Lost passport no problem for DX

Andrew Hore
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Lost passport no problem for DX

DX (LON: DX.) is on course with its restructuring and recovery. The loss of the UK passport delivery contract will not prevent the parcel and freight delivery company from moving back into profit.
The loss of the UK passport delivery contract will not prevent the parcel and freight delivery company from moving back into profit.
The targets that have been set in the forecasts earlier this year appeared tough, but DX met the forecast last year and is well on the way to getting to this year’s target. The experienced team that came in last year are showing that they have the capabilities to make...

CAA set to launch largest ever ATOL refund programme

Dina Caruso
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2
CAA set to launch largest ever ATOL refund programme
The Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday that it is launching a new process for what is set to be the largest ever ATOL refund programme for Thomas Cook customers. The Civil Aviation Authority added that it will begin focusing on refunding 360,000 ATOL protected holidays booked for the future with Thomas Cook. This is three times greater than any refund programme it has managed in the past. Last week, the Civil Aviation Authority launched the largest peacetime repatriation, “Operation Matterhorn”, to bring over 150,000 people back to the UK following the collapse of Thomas Cook which left thousands of British holidaymakers stranded abroad. Many took to Twitter to send their thoughts to Thomas Cook staff and customers. In the first seven days, 106,000 people were flown back to the UK. Roughly 94% of people have flown back on the original day of their cancelled flight with Thomas Cook. “We are now also turning our attention to the challenge of refunding 360,000 ATOL protected future Thomas Cook holidays that have been cancelled,” Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said in a statement. “This will be three times larger than any refund programme we have managed before, and we are implementing new systems to enable us to process these refunds as quickly as possible,” Richard Moriarty added. “For around 100,000 bookings made by direct debit we hope to refund these within the next 14 days. Refunds of bookings made by other payment methods will take longer as we do not yet have all of the information we need from Thomas Cook.” Consumers will be able to access an electronic refund form and the Civil Aviation Authority hopes to pay refunds within 60 days of receiving a valid refund form. “We have returned over one hundred thousand people to the UK, but there are still over 43,000 people on holiday abroad due to return on or before 6 October. The scale and complexity of this operation will inevitably cause some inconvenience and disruption and I would like to thank holidaymakers for bearing with us,” the Chief Executive said.

S&U keeps up standards

Andrew Hore
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S&U keeps up standards

Interim figures from motor finance provider S&U (LON: SUS) were solid, but new business obtained in the first half augurs well for a much stronger performance in the second half and next year.
Lending standards have been tightened and that means that S&U is choosy about the business it takes on. It takes time for new loans to start generating a profit contribution.
Interim pre-tax profit rose by 3% to £17.1m and the dividend was increased by 6% to 34p a share.
Motor finance
Motor finance business Advantage Finance is on course to achieve its 20th year of profit growth. Customer numbers...

Trump distraction tactics and FTSE bouncing on an ailing Pound, a lacklustre Friday

Jamie Gordon
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Trump distraction tactics and FTSE bouncing on an ailing Pound, a lacklustre Friday
As the week drew to a close, the populist double-threat both welcomed a weekend of respite following their blunders. On one side of the Atlantic, Donald Trump insisted his innocence, before being incriminated, and responded with yet another hollow promise of trade war progress. A promise which the European indices gladly lapped up and the Dow Jones largely ignored. On home soil, prime minister Boris Johnson shrugged off another defeat imposed by Parliamentary checks and balances, and responded by complaining that checks and balances were undemocratic, before continuing his divide-and-conquer tirade. Thankfully, while the Pound Sterling continued to quake, FTSE seemed to ignore the political fiasco; no doubt bouncing on the back of foreign investors enjoying the UK’s weak currency. Speaking on the market’s movements on Friday, Spreadex Financial Analyst Connor Campbell stated,

“Europe kept a smile plastered on its face this Friday; the Dow Jones, however, was slightly more reticent.”

“The Dow’s unwillingness to do anything more than add 0.1% is perhaps well-founded. Donald Trump is facing impeachment over allegedly seeking aid from Ukraine to impact the 2020 election. That not long after he was claiming a US-China trade deal could arrive sooner than people think stank of distraction tactics, meaning that, after an initial rise following those comments earlier in the week, the Dow hasn’t really moved from 29600.”

“With reports Germany might be open to boosting public spending in order to tackle lacklustre growth, and impending European Commission economic chief Paolo Gentiloni arguing for just that, the Eurozone indices were keen to end a week that began with some disastrous PMIs on a positive note. The DAX rose 0.6%, while the CAC climbed 0.2% (admittedly down on its earlier growth).”

