Petropavlovsk warning on sanctions risks August 28, 2014 LONDON-listed gold mining company Petropavlovsk yesterday saw its shares fall sharply after it warned that sanctions on Russia could have a “significant impact” on the group. The company said it had achieved record gold production in the first half of 2014. However, with some of its main lenders such as Russian banks VTB and SberBank [...]
Malaysia Airlines reports £690m loss and warns of turbulent 2014 August 28, 2014 ILL-FATED Malaysia Airlines yesterday reported massive second quarter losses on the back of two tragedies that hit the flag carrier this year. The airline lost 3.59bn Malaysian ringgit (£690m) in the quarter ending 30 June, a five per cent fall on the same period last year. Average weekly bookings fell 33 per cent, with numerous [...]
Rising fuel costs and fleet write down hit Qantas as shares rally August 28, 2014 AUSTRALIAN airline Qantas yesterday announced a loss of AU$ 2.8bn (£1.57bn), blaming the rising cost of fuel. The airline also cited a AU$2.6bn write down on its international fleet and poor consumer spending as reasons for the devastating results. The record figure was considerably larger than the AU$750m analysts were expecting and marked a second [...]
Aeroflot dives into the red August 28, 2014 RUSSIAN carrier Aeroflot yesterday announced first-half losses of 1.9bn roubles (£31m) blaming “significant one-off events and a weaker rouble”, down from a 45m rouble profit in the same period last year. It announced a nine per cent rise in revenues, due mainly to the Sochi Winter Olympics. Aeroflot was forced to suspend flights of its fledgling [...]
Ofgem forecasts lower margins at energy firms August 28, 2014 UK ENERGY regulator Ofgem yesterday predicted that profit margins of the large suppliers would be lower over the coming year compared with previous estimates. Only a month ago, the watchdog had forecast that the biggest energy suppliers would double their profit margins over the next year. Ofgem’s latest supply market indicator report saw it cut [...]
Biggest deal ever for DCC as it buys French Esso petrol stations August 28, 2014 FTSE 250-listed support services group DCC announced its biggest deal in its history, as its energy division bought hundreds of petrol stations from Esso in France. It gives it a four per cent share of the local market. The deal is valued at €106m (£84m), with the acquired business estimated by DCC to provide annual [...]
Gulf Keystone staff to return to Kurdistan to boost production August 28, 2014 GULF Keystone, the oil and gas exploration company with operations focused in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, is looking to return more employees to the area as it believes the security situation has stabilised, as it seeks to ramp up production from its assets there. However, it warned that its production target for its major [...]
All is well at Spire Healthcare as shares rise on thriving revenues August 28, 2014 Spire Healthcare saw its shares jump up 7.7 per cent yesterday, as it reported a solid rise in revenues in the first half of the year, in its first results since floating last month. Revenue at Spire, which runs 39 private hospitals and 13 clinics in the UK, rose 10.5 per cent in the first [...]
City Moves for 29 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs August 28, 2014 Colliers International The commercial real estate services firm has announced the appointment of James Evans as an associate director in its national investment team. He joins after six years at JLL, where he initially worked in King Sturge’s special projects and European valuation teams and then in the M&A team. F&C Investments The investment firm [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 August 2014 August 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com N BROWN GROUP Investec has kept a “buy” rating, but cut the target price to 520p from 550p. The broker thinks while there are a plethora of new initiatives, the benefits from the implementation of a more retail and marketing-led trading strategy are [...]