Member Info for MY21

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.41% or $0.20 lower at $48.61 per barrel, ahead of the Energy Information Administration’s weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract climbed 0.14% or $0.07, to settle at $48.81 per barrel, amid bargain buying. Meanwhile, the API report stated that the US crude oil supply dropped by 2.3 million barrels for the week ended 14 August

Housing demand helps Bovis built first-half sales: Housebuilder Bovis has delivered record sales for the first half of the year as it benefited from the buoyant conditions in the housing market

Approvals of mortgages slip back in July: The number of mortgage approvals fell back in July against a backdrop of fears over a rise in the Bank of England’s interest rates, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor from e.surv, the U.K.’s largest chartered surveyor

August house prices are the strongest since before financial crisis because of shortage of homes put up for sale: August house prices have been the strongest since before the financial crisis because of a shortage of homes put up for sale, research shows. Online estate agent Rightmove shows the price of property coming to market was down by just 0.8% - or £2,258 - in August compared to a post-credit-crunch average fall in the month of August of 1.5%.

U.K. government to sell stake in King's Cross redevelopment: The U.K. government has fired the starting gun on the sale of the taxpayer’s stake in London’s King’s Cross development, as the sell-off of state assets gathers pace

Government target of 200,000 new homes a year will be difficult to achieve, says housebuilder: The Government has been "very supportive” of housebuilders, but it will be difficult for the industry to reach the target of 200,000 homes a year, the Chief Executive of one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has said

Bovis: getting up again: As workers bang together a new suburban spec home in the U.K., a radio blares in the background. Is that Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” hit: “I get knocked down/but I get up again/you’re never going to keep me down”? It sums up the mood among cycle-hardened housebuilders. May’s election was not a spoiler after all, and low interest rates and a government scheme for first-time buyers have been a boon. Yet Bovis spoilt the party on Monday: its shares were nearly 6% lower at one stage — despite well-trailed half-year results — after its margin disappointed. Given a 30% share price rise this year, some profit-taking was inevitable. But although revenue was 9% higher in the first half on record unit sales, Bovis’s operating margin — a peer-lagging 16% — hardly improved. Put that down to a higher proportion of lower-margin sales of social housing and high overheads outweighing price increases. So much for the past. The second half should be more harmonious, with its higher rate of completions and less social housing in the mix. Overheads will be better covered, too. Bovis is confident enough to confirm its full-year dividend already. But, trading on 9 times prospective 2016 earnings, its stock market rating suggests investors first want reassurance on its ability to improve its margin. Bovis trades at a 10% discount to peer Bellway, whose first-half revenue was 18% higher, and is on track to beat a full-year margin of 20%. Taylor Wimpey, the biggest housebuilder by market value, is already past 19% and has promised a £300 million extra cash return next year, more than this year’s.

Nigeria state oil group NNPC taps private sector for top ranks: The new head of Nigeria’s state oil company has tapped the private sector as part of an overhaul of senior ranks intended to clean up the entity at the heart of the country’s economy

Countryside opened up to oilmen in fracking drive: At least 2,400 square kilometres of the English countryside will be thrown open to oil explorers as the government announces a new drive to encourage fracking in Britain.

North Sea workers threaten first mass strikes since 1980s: Britain’s North Sea oil industry is set for an autu million of discontent, as workers threaten to take strike action for the first time in a generation after thousands of job cuts triggered by plunging prices

U.S. fracking downturn hits Indian guar farmers: Indian farmers are feeling the pinch after a collapse in the price of guar gum, a key raw material used by frackers in the U.S. shale gas industry.

Crude Oil At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.25% or $0.12 lower at $48.62 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 0.59% or $0.29, to settle at $48.74 per barrel, amid concerns from glut in global supplies and after forecasters stated that demand for oil would drop in the forthcoming period.

LONDON (Alliance News) - Royal Dutch Shell PLC has entered into a framework agreement with China's Guanghui Energy Co Ltd to jointly buy and distributed liquefied natural gas, a rare cooperation deal between the FTSE 100-listed major and a local private company in China, Reuters reports. Shell has signed a non-binding framework deal with Guanghui, which is building a gas-receiving terminal in the Qidong of Jiangsu province. The terminal is designed to handle an annual capacity of around 600,000 tonnes in its first phase.

Shell wins go-ahead for Arctic drilling Oil group hopes for big discovery but environmentalists angry

Bovis Homes posted a 9% rise in first-half pre-tax profit as it reported a record number of legal completions and said it is on track to deliver its expected volume of new homes for 2015. Pre-tax profit for the six months ended 30 June came in at £53.8m from £49.4m in the first half of last year, on revenue of £350.7m, up 9% from £322.1m.

London bucks trend as high street suffers: Retail footfall dropped 1.1% in July compared with the same month last year, according to figures released today by the British Retail Con­s­or­ti­um (BRC) and Springboard.

Bovis Homes and Persimmon's profits go through the roof as rivals are shut out: Two of Britain’s leading housebuilders will this week reveal surging profits, boosted by tight planning rules that have restricted competition from smaller builders trying to enter the market.

Oil price crash claims 1,000 jobs in North Sea: The devastation wrought by the oil price crash on Britain’s North Sea industry is set to be laid bare when one of the region’s biggest contractors reveals that it has cut 4,000 jobs since the start of the year.

Soaring house prices push buyers to stretch out repayments: House-buyers are increasingly searching for mortgages with terms of 30 years or more, as high prices force desperate borrowers to look for a way to reduce their monthly payments

Phone call at heart of U.S. case against BP: At the heart of the U.S. government’s case against BP is a recording of a telephone conversation between Gradyn Comfort, one of its senior natural gas traders, and Clayton Luskie, a graduate trainee who was in a panic about his future at the company.