Oil major Total makes near €1bn wager on renewable energy with bid for battery maker Saft May 9, 2016 French oil major Total made a €950m (£750m) bid for battery maker Saft, effectively increasing its wager on the renewable energy sector. It said that the €36.5 per share offer represents a 38.3 per cent premium to Saft's closing price as of Friday. The friendly offer has already received unanimous approval from Saft's board, but it's still subject to a review [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 9, 2016 Stock markets lost ground over the last week but look set to open stronger today. S&P futures are up by 0.13 per cent, while the Nasdaq is up by 0.25 per cent. Dow futures are trading up by 0.21 per cent ahead of the open. Last week the Dow slipped 0.2 per cent, the S&P declined by [...]
Saudi Arabia ousts long-serving oil minister Ali Al Naimi sparking fears volatility will return to the oil market May 8, 2016 Saudi Arabia’s dismissal of its oil minister yesterday has sparked concerns that fresh volatility is about to hit the market. The kingdom ousted its long-serving oil minister who was the driver behind Opec's 2014 policy of holding production despite plummeting oil prices. Ali al-Naimi, who held the post from 1995, has been replaced by Khalid Al Falih, chairman of [...]
Man Group becomes latest firm to face shareholder ire over executive pay May 6, 2016 Man Group has become the latest firm to stoke shareholder ire over executive pay, after a significant number of shareholders voted against its remuneration report. The investment manager's executive pay package was rejected by nearly 40 per cent of its shareholders, but it still passed as around 60 per cent were in favour. Read more: RBS [...]
Inmarsat shares suffer for the second day in a row May 6, 2016 Investors continued to punish Inmarsat after the satellite and communication services company cut its full-year revenue forecast yesterday. Inmarsat shares slumped 4.6 per cent to 823.5p in late-morning trading, taking their decline to 26.1 per cent year-to-date. Read more: Inmarsat gets ready for lift-off It comes a day after Inmarsat shares plummeted yesterday after it lowered its full-year revenue forecast by $50m [...]
Numis founder and chief executive to step down May 6, 2016 Brokerage Numis said today that founder and chief executive, Oliver Hemsley, is due to step down in the Autumn. Hemsley will remain on the board as an executive director once he's been succeeded by Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson as joint-chief executives. Read more: Numis expects to report year-on-year revenue and profits growth Ham and Mitchinson will [...]
Rio Tinto gives go-ahead to £3.7bn Oyu Tolgoi mine expansion May 6, 2016 Rio Tinto and its partners gave the greenlight to a $5.3bn (£3.7bn) expansion of its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mogolia today. The move demonstrates the mining giant's confidence that low copper prices will stage a turnaround in a few years time. The London-listed company, the Mongolian government and Turquoise Hill Resources, approved the next stage in the [...]
The falling oil price could be about to trigger one of the biggest ever waves of bankruptcies in the US May 5, 2016 The oil price slump could be pushing the US to one of its biggest waves of bankruptcies. This week Midstates Petroleum and Ultra Petroleum went under, pushing the total number of energy sector bankruptcies to 59 since the beginning of the oil rout, according to Reuters data, the law firm Haynes & Boone and bankruptcydata.com. The avalanche of bankruptcies is closing [...]
At the close: Steady as she goes on the FTSE 100? May 5, 2016 Markets were put through their paces today, but failed to hold onto early gains as the bad stories just kept on coming. The FTSE 100 closed the day up 0.1 per cent at 6,117.25 after starting with a 40-point ascent in the first 90 minutes of trading. The French Cac 40 slipped back 0.3 per cent [...]
Saudi Aramco raises oil prices into Asia in biggest hike for more than a year May 5, 2016 Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company, is hiking oil prices into Asia in the biggest rise for over a year. Aramco, which recently announced that a five per cent listing of its shares later this year would value it at around $2 trillion, said today it will raise its official selling price for benchmark Arab [...]