Gulf starts at Sheikh Adi-2 25/05/2012
Iraq-focused oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has begun drilling at the Sheikh Adi-2 well in the Sheikh Adi block.
Hargreaves Services looks East
Resources logistics supplier Hargreaves Services (HSP) is scouting Asian opportunities after lifting annual pre-tax profits 20 per cent to £36.9 million.
The Durham-based company increased turnover 20 per cent to £552.3 million in the year to May and put in a strong performance in continental Europe, where operating profits doubled to £9.9 million.
Year-end net debt was 25 per cent down at £88.2 million, while earnings rose 19.7 per cent to 90.5p a share and directors propose a 14.8 per cent full-year dividend increase to 15.5p a share.
Steered by chief executive officer Gordon Banham, AIM-quoted Hargreaves, which applies itself to coal, coke, waste, recycling and renewables, signed a management and offtake contract with the reopening Hatfield Colliery near Doncaster, also giving it a 10 per cent stake and the ability to earn another 5 per cent. The company also stands to benefit from local authority planning permission granted two months ago for the re-opening of Tower Colliery in South Wales, where Hargreaves has a joint venture with the miners' co-operative that will run the mine and is negotiating to operate the site.
Faced with the prospect of a long-term decline in conventional coal-fired electricity in the UK and continental Europe, the company argues that it can exploit the prospects of a new technology, 'pulverised coal injection' (PCI). Hargreaves says this can provide steel producers with high-grade coal at half the price of coke for a big part of their fuel needs and has a joint PCI venture with Russian coal supplier MIR Trading.
Long-term contracts in the UK, though not on the Continent, should protect Hargreaves' coal revenues for the time being, suggests finance director Iain Cockburn. However, the company has identified Hong Kong, China and India as markets where coal demand is burgeoning and has committed £1 million to establishing a presence in each country through specific targets.
Analysts at broker Arbuthnot see Hargreaves increasing pre-tax profits 30 per cent to £47.8 million this year, with £60.3 million on the cards for 2012-13. Highlighted by Growth Company Investor at 915p in February, the shares now trade at 969p, at which they value the company at £261.2 million and yield 1.5 per cent.
Hold on.
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