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Ousted Asia Resource Minerals Boss stages sit-in occupation of Jakarta office: Shares in a mining company listed in London have been suspended because its former Boss is staging a sit-in at the Jakarta head office of its main subsidiary. For at least four days Amir Sambodo has been refusing to let in two Executives from Asia Resource Minerals, the company formerly known as Bumi, which has been mired in scandals during its time on the stock market.

Shell handpicked auditor to sign off on government's Arctic drilling renewal: The Obama administration’s process for giving Shell the go-ahead for restarting its drilling in the Arctic lacked transparency and prevented an informed public response, environmental groups have warned.

U.K. mortgage deals jump by nearly a fifth as competition heats up: The number of mortgage deals on the market has jumped by nearly a fifth in a year to its highest level since the financial crisis. A year after the mortgage market review brought in new affordability checks, the total number of different home loans available in April was up 19% from 11,416 to 13,539, according to data from the Mortgage Advice Bureau. The figures suggest that consumer choice has not been restricted by the new rules and that competition has returned to the market.

Hold Bloomsbury as academic expansion pays off: Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury reported a solid set of annual results last week, and the strong cash generation and steady dividend. Book sales were given a boost with a 29% growth in the boy wizard titles that were reissued with new cover illustrations. Children’s and educational titles increased revenue by 13%, to £26.6 million, for the year, and this helped offset a weaker performance in adult books, where revenue was down 10% to £49.9 million. The company’s shares collapsed in 2007 after bestsellers slumped during the crisis. The company is rapidly increasing revenue from academic titles and bought law publisher Hart in 2013. For the group as a whole, the pretax profits edged higher, to £9.6 million to the end of February, up from £9.5 million a year earlier. Revenue also crept up 1% to £111.1 million during the year. This steady performance gave management the confidence to increase the annual dividend by 5% to 6.1p per share, with the final instalment going ex-dividend on Aug 26, and will be paid on Sept 23. City experts are predicting that full year pretax profits will increase to £12.7 million, on revenue up to £116 million, giving about 13.6p in earnings per share. Bloomsbury isn’t delivering stellar growth rates, but then with a steady profit performance and dividend income it doesn’t have to. Questor says “HOLD”.

New housing starts rise by 31 %: New housing starts in England have reached the highest level since 2007, according to government data, but remain around half the level experts say is needed to tackle the housing shortage

Lenders pour cash into U.K. property market: Lending to property companies has jumped sharply as the market’s return to boom conditions and poor returns from other asset classes fuel rising availability of debt. The supply of finance to U.K. property companies rose 50 % in the 12 months to end-December, hitting £45 billion, according to research by academics at De Montfort University. This is the highest amount of new lending since 2008

National Grid to sell your gas meter in £1 billion fundraising: National Grid is lining up a £1billion sale of 17m gas meters in homes and businesses as its raises funds for a giant investment drive. The £ 34billion infrastructure behemoth, which owns and runs much of Britain’s electricity network, is believed to be exploring options for its gas meters business, with a sale the likely outcome.

Former L&G Chief to run Apax private equity fund: The former Chief Executive of Legal & General is set to make a return to public life by running an Apax private equity business that aims to raise nearly £180 million and list its shares on the stock market. Tim Breedon, who spent 25 years at the insurer and still sits on the board at Barclays, has emerged as the Chairman of Apax Global Alpha.

BP settles with its partners in Gulf of Mexico oilrig disaster: BP has reached a settlement with its partners on the Gulf of Mexico rig as it seeks to emerge from a five-year legal quagmire in the aftermath of the explosion that claimed 11 lives.

Oil prices ended lower last week amid a stronger Dollar, rebounding from deeper losses earlier in the week. The commodity rebounded after the Energy Information Administration reported that US crude oil stockpiles fell by 2.7 million barrels, a larger than expected drop, in the week ended May 15. Persistent concerns in the Middle East further supported oil prices. Brent crude oil prices dropped 2.2% to $65.37/barrel.

The share price has gone up more than 60 percent since the recent placing. Why? The placing was comfortably oversubscribed and some of those investors scaled back in the fundraiser may well have been buying in the market since whilst some investors from IPO in April 2014 have been offloading. Next Friday's AGM will be instructive in terms of the outlook in the second half of this year.

Official data from HM Revenue & Customs reveals that housing transactions fell in April, following a period of relative stability in recent months, with 97,020 residential transactions taking place during the month. The figure, which is provisional and seasonally-adjusted, marked a reduction of 3.4% from March (when 100,470 transactions were recorded) and is 5.6% lower than April 2014's transaction count of 102,780. Non-adjusted transactions follow a similar pattern, with the figure being lower on both a monthly and annual basis. However, non-residential property transactions (9,910) increased by 5.2% between March and April 2015, and also post an increase of 9.1% compared with the same month a year ago

Costa coffee shops and Premier Inns hotels owner Whitbread has appointed Alison Brittain, current head of Lloyds's high street banking division, as its new chief executive. Career banker Brittain, who has been at Lloyds since 2011 after previous roles at Santander and Barclays, has switched into a top role in the leisure sector after Whitbread's current chief, Andy Harrison, announced his retirement last month.

audi Arabia sees oil-free future The kingdom that fossil fuels built could phase them out by the middle of this century, the country's oil minister said in a stunning admission on Thursday. For that reason, the country plans to become a "global power in solar and wind energy" and could start exporting electricity instead of oil. (FT)

IPOs back on: Goldman takes Equiniti to market: One of the U.K.’s biggest outsourcing companies Equiniti has appointed Goldman Sachs for a £1 billion-plus float in London later this year, underscoring the renewed appetite for initial public offerings (IPOs) after the General Election

Jobs boost for young people: The U.K.’S economic recovery is reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (Neets). Manufacturing growth boosted by a recovery in orders from abroad: The manufacturing sector has expanded this month, helped by growth in exports despite a strong pound.

West End landlord Shaftesbury goes to town with jump in value: Shaftesbury posted a jump in the value of its large West End estate, buoyed by tourists and Londoners flocking to its cafes and shops.

More than four out of 10 FTSE 100 companies make top executives wait at least five years before allowing them to cash in so-called ‘long-term incentive plans’: More than four out of 10 FTSE 100 companies make top executives wait at least five years before allowing them to cash in their so-called ‘long-term incentive plans’ after a campaign by leading asset Manager Dominic Rossi of Fidelity Worldwide Investments.

Housing crisis will halve number of young homeowners in five years: The number of young adults able to buy homes could fall nearly 50% within five years unless the government addresses the housing shortage, a report has claimed.

Oil shock could push U.K. into deeper deflation, warns Bank of England rate setter: A collapse in oil prices could push inflation lower than economists previously thought, according to one of the U.K.’s interest rate setters.