Market Currents

• Friday, December 11, 2009

• 09:23 AM Procter & Gamble (PG) says it's signed an offer to buy the Ambi-Pur air freshener business from Sara Lee (SLE) for $470M, along with some personal care products. Sara Lee had hoped to sell its household products unit as a whole - or to get closer to $700M for the air freshener unit. Premarket: [[PG]] -0.2%. Comment!

• Monday, November 23, 2009

• 12:39 PM Even after committing $1.88B to buying part of Sara Lee's (SLE) business, Unilever's (UN +1.6%) still got cash for a shopping spree - as much as €2B ($3B) - and plans to find "bolt-on" acquisitions for growth, CFO Jim Lawrence said. He previously said the company was not looking at Cadbury (CBY). 1 Comment

• Friday, November 20, 2009

• 10:29 AM Procter & Gamble (PG) has started repurchasing shares and is focusing on organic growth, CFO Jon Moeller said at this morning's Morgan Stanley conference. He didn't address reported talks with Sara Lee (SLE) over acquiring its air-freshener business. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, November 17, 2009

• 13:45 PM S.C. Johnson joins Procter & Gamble (PG) in bidding for the air-freshener business of Sara Lee (SLE +1.4%), which could bring $700M. Unlike P&G, Johnson could be interested in the other parts of a household products unit that Sara Lee wanted to sell whole rather than piecemeal. (previously) 1 Comment

• Thursday, November 5, 2009

• 09:37 AM Sara Lee (SLE): FQ1 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $2.59B (-7.4%) vs. $3.16B. Shares +1.8%. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable premarket earnings: ALD, BVF, CAH, CDE, CI, CNQ, CTL, CVS, DNR, DPS, DPTR, DTV, DYN, FTO, GNA, HK, KG, KIM, LAMR, MAC, MF, MGM, NDAQ, OCR, PCS, PXP, RRI, SE, SIRI, SLE, TDC, TWC, WEN, WW Comment!

• Thursday, October 22, 2009

• 13:27 PM Procter & Gamble (PG) is in talks to buy part of Sara Lee's (SLE +1.1%) international household products unit - though PG is really interested in an air-freshener business worth perhaps $700M, while Sara Lee wants to sell the entire unit (insecticides, shoe polish and all) as part of its refocusing on coffee and food. 1 Comment

• Friday, October 16, 2009

• 08:54 AM Kraft is reportedly in talks to sell Maxwell House to Sara Lee (SLE), which would give it enough cash to sweeten its bid for Cadbury (CBY). Sources say Kraft is already close to raising the $9B it needs to make a formal offer for Cadbury ahead of the Nov. 9 put up or shut up deadline, but would need more than that to raise the stakes. Comment!

• Friday, September 25, 2009

• 09:44 AM “We’re not convinced that this is the greatest collection of assets," Credit Suisse says of Unilever's (UN -0.4%) decision to pick up Sara Lee's (SLE +5.6%) personal care line for $1.9B. "But another acquisition shows Unilever is still moving from the back foot (cost cutting, disposals) to the front foot - volume growth, acquisitions." Comment!
• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: ALTH +11%. SLE +7.5%. LCC +4%. AIB +4%.
  Losers: RIMM -14%. KV.A -12%. KBH -6%. NMR -5%. Comment!
• 04:16 AM Unilever (UN) to buy Sara Lee's (SLE) personal care business for $1.88B. The unit generates annual sales of more than $1.1B. (PR) UN -0.4% in Amsterdam. Comment!

• Wednesday, August 12, 2009

• 07:47 AM Sara Lee (SLE): FQ4 EPS of $0.29 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $3.2B (-10%) vs. $3.3B. Issues downside guidance for FY10: sees EPS of $0.84-0.90 vs. $0.92 consensus, sees revenue of $12.9-13.2B vs. $13.3B consensus. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Wednesday's open: EJ, JASO, LIZ, M, SLE, SOL Comment!

• Thursday, June 18, 2009

• 08:36 AM Sara Lee (SLE) may turn to acquisitions to drive growth in its food and coffee units. CEO Brenda Barnes says the firm has earned the right to buy after cost cutting, creating better products and exiting underperforming businesses. Comment!

• Thursday, May 7, 2009

• 08:11 AM Sara Lee (SLE): FQ3 EPS of $0.25 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $3.0B (-6.6%) in-line. Shares +4.9% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Thursday's open: ACM, ANSS, ARE, ATPG, BID, BCE, CAM, CLR, CSE, CVC, CXW, DTV, DYN, FTO, FTR, GG, GM, GNA, HOC, HRP, LAMR, LINE, LXP, NDAQ, OHI, PCS, PRGO, PXP, RDC, RGLD, SLE, TDC, WEN Comment!