Will companies take advantage of the stock market rise?
Barratt Developments is set to launch a £700 million fund raising exercise, the funds from which will be used to shore up the company's balance sheet. There are also rumours that rival housebuilder Redrow is also considering such a move at a time when share prices have remained fairly buoyant despite the fact that underlying balance sheets and in some cases trading is still very difficult.
There is a feeling that over the next few weeks we will see a number of UK companies come to the market with fundraising proposals with a suggestion they are simply taking advantage of the recent rise in prices to shore up their own balance sheets. Whether these proposals are backed by improved trading prospects is open to debate, not just in the UK property sector. It will be interesting to see how UK investors react to the first such fundraising and any subsequent announcements after that before they grow tired of ploughing in new money purely and simply to shore up balance sheets.
It is no secret that the UK stock market has been in a steep upward trend over the last couple of weeks even though there are concerns that the economy could relapse in 2010 if the situation is not handled correctly.
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