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Investor lines up behind Elliott’s trio: Elliott Advisors’ campaign to shake up the boardroom at Alliance Trust has been boosted after Tilney Bestinvest decided to vote in favour of the election of three fresh independent directors at a showdown shareholder meeting next week.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.76% or $0.47 lower at $61.61 per barrel, ahead of the Energy Information Administration’s weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 2.16% or $1.37, to settle at $62.08 per barrel. Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude oil stockpiles in the US rose by 5.5 million barrels last week.

BP declares no taste for megamerger Dudley tries to cool speculation after Shell-BG deal

Ability to buy deteriorates The ability to buy a home deteriorated further in 2014, the latest Ability to Buy Index from Hamptons International has revealed. The Index, which tracks households' ability to service a mortgage by taking into account income tax, essential spending and mortgage costs, shows that typical ability to buy deteriorated by 2% in 2014. Rising costs of utilities, higher house prices and slow earnings growth were cited as key drivers behind this drop in affordability: earnings growth reached 1.4% in Q4 2014, but this was dwarfed by house price growth of 7% and utility bills rising by 2.2%. However, the report noted that underlying conditions are improving: the cost of food fell by 1.7% and transport by 0.4%, while mortgage rates are at record lows. The improvement was further evident given the fact that ability to buy in Q4 fell less than it did in Q3, while all areas bar London find it easier to buy that at the peak of the market in 2007.

Third-quarter results from Sky generated the most growth in 11 years, it said, as near 70% growth in new customers fed through to a 20% increase in operating profits. Chief executive Jeremy Darroch was particularly excited by the group's performance in developing television drama, with new series Fortitude its most successful drama ever, as well as encouraging success from its Italian and German arms.

Smartphone and tablet microchip designer ARM Holdings beat its own guidance with a 14% jump in dollar revenues in the first quarter of 2015, helped by a increase in demand for its technology. The company, which boasts tech titan Apple as its main client, reported revenues of $348.2m, up from $305.2m a year earlier and ahead of its forecast for 10% growth given back in February. Sterling revenues, meanwhile, jumped 22% to £227.5m

Profits at Associated British Foods fell in the first half as the surging performance of its Primark fast-fashion chain was outweighed by a weaker sugar business. Group revenue rose 1% to £6.25bn and adjusted operating profits were down 5% to £474m, though adjusted earnings per share rose 1%, which was better than the anticipated slight decline.

Gazprom is next in the pipeline for Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition chief. She plans to accuse the Russian energy company of illegally abusing its dominant position in Europe's gas market by thwarting competition and pushing up prices in central and eastern Europe. (FT)

Davey forces Russian billionaire to sell off North Sea gasfields: Energy secretary Ed Davey has given the Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman six months to sell off the North Sea gas fields

Rothschild signals intent to acquire Asian mining firm: Nat Rothschild is considering making a joint bid for distressed Indonesian coal miner Asia Resource Minerals (ARMS).

Shetland gas plant problems trigger £130 million loss for oil services giant: Petrofac has said it expects to record a further loss of around £130 million on work on the Laggan-Tormore gas plant on Shetland citing a range of problems including bad weather and low labour productivity.

Helius shares trading for final time: Helius Energy, the renewable firm backed by Scottish entrepreneurs Alastair Salvesen, Angus MacDonald and Ann Gloag, has taken steps to move into voluntary liquidation.

Neil Woodford’s cash call raises £800 million as fund debuts on LSE: Fund manager Neil Woodford has raised a record £800 million for his new investment fund – demonstrating his enduring box office appeal among investors.

U.K. government threatens to revoke oligarchs’ North sea oil licences: North sea oil licences acquired by a group of controversial Russian oligarchs are to be revoked by the British government unless the fields are immediately sold.

Avoid HSS until it is profitable: The first set of results from tool hire firm HSS since coming to the stock market holds few reasons to buy the shares. The company reported a loss before tax of £8.5 million for the 12 months to the end of December. It generated operating profits of £23.6 million from customers renting tools and equipment but that was outweighed by interest repayments on its debt pile, which totalled £31 million in the same period. The group came to the market on February 9, when it issued about 44 million shares, or 35% of the total share capital, at 210p per share, valuing the group at £325 million. The company raised a total of £103 million before expenses, but the majority of the cash raised went to repay loans from its previous existence as a private equity-owned company. Two years is a long time for investors to wait for a marked improvement in financial performance. During that time equity investors are exposed, as the company is forecast to have net debts of £158 million at the end of 2015, against net assets of £181 million. Cash generation at HSS is also fairly tight, once buying new tools and interest repayments are taken into account. The company is expecting to pay a maiden dividend of 3p this year, but that will be paid out of debts the first time round and provide a prospective yield of 1.4%. The shares, trading on 18 times forecast earnings, are looking expensive given the risks and are best avoided until we get a better idea of profits. HSS Hire unchanged at 209p Questor Says “Avoid”.

Shanghai motor show drives home China’s claim as world’s biggest car market: China’s dominant position as the number one global car market has been underlined at the vast Shanghai auto show as manufacturers showed off their latest wares, despite the sales growth in the country hitting the brakes.

East European builders ‘ended DIY’: Britain has benefited from Eastern European immigration because it has made home improvements cheaper, according to the Boss of the U.K.’s leading construction supplies company.

Sullen Voe: The fall in the oil price has made the North Sea a bad-tempered place to operate. The rancour between employers seeking cost cuts and resentful staff is reflected in an extra $195 million loss on a big gas plant that oilfield services group Petrofac is building for Total. Productivity on the Laggan-Tormore project, close to Shetland’s Sullum Voe oil terminal, has dropped partly because of strikes. This takes further wind out of the sails of the economic case for Scottish independence. Investors must meanwhile wonder at Petrofac’s optimism in inking the Laggan-Tormore contract in 2010. A cumulative loss of $425 million on the job is about half the original contract value, with the latest instalment taking a 20% bite out of 2015 earnings before nasties. Laggan-Tormore is a further blow to the ambitions of suave Chief Executive Ayman Asfari. A cost overrun on a fixed-price contract is a discouragingly prosaic Nemesis for a business that had aspired to be an oilfield services giant. Risk-sharing deals with big oil companies have meanwhile generated write-offs of their own. Rival group Amec Foster Wheeler, run by wisecracking Boss Samir Brikho, has suffered less in the downturn because most of its work is paid for on a cost-plus basis. Its shares, which trade at a modest premium to Petrofac’s, remain a better bet.

Mikhail Fridman given three months to sell North Sea gasfields: The U.K. is to force Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman to sell a dozen North Sea gasfields owned by his $10 billion energy fund L1 Energy, giving him just three months to comply or lose operating rights.

Qataris pledge to expand Canary Wharf: The £2.6 billion takeover of Canary Wharf formally went through, with its new Owners, the U.S. property giant Brookfield and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, promising it a bright future.