Member Info for mick-b

RNS COPL Announces Frontier 1 Oil at Cole Creek

FTSE100 UP 0.15%
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https://www.ig.com/uk/indices/markets-indices/ftse-100

https://www.teletrader.com/europe-higher-premarket-ahead-of-consumer-confidence/news/details/59318697?internal=1

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Sunday that Berlin wouldn't stop Poland and other allied countries from providing Ukraine with Leopard tanks.
Speaking to the French news channel La Chaine Info on the sidelines of the bilateral meeting with German leaders in Paris, Baerbock revealed that her government hadn't received a request for permission from either Poland or other countries. "If we were asked, we would not stand in the way," she said in the interview.
Poland, Denmark, and Finland confirmed in previous days they were ready to donate German-made Leopard tanks as soon as Berlin allowed it. However, the Polish government even mentioned the possibility of making an excuse and delivering the tanks even without Germany's permission.
Baha Breaking News (BBN) / ND

Explains the share price slump NOM.
And I was interested in Conroy early last year.

Poland can use their German tanks
Germany says.....

89 m8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Conroy
close !

South Africa's ambassador to Russia told Ria Novosti on Sunday that his country will be looking forward to receiving Russian President Vladimir Putin at the next BRICS summit.
"All presidents will be invited; this is standard practice," the ambassador said. "Now it will depend on Putin and the Kremlin whether he will come, but we will definitely send him an invitation and will wait for him," the diplomat added.
The ambassador also took the opportunity to explain that the venue for the summit has not yet been determined. Still, the meeting may be held in one of South Africa's four largest cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or Pretoria.
Baha Breaking News (BBN) / JG

A man so in touch with the lives of ordinary people, he can just point at a car door and a nameless worker drone will open it for him.
https://twitter.com/a_toots/status/1616761257461272576

BEEB
Analysis by Theo Leggett, business correspondent

This is a tricky one for the Chancellor.
British Steel employs thousands of people, and thousands more work for its suppliers.
But making steel is very expensive, especially with energy prices at current levels.
Owner Jingye wants the government to step in.
Ministers fear that if they don't act, parts of the business could be shut down.
Yet giving a wealthy foreign company money to prop up British Steel would not be a good look - the more so as cheap, heavily subsidised imports from China are often cited as having been a key factor in triggering a crisis in British steelmaking in the first place.
So any taxpayers money the government offers won't be for day to day expenditure.
It will be ringfenced for investment in new technology - in particular a new greener, cleaner and cheaper to run blast furnace for S****horpe.
It's hoped that will persuade Jingye to stick around and invest in the business - as well as making the plant itself more efficient to run and therefore more viable.
2px presentational grey line
The support package, which was first reported by Sky, would help British Steel build electric arc furnaces in S****horpe, North Lincolnshire.
These electric arc furnaces can run on renewable power, and are best used with recycled steel.
Three years ago British Steel was bought out of insolvency by Jingye, which became its third owner in four years.
But the Chinese steel-making giant has recently been pushing for UK taxpayer funding, which it says it needs to keep the firm running.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64351964

Didn't know you like me, had a brother.
Yeah FXPO is limited to using truck/rail transport
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1002985/ferrexpo-could-open-up-black-sea-exports-as-liberum-predicts-stalemate-in-ukraine-1002985.html
But plenty of alternatives......
With Sweden close by.

LARGEST EXPORTERS OF IRON ORE 2021 (dollar value)

Australia: US$116.6 billion (53.6% of total iron ore exports)
Brazil: $44.7 billion (20.5%)
South Africa: $10.2 billion (4.7%)
Canada: $8.1 billion (3.7%)
Ukraine: $6.8 billion (3.1%)
Sweden: $4.7 billion (2.2%)

https://www.worldstopexports.com/iron-ore-exports-country/

My view

It’s a complicated story. My view is as follows (I don’t currently have a position in either share, but I have in the past owned both of them, personally or on behalf of others):

PayPoint is a good-quality business with a history of excellent cash generation and ROE, and I like its future prospects. It is part of the shopping infrastructure that convenience retailers need, and its products have remained modern and relevant. I also think the shares offer decent value at current levels.
That having been said, the Appreciate takeover doesn’t make great sense to me from the point of view of synergies. Yes, PayPoint sells Appreciate gift cards (alongside Amazon gift cards and video game vouchers). Yes, many PayPoint customers are also Appreciate customers. But is that enough to justify the combination of the two businesses, strategically?
The easiest rationale for the takeover, in my view, is that it’s an opportunistic one. The Appreciate share price got too cheap, by a wide margin. PayPoint, as a large, financially strong business that has a working relationship with Appreciate, was able to identify this and act on it.

