Rates Round Up

Blue Star Print Group suspends bond repayments; Deposit rates continue tussle in longer term space; GPG Finance doubles profit, slashes interest costs.

Sunday, August 30th 2009, 9:55PM

Blue Star Print Group suspends bond repayments
Blue Star Print Group has suspended its bond repayments after reaching an agreement with its senior lenders to reset its banking covenants and boost its balance sheet by $10 million.

Interest repayments of 9.1% due on Sept. 15 will accrue interest, so bondholders will receive a 13.1% return, but the company has yet to announce when payments will resume.

The company reported a 31% slump in underlying profit to $35.2 million, which excludes one-off items, tax, depreciation, amortisation and restructuring. It recorded an $11.6 million operating loss, compared to a $17 million profit a year earlier, but had some $71.2 million of debt forgiven.

Deposit rates continue tussle in longer term space
The deposit rate war continued its tussle among longer terms today, with Asset Finance, PSIS and HSBC lifting their three- and four-year offers.

Asset Finance boosted three- through five-year rates 70 basis points, while cutting 100 points from its two-year terms and 50 points from its 12-month terms. It also lifted six-month rates 50 basis points and nine-month terms 25 points.

PSIS raised three-year rates 40 points for deposits under $10,000 and 15 points for deposits over $10,000, while it increased four-year terms 75 points for amounts under $10,000 and 50 points for deposits over $10,000.

HSBC lifted its three-, four- and five-year rates 30, 40 and 20 basis points respectively, and upped its six-month terms by 20 points.

GPG Finance doubles profit, slashes interest costs
GPG Finance more than doubled its net profit to $1.5 million for the six months ended June 30 from $738,000 a year earlier.

While the company's trading revenue slumped 22% to $20.2 million, it managed to cut its interest costs some $5.9 million.

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