(29 May 2006 – Australia) Babcock & Brown has upgraded its earnings forecast, saying the firm will deliver earnings per share growth of 35 percent on last year, up from the 20 percent it had previously predicted.”Assuming interest in the investment opportunities presented by our specialised funds and asset management platform continue, and there are no major disruptions, we expect the strong momentum in the business at the present time to flow through to EPS growth of at least 35 percent for the full year,” Babcock said.
Babcock chief executive Phil Green said the bank would look to diversify its capital sources throughout 2006 “on a geographical basis through the establishment of further listed and wholesale funds in offshore markets as well as continuing to develop innovative satellite funds that leverage off Babcock & Brown’s core capabilities and offer attractive opportunities to investors”.
“The pipeline of opportunities and our success at executing them continues to grow and we are confident that this will translate to better than anticipated EPS growth in 2006 and lay the foundation for a strong 2007,” Green said.
Last week, Babcock was given the green light to proceed with buying Irish telco Eircom for 2.4 billion euros (A$4.1 billion) after Eircom directors announced they would recommend shareholders to vote in favour of the deal.
Babcock intends installing the former head of BT’s (the former British Telecom) consumer business as chairman of Eircom to work alongside current deputy chairman Pierre Danon.