At its current share price, which is near the takeover price, Appreciate gets the follow value metrics from Stocko computers:
(unreadable graphics ....removed)

It seems like quite a good deal for PayPoint, doesn’t it?

Don’t forget we owned British Steel, the Tories sold it.

Chinese owned British Steel appears to be holding the Government’s feet over to the furnace …. ‘Hunt poised to approve £300m grant in bid to avert British Steel collapse | Business News | Sky News’ https://news.sky.com/story/hunt-poised-to-approve-300m-grant-in-bid-to-avert-british-steel-collapse-12791042

An £80m investment programme for Scun-thorpe's British Steel plant has been described as a "game-changer" by the manufacturer.
The site will get £48m for a new billet caster as well as the existing rod mill receiving an upgrade worth an estimated £32m, the business has confirmed.
British Steel, bought by China's Jingye Group in 2020, said a new water recycling plant would cut energy use.
The GMB union said it was a positive move for the job security of members.
"This is an incredibly exciting time for our business with unprecedented levels of investment - fuelled by the drive of our employees - powering us towards a sustainable future," Xifeng Han, British Steel's CEO, said.
The investment would allow the steel-making business to expand its product line, the firm added.
'Positive sign'
The new billet caster, which will make semi-finished steel "of an even higher standard", will allow the company to increase its capacity, technical manager Richard Longbottom said.
Phil Knowles, British Steel's commercial director for wire rod, said: "Our bespoke new facility will be a real game-changer."
Craig Thomson, regional organiser with the GMB, said the new investment would "clearly be a boost to the local economy" and would allow British Steel to be more competitive globally.
He called on the company to support staff and encouraged a pay rise for members, which he said had not had a significant increase in 15 years.
"It shows a positive sign that the company is willing to invest and look to the future.
"British Steel have been in and out of different ownership and it's a move towards a long-term investment approach, which is reassuring," he added.
Unite national officer Harish Patel said: "This is welcome news and we are pleased the commitments given to the workforce are now materialising."

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is reportedly looking to sign a new support package for the steel industry worth over £500 million, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Earlier in the day, it was reported that British Steel Ltd. can expect to receive around £300 million to invest in a "greener electric arc furnace," while the FT now claims that Tata Steel UK Ltd. is also set to get a "broadly equivalent" sum, in a similar effort to transition to a more environment-friendly operation.
As per the report, the chancellor is expected to greenlight the package as early as next week, aiming to prevent massive job cuts by the country's two biggest steel manufacturers.
Baha Breaking News (BBN) / MX

Operation 'Black Buck'

The Vulcan lacked the range to fly to the Falklands without refuelling several times, as it had been designed for medium-range stand-off nuclear missions in Europe. The RAF's tanker planes were mostly converted Handley Page Victor bombers with similar range, so they too had to be refuelled in the air. A total of 11 tankers were required for two Vulcans, a huge logistical effort as all aircraft had to use the same strip.

The U.S. Navy was willing to lend Britain an aircraft carrier during its 1982 campaign to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina if the Royal Navy lost either of its two carriers, Defense Department officials said yesterday.7 Mar 1984

Died 24 October 2015 (aged 92)
long life deservedly .....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Dowding
In July 1936, Dowding was appointed chief of the newly created RAF Fighter Command.
My hero.....saved Britian....battle of Britain

U.S. army's main battle tank M1 Abrams is the only mass produced turbine powered land vehicle in the world. The decision to use gas turbines as the power ...

U certainly got around.............trucking...back in the day !!