In among all the cash calls was the one that never came. Yes, despite much speculation, Barratt Developments is not asking shareholders for money.
Its trading statement was as gloomy as might be expected, given the current housing market conditions and recent downbeat comments from rivals. Cancellation rates are higher and private reservations for the 19 weeks to May 11 were down 33.6% year on year.
Still, it has paid down £200m of the £800m loan which was due to expire in April 2008, and converted £400m into a new two year facility. The rest should be taken care of by reduced land purchases.
Credit Suisse said: "This significantly reduces the re-financing risk, in our view. The company also commented that the sale of Wilson Bowden Developments remains a possibility. A sale of this asset (the FT recently suggested a price tag of £250m) would obviously serve to bolster the group's financial position."
Still, Barratt Developments is expected to have net debt of £1.7bn by the year end, compared with its market capitalisation of just short of £900m. To quote analysts at Kaupthing, it has bought itself some time but is not out of the woods yet.
Interestingly, according to Data Explorers, some of those shorting the stock have been closing out their positions in the past month or so, suggesting they thought the bear story had gone too far. Perhaps they were a tad early - Barratt is now down 4.5p at 252.75p.
Overall the FTSE 100 is up 19.3 points at 6231.2, helped by a near 100 point opening rise on Wall Street after more benign than expected US inflation figures.
