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Investor Says SSE in Talks to Sell for $9+ per Share

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:47:00 GMT

Southern Connecticut Bancorp Inc. (AMEX: SSE) shares opened sharply higher after a Schedule 13D filing with the SEC revealed that the firm was in talks to sell itself for more than $9.00 per share. Seidman and Associates, which owns a 6.52% stake in the company, questioned why the deal hasn’t gone through and why shareholders were not notified of the impending sale. The activist also nominated their own slate of directors to effect change and take action to unlock shareholder value. Here’s a copy of the letter: You[More...]

Killer Balance Sheets Striking Terror

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:55:00 GMT

Local stock markets ended the week with Chinese investors once again ignoring the world markets. Rising markets abroad were met with sharp declines (albeit not without some large partial reversals in the early morning and early afternoon) in China. The SSE Composite dropped 2.0% to close near its low at 1722, more than 4% below the 1800 mark. [More...]

Bring On The New Financial Order And Punish The Old Scoundrels

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:06:00 GMT

The third down week in a row had the SSE Composite finishing with a 1.1% loss Thursday and a 1.9% loss Friday, to close at 1840. Checking the historical data provided by Bloomberg indicates that we have to go back nearly two years, to November 2006, right around the beginning of the ferocious Chinese bull market, to find the SSE Composite closing lower. The wild bull market started at roughly 1500 in July 2006 and reached a high of around 6100, if I remember correctly, just over a year ago. Given the growth of China’s GDP during this time, and assuming that earnings growth is more or less in line with GDP growth, I would say[More...]

Oil Prices Hike and Chinese Stock Market

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:39:26 GMT

I don’t normally write so much about the stock market but today, like yesterday, the stock market seems to be at the center of events. Not unexpectedly the SSE Composite started the day badly after yesterday’s awful 4.5% drop to 3443. By midmorning it w[More...]

Relatively Quiet China Financial News Front

Fri, 16 May 2008 14:10:59 GMT

Today is relatively quiet on the China-financial-news front (the SSE Composite was down 36 bps, but not much else happened), so rather than discuss the most recent numbers and events and their possible implications for financial policy, I want to write ab[More...]

Hoarding money

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:37:55 GMT

There is an article in today’s Financial Times, whose title, “Battle-scarred bankers lapse into a hoarding habit,” immediately triggered my interest. The article argues that one of the recent “paradoxes” of the international markets, that recovering stoc[More...]

China: Perceptions of Market Support Can Add Shocks

Wed, 07 May 2008 07:00:59 GMT

The Chinese stock market continued to bounce around today, driven down largely by the poor performance of bank stocks. There were fears among investors that we may see more tightening measures in the form of hikes in interest rates or minimum reserve requirements, or both, and these fears have hurt bank stocks in particular. Shanghai opened the day down about 1% and quickly dropped another 1% or so in the first few minutes, before trading up in the late morning and bouncing in and out of positive territory all day, until by late afternoon it was up 0.6%. In the last 30 minutes, however, it gave up all its gains and then some to cl[More...]

Energy Giant is Set to Double Profits

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:47:00 GMT

Oct. 4--Scottish & Southern Energy, one of the UK's top six energy companies, is expected to announce a near doubling of interim profits next month, sparking fury among customers.
The profits look like being so much better than market analysts had forecast that SSE last week issued a trading update saying the surplus would be "significantly higher" than this time last year.
According to McKinnon & Clarke, the UK's largest independent energy consultancy, the Scottish & Southern declaration will be the first in a series of profit announcements that will enrage the public.

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Cash-Rich SSE Unveils Massive Wind Project

Thu, 21 May 2009 14:58:00 GMT

May 21--Just a day after Europe's biggest wind farm was switched on in Scotland, Scottish and Southern Energy today unveiled plans for an ever bigger wind project in the Shetland Islands.
SSE announced the plans as it unveiled record profits of £1.25 billion for the year to the end of March, thanks to its charging its nine million Southern Electric customers all-time high household energy prices which on average exceeded £100 month.
SSE said plans for 150 turbines on Shetland will produce more electricity for up to 500,000 homes, nearly double that to be produced at Whitelee, which was unveiled by arch-rival Scottish Power earlier this week.

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Bank Parent Gets Tentative OK for Federal Program?

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:47:00 GMT

By Angela Carter Register Staff
NEW HAVEN -- Southern Connecticut Bancorp Inc., the holding company for The Bank of Southern Connecticut, has received preliminary approval of its application to participate in a program the U.S. Department of the Treasury is running to help strengthen banks.
Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act passed last year by Congress, the Treasury Department launched three initiatives as part of its controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program: the Troubled Asset Auction Program, the Capital Purchase Program and its Programs for Systemically Significant Failing Institutions.

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Bank Parent Gets Tentative OK for Federal Program

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:49:00 GMT

Jan. 15--NEW HAVEN -- Southern Connecticut Bancorp Inc., the holding company for The Bank of Southern Connecticut, has received preliminary approval of its application to participate in a program the U.S. Department of the Treasury is running to help strengthen banks.
Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act passed last year by Congress, the Treasury Department launched three initiatives as part of its controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program: the Troubled Asset Auction Program, the Capital Purchase Program and its Programs for Systemically Significant Failing Institutions.
John H. Howland, president and chief operating officer of The Bank of Southern Connecticut, said the bank has preliminary approval for the Capital Purchase Program, through which the Treasury is providing infusions of equity capital to certain financial institutions to bolster continued lending.

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