Stephan Bernstein, CEO of GreenRoc, details the PFS results for the new graphite processing plant. Watch the video here.
small fish acquisition, excludes the U.S part of the business, hardly anything excited. RMG seriously need to up their game to be serious contenders with the big boys.
(Sharecast News) - Barclays first-half profit fell as it paid out £2bn in litigation and conduct charges but the bank's underlying performance beat market forecasts.
Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June dropped to £1.66bn from £2.34bn a year earlier on unchanged revenue of £10.9bn. Conduct and litigation charges included £1.4bn to settle a US case involving mortgage bonds and £400m for payment protection insurance claims in the UK.
Excluding those costs, pre-tax profit rose 20% to £3.7bn as credit impairment charges almost halved to £571m from £1.05bn and underlying operating costs fell 5% to £6.7bn. The underlying profit number beat analysts' average forecast of £3.2bn.
Jes Staley, Barclays' chief executive, said: "The first half of 2018 has been characterised by strong financial performance and increased profitability. This first half performance shows a bank beginning to demonstrate its true potential and value. The numbers we have posted strengthen our confidence that Barclays can deliver attractive and sustainable profits, and in our ability to return a greater proportion of those profits to shareholders over time."
The FTSE 100 company said the credit impairment charge fell mainly because of recoveries in wholesale banking, improved US economic forecasts and repayment of card balances in the US - as well as adjustments under accounting standards. The charge is likely to be higher in the second half, it said.
Laith Khalaf, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Barclays is moving in the right direction, but the champagne needs to be put on ice until the bank can deliver some consistency in its performance. Some of the improvement is down to falling bad loan provisions, thanks to upgraded forecasts for the US economy. While positive, that's not something you can rely on to recur every quarter."
Staley is seeking to show Barclays emerging from the prolonged effects of the financial crisis and past mistakes. The bank has paid out many billions in regulatory fines and Staley was fined by the Financial Conduct Authority for trying to root out a whistleblower.
The bank remains under pressure, though. The Serious Fraud Office has asked to the High Court to reinstate charges against the bank related to its emergency fundraising in 2008. Activist shareholder Edward Bramson is also working in the background after building a stake in the bank and has yet to go public with his demands for higher returns. Chairman John McFarlane is reported to have considered buying Standard Chartered to improve the bank's growth prospects.
Would buying Standard Chartered be good for Barclays?
(Sharecast News) - Barclays first-half profit fell as it paid out £2bn in litigation and conduct charges but the bank's underlying performance beat market forecasts.<br /><br />Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June dropped to £1.66bn from £2.34bn a year earlier on unchanged revenue of £10.9bn. Conduct and litigation charges included £1.4bn to settle a US case involving mortgage bonds and £400m for payment protection insurance claims in the UK.<br /><br />Excluding those costs, pre-tax profit rose 20% to £3.7bn as credit impairment charges almost halved to £571m from £1.05bn and underlying operating costs fell 5% to £6.7bn. The underlying profit number beat analysts' average forecast of £3.2bn.<br /><br />Jes Staley, Barclays' chief executive, said: "The first half of 2018 has been characterised by strong financial performance and increased profitability. This first half performance shows a bank beginning to demonstrate its true potential and value. The numbers we have posted strengthen our confidence that Barclays can deliver attractive and sustainable profits, and in our ability to return a greater proportion of those profits to shareholders over time."<br /><br />The FTSE 100 company said the credit impairment charge fell mainly because of recoveries in wholesale banking, improved US economic forecasts and repayment of card balances in the US - as well as adjustments under accounting standards. The charge is likely to be higher in the second half, it said.<br /><br />Laith Khalaf, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Barclays is moving in the right direction, but the champagne needs to be put on ice until the bank can deliver some consistency in its performance. Some of the improvement is down to falling bad loan provisions, thanks to upgraded forecasts for the US economy. While positive, that's not something you can rely on to recur every quarter."<br /><br />Staley is seeking to show Barclays emerging from the prolonged effects of the financial crisis and past mistakes. The bank has paid out many billions in regulatory fines and Staley was fined by the Financial Conduct Authority for trying to root out a whistleblower.<br /><br />The bank remains under pressure, though. The Serious Fraud Office has asked to the High Court to reinstate charges against the bank related to its emergency fundraising in 2008. Activist shareholder Edward Bramson is also working in the background after building a stake in the bank and has yet to go public with his demands for higher returns. Chairman John McFarlane is reported to have considered buying Standard Chartered to improve the bank's growth prospects.<br /><br />Would buying Standard Chartered be good for Barclays?
(Sharecast News) - Upcoming stress test results should trigger the release of a large amount of pent-up regulatory capital at RBS, analysts at Morgan Stanley said as they bumped-up their target price for the shares. Also, continued growth in its Retail arm and in mortgages was seen delivering compound annual growth of 3% over the next three years, alleviating margin pressures, facilitating a strong margin build and therefore capital returns. Together with the lender's existing room to manoeuvre when it comes to improving the efficiency of its capital structure, that should allow for a normal dividend payout of 40%, special dividends, and a £2.0bn share buyback programme. Combined, their expectation was that those factors would drive total shareholder returns of 23% between 2018 and 2020. Hence their decision on Tuesday to boost their target price for the shares from 315p each to 335p, while reiterating their 'overweight' stance on the same. "RBS remains our preferred UK domestic name. The stock is trading on 9x adjusted earnings vs. the sector on 11.7x while offering one of the highest shareholder return profiles in Europe together with Lloyds and Nordic banks. We would regard an interim dividend as a show of confidence from the regulator and a catalyst for the stock," they said. Critical to their investment thesis, on Morgan Stanley's estimates RBS was sporting a 2018 common equty Tier 1 capital ratio of 16.4%, versus their estimate of a steady-state requirement for 13.5%. Hence, once it passed those stress tests, RBS should be able to pay-out "at least" 100% of its projected earnings for 2019/2020 in the form of dividends. On top of that, the broker believed there was room to call, tender or redeem £6.0bn-worth of the legacy £18.0bn of subordinated debt instruments sitting on its balance sheet. That might save it about £200m over the next three years, Morgan Stanley said, which its analysts had previously not factored-in. "Beyond that we see further room to go as AT1s and more Tier 2 instruments get refinanced," they added. RBS was unlikely to act imminently, the analysts explained, given current cash prices.
You smashed it, mortgage free well done. I still have my Barc holdings, building them up for hopefully a nice pension pot. Have a small amount of lloyds compared to what you have.hopefully get some nice divi's along the way, better then any current interest rates at the moment.