WALL Street may have suffered one of its by now regular bouts of panic after the Japanese suggested that they might sell off T-bonds unless the Americans bought more Japanese goods, but the rest of the world seemed to take the Wall Street heebiejeebies in its stride. The Dublin market ended the week in much the same position it began trading last Monday and there seems no sign yet of any sell off.
The one exception to the general firmness was James Crean, which fell heavily after telling the market that dividend cover would be raised (in effect halving the payout to shareholders) while firsthalf trading would be down on last year.
Dublin investment house Dolmen forsook the usual broker speak of "weak hold" and "underweight" to tell its clients bluntly to sell Crean now as the share was destined to sink towards 170p before it finds a floor. Brokers were more circumspect in how they spoke of Crean, but the shares took a 45p dive in the space of two days, with a feeling in the market that it has still not found a clear strategy to develop its business.
Earnings forecast for Crean for the current year have been hacked back from around 31p to 23p and 1998 forecasts have been pulled from 33p to 25p. For a company that once enjoyed an enthusiastic institutional fan club, Crean has fallen a long way - believe it or not the shares traded at over 700p - seven years ago.
Elsewhere, corporate news was thin but one noteworthy event was the statement from the new Golden Vale chief executive, Mr Jim Murphy, that he does not see a merger with another dairy company as an option, and that Golden Vale will plough its own furrow. Mr Murphy has been engaged in a root and branch review of Golden Vale's entire business, but it came as something of a surprise when he ruled out merger with Dairygold or Kerry so emphatically.
Milk may be a quota restricted business where it is increasingly difficult for processors to balance what they get from their dairy products with what they pay farmers for milk. But many in the industry believe that Golden Vale will find it difficult to remain independent in an environment of international diary giants.
One of those giants may be Avonmore Waterford if the merger of the two Irish coops gets the go ahead at the special meetings next month. Opponents of the merger in the Waterford camp - led by the Kilmeaden group - are continuing to mount a strong rear guard action to prevent Waterford getting the 75 per cent acceptances needed for the merger to go ahead.
Waterford's chairman, Mr John Dowley, made it clear this week that merger is the only option and that the value put on Waterford by the Avonmore offer could not be achieved by Waterford itself for many years.
Elsewhere, Smurfit continued to expand into Latin America with £17 million acquisitions in Argentina. Adare pleased the market with a big jump in profits and the promise of more acquisitions.
