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Evraz: steel yourself: Steel prices may have dropped in the past year because of worries about overcapacity in China, the world’s largest producer. Yet shareholders in Russian steelmakers could not be happier. Companies such as U.K.-listed Evraz have performed strongly over the past year, up 160%. Compare that to the global sector, up just eight%. All good news. Yet the company has disappointed on dividends for years given persistent losses at the after tax level. The shares yield under two%. On Wednesday it announced its third consecutive year of losses ($1.3 billion), this time because of foreign exchange adjustments and write-downs on its balance sheet. These adjustments have not damaged cash flow, and leverage has fallen. Evraz’s free cash flow has remained positive at about $1 billion per year since 2012 as the company has cut its investments. That cash flow has primarily gone to paying down debt, necessary to get its leverage down. Net debt has been cut from 4.5 times ebitda in 2012 to 2.5 times last year. It had enough cash flow left over this time around to plan a buyback worth 8% of its outstanding shares, albeit on an already-limited free float of just 21%. The market welcomed its generosity, marking up the shares by five%. Evraz even hinted that a special dividend may follow later if cash flow holds up.

Rosneft settles legal dispute with Yukos shareholders: Rosneft has settled a long-running legal dispute with former shareholders of Yukos, the Russian energy group it took over after the imprisonment of Founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Oil Chairman ‘forced out’ over funding rescue move: An oil company owed hundreds of millions of dollars by the Kurdish region of Iraq has raised $41 million to secure its future as the group’s former Chairman claims he was forced to quit this week in return for shareholder support for the extra funding

Oil price surges as Iran talks falter: The oil price surged nearly 4% as crunch talks aimed at settling a dispute over a nuclear weapons programme for Iran appeared to stall and official figures showed that stockpiles of U.S. crude had risen by less than had been feared.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.84% or $0.48 lower at $56.62 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract climbed 3.61% or $1.99, to settle at $57.10 per barrel, after the Energy Information Administration reported that US oil production fell to 9.39 million barrels per day in the week ended March 27, the first decline in output since January.

UK manufacturing activity expanded further in March, continuing on a recovery path as producers in the country start the year on on a bright note. The seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI), which collates factory bosses' responses to questions on topics such as their level of new orders, climbed to an eight-month high of 54.4 in March, ticking higher from 54.0 in February. The PMI has now remained above the neutral 50.0 mark for 24 consecutive months. Moreover, the average reading for the opening quarter as a whole (53.8) was the best growth outcome since the second quarter of last year. Wednesday's headline reading was ahead of expectations and comes a day after fourth quarter 2014 GDP was revised higher to 0.6% on the previous three months, from a preliminary estimate of 0.5%, driven by rising house prices and robust consumer spending. The manufacturing data will be welcomed by the Conservative party ahead of May's general elections. "Encouragingly, the new export orders balance rose to its highest level in seven months, suggesting that the recent rise in the pound is not acting as too big a constraint for now," said Vicky Redwood, economist with Capital Economics.

Specialist British bank Shawbrook made a stunning stock market debut on Wednesday in London with shares rallying to 305p, well above the top of its preset price range of 290p. Shawbrook is seen as a new breed of British bank entering a market dominated by big institutions like Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays. The floatation comprises 75,000,000 ordinary shares, representing 30% of the company's ordinary shares that will be in issue at admission. It gives the company a market capitalisation of £725m. It is expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately £90m for Shawbrook. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs were appointed to handle the initial public offer. "Our focus remains on providing UK customers with a fresh, pragmatic approach to lending and savings whilst driving further growth by maximising opportunities in existing markets, capitalising on the embedded growth in our current loan book and developing a range of products to facilitate expansion into adjacent segments," said Richard Pyman, chief executive of Shawbrook. Pyman added that Shawbrook continues to deliver on its strategy to "become an increasingly well-known name in the specialist world of British banking." Last month, challenger bank and specialist lender Aldermore, a similar business to Shawbrook raised £75m in a successful IPO, which triggered a rally in the stock price.

FirstGroup Plc (FGP.L) Announced, in its trading update for the financial year ended 31 March 2015, ahead of preliminary results due to be announced on 10 June 2015, that overall trading for the group in the fourth quarter was in line with management's expectations, and transformation plans continue to progress. First Student’s second year of contract pricing strategy achieving improved terms to date; fourth quarter trading modestly affected by adverse weather in the North Eastern US. First Transit had solid fourth quarter completeing another year of growth and margin performance. Greyhound is actively managing cost base to mitigate contraction in passenger demand from cheaper fuel; yield management implementation on track. UK Bus is delivering volume growth and achieving positive yield, with progress on cost efficiencies.

RBS sees better-than-expected price for its Aldgate office block: Bids for one of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s office buildings in Aldgate have entered a second round, with the taxpayer-owned lender set to gain a better-than-expected payout.

BP faces revolt over proposed Dudley payout: Shareholder advice group Glass Lewis has advised investors in BP to vote against the oil firm’s proposed pay for Chief Executive Bob Dudley.

Aberdeen-based Ithaca Energy says North Sea production profitable in spite of oil price fall: North Sea-focused Ithaca Energy has written $440 million (£295 million) off the value of its oil and gas fields in the U.K. to reflect the plunge in oil prices

Enegi Oil predicts demand for its unmanned production buoys will increase in North Sea: Enegi Oil has said the fall in oil prices should boost demand for its unmanned production systems in areas like the North Sea but noted challenges facing the business.

