Breakingviews
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The Ubisoft logo is shown at the E3 trade event in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 11, 2019.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - In Ubisoft Entertainment’s “Assassin’s Creed”, players patiently stalk targets before stepping in for the kill. A similar fate may befall founder Yves Guillemot’s Gallic video-game publisher unless he can turn it around soon.
Stuck-at-home players mean gaming companies have generally had a good pandemic. Less so Ubisoft. Shares in the “Prince of Persia” publisher have languished over the past year, whereas rivals Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard have risen 34% and 60% respectively. Longer-term performance is even worse: since Vivendi dropped a mooted takeover in 2018, Ubisoft’s market value has fallen by 5%, leaving shares valued at just over 8 times forward EBITDA including debt, well below those peers’ double-digit multiples.
Cineworld said on Monday shareholders had approved a plan for the world's second-largest cinema operator to suspend its borrowing limit temporarily, giving the company much-needed breathing room to get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sri Lanka's government bonds jumped to their highest level since September on Monday, on reports that the government had sealed a long-awaited $500 million loan deal with the China Development Bank.
The dollar fell slightly on Monday and a gauge of global equity markets slid from record highs last week as investors wait to see whether an expected jump in U.S. earnings will justify stock prices already trading at very high premiums.
Asian shares faltered on Monday as anxious investors wait to see if U.S. earnings can justify sky-high valuations, while a rally in bonds could be tested by what should be very strong readings for U.S. inflation and retail sales this week.