Russia faces off with Ukraine over gas prices April 7, 2014 TENSIONS between Ukraine and Russia escalated over the weekend, after talks over gas prices failed to reach a resolution. Russia nearly doubled the price Ukraine pays for its gas last week, using its supplies as a political pawn in the face of an ongoing dispute over the sovereignty of the Crimea region of Ukraine. Ukraine [...]
Lenta shares in push above the flotation price April 7, 2014 SHARES in the Russian hypermarket chain Lenta have risen above their issue price in London for the first time since they were issued at the end of February after the group’s stock market debut was clouded by political turmoil in Ukraine. Lenta’s share price rose above the $10 per GDR issue price to close at [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 04 April 2014 April 3, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Channel 5 bidders question valuation A war of words has broken out over the valuation of Channel 5, ahead of this month’s deadline for second-round bids for the broadcaster owned by entrepreneur Richard Desmond. In January, people close to the bidding process said Mr Desmond was seeking a price of more than £700m [...]
Letters to the Editor – 04/04 – Royal Mail IPO, Soccer geography, Best of Twitter April 3, 2014 Royal Mail IPO [Re: Pricing Royal Mail: Welcome to the free market, Wednesday] Simon Walker is entitled to his view that the Royal Mail pricing needed to be cautious, although there could have been few who looked at the valuation at the time and did not spot that money was being given away. In such [...]
Gazprom and the EU agree “mutually beneficial relations” April 2, 2014 The chief executive of Russian state-controlled gas producer Gazprom has agreed with the EU that they have a shared interest in maintaining “mutually beneficial relations”. The giant supplier announced in a statement that boss Alexei Miller met with Guenther Oettinger, European energy commissioner, and discussed a "wide range of issues of bilateral cooperations". The news [...]
How the EU’s relaxing of visa rules could bring €130bn of gains April 1, 2014 The European Commission has proposed a host of measures to liberalise visa rules for non-EU nationals that could lead to €130bn in direct spending and 1.3m jobs over the next five years. The Commission believes its package of reforms will boost tourism and bring researchers, students, artists and other professionals to European shores. Demand for [...]
US and Russia work on easing Ukraine crisis March 31, 2014 AMERICA’S surprise meeting with Russian officials in Paris last night yielded some common ground over the annexing of Crimea, though tensions remain high. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who stopped off in France following a Middle Eastern trip, said he had stressed during four hours of talks with the Russians that the country’s actions [...]
Prime London prices up by more than two thirds in past five years March 31, 2014 PRIME central London prices have risen by more than two-thirds since their post-Lehman Brothers low, according to new research that looks at how recent political events, as well as economics, have affected prices. According to Knight Frank’s central London index out today, prices have risen 68 per cent since the bottom of the market in [...]
Lukoil starts output at Iraq oil field March 31, 2014 Lukoil has started commercial production from the West Qurna-2 oil field in Iraq. The Russian oil company said at the weekend that it reached its target output level of 120,000 barrels per day on Friday. According to the contract between Lukoil and the Iraqi government, the firm must maintain that level of production for the [...]
Best of the Brokers for 31 March 2014 March 30, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ITE GROUP Peel Hunt has placed ITE Group under review following a serious currency hit for the conferencing group and added effects of lost Ukrainian sales. The broker said that for 2015 the ongoing geopolitical impact of the Russian conflict with Ukraine has [...]