Anyone who has had the misfortune to dine in an Angus Steakhouse probably has a built-in suspicion of any company carrying the Angus name.
Angus Deayton also did not exactly do a lot for the name of Angus, but UK onshore oil and gas development and production company Angus Energy Plc (LON:ANGS) has not let the side down on its market debut.
The shares, listed at 6p, got off to an opening premium, trading as high as 8.5p, before settling back to 7.25p.
The news pleased shy and retiring David Lenigas, chairman of UK Oil & Gas, which has a stake in Angus.
The group owns a 55% interest in the Brockham oil field in Surrey and a half-share in the Lidsey oil field in West Sussex.
Angus Energy off to a very good start on its London debut. 7.5-8p.
— David Lenigas (@DavidLenigas) November 14, 2016
The Twitterati are getting in tizzy over reports on the Reuters news agency that the Donald Trump administration will look for ways for the USA to back-out of an agreement to combat climate change.
The USA has committed to an agreement, thrashed out in Paris, to keep the global surface increase to a maximum of two degrees Celsius – they should have converted it to Fahrenheit (3.6°F) to make Americans a bit more comfortable with the figure – to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
For the USA’s part, it has pledged to reduce its pollution levels in 2025 to 26% less than 2005 levels, which it intends to achieve by moving away from burning coal to generate electricity.
The soon-to-be-history Obama administration has pledged to do everything in its power to implement the Paris accord on climate change before Trump takes office, which would mean the USA would have to serve four years’ notice to quit the agreement.
Unless, of course, Trump can find a loophole, or maybe he’ll just ignore it altogether.
It is estimated that the USA is responsible for emitting around 16% of the world’s greenhouse gases; only China emits more.
Trump believes global warming is a “con job”, although it is not entirely clear who is benefiting from this confidence trick. The planet, maybe?
According to the web site climatecentral.org, Trump could reverse out of the agreement a year after it takes effect by abandoning a 1992 treaty.
As he is in his seventies, he probably won’t be around to see whether his view on climate control is proved correct.
On the subject of old age, it has been revealed that dementia has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in England and Wales.
The Office for National Statistics said that last year 11.6% of all recorded deaths were as a result of dementia. In all, 41,283 women died as a result of the disease whereas only 20,403 men did – presumably because women tend to live longer and therefore have more chance of falling victim to the condition.
Heart disease is still the leading cause of death for men.
It has not been a particularly cheery look at what’s trending in news circles today, but it seems too late to stop now, so let’s move on to news that a list of the Marks & Spencer Group PLC (LON:MKS) stores under threat of closure is now available.
The closures will primarily hit towns and cities where there is more than one M&S outlet. Among those places listed are a few that I could probably not accurately place on a map of the UK even with a 100-mile leeway, such as Bridlington, Brierley Hill and Fareham, though that probably says more about my geography knowledge than the size of those towns.
M&S is looking to close 30 shops and convert 45 others to its Simply Food format.