| The Markets UK unemployment fell by 46,000 to 2.56 million in the three months to June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported, while the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance dropped by 5,900 to 1.59 million in July. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith applauded the figures commenting "the robustness of these figures is good news" Analysts were quick to dampen any hype however by pointing out the figures were distorted by the the Olympic Games effect, adding the decrease in unemployment is shortlived. Meanwhile the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that an increasing number of surveyors expect UK house prices to fall over the next three months. The report attributed the expectation to the fact that prospective property buyers will continue to find it difficult to gain mortgage approvals. At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 10.88 points at 13,161.26 and the Nasdaq was up by 6.33 points at 2,734.12. In London the FTSE 100 fell by 31.74 points to 5,833.04; the FTSE 250 finished 6.18 points behind at 11,498.12; the FTSE All-Share lost 10.80 points to 3,032.39; and the FTSE AIM Index climbed by 0.07 points to 682.62. 
Broker Notes Panmure Gordon reiterated its "buy" recommendation for Persimmon (PSN) with a 689p target price. The housebuilder will issue its half year report on 21st August and the broker expects to see a strong performance heading into the important Autumn trading season. Panmure forecasts the company to complete 4,712 homes in the current financial year, 6% more than in 2011, with prices rising by around 5.4%. The broker believes the group will finish the year with a net asset value of 654p, with the shares yielding 11%. Persimmon shares gained 14.5p to 682.50p.  N+1 Brewin maintained its "buy" rating for JKX Oil & Gas (JKX), but with a reduced target price of 169p, from 192p. The lowered price is due to the Eastern Europe focused hydrocarbons explorer suffering ramp-up delays in Russia and Hungary, leading it to lower its full year production target to 8,228 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 8,839 boepd. Brewin now expects the Russian plant will reach capacity of 40 million cubic feet of gas per day by the second half of 2013. The shares declined by 1.5p to 89p. Seymour Pierce retained its "buy" stance on Cluff Gold (CLF) with a 136p target price. The broker believes that the Africa focused gold miner may have discovered a large deposit underneath a previously discovered layer in Cote d'Ivoire. Seymour Pierce said that the group's exploration programme is scheduled for completion in late October. On the broker's forecasts the shares trade on an earnings multiple of 7.8 times and an EV/EBITDA multiple of 1.9 times for the 2013 financial year. Cluff shares advanced by 1.75p to 57.75p. Blue-Chips Shares in Standard Chartered (STAN) slipped by 2.1p to 275.3p after the New York Department of Financial Services dropped its threat of stripping the bank of its licence to clear US dollars. However, the group has agreed to pay a fine of 340 million dollars (216.9 million pounds) in relation to acquisitions of laundering money of the Iranian government. Additionally, the firm will "permanently install personnel within its New York branch to oversee and audit any offshore money-laundering due diligence". 
Sticking with the banking theme, Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) has agreed to sell its private equity investment portfolio for a cash consideration of 1.03 billion pounds. The portfolio has gross net assets of 1.05 billion pounds and reported a loss of 40 million pounds for the year ended 31st December 2011. The move is in-line with the group's goal of reducing non-core assets and de-risking. The proceeds will be used for general working capital purposes. The shares edged up by 0.08p to 31.96p. Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) reported a 19% fall in revenues to 3.2 billion dollars (2.1 billion pounds) for the six months to June, with pre-tax profits tumbling 59.1% to 667 million dollars (425.6 million pounds). The mining group suffered from lower production rates as well as falling prices of ferroalloys and chrome ore. In order to compensate, the firm was forced to cut its interim dividend to 6.5 cents (4.1p) per share, from 16 cents (10.2p). Shares in Eurasian crashed by 36.7p to 378p. Mid-Caps Stagecoach Group's (SGC) joint-venture with Virgin Rail has lost out to fellow FTSE 250 company FirstGroup (FGP) in its bid to secure the InterCity West Coast rail franchise. The franchise will commence from December 2012, lasting into 2026, and currently serves around 30 million passengers. FirstGroup noted plans of adding 11 new six-car electric trains to the service and will invest 350 million pounds in the first five years of the franchise. Shares in Stagecoach grew by 5.4p to 291.9p, while those of FirstGroup tumbled 15.5p to 243.5p. 
