While Fred Goodwin is around, former Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) boss Bob Diamond is never going to make it to the “public enemy number one” position.
He’s not even the most reviled individual in his own industry, though the competition is admittedly fierce from a sector that by-and-large bankrupted the world in its pursuit of wealth beyond the dream of avarice.
So, there may not be a lot of sympathy for “Diamond Bob” and his Atlas Mara Ltd (LON:ATMA) venture, the sub-Sahara African financial services group that this morning issued a sub-par first quarter trading update.
The group reported an adjusted underlying loss of US$2.0mln, compared to a profit of US$9.0mln the year before.
The company continues to target full-year results that will exceed the reported profit for 2015 of US$11.3mln but recognised that weaker African currencies and a “more challenging economic backdrop” provide “meaningful head winds to this outcome”.
Over a barrel
Talking of Barclays, its oil team writes: “A combination of strong demand data and unplanned supply outages have finally pushed the Brent oil price back through $50/bl – a level last seen in October 2015 and up 80% from the low point in January.”
I knew I should have filled the tank up last night instead of being stingy and only buying ten quid’s worth at the nearer, but more expensive, of my two local petrol stations …
“In the recent past, $50/bl would not have been seen as inspiring, but the dark days of early 2016 have led, we believe, to a new perspective on the industry from investors and the concept of active energy investment is beginning to dawn. Hence, the key question now is where next? Timing is always in question and as our commodities team highlight in 'A price for all seasons' there are reasons to be cautious in the very near term as some of the unplanned outages restart, but the reality is that the market is seeing an underlying rebalancing and there is an increasingly clear shortfall in capacity in 2018/2019,” Barclays said.
Gulp. Could this mean we may yet see oil at US$60 a barrel and concomitantly dearer petrol prices.
Yes, indeedy, vouches Barclays, which continues to see $60 a barrel “as a reasonable assumption on which to base investment decisions with further upside in the case of a faster recovery”.
Most spivacious
I am obliged to broker N+1 Singer for pointing out that this morning’s acquisition of a car dealership I have never heard of by Marshall Motor Holdings PLC (LON:MMH) transforms Marshall into the seventh largest franchise motor dealer group in the UK, from tenth.
It’s good to know that if Bob Diamond’s current gig turns sour there are plenty of opportunities for him in a more respected profession, i.e. used car salesman.
Westminster's shares take off
Is security services firm Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) going to abandon plans for a capital restructuring now that its shares have doubled in value today and are back above their nominal value.
It is a little known rule that companies cannot issue shares at a level lower than the nominal value of said shares. Don’t ask me why; I don’t even understand why shares have a nominal value.
The point is, that Westminster shares have a nominal value of 10p, and a market value at present of 14.25p – up a cool 159% on the day so far – so maybe they will not now need to go down the route of rebasing the nominal value.
The shares shot up as it confirmed that it is one step closer to inking a deal with a civil aviation authority to provide security services for up to 25 years. The deal, if Westminster clinches it, could add £30mln or more a year to the top line.
It is also worth pointing out that this deal follows up from a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) it signed back in March, and that it has signed seven MoUs this year.
On the subject of airports, Pan African sounds like an airline, but it is a precious metals group.
Pan African makes the going great
Pan African Resources plc (LON:PAF), to give it its full name, had previously agreed to acquire the Standard Bank of South Africa’s (SBSA) 16.9% interest in Shanduka Gold, and now it has revealed to shareholders it has put in an offer to acquire Jadeite Limited’s 33.6% stake on much the same terms as the SBSA.
If accepted, the offer would take Pan African’s stake in Shanduka above 50%, with the shares having cost in aggregate some £23.9mln.