Balfour Beatty sells stakes in two UK assets to Dalmore for £97m June 2, 2014 INFRASTRUCTURE firm Balfour Beatty yesterday said it is selling its stakes in two public-private partnership (PPP) projects, worth a total of £97m, as part of its disposal strategy to fund future investments. The FTSE 250-listed company, which is searching for a new chief executive, has sold its 50 per cent stake in the University Hospital [...]
Tullow hires BP veteran Mike Daly as non-executive director June 2, 2014 TULLOW Oil yesterday said it has hired BP’s former head of exploration as a non-executive director, with immediate effect. “Mike Daly joins Tullow with extensive oil and gas experience following a successful 28-year career at BP. Most recently, he was executive vice president of exploration, and a member of BP’s group executive team until January [...]
Leni climbs on Trinidad well news June 2, 2014 Aim-listed energy explorer Leni Gas and Oil, which lost a court case earlier this year against peer Mediterranean Oil and Gas over its sale of an asset off Malta, saw its share price soar 37 per cent yesterday after an encouraging well update. The firm said the first well in a drilling programme in Trinidad [...]
Range enters pact with LandOcean June 2, 2014 Range Resources, the London-quoted oil and gas explorer, yesterday said it has awarded an eight-year agreement to LandOcean Energy Services, valued at $400m (£238.7m). Chinese firm LandOcean will act as the preferred contractor for Range for oilfield services including geoscience, engineering and construction. In addition, LandOcean will provide Range an option to take up to [...]
Rival to estate agents launched June 2, 2014 The founders of Poundland and Match.com launched an estate agency firm yesterday that aims to challenge its high street rivals by replacing commission rates with a fixed fee. Steve Smith and Darren Richards said they plan to expand EstatesDirect.com across the UK after piloting the business since 2012 in Worcestershire, where it has sold and [...]
Best of the Brokers for 03 June 2014 June 2, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BELLWAY Numis has upgraded Bellway to “buy” from “add”, with the target price remaining 1,810p. The broker believes that the company will remain prudent with its balanced approach to growth and risk management, while being expected to be at the forefront of revenue [...]
London Report: Chinese factory figures see FTSE shares edge up June 2, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index inched higher yesterday as upbeat Chinese factory data lifted mining stocks and as homebuilders shrugged off worse-than-expected mortgage approval figures in the UK. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.3 per cent, or 19.59 points, at 6,864.10 points. Mining stocks across Europe, including London-listed Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, rose [...]
New York Report: Dow and S&P hit fresh highs after data blip June 2, 2014 THE DOW and the S&P 500 finished at record highs again last night after a closely watched read on US manufacturing was revised to show more strength than initially indicated. After hours of confusion, the Institute for Supply Management officially corrected its earlier report to show that the pace of growth in the US manufacturing [...]
Letters to the Editor – 03/06 – Britain’s new MEPs, Google and Europe, Best of Twitter June 2, 2014 Britain’s new MEPs [Re: Britain’s new MEPs must do their job – whatever they think about the EU, yesterday] Mark Boleat asserts that “constituents voted [MEPs] in to engage in Europe”. How does he know what voters were thinking? It’s not true in my case, for example, because I have zero faith in any of [...]
CNBC Comment: What central bank shifts mean for funds June 2, 2014 THE ECB has heavily hinted that it will provide more support to markets on Thursday, although how the support will look has yet to be determined. I had Ron Mock, chief executive of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, a $145bn fund that manages pension savings for over 300,000 current and retired teachers in Canada, on [...]
