Noble Group rising from Asia

Noble Group has been on the rise, more so, over the last year in 2009.

The company’s revenues rose 54% during 2008 to USD 36b (annual) (the worst crisis in a long time) but declined in 2009 to USD 21.6b (revenue until 3rd quarter), the Executive Chariman won the best businessman of the year award in Asia, the Chinese Government’s CIC, invested close to USD 1bn in return for a 15% stake in the company.

This means the Chinese imports will be routed through this company. The company’s stock listed in Singapore has risen from under SGD 1 to over SGD 3 over the last 1 year. According to Nomura, it is expected to rise to SGD 4.40 in 2010.

The company owns and ships coffee, grains, iron ore, coal, oil, carbon credits, soya beans etc i.e. all kinds of commodities around the world. It has operations in Latin & North America, Asia and Europe. They also own ships and farms and form an end to end supply chain from production to shipping to sales. They have offices in 40 countries with over 100 offices.

It aims to grow a further 20% p.a. over the next 5 years and double its size from current revenues of USD 36bn to over USD 72bn which will be quite commendable since they have been rising at a stronger pace in the past and with the Chinese support should actually do even better.

They raised money not only from the Chinese Govt this year but also from bonds offering approx. 6.3% returns p.a. maturing in 2020 (USD 850mn in size). Despite the recent Dubai and Greek fiascos, the bonds have continued their upward journey in the last month. Meanwhile, 2 of the deep pocketed Chinese banks have also arranged syndicated loans for this company to the tune of USD 2.4b during 2009.

All this cash accumulated in the current global crisis will help them come out on top and achieve a very strong growth trajectory in the coming years.

The bond happens to be on the recommended list of Morgan Stanley, BNP with Bank of America Merrill Lynch praising the company.

Stay tuned and keep investing with an eye on the future….

Noble’s Elman Seeks ‘Selective’ Acquisitions, 20% Annual Growth
Source: Bloomberg: Dec 23rd, 2009