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UK Rightmove house price index rose in September The Rightmove house price index climbed 0.9% on a MoM basis in the UK, in September. The Rightmove house price index had dropped 2.9% in the prior month. UK construction output rose less than expected in July Construction output advanced 2.6% on an annual basis in July, in the UK, compared to a rise of 5.3% in the earlier month. Market anticipations were for construction output to rise 3.2%.

Chinese oil champion Sinopec is selling a $17.4bn stake in its retail unit to a large group of mostly domestic investors as the country tries to reform its sprawling state-owned enterprises. The 29.99 per cent stake sale – to investors including tech group Tencent, private conglomerate Fosun and China Life Insurance – was considered a precedent-setting deal in China’s efforts to realise value in its SOEs, while also improving their performance. (Financial Times)

Britain’s biggest bookmakers are creating a self-regulatory body to impose tougher standards on the industry as they seek to head off criticism about the rise of problem gambling. Four companies – William Hill, Ladbrokes, Gala Coral and Paddy Power – are the founding members of the new body, which will be able to “name and shame” and impose fines on operators that breach the standards. (Financial Times)

Society beauty in £1 billion battle for ‘3 jewels of London’: Amanda Staveley joins Middle East investors ‘to bid for hotel group’: The Queen and Prince Philip have dined there and Winston Churchill was a regular guest. But now Claridge’s – and its sister landmark hotels – are at the centre of a bitter billion-pound ownership battle involving secretive billionaires, fallen Irish entrepreneurs and a blonde former model from Yorkshire.

Home Retail Group a hold ahead of Christmas: Home Retail Group [LON:HRG] shares were sent more than 7% lower last week when the Homebase and Argos Owner surprised the market by saying DIY sales had fallen faster than expected. Homebase sales fell 2.8% in the 13 weeks to the end of August on the same period last year, while 0.1% higher on a like-for-like basis. The drop in sales was due to an acceleration of the store closure programme with a net six stores shut during the second quarter. The retailer said that “retail spending in general has been inconsistent across both product categories and geographies”. Weak DIY sales are being offset by a better performance from the household goods chain Argos. Sales at Argos increased for the ninth quarter in a row and gross profit margins also improved. Home Retail Group has managed to reposition itself at the centre of the online shopping revolution by offering a click and collect service for shoppers. The retailer improved its market position in July by extending its click and collect partnership with online shopping site eBay. The market is expecting full year pretax profits of £130.8 million, on revenue of £5.82 billion for the year ended February 2015, up from profits of £71.2 million last year. John Walden, Chief Executive, said he was confident of meeting those expectations, but it depends on a good Christmas trading period. The shares offer a prospective dividend yield of 2.1% but, given the fragile U.K. consumer confidence. Questor says “Hold”.

British American Tobacco nicotine inhaler wins regulatory approval: A new type of nicotine inhaler backed by British American Tobacco has won regulatory approval to go on general sale as a medicinal product, and could appear in shops as early as next year

Shell revives plans to sell European LPG business: Royal Dutch Shell has revived plans to dispose of its European liquefied petroleum gas business four years after a second failed attempt to sell the assets.

Bonuses spark revolt at Diageo: Corporate governance groups and institutional shareholders have said that directors’ bonuses at the FTSE 100 company are excessive in comparison with their base salaries and have called on Diageo to “clean up its act”.

Thank you very much for your comments. It is surprising that the management has not provided any further information by RNS to shareholders concerning the repeat revenue potential of other contracts signed in the past 18 months. This presentational hiccup has contributed at least partially to Mr Market not fully recognising the full potential of this company's business model. ATB

Hello Mate As ever the answer was not entirely clear-:) However; my understanding is as follows: 1. The Contracts were primarily one-off limp sum payments historically but the CEO seemed to confirm that new contracts signed over the past 18 months have an element of annual repeat fee income per subscriber for the company and in the rounds; this repeat income can be at least 25% of the total contract value. So for example; if there was a contract for $2m over 4 years; the inference is $500k is earned over the 4 year period and $1.5m at the outset. I am particularly interested in understanding the revenue make up as in my view; the repeat income can be conservatively put on a PE of 5 and increase the enterprise value of the company over time. I trust this is clear!

