Shell to buy Repsol assets February 26, 2013 SPANISH oil group Repsol yesterday confirmed that Shell will buy some of its liquid natural gas assets for a total of $6.7bn (£4.4bn) in cash, leases and debts. Repsol has agreed to sell off assets in Trinidad & Tobago, Peru and Spain in a deal intended to cut net debt at the firm. The Spanish group [...]
BP’s cost-cutting criticised at trial February 26, 2013 BP put cost-cutting before safety in the run-up to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, an oil engineer said yesterday at the first day of testimony in the oil giant’s lengthy civil trial. Engineering expert Robert Bea was the first witness to be called. “There is ample evidence of intense pressure within the system to save [...]
Goals Soccer Centres scores growth February 26, 2013 Five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centres yesterday reported a three per cent rise in annual profits to £9.48m, in line with forecasts. Sales were up seven per cent to £32.5m owing mainly to the removal of VAT on league bookings last year.
Costs hurt Devro profits February 26, 2013 Sausage skin maker Devro said yesterday it would continue to ramp up investment in its production facilities, after reporting a five per cent dip in full-year profits. The firm, which warned in October that profits would be lower than originally expected, said pre-tax profits fell to £40.8m last year from £43m, on revenues 5.9 per [...]
Mail.Ru expects slower growth February 26, 2013 Russian internet group Mail.Ru joined rival Yandex in forecasting slower revenue growth this year, following a moderation in the online advertising market. Mail.Ru forecast revenues would rise 25 per cent to 28 per cent this year, down from 39 per cent growth last year to 21.2bn roubles (£457m).
Best of the Brokers February 26, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com HOME RETAIL GROUP Espirito Santo rates the retailer “sell” with a fair value of 85p. The broker sees the reported closure of the firm’s Argos joint venture in China as a sensible step, allowing management to focus on improving the key domestic business. [...]
FTSE falls back on uncertainty in Italian polls February 26, 2013 LONDON REPORT WEAK banks and commodity stocks sent Britain’s top shares to a more than two-week closing low yesterday after an inconclusive election result in Italy revived Eurozone debt crisis concerns. Europe’s most indebted state faced a political vacuum after a huge protest vote left no party or likely coalition with enough seats to form [...]
Fed comments soothe jitters on Wall Street February 26, 2013 NEW YORK REPORT US stocks rebounded from their worst decline since November yesterday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed’s bond-buying stimulus and sales of new homes hit a four and a half year high. The S&P 500 had climbed six per cent for the year and came within reach of all-time highs [...]
Nightmare for Brussels as Italians vote to reject austerity consensus February 26, 2013 AS FAR as nightmare results go, if you sit in Brussels, Berlin or Frankfurt, the Italian elections could not have delivered a worse outcome. A fresh dose of uncertainty has been injected into the Eurozone. Although Pier Luigi Bersani, the centre-left coalition leader, won by a slim margin in the lower house, none of the [...]
Why even Keynes would be concerned about the risks of further stimulus February 26, 2013 AGAINST THE GRAIN THE loss of the AAA credit rating on UK government bonds has intensified the demands for a Plan B. So-called Keynesians are demanding an increase in both public spending and the public sector deficit. But what might the late great economist John Maynard Keynes himself have said about the current situation? Lacking [...]
