Shares in UK“s Imperial Chemical Industries Plc (ICI) climbed 4.5% on 27 February as investors got back to looking at the fundamentals in the shares on their second day of ex-rights business. By 12:0…
Shares in UK“s Imperial Chemical Industries Plc (ICI) climbed 4.5% on 27 February as investors got back to looking at the fundamentals in the shares on their second day of ex-rights business. By 12:06 GMT the shares were up 12 pence to 280-1/2 pence, pushing ahead from its 31 January low of 241p reached when it announced plans for an GBP 800 million rights issue to get to grips with its debts which stood at GBP 2.9 billion at the end of 2001. “People were waiting to see where the price did actually open when it traded ex-rights, it“s almost like rebasing the shares and now people have got in their minds what they think is a fair value for ICI,” said Zac Phillips, analyst at Credit Lyonnais. He added he thought that investors had adjusted their models for ICI and were buying the shares on weakness as the company banked the rights issue proceeds. “People can now look at fundamentals rather than looking at ICI and saying, “We like the businesses but we“re afraid of the debt“. That“s becoming less and less of an issue,” he said.