I saw the CEO at Proactive last night after the main presentation for a few minutes. In essence, 25% of the value of all contracts signed in the past 18 months is re-curing revenues for the duration of each contract. He acknowledged the company's terminology about the value and potential of contracts signed could have been clearer for investors to evaluate the company's potential more effectively. Finally; he hinted that further contract news as per previous RNS stating news to follow by late summer is now imminent. ATB

Optimal Payments shares jump on profits: Shares in Aim-listed online payment platform Optimal Payments jumped by almost 8% as it reported soaring first-half profits and major acquisitions. The company has two main sources of revenue: Neteller, an “e-wallet” business into which online gamblers can deposit money before playing games, and Netbanx, a system that processes transactions for online retailers. Both performed strongly, lifting group revenue by 34% to $159 million (£98.7 million) during the six months ended June 30. Neteller is the faster growing of the two, with revenue increasing by 46% to $41.4 million during the first six months, while gross margins improved to 87%, from 83%. The Netbanx business is no slouch either, increasing revenue by 31% to $117.4 million, on gross margins stable up to 55%. With revenue increasing strongly and margins improving, pretax profits jumped to $27.5 million, for the half-year ended June, from $15.5 million a year earlier. Group net cash increased by $27.8 million to $121.6 million.Revenue and profit growth should accelerate next year following the $225 million spent on acquisitions in July. There are opportunities for further growth, too. Gaming legislation in the U.S. is easing and the next big opportunity is if California, the biggest state in the U.S., legalises online gambling. This investment is not without its risks. In 2006, the U.S. withdrew online gaming licences, causing Optimal’s shares to suffer a crash. Also, about a third of the group’s fee revenue comes from just one client. Optimal is expected to achieve pretax profits of $58.8 million, on revenue of $318 million in the year ended December. With 19.5p in earnings per shares forecast, the shares are trading on 25 times, falling to 20 times next year. Optimal Payments at 510p+36¾p Questor Says ‘Buy’.

House sales up again with flood of new buyers: The housing market resurged again in July, defying expectations that activity was slowing down, industry figures revealed. Gulf between London and the rest of the U.K. at 20-year high: House prices in London and the south east have soared so fast that the gap with the rest of the country is at the highest level since 1995, LSL Property Services said.    

Gazprom: price sensitive: In her inbox filed under “G”, Ms Vestager once in office may first find a Google antitrust case left by her predecessor. This has long since become obscure political haggling. There is another big G which may require more attention, and where previous EU antitrust action has stalled: Gazprom. The supplier of a third of Europe’s natural gas has not received the same sanctions given to other Russian state-owned companies over the Ukraine crisis. But its pricing dispute with Ukraine itself might awaken antitrust interest if it increasingly affects EU states. If you like betting on the rulings of Stockholm arbitration tribunals and also wading through the staff reports of IMF loan programmes, then you might like the shares of Gazprom. These are cheap, at 2.8 times their forward earnings. Gazprom claims $4.5 billion in unpaid gas in the arbitration. In its first quarter IFRS results on Thursday it made a $2 billion provision for non-payment. The IMF, however, has made Ukraine divert $3 billion to a protected central bank account to repay Gazprom pending an arbitration ruling. And if you like financial autarky, do invest in Gazprom. It now has $27 billion in cash (compare that with an $87 billion market capitalisation), after boosting free cash flow to $8 billion in the first quarter. That reduces its reliance on selling debt to Europe.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has slashed its production of crude in an apparent attempt to prevent the price falling further below $100 per barrel. The kingdom, which has the capacity to pump 12.5m barrels per day (bpd) of crude at full choke, trimmed 400,000 bpd from its output last month as prices began to weaken, according to a monthly market report issued by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). That is equal to about half the UK’s total oil output at present levels. - The Telegraph

Standard Life Boss warns that company will relocate to England if Scots vote Yes: One of Scotland’s most successful businesses is preparing to relocate to England if Scots vote for independence, its Chief Executive has revealed

Number of £1 million homes sold in London ‘to rise by almost half in five years’: The number of homes sold in London for £1 million or more will go up by almost half by 2018 as house prices and prosperity soar in the capital, an estate agency has said.

