Member Info for MY21

Enegi Oil reports growing interest in unmanned buoy production technology: Enegi Oil’s plan to develop North Sea fields using unmanned buoys has received a boost after two oil services firms agreed to work on the project.

North Sea oil price slump puts industry confidence at an all-time low: Two-thirds of North Sea oil and gas industry operators have been forced to cancel projects because of the recent fall in the oil price, according to a survey.

U.K. house prices ‘will rise 25% in next five years’: U.K. house prices are forecast to rise by 25% over the next five years and become “ever more unaffordable”, largely because of an acute shortage of homes for sale, a leading property body has warned.

Buy FirstGroup as turnaround is on track: Shares in FirstGroup jumped more than 5% higher as its annual results suggested the transport operator’s turnaround is on track. FirstGroup has been on a long road to recovery. Eight years ago, it paid £1.9 billion for U.S. bus business Laidlaw, whose operations include Greyhound and yellow school buses. The deal left FirstGroup carrying too much debt as it headed into the 2008 financial crisis. FirstGroup was also forced to defend its credit rating with a deeply discounted £615 million rights issue in 2013. FirstGroup generates about 45% of its revenues and 75% of its profits from the U.S. business, with the balance coming from U.K. bus and rail. Market consensus is for group pretax profits to rise to £163 million, giving 9.6p in earnings per share in the year to March 2016. We picked FirstGroup as a post election tip (Buy, 107p, May 8) and they have gained 18% in just over a month. The shares are trading on 12 times forecast earnings and offer a prospective dividend yield of 1.7%, and that looks good value for a recovery. FirstGroup at 126.9p +7.6p. Questor Says “Buy”.

Land of milk and bunny: With Aldi’s total sales in this year’s first quarter also rising by double digits — 16.8%, according to Kantar Worldpanel — news that Sainsbury’s sales had fallen 0.6%, or 2.1% like-for like, raises fears of more profit-melting discounts. But one feature of Wednesday’s trading update offered hope: the decline in big-store sales has stopped. HSBC analyst David McCarthy notes that like-for-like sales growth at the discounters has slowed markedly as consumers find themselves roughly £20 a week better off than they were at the height of the income squeeze — and find the discounters only 60p cheaper than Sainsbury for weekly bread-and-milk shops. At one time, this differential was £3.60. If incomes for Sainsbury’s predominantly southern customers improve further, how long before they declare queueing for the Aldi car park to be a false economy? Or as Chas would say to Dave: “Gertcha!” (translation for northern readers: “Get out of here!”)

FirstGroup shareholders raise a glass to rail replacement buses: To the Scottish backbenchers, Edinburgh financial services types and dinner-suited opera buffs who frequented the overnight train, its subsidised tariff — as much as its vintage British Rail Mark 2 rolling stock, and vintage British Rail Mark 1 stewards — was central to the appeal. So, when FirstGroup lost the franchise to operate the service last year, many — including this columnist — worried for the future. We were right to. In April, new franchisee Serco unveiled “improvements” to the menu. Award-winning Cockburn’s Haggis, neeps and Docharty Tatties, £6.50. Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label £50.00. FirstGroup’s full year results, out Wednesday, suggest why. In the year to March 31 2014, the operating margin at the group’s U.K. rail division — still its largest, with more than £2 billion in revenues — had been a miserable 1.9%. Last year, as it uncoupled from ScotRail and First Capital Connect, this improved to 3.4%, thanks to a 4.2% increase in passengers on First Great Western — which charges £43 for champagne on its Cornish Riviera sleeper. But a far greater cause for uncorking was the 5.8% margin, up from 4.8%, at the U.K. bus division, plus the 7.8% achieved by the U.S. school bus business. This matters because investors were promised double-digit margins, from buses at least, in the group’s turnround plan.

Petrobras scandal ensnares Brazil’s biggest power company: A corruption case afflicting Brazilian oil company Petrobras has spread to the country’s largest electricity company Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras, or Eletrobras.

Pension reforms catch industry off-guard as people rush to access retirement cash: Problems at financial firms have left people who had hoped to get access to their retirement cash under new rules that came into force in April stymied by companies’ lack of readiness for the changes.

Investors asked for £6 million to back Gatwick gusher: The company behind the so-called Gatwick gusher is seeking to raise cash on the basis that the Sussex Weald holds billions of barrels of oil.

BP sizes up U.S. frackers as oil world shifts: BP is ready to look at U.S. shale acquisitions after acknowledging a seismic shift in world energy supply from east to west.

New Chief shifts focus to financial strength: The new Chief Executive of Standard Chartered has pledged to boost the bank’s financial strength, raising the prospect that he will break with the view of previous management and launch a rights issue.

UK NIESR estimated GDP climbed in the March-May 2015 period NIESR estimated gross domestic product (GDP) in the UK registered a rise of 0.60% in the March-May 2015 period. In the February-April 2015 period, NIESR estimated GDP had advanced by a revised 0.50%.

UK industrial production rose more than expected in April On an annual basis in the UK, industrial production advanced 1.20% in April, compared to a revised advance of 1.10% in the previous month. Market expectation was for industrial production to rise 0.60%.

UK house price balance advanced in May In May, house price balance in the UK recorded a rise to 34.00, compared to a revised level of 32.00 in the prior month. Market anticipation was for house price balance to climb to a level of 36.00

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.29% or $0.19 lower at $65.51 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract climbed 1.26% or $0.82, to settle at $65.70 per barrel, after the Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil inventories fell significantly more than expected, declining 6.8 million barrels in the week ended 5 June. Additionally, OPEC, in its monthly report stated that it anticipates no further increase in demand for its oil this year, but expects the current supply glut to ease.

In the news Saudi Arabia ramps up The kingdom increased its oil production to a record level in May in an attempt to win back more customers and meet demand for its crude. Output reached 10.33m barrels a day, confirming the widely held view that Saudi Arabia's production is heading higher as it continues its strategy of keeping the oil taps open to squeeze high-cost producers, like those in the US shale industry. Saudi Arabia dominated coverage of last week's Opec meeting, but Iran made a splash when its oil minister vowed that his country would return to the oil market, whether its oil-producing peers like it or not. (FT)

The oil industry is facing a shake-out as the crude price collapse makes the economics of expensive new projects questionable. Lower-cost producers in the US shale heartland and operators with cost effective production but stretched finances elsewhere, are expected to become targets. - Financial Times

UK supermarket retailer Sainsbury posted a sixth straight quarter of falling underlying sales on Wednesday on the back of food price deflation and increased competition. The company said like-for-like retail sales for the 12 weeks to 6 June fell 2.1%, excluding fuel. The figures were better than analysts' expectations for a 2.3% decline, but worse than the 1.9% fall reported in the previous quarter.

Private equity giants eye bumper North Sea oil and gas deals: Private equity giants have signalled they will invest billions of dollars in the North Sea in the belief there is good money to be made in the area following the oil price plunge.

Sparks puts M&S on to the loyalty card map as retailer looks to launch membership card in the autumn: Marks & Spencer is looking into launching a card-based loyalty programme, provisionally called Sparks, for its customers this year, according to reports.