Infrastructure services business Balfour Beatty (BBY) reported pre-tax profit growth of 2% for the six months ended 29th June, to 93 million pounds, on revenues of 5.5 billion pounds, up 6% on 2011's comparable period. The group's order book remained stable at 15 billion pounds, as it won 5 billion pounds of new contracts during the period. One of the firm's major contracts was the construction of the Olympic Aquatics Centre and following its completion the company said it is looking to target smaller, private sector projects. The shares rose by 1.8p to 296.1p. Petra Diamonds (PDL) expects to produce 2.85 million carats for the 2013 financial year, 30% more than it produced in 2012, with an ultimate goal of reaching 5 million carats per annum by 2019. The group forecasts prices to remain flat for the remainder of the calendar year, while hoping to benefit from an uplift in 2013 as the result of expected decreases in production by major producers. Shares in Petra climbed by 2.5p to 102p. Small Caps, AIM and PLUS Production testing from Kea Petroleum's (KEA) Puka 1 well in New Zealand has seen the well achieve flow rates of 290 barrels of oil and gas flow rates of 2.2 million cubic feet per day. This was despite the well being choked back to limit drawdown to ensure no formation damage. The group also announced that the first shipment of oil from the Puka field was dispatched to market on 8th August. Well production has now been temporarily halted until Thursday to establish initial pressure build up. Kea shares jumped by 1p to 9.125p. Meanwhile in Kazakhstan, Roxi Petroleum (RXP) provided an update for its 33.4% owned Galaz asset, confirming well NK8 reached a total depth of 1378 metres in July. Since then the well has been tested at an interval between 1291 and 1296 metres, achieving a flow rate of 251 barrels of oil per day using a 7mm choke. The business now plans to test a different interval of NK8, the outcome of which it will release in due course. The shares added 0.25p to close at 3.25p. Sports marketing and digital media agency Parallel Media Group* (PAA) unveiled a series of new contracts from its 51% owned Asian subsidiary, PMGA, the news of which surprising failed to move its shares from 15.5p. The company has sold, on behalf of Alpha Entertainment Group, the title sponsorship of K-Pop band Skarf to Giant, a hypermarket in Singapore for 300,000 dollars. PMGA has also entered an agreement with Giant to be the presenting sponsor for the forthcoming concert for K-Pop band the Wondergirls, to be held in September. TC Connections and Yes Asia have also been signed up as co-sponsors for the concert. 
Maple Energy (MPLE) has completed its first export sale of fuel-grade ethanol to Mitsui, totalling 5,900 cubic metres. The deal was completed under the existing sales and distribution agreement between the two parties, with Maple expecting to receive another order from Mitsui before the end of the month. The Peru-based business also explained that Penta Tanks Terminals has placed into operation all of its ethanol storage, loading and shipping facilities near the port of Paita, which Maple has signed up for the exclusive use of. Maple Energy shares inched 3p higher to 71p. South America focused Orosur Mining (OMI) disappointed the markets with its final results for the year to May, the gold exploration firm's shares slipping 4.625p to 39.5p as it released the details of what was a 'challenging' year. Revenues climbed by 18.9% to 93.68 million dollars on the back of relatively unchanged gold production of 55,500 tonnes and a 22.9% increase in average price per ounce of gold of 1,656 dollars. Operating cash costs however surged by 40% to 1,016 dollars per ounce, which along other development costs saw net income collapse by 92% to 1.2 million dollars. The board explained that the current year will be a period of consolidation, with the introduction of new senior management, a control on costs and a focus on extending the mine life of the San Gregorio mine in Uruguay Avia Health Informatics (AVIA) shares surged by 4p, or 89% to 8.5p, on news the clinical software company has entered into a non-binding arrangement with TCA Global Credit Master Fund, providing it with a 2 million dollar credit facility. Under the terms of the proposed facility, an initial tranche of 425,000 pounds will be made available to the financially troubled company following entry into final banking documentation. Were the facility to be entered into, the directors of Avia believe it would provide sufficient working capital to keep the company afloat. * Parallel Media Group is a corporate client of Rivington Street Holdings, the ultimate owner of UK-Analyst. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment