Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is to raise up to US$2bn through an IPO of its new gas unit that would set a valuation of US$47bn and US$50.8bn.
The ADNOC Gas subsidiary, created in November, produces around 10bn cubic feet per day of gas and operates gas infrastructure.
Afarak group’s chief executive said the company had enjoyed the best year in its history in 2022, something that enabled the specialist metals producer to repay all of its long-term debt.
Guy Konsbruck added: “Afarak can now count on a strong balance sheet to pursue future growth and diversification opportunities”.
Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) is getting into the Ethereum Layer-2 game in partnership with Optimism, the Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange has announced.
Called Base, it marks the first time Coinbase has moved into developing blockchain solutions.
Destiny Pharma has signed an exclusive collaboration and co-development agreement for the North American rights of NTCD-M3, its medicine to prevent c.difficile infection (CDI) recurrence.
Sebela Pharmaceuticals, a US gastroenterology specialist, will partner with Destiny to finance and lead the future development and commercialisation of NTCD-M3 in the US, Canada and Mexico.
The number of candy and souvenir stores on Oxford Street has once again climbed to record levels, as operators have evaded crackdowns from city officials.
There are now 29 such “US-style” candy stores, a Local Data Company analysis revealed, equal to the previous high-water mark hit in 2020.
Most UK banks’ net interest margins (NIM) are close to peaking due to the approaching end of policy rate rises, higher pass-through rates to depositors, and lower yields and volumes in key lending segments, Fitch Ratings said Friday.
In a report, the ratings agency stated it thinks most of the banks’ NIMs will peak in 2023 as depositors become more selective in search of higher yields, mortgage margins fall, the slowing economy weighs on credit demand, and the policy rate peaks by mid-year.
Fitch expects mortgage spreads to narrow due to higher swap rates and continued competitive pressures.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) (Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)) is expecting to incur US$2.3bn more in losses from legal proceedings than it had initially set out.
The Wall Street bank has been a target of lawsuits ranging from its role in Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund scandal to the collapse of Archegos Capital Management in 2021.
Domino's Pizza Group PLC (LSE:DOM) shares fell Friday, singed in part by a scathing note from analysts at Liberum.
The firm issued a ‘sell’ rating and price target of 230p, some way below the 287.8p at which the shares closes the previous day.
English Football League (EFL) television rights are set to double in value as a host of broadcasters get ready to challenge Sky Sports.
The cost to secure the TV rights for the Championship, League One and League Two, is expected to double to over £200mln a year, according to the Daily Mail.
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) chief executive Jamie Dimon believes US interest rates could reach 6%, he said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
The Federal Reserve's policy rate is currently between 4.50% and 4.75%, but that’s expected to continue to rise as the body works to lower inflation.
Rolls-Royce shares might have soared since its results yesterday, but not all are impressed with the recovery plan set out by new chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic.
JP Morgan has kept with an 'underweight' rating, adding that it sees four areas of possible concern with the plans.
Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly concealed tens of millions of dollars in political donations through two FTX executives, an indictment unsealed Thursday revealed, according to reports.
The CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency firm used one executive to funnel donations to centrer-left candidates and causes, while another donated to Republican candidates and causes, the indictment said.
The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shares fell more than 3% in pre-market trading Friday after the commercial airline maker revealed that it has temporarily halted deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets over a documentation issue related to a fuselage component.
Boeing stated on Thursday it “discovered an analysis error by our supplier related to the 787 forward pressure bulkhead.”
For the first time in 14 years, renting in the UK is now cheaper on average than taking out a new mortgage, according to data published by Capital Economics today.
Average mortgage repayments have surged above £1,000 for the first time ever despite tumbling house prices, largely because of the Bank of England’s aggressive rate hike cycle which has drastically increased the cost of borrowing.
BT Openreach’s pending wholesale price cuts to internet service providers (ISPs) are “desperate and premature” according to Mike Fries, chair of Virgin Media O2 owner Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA).
Dubbed Equinox 2, BT Openreach is due to reduce its wholesale costs in April to encourage broadband providers like Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone to move to high-speed full-fibre broadband.
Pantheon International PLC's (LSE:PIN) shares offer investors an "attractive" way to gain diversified exposure to private equity on a global basis, with an "excessively wide" discount of 46% to net assets that "offers significant value", Numis said on the back of the investment trust's interest results yesterday.
The results did not have a huge amount of new information, as the 4% to 469.5p rise in November NAV had already been published, although the broker said they contained some interesting commentary on the market backdrop and portfolio.
There are 25 investment trusts investing in equities with dividend yields ranging between 4% and 7%, with one even higher, that have been recommended by analysts as ISA season ramps up.
Ahead of the ISA deadline in early April and as markets emerge from a gloomy period, many investors are casting around for suitable places to put their savings.
Volkswagen Group (XETRA:VOW)-owned Audi has suggested it could open a new electric vehicle (EV) factory in the US, given “attractive” incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Although it hasn’t confirmed the plans, a move towards US-based production would mark the latest blow to the European EV market, which has struggled to prevent the likes of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and British start-up Arrival from shifting focus to sites across the Atlantic.
Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) has appointed private equity luminary Cheryl Potter as a non-executive director, a move that will give its boardroom a female majority.
As of January 2022 there was 10 FTSE 350 companies with women majority boards, according to the FTSE women leaders review.
Boohoo Group PLC (AIM:BOO) is outperforming its online competitor ASOS PLC (LSE:ASC), according to recent industry data crunched by analysts at Jefferies.
The retail trends barometer run by the broker highlighted one observation that has become apparent through February, “is the outperformance in external data that Boohoo is enjoying versus ASOS.”
GfK’s long-running consumer confidence index increased seven points in February to -38. All five measures were up in comparison to January.
Joe Staton, client strategy director, GfK said, “despite widely reported headwinds of inflation continuing to outstrip wage rises, and the ongoing household challenge from the cost-of-living crisis, consumers have suddenly shown more optimism about the state of their personal finances and the general economic situation, especially for the coming year.”
British car production was stable in January, down -0.3% with just 215 fewer units made, according to figures from industry body Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
The decline was driven chiefly by structural changes, reflecting a move from car to van making at one major plant, but with supply chain shortages still afflicting some manufacturers.
There have been more reasons for UK investors to be more optimistic in recent days (though with supermarkets rationing food, real wages still down and a whole host of other geopolitical worries in the background, it’s all relative).
However, the performance of the FTSE 100 this week also shows that sometimes good news is bad news for the market, which you don’t need to be a blockhead to think is being rather silly.
Webis Holdings (AIM:WEB) PLC shares fell 5% after revealing its main WatchandWager arm had a difficult time during the months of September, October and November.
The gaming group’s chairman Denham Eke called it a “mixed start” to the financial year for the group’s principal subsidiary, with trading having been “strong” during the summer months, with “excellent” commission levels from Saratoga in New York and Del Mar in California.
Jupiter Fund Management PLC (LSE:JUP) shares orbited 14% higher to 153p in early trading, after announcing a better-than-expected set of results for the latter half of the year.
The FTSE 250-listed fund manager saw its share price rise on the back despite reporting a 64% decline in underlying profit to £77.6mln for the past calendar year.
Petrofac Limited (LSE:PFC) shares moved higher after it emerged that private equity offers had been made for sector peer Wood Group (John) PLC (LSE:WG.).
Kin + Carta PLC, the digital transformation consultancy, nosedived 26% to 135p after issuing a profit warning due to macro headwinds experienced at the end of the first half.
“The company is reducing expectations for the year to reflect more cautionary client spending and elongated sales cycles seen across the industry,” a statement covering the six months to 31 January 2023 said.
DoorDash, an American food delivery service, has partnered with Aldi to bring instant delivery to US customers.
The service will be available to customers who live in one of the 38 states where the supermarket chain operates, with over 2,100 locations.
Universal Music Group (UMG) is “well placed” to remain a leader in the global entertainment industry, according to Deutsche Bank, which also upgraded its price target.
Deutsche rated the entertainment conglomerate a ‘buy,’ raising its share price target to €26, from €25 previously, and compared to its last close at €22.52.
Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) has cut prices in more than 30 countries to boost subscriber numbers, but not in the US nor in the UK, two of its key markets.
The streaming group said subscription charges had been lowered in certain places in Asia, Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, with fees in some areas halved, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Decent year but an even better outlook. That's the verdict from American investment bank Citi on full-year results from WPP PLC (LSE:WPP).
The bank said WPP's results and outlook were encouraging, with both organic revenue and margin guidance ahead.
Friday is upon us but bitcoin (BTC) appears to be spoiling the atmosphere, with what is looking like a fourth straight day of losses on the BTC/USDT pair.
It was a highly contested fight between buyers and sellers yesterday with around 4% of amplitude between intraday highs and lows, but the pair ended up losing a straight 1% to close at US$23,940.
British Airways owner, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), returned to profit in 2022 and sealed a deal for the remaining shares in Air Europa it doesn’t own but the news failed to impress the market.
Shares fell 2% in early exchanges putting the airline top of the FTSE 100 fallers.
Subscriber numbers from Warner Bros Discovery Inc (NASDAQ:WBD) for the past quarter missed expectations, as it battles rivals including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.
Despite being boosted by the new BT Sport joint venture with BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A) in the UK, subs came in at 96.1mln for the fourth quarter, up 1.1mln over the three-month period but a tad below the 96.3mln forecast by analysts.
Fruit and vegetable aisles could remain empty until May as oversea supply is squeezed and British producers put off planting crops due to tighter margins, farmers are warning.
