Costco profit up on higher members fee October 10, 2012 COSTCO Wholesale posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday after the US warehouse retailer raised membership fees. Costco, which has millions of members who pay annual fees to shop at its giant stores, earned $609m, or $1.39 per share in the fiscal fourth quarter ended 2 September, compared with $478m, or $1.08 per share, a year [...]
Providence oil find lifts hopes for Irish boom October 10, 2012 IRISH explorer Providence Resources yesterday hailed its significant oil resources off the Irish coast as a positive step forward for the country’s oil business. The AIM-listed explorer, headed up by Tony O’Reilly Junior, the son of Irish billionaire Tony O’Reilly, said it expects to recover around 280m barrels of oil from the Basal Wealden reservoir [...]
Analyst Views | Is Providence‘s update as good as investors might at first think? October 10, 2012 SAM WAHAB SEYMOUR PIERCE The updated recovery rate is currently only applicable to the Basal Wealden where 756m barrels of oil is established. This represents a significant uplift from the prior 16 per cent recoverable guidance for the interval and the field as a whole. SANJEEV BAHL NUMIS SECURITIES Recovery factor will be determined by [...]
Ferrexpo reports slip in output October 10, 2012 Swiss iron ore company Ferrexpo yesterday announced a fall in total output in the year to date of 100,000 tonnes compared to the same period in 2011. In a production update, the FTSE 250-listed company said that iron pellet production from its own ore was up 2.8 per cent quarter on quarter, but overall production [...]
Mediterranean increases revenue October 10, 2012 Mediterranean Oil and Gas yesterday said that total revenues from its onshore and offshore gas production in the second quarter had risen to €4.3m (£3.5m), up from €4.2m over the previous quarter, thanks to strong performance from Guendalina, a gas field offshore Italy in which the company has a 20 per cent working interest. The [...]
Production up at Ithaca Energy October 10, 2012 North Sea oil and gas explorer Ithaca Energy yesterday reported a production increase of 28 per cent over the third quarter. Ithaca produced 5,061 barrels of oil a day over the period, up from 3,996 the previous three months. An anticipated reduction in two of its fields due to planned maintenance shutdowns was offset by [...]
ALS plot share offer to target illiquid market October 10, 2012 LONDON listed investment firm Alternative Liquidity Solutions yesterday laid plans to raise new funds to help restructure its business. The firm, which won approval from the Financial Services Authority yesterday for a prospectus detailing the placing of up to 250 million shares, is hoping to raise upwards of £35m. It will price the shares prior [...]
RBS sells on offices to Axa and Norway in real estate unwind October 10, 2012 ROYAL Bank of Scotland has sold two office blocks in Germany to Axa’s real estate investment arm and the Norway’s state pension fund for €784m (£631m) in a further push to unwind its asset base. The two buildings, in Frankfurt and Berlin, are thought to be part of RBS’s German Pegasus portfolio, which it took [...]
Argentine warship seized by hedge fund in debt dispute October 10, 2012 HEDGE fund NML Capital, a subsidiary of Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, will today discover if an Argentine warship it had seized in Ghana over unpaid sovereign debts will be freed. The company had the ship, the ARA Libertad, seized in the Ghanaian port of Tema on 2 October in a bid to enforce legal judgments [...]
JZ Capital buys in Spain on EU solution hopes October 10, 2012 JZ CAPITAL Partners, the listed private equity firm, yesterday said it was banking on an upswing in the European economy after increasing its investment in Spanish companies over the past six months. The fund, which invests in micro cap companies in the US, Europe and Latin America, said it put $130.8m (£81.7m) to work across [...]