Which FTSE 100 oil stocks to hold?: Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, has fallen below $100 per barrel dragging oil stocks lower. Questor takes a look at which oil shares to hold in a lower price environment for crude. The oil price is falling because the world’s biggest importer of the black stuff, China, is slowing down. The problem for the oil majors is that they have pumped most of the easy to reach oil out of the ground. New oil discoveries are only possible at greater depths and in more extreme environments. Exploring in these places costs a lot more and requires a higher oil price to make it viable. Of the two oil majors Shell is slightly more exposed to a fall in the oil price as about 30% of its future oil production requires a price above $95 per barrel, compared to 20% for BP, according to analysis from Bloomberg. That said, the majority of oil production and investment on new projects is still viable at below $90 per barrel at both Shell and BP. BP shares, in sharp contrast, are trading at 466.6p, and are still 28% below the price just before the Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010. The company looks more exposed to the Russian situation and any fallout from EU sanctions. Away from the two big oil majors BG Group shares have had a roller-coaster ride in the past 12 months, rising to more than £13 early in the year before slumping to about £10 on production issues and fears over Egyptian gas assets. Questor would avoid the shares after the abrupt exit of Chief Executive Chris Finlayson in April left the group rudderless. As the oil price has fallen the hardest hit have been the explorers. Premier Oil is down more than 6% and Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil have both slumped more than 30% during the past 12 months. The risks are extremely high in these shares but we think a lot of the bad news is already in the price. The shares in Tullow and Cairn are worth considering ahead of a busy drilling schedule. Long term we would hold onto Shell, but there looks to be too much risk at BG and BP as the oil price falls. Oil & Gas sector at $99.5 per barrel-0.5 Questor Says ‘Hold’

Getting a woman in: You know how it is when you need some work doing. You get a bloke in and he does a decent enough job. But it takes longer and costs more than you expected. This must be how investors in Kingfisher feel as Sir Ian Cheshire prepares to step down as Chief Executive. Results have been reasonable, given that Sir Ian’s seven years have spanned a property crash and an economic depression. Shares are up about 40%, though weak this year. They hopped 4.3% after consensus-beating first-half numbers. While pretax profits fell 6.5% to £375 million, retail profit rose 3.3% to £390 million in constant currencies. Usually, when building work needs finishing you call a Polish guy. Kingfisher has instead recruited a French woman, Veronique Laury. Nothing wrong with that. However, it is the French side of Kingfisher, whose Castorama unit Ms Laury runs, that has damped profits.Ms Laury, who becomes the fifth current female FTSE 100 Chief Executive, should roll her sleeves up. She has her work cut out to show the City that disappointing French numbers can be blamed entirely on the morosite of Gallic consumers and not, in part, on her management.

Santander: family business: No questions about the legacy. When Emilio Botín joined the board in 1960, Santander was the seventh largest bank in Spain, and was just taking its first steps elsewhere. It is one of the world’s 20 largest banks, according to SNL Financial, with operations in Europe, the U.S. and South America. It got through the crisis without needing an equity injection from the state. Mr Botín’s death deprives the bank not just of its Executive Chairman, but also of its driving force. In the short term, the challenges facing the new Chairman and Javier Marín, the Chief Executive, are familiar: strengthen the group’s capital, cut costs and cope with the stuttering global economy. But they also need to better define exactly what Santander is. A bank focused on Spain, Portugal and Latin America makes sense. But operations in the U.K., U.S., Germany and Poland do not fit that mould. Not only that, but Mr Botín liked to trade in and out of his subsidiaries. In 2009, for example, he floated a stake in the Brazilian business. This year he offered to buy it back. In 2014, the bank has bought a consumer finance business in Scandinavia but sold a stake in its U.S. consumer finance business. These trades might turn out to be savvy moves in the medium term. But what Santander needs is a clearer long-term strategy.