Higher energy costs in the UK, alongside a supermarket squeeze, have led to fewer crops being planted, according to the Lea Valley Growers Association.
Broker Liberum has described International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG)'s (IAG) full-year results as "broadly reassuring," with 2023 guidance in line with expectations.
The figures showed the expected return to profitability for the British Airways (BA) owner as travel restrictions eased.
The prices of value items continue to outpace inflation and branded products at supermarkets.
A Which? supermarket food and drink tracker, which analysed more than 25,000 products at eight supermarkets, found value items had increased by 21.6% in January compared to a year earlier.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested that Google be subject to court sanctions over the "intentional and repeated destruction" of company chat logs that the US government had expected to use in its antitrust case targeting Google's search business, according to a CNN report citing court documents.
Despite the company's promise to preserve internal communications relevant to the suit, Google maintained a policy of deleting certain employee chats automatically after 24 hours for years, according to a DOJ filing in the District of Columbia federal court, the report said.
Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) confirmed its once stellar growth has stalled as fourth-quarter revenues slumped while losses rose almost ten-fold.
Arizona-based Carvana pioneered online sales of used cars through its automated ‘car vending machines’, a market that boomed during Covid lockdowns when second-hand prices also soared due to semiconductor shortages hitting new car availability.
Investor confidence is still struggling to recover from the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago, according to Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LSE:HL.).
While its index showed a 14% rise in confidence in February compared to the previous month, it is still 4% lower than it was at the same point in 2022.
ECR Minerals PLC (AIM:ECR) happily reported further high-grade gold intercepts as diamond drilling at its Blue Moon Prospect was completed.
The three latest holes included the best gold intercept yet in the campaign at its 100%-owned Bailieston project in Victoria, Australia, with hole BBMDD010 revealing a composite grade of 6.35 metres (m) at 4.56 grammes of gold per tonne of earth (g/t Au) from 84.9m down.
Mining and commodity trading giant Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) has formally announced the kick-off of a US$1.5bn share buyback programme.
The repurchase operation is expected to be completed before the publication of the group’s interim results in August.
CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL, OTCQB:CTLHF), a company engaged in exploring and developing sustainable lithium projects in Chile, has announced its intention to pursue a listing on the official list of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
Joint lead managers Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Limited and Fox-Davies Capital have been appointed to facilitate the listing, which will hopefully be completed in the third quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approvals and processes.
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG) (IAG) has announced a deal to acquire 80% of the issued share capital of Air Europa from Globalia for an eye-watering sum of €400mln.
The move is expected to position the British Airways (BA) owner to benefit from lucrative growth opportunities in the Latin America and Caribbean market while providing greater connectivity to Asia.
Cineworld Group PLC (LSE:CINE) said it is looking at “a number” of proposals to buy some or all of the group, but that it does not expect shareholders to see any recovery.
The cinema group, which has continued to operate as usual across its Regal, Cinema City, Picture House and Planet cinemas on both sides of the Atlantic in recent months, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in September after struggling badly during the pandemic and finding it hard to recover since under the weight of its debt pile.
Galantas Gold Corp (AIM:GAL, TSX-V:GAL, OTCQX:GALKF) said it is working on a revised mine plan at its Omagh gold mine plus a new resource estimate incorporating 7,800 metres of recent drilling that indicated higher gold grades and thicker widths in dilation zones.
As these dilation zones are below the current underground development, Galantas is working on a plan to develop at these lower levels in order to optimize production.
CVS Group (AIM:CVSG) PLC reported on Friday solid growth in half-year revenue and profit and said it remains confident the outcome for the full year will be in line with market expectations.
The provider of integrated veterinary services said revenue in the six months to 31 December 2022 rose 8.2% to £296.3mln from £273.7mln the year before, while pre-tax profit totalled £28.0mln compared to £22.9mln in the same period in 2021. Earnings per share were 29.6p against 24.7p.
Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX:PLL, NASDAQ:PLL, XETRA:) is preparing to participate in a range of upcoming industry conferences on critical minerals and mining during February and March.
The global developer of lithium resources critical to the US electric vehicle supply chain said senior leadership would be discussing activities such as first production at North American Lithium, offtake updates, near-term cash flow, and key project advancements.
Liberum analysts have taken the long view on the prospects of Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL)’s Woodsmith mineral fertiliser mine in North Yorkshire following news that the mining giant wrote down US$1.7bn after buying initial project runner Sirius Minerals in 2020.
An extended construction period is due to make way to initial production in 2027, albeit at an upscaled extraction of 13 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) against initial projections of 10mtpa.
Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) easily topped fiscal third-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines, but investors may already pricing in a banner fiscal fourth quarter, too.
The Chinese telecommunications titan has been hampered in recent months by severe restrictions in the country due to Covid-19 — restrictions that were abruptly lifted in December. In other words, too late to meaningfully impact third-quarter results.