Record profits at James Halstead: JAMES Halstead [LON:JHD], the manufacturer of floor coverings, may not operate in the most exciting sector, but record profits, strong cash generation and a 40-year track record of rising dividends make the shares well worth a closer look. The Manchester-based manufacturer has a 100-year history of production and has become one of the world leaders in vinyl flooring. Vinyl may sound very Seventies, but Halstead has invested in creating technically advanced flooring that is both low-cost and hard-wearing. Halstead’s 10-year track record is also impressive; it has more than doubled revenue while pretax profits tripled. Having weathered the strong sterling currency storm, the company should get help in the second half of the year from falling raw material prices. Halstead said the profit margins improved by 1% during the first half as raw materials which, being plastics-based are partly linked to oil prices, fell by up to 6%. That leaves market expectations for full year pretax profits of £44 million, giving earnings per share of about 16p, looking perfectly achievable. The only issue is that the shares are looking expensive as they are near record highs, and trading on 20 times forecast earnings per share, which is a high rating given the single digit earnings growth. That said, the premium to the wider market looks justified, with Halstead’s track record of profits and return of cash to shareholders. Questor is always wary about paying a high price for shares, and some investors may prefer to wait, but given the underlying quality they are a buy for the long-term. James Halstead at 330p-4.25p. Questor Says “Buy”.

Mitie issues profit warning: Outsourcing group Mitie [LON:MTO] issued a profit warning as increased competition for local authority housing maintenance contracts and a tough homecare market meant profits are now lower than expected, sending shares more than 8% lower at one point. The FTSE 250-listed company also said in its pre-close update that the cost of closing its mechanical and electrical engineering business could reach a maximum of £16 million during the year to the end of March Broker Peel Hunt expects overall pretax profits of £95.2 million on revenue of £2.3 billion, giving 20p in earnings per share for the year to the end of March. Market consensus in November last year was for £118 million in pretax profits. The company still has a stable and cash-generative business in long-term maintenance contracts with blue chip clients such as Lloyds Banking Group and hospital trusts. These contracts generate about 85% of group revenue. However, growth could be slow as the half year results showed the order book was down to £8.5 billion from £8.7 billion. Mitie should be able to ride out this tough trading over the long term, but the shares, on 13 times forecast earnings and paying a prospective dividend yield of 4%, hold few attractions. We said avoid the shares back in August 12, at 305.8p, since when they have fallen by 9%. The update showed few signs of a turnaround, so the recommendation remains — avoid. Mitie at 276p-16.4p. Questor Says “Avoid”.

Prudential Boss Tidjane Thiam awarded £11.8 million for his final year in charge: Prudential’s departing Chief Executive received a 36% pay rise last year, handing him a total of £11.8 million in salary and incentive payments.

U.K. economy grew at fastest rate for nine years in 2014: The British economy grew at its fastest pace for nine years in 2014 as GDP figures showed the economy expanded by a stronger than expected 2.8% last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Barack Obama gives Shell go-ahead to drill for oil in Alaskan Arctic: Royal Dutch Shell has received the go-ahead from the U.S. government to restart a controversial oil exploration campaign in the Alaskan Arctic despite fears over the risk to the environment.

Oil reserves: no thaw yet: According to BMO Capital, half of the six largest oil companies have failed to add to their reserves over the past three years. In other words, they have begun to run down their inventories. BP has only replaced 90% of what it has used over the past three years, and Shell has done even worse. Chevron has not done much better, replacing 99% of its reserves. And all that happened in a period when the Brent oil price averaged $106 a barrel. Bernstein anticipates that investment in oil and gas production worldwide will fall a quarter this year. Thus, assuming the energy companies still want to increase their inventory, perhaps another route to higher reserves would be through acquisitions of projects or even entire companies. Unfortunately for potential buyers, exploration and production company share prices have stopped falling this year, partly because these companies can still raise capital. Valuations now look high. Whereas Shell trades near 10 times 2016 earnings, midsize explorers such as U.S. listed Occidental Petroleum, which could add a fifth to Shell’s reserves, trade at about twice that. That is well above the 25% premium seen a year ago. Wood Mackenzie, the energy consultancy, believes the oil price implied by these high valuations is $80, well above the current $55 level.

Simon Murray departs as more turmoil hits oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum: The former French Foreign Legionnaire Simon Murray became the latest casualty of oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum’s boardroom bloodletting, standing down as Chairman with “immediate” effect

UK total business investment climbed in 4Q 2014 In the UK, the final total business investment recorded a rise of 3.70% in 4Q 2014, on a YoY basis. In the prior quarter, total business investment had advanced by a revised 7.40%. The preliminary figures had indicated an advance of 2.10%. UK total business investment declined in 4Q 2014 On a QoQ basis, the final total business investment in the UK dropped 0.90% in 4Q 2014. Total business investment had risen by a revised 0.30% in the prior quarter. The preliminary figures had indicated a drop of 1.40%. UK current account deficit fell in 4Q 2014 Current account deficit in the UK fell to £25.30 billion in 4Q 2014, compared to a revised current account deficit of £27.70 billion in the previous quarter. Market expectations were for the country's current account deficit to narrow to £22.00 billion. UK GDP advanced more than expected in 4Q 2014 The final gross domestic product (GDP) climbed 3.00% on a YoY basis in the UK, in 4Q 2014, higher than market expectations for an advance of 2.70%. The preliminary figures had indicated an advance of 2.70%. GDP had advanced 2.60% in the prior quarter. UK index of services rose as expected in January In January, the index of services in the UK advanced 0.80% on a monthly basis, at par with market expectations. The index of services had risen by a revised 0.90% in the October-December 2014 period. UK business barometer recorded a rise in March In March, the Lloyds business barometer in the UK registered a rise to 53.00, compared to a reading of 45.00 in the prior month. UK index of services unexpectedly fell in January On a monthly basis, in the UK, the index of services unexpectedly dropped 0.20% in January, compared to an advance of 0.60% in the previous month. Markets were anticipating the index of services to advance 0.30%.