BP asks court to stop payments over Gulf spill September 24, 2013 BP HAS asked a US court to halt payments from its settlement agreement for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico until the claims administrator improves accounting and anti-fraud controls. The request for an injunction was the latest in a string of filings by the firm to stop or delay payments under the [...]
China secures its potash supply with minority stake in Uralkali September 24, 2013 RUSSIAN potash producer Uralkali yesterday said that Chengdong Investment Corporation – the Chinese sovereign wealth fund – has acquired a 12.5 per cent stake in the company. CIC is now the second largest shareholder in the firm, after Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov who owns a 21.75 per cent stake. Uralkali said CIC had received the [...]
Hargreaves slumps into the red September 24, 2013 Hargreaves Services, the Aim-listed fuel logistics supplier, yesterday posted a 4.2 per cent decline in pre-tax profits for the year, due to the closure of Maltby deep mine and fraud issues at its Belgian business. However, the firm reported a 36.5 per cent rise in revenue, boosted by strong performances from its UK coal distribution [...]
Leni Gas and Oil’s losses widen September 24, 2013 Aim-listed Leni Gas and Oil yesterday unveiled a rise in pre-tax losses to £1.4m for the first half of the year, compared to £971,000 in the first half of 2012. The oil and gas explorer attributed this to higher costs from the development of the Goudron asset in Trinidad and one-off costs from fighting the [...]
Falkland plans new drilling September 24, 2013 Aim-listed Falkland Oil and Gas yesterday posted an increase in first-half losses to $941,000 (£588,800), but insisted that it is in a strong financial position, with sufficient funds to undertake a 3D seismic survey and a new drilling programme. “We are in an excellent position to take advantage of the opportunities to exploit our exploration [...]
Parcels deliver Royal Mail’s future September 24, 2013 THE PRIVATISATION of Royal Mail started to become a likely event in May this year after the restructured group posted profits of £403m, up from £152m the previous year. “When we saw that profit margins had gone from around one per cent to 4.4 per cent we realised that the time was right to act,” [...]
Inside Track: London is ready and waiting for the Royal Mail flotation September 24, 2013 THE FORTHCOMING privatisation of Royal Mail is the biggest post-financial crisis test so far of the market for new issues in London, which was virtually closed for business just a couple of years ago. In the years following the financial crisis, London became a notoriously difficult place on which to list shares in a new [...]
Dividends will be key for Royal Mail September 24, 2013 Private investors can choose from a wide variety of stockbrokers if they fancy investing in Royal Mail shares IN THE biggest privatisation since the 1980s, the government plans to sell a majority stake in Royal Mail. Analysts are divided over the attractiveness of the stock – with key details such as share price yet to [...]
The Royal Mail should present a fair valuation for investors September 24, 2013 BUSINESS minister Michael Fallon has certainly added some missing “zip” in promoting UK industry and commerce. Despite union opposition, his infectious enthusiasm, together with Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene’s visionary management, has given the scheduled floatation of Royal Mail in October every chance of success. Governments are notoriously bad managers of commercial enterprises, so [...]
Best of the Brokers for 25 September 2013 September 24, 2013 AMEC UBS has cut its rating on the engineering group to “neutral” and lowered its price target from 1,200p to 1,145p. The broker raises concerns about a possible slowdown in Amec’s end-markets and believes earnings momentum, once acquisitions are stripped out, is likely to head lower. CAPITA Panmure Gordon keeps its “hold” recommendation and 950p [...]
