potentially making it easier for large energy companies to take advantage of their weakened positions.

But Motley Fool senior analyst Joe Magyer said energy companies’ rising stock prices will prevent the deals from being as cheap and attractive as they were when stocks were hitting their lows earlier this year.

“For a lot of potential acquirers or suitors, some will be disappointed they couldn’t have gotten acquisitions any cheaper,” Magyer said.

Still, Magyer said people look to Exxon as the “gold standard” and its takeover of XTO could “signal to everyone else that this could be a good time [for acquisitions].”

The deal also puts to rest speculation about when Exxon, which hasn’t had a major acquisition since the merger a decade ago with Mobil, would take advantage of lower commodity prices pressuring smaller and debt-loaded companies in the oil patch.

While many market watchers believe Exxon’s takeover of XTO could signal consolidation in the industry, others said acquisitions may not be as widespread as believed.

Pritchard Capital Partners analyst Raymond J. Deacon said Exxon is unique among other major energy companies as it has a strong balance sheet with essentially no debt.

“I don’t think there are all that many companies with a balance sheet that would allow them to buy somebody like EOG or Devon,” Deacon said.

But he added some of the smaller energy companies, such as Range Resources, could be attractive targets as the larger companies look to increase exposure to the Bakken, Hayneville and Marcellus Shales. He said Cabot Oil & Gas, Comstock Resources and Exco Resources also could be potential targets based on their exposure to the various shale fields.

A representative from Exco declined to comment, while representatives from Range Resources, Cabot Oil & Gas and Comstock weren’t immediately available.

“The majors are pretty much absent from the Bakken Shale and on the outskirts of the Haynesville Shale and Marcellus Shale,” Deacon said. “It’s not hard to think these guys might want to be in the core of the plans.”

Gold hits one-month low, down for second week

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell Friday to the lowest level in nearly one month, marking their second weekly loss, as upbeat retail and consumer-sentiment data pushed the U.S. dollar sharply higher, curbing gold’s appeal as bulwark against currency depreciation.

Gold for December delivery fell $6.30, or 0.6%, to end at $1,119.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since Nov. 13. The contract ended the week down 4.2%.

The more actively traded February contract also fell, down 0.6% at $1,119.90 an ounce.

“The strong U.S. retail sales number and consumer confidence likely have short-term traders selling long positions,” said Brian Kelly, chief executive of Kanundrum Research, a commodities and macroeconomic research firm.

“Gold is quickly approaching a key support level of $1,070 to $1,100,” he added. Gold will be more volatile next week as “traders begin to position themselves for” the Federal Reserve meeting.

Lufthansa 3Q net income up 23 pct to euro184 million

German airline operator Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Thursday net income in the third quarter rose 23 percent because of the addition of new group airlines.

But the company reported a loss in the first nine months on lower passenger levels and prices while fuel costs rose.

Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest airline by sales, said net income for the July-September period rose to euro184 million ($270 million) compared with euro149 million in the year-ago quarter. Those results were helped by the first-time inclusion of earnings from Austrian Airlines and British Midlands.

Third quarter revenue, though, fell 9.4 percent to euro5.9 billion from euro6.5 billion, as overall demand and prices fell.

Lufthansa also owns or holds stakes in airlines including Swiss International Airlines, Brussels Airlines and JetBlue of the U.S.

In addition to falling passenger levels and prices, the company said its cargo division has also felt the effects of the downturn as air freight volumes have also declined sharply.

On Wednesday, Lufthansa said it lost euro32 million in the January-September period, compared with net income of euro529 million in the first nine months of 2008.

Revenue for the first nine months fell 13 percent to euro16.2 billion from euro18.6 billion a year ago.

Shares of Lufthansa were up 2 percent to euro10.58 after it announced its quarterly figures.

Lufthansa, based in Cologne, said the results of the fourth quarter will be decisive to whether the company can meet its target of achieving a stable operating result for the full year.

“The market environment for passenger transportation is still very difficult,” the airline said, adding that initial signs “of a stabilization in volumes are far away from making up for the enormous and unrelenting pressure stemming from the massive fall in price levels.”