Main reason for the drop is the fact that they need to re-finance some £500m of borrowings within the next 12 months. This includes a £220m convertible bond maturing in January 2004; a £250m revolving credit facility that matures this December; £210m of preference shares, and £100m of private placement loan notes.
They want to do this by removing the restriction, from their articles of association, that prevent them from borrowing more than three times their adjusted capital and reserves.
It is reported that they will seek to change this at their annual meeting on March 20. On Sunday they insisted they had not breached that limit. Must have some good reserves then!
Under a review being carried out by their management and their adviser Deutsche Bank, they are considering bringing some of their £612m contingent liabilities on to the balance sheet. This consists largely of regulatory bonds and leases for aircraft, cruise ships and spares.
That is why the market got twitchy yesterday!