When Taylor Wimpey announced a 拢510m rights issue on 8 May, one City watcher said Barratt had about two weeks to follow suit. 鈥淚f it leaves it much longer鈥�, he reasoned, 鈥渋t could well miss the boat.鈥�
The thinking was that it should strike while investors had the appetite (and cash) to buy into a housebuilder.
Well, the fortnight is nearly up and there has been a stony silence from the Barratt camp, which has led to some twitchiness among analysts.
Robin Hardy at KBC Peel Hunt is worried that its 拢1.42bn debt will become overwhelming unless it moves early.
鈥淭he risk profile will start to look uncomfortable,鈥� he warned.
Then again, Kevin Cammack at Cenkos pointed out that because it needed to raise about 拢1bn, it could pay to wait for the share price to rise. 鈥淢y gut feeling is they鈥檒l wait until early next year,鈥� he said.
It must all be rather bemusing for new finance director David Thomas, who moved from computer software group Game this month amid much merry wordplay in the square mile: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Barratt鈥檚 game?鈥�, 鈥淚s the game up for Barratt鈥�, and so on.
Despite the jokes, he is well regarded and Game鈥檚 share price fell 5% at the news of his exit. Good game.
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