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Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL.L) Announced that its 14/15-5 'Zebedee' exploration well (the "Well") was spudded, by Premier Oil as operator, on 6 March 2015 and it is located on licence PL004b, in which FOGL has a 40% working interest and is to be drilled on the Zebedee prospect. The well will test a total of seven stacked fan bodies with varying geological chances of success, ranging between 10% and 50%. The well is targeting mid case unrisked gross prospective resources based on FOGL management estimates of 281mmboe (112mmboe net to FOGL). The well is anticipated to take approximately 30 days to drill and a further release will be issued once logging is completed

Poor productivity equals stagnant wages IFS figures show the weakness of the recovery in household incomes

ExxonMobil bucks sector’s gloom World’s largest energy group uses downturn to put itself in a stronger position than its rivals

West End offices are the world’s costliest: London’s West End held onto its title as the world’s most expensive office market for the third year in a row, after hot demand and limited supply help push up rents last year

Cold weather hits February retail sales: High Street sales declined in February as the cold weather put consumers off shopping and offset a boost in sales from Valentine’s Day.

Tulloch Homes reveals management buyout: One of the best-known businesses in the Highlands, housebuilder Tulloch Homes, is being bought out by its management team from its investment banking and private equity Owners

Scotland set to benefit from oil price plunge reckon experts: The fall in crude prices will boost growth in Scotland’s economy overall this year although it could take a devastating toll on the oil and gas industry, economists have predicted

Profits at insurer Admiral fall for first time in a decade: Elephant and Diamond insurer Admiral said its profits fell for the first time in a decade as it wrote fewer car policies in a “highly competitive” market.

Perfect storm hits Standard Chartered as profits plunge: The size of the challenge facing incoming Standard Chartered Chief Executive Bill Winters was highlighted as the Asia-focused bank’s annual profits plunged 30% after bad loans soared.

Aviva and Friends Life report forecast-beating annual profits ahead of takeover: Insurance firms Aviva and Friends Life have both reported better-than-expected annual profits before a £5.6 billion takeover, which is expected to be approved by shareholders later this month.

Willie Walsh pay deal rises 30% at IAG: Willie Walsh, the Boss of British Airways’ parent company IAG, was paid £6.4 million in 2014, an increase of almost 30% on the previous year.

Dignity’s shares have jumped in recent months: Funeral group Dignity has been a solid performer over the past few years, and trading update suggests the business has plenty of room to grow. Underlying pretax profit was £59 million in 2014, an 11% increase on the year before. The earnings outperformed analysts’ expectations, and revenue also rose, up 5% to £268.9 million. However, the company reported a statutory pretax loss of £68 million, reversing the £50 million it made last year, as a result of a costly refinancing of its debts, which allowed the business to return £64.4 million to shareholders. This refinancing also contributed to the company’s debt pile growing from £370 million last year to £530 million. Dignity operates 718 funeral parlours and 39 crematoriums across the U.K. The company conducted 65,600 funerals in 2014 – falling from 68,000 the previous year – and performed 53,400 cremations, a slight dip on the year before. The number of deaths in the first eight weeks of 2015 was approximately 23% higher than the abnormally low number in the same period last year, the company said. It therefore expects results for the first quarter to be significantly higher than the same period in 2014. With a steady death rate, business is unlikely to dramatically alter any time soon and this company is well worth watching. The company’s management has done a good job of growing profit, and its share price has risen healthily in the past few months, from £17.65 at the beginning of December to a close of £19.42. Questor Says “Hold”.

U.K. has sixth-largest male-female pay gap in EU: The U.K. has the sixth-largest pay gap between men and women in the European Union, statistics agency Eurostat has revealed

New York will overtake London as favoured playground of super rich by 2025: New York is poised to steal London’s crown as the most important city for the worlds super rich, according to a new report from Knight Frank

Above and Bre-yond: Staying power over the hurdles is as much the mark of a champion in bookmaking as it will be at next week’s Cheltenham Festival. Betfair showed pace in the novice division, almost went out to grass, and has now stormed back in race-winning form with a 15% upgrade to full year earnings guidance to £113 million-£118 million. Chief Executive Breon Corcoran helped kill a cheeky bid at 950p per share from CVC in 2013 by threatening to leave. The shares have more than doubled since. The marketing-savvy Irishman has diversified the business beyond its origins as an online betting market. That proved to be a niche business rather than a world beater. The company has gone from a long shot to a favourite. The tic-tac men known as brokers have narrowed odds from a forward earnings ratio of 12 times in 2011 to 28 times now. But the company remains an interesting punt, given the weakness of Ladbrokes. And remember, Lombard’s naps are as much of a cert as any you’ll get next week at a Cheltenham bar from a bloke from Connemara

Genel hopes to secure regular payments for oil exports: Genel Energy expressed optimism on Thursday that the resolution of a longstanding Iraqi government dispute could soon enable the Kurdistan oil explorer to secure regular payment for its crude exports

London at risk of missing out as super-rich multiply: The ranks of super-rich people across the globe swelled to 172,850 last year, and London looks set to be overtaken as the chosen home of the wealthy

UK new car registrations advanced in February On a YoY basis, new car registrations advanced 12.00% in the UK, in February. New car registrations had registered a rise of 6.70% in the previous month.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.81% or $0.49 higher at $60.97 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract declined 0.12% or $0.07, to settle at $60.48 per barrel. However, losses were capped after Libya declared a force majeure on 11 of its oil fields, amid security concerns and attacks by Islamic State militants

March 5 (Reuters) - Britain's Merlin Entertainments , the operator of Madame Tussauds waxworks and Legoland, said Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Ltd nearly doubled its stake in the company to about 5.2 percent. Merlin said on Thursday that GIC raised its holding to about 52.6 million shares from about 27.6 million. Private equity firms CVC and Blackstone launched a sale of about 156.5 million shares earlier this week. Shares of Merlin, the world's second largest operator of visitor attractions behind Walt Disney Co, closed up 2.8 percent at 426.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)