“Though, of course, it helped that its commodity and banking sectors were firmly in the green, it seems only one thing really matters to the FTSE at the moment: watching sterling squirm. The pound remained under pressure on Friday, fears of a general election keeping it at 3-week and 2-week lows against the dollar and euro respectively. In response the UK index jumped 50 points, pushing it past 7400 for the first time in almost 2-months.”

More of the same mess, it would seem. The UK market will be doing smug victory laps as its furniture is being bought up from around it by willing opportunists, Europe’s answer remains ‘throw money at it’, in hopes liquidity in industry will somehow kick-start positive consumer sentiment. Elsewhere in political and macro economic news, there have been updates from; the Supreme Court’s ruling, the collapse of Thomas Cook (LON: TCP), ECB stimulus, the bid for the London Stock Exchange (LON: LSE), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON: LLOY), Jo Johnson quitting, Hilary Benn’s Brexit delay bill, Barclays (LON: BARC) and Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK).

Anglo African Oil & Gas works toward Tilapia rig contract

Jamie Gordon
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1
Anglo African Oil & Gas works toward Tilapia rig contract
Oil and gas exploration and development company Anglo African Oil & Gas (LON: AAOG) saw good financial progress during the first half, as it worked towards signing a rig contract for sidetrack drilling at the Tilapia licence. It told investors that it would be making efforts to sign the contract based on the prospect in the Republic of Congo, following its drilling of the TLP-103C well, which uncovered 56 metres of oil pay, 26 metres in the Mengo formation and 12 metres in the Djeno discovery. “The operational plan is to re-enter the existing TLP-103C well and drill the new sidetrack just below the Mengo formation to test the Upper Djeno and explore the Middle Djeno formations. The objective is to determine whether the Djeno can be brought into production from either horizon. Depending on the flowrate, some enhancements to topside infrastructure at the Tilapia field will be required.” “Of course, drilling activity is never without risk. However, we believe that the sidetrack operations have an attractive risk/reward profile. TLP-103C has already proven the geological model and confirmed the presence of the Djeno at Tilapia. The fallback plan is to produce TLP-103C from the Mengo formation.” Alongside its operational announcements, the Company’s fundamentals revealed financial progress. In a comparison of H1 2018 and H1 2019, revenues had risen some £67,000, up to £173,524 for the six month period ended 30 June. Despite administrative expenses widening by over half a million pounds to £2.12 million, the Group’s net loss narrowed on-year, from a loss of £279,000 to £86,000. Alongside this, Anglo African Oil & Gas shareholders enjoyed similar progress, with their loss per share narrowing from 2.71p, to 1.03p.

Anglo African Oil & Gas comments

Speaking on the update, Chair of the company, Sarah Cope, said, “After the positive TLP-103C well results at the beginning of the year, the remainder of the review period and subsequently has been centred on drawing up a comprehensive forward plan to monetise the discovery in the Djeno at the earliest opportunity.” “With an operational team in place and a funding package finalised, the team is now concentrating on signing a rig contract for the sidetrack into the Djeno. The company will provide further updates at the appropriate time.” Speaking on its outlook, the Company’s statement read, “After the positive TLP-103C well results at the beginning of the year, the remainder of the review period and subsequently has been centred on drawing up a comprehensive forward plan to monetise the discovery in the Djeno at the earliest opportunity. With an operational team in place and a funding package finalised, the team is now concentrating on signing a rig contract for the sidetrack into the Djeno.”

Investor notes

The Company’s shares are up 1.11% or 0.035p to 3.18p per share 27/09/19 14:03 BST. Analysts from finnCap remained unchanged in their ‘Corporate’ stance on Anglo African Oil & Gas stock. Neither a dividend yield nor a p/e ratio are currently available, the Group’s market cap is £12.39 million. Elsewhere in oil and gas news, there have been updates from; Chariot Oil and Gas Limited (LON: CHAR), Union Jack Oil PLC (LON: UJO), Prospex Oil and Gas PLC (LON: PXOG), IGAS Energy PLC (LON: IGAS), Trinity Exploration & Production PLC (LON: TRIN), Baron Oil PLC (LON: BOIL) and Cabot Energy PLC (LON: CAB).  

Howsy: tech giants raise local rents

Dina Caruso
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0
Howsy: tech giants raise local rents
New research revealed on Friday that, on average, boroughs with a tech giant in the neighbourhood have an average rental cost that is 44% higher than the London average. Howsy, the lettings management platform, looked at the current cost of renting in boroughs that have Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), in comparison to the London average. Westminster, which is home to Microsoft and Facebook, is the highest with an average monthly rent of £2,838. This is 64% higher than the London average. Howsy also said that, on average, rental prices in these boroughs have seen a 4.7% increase since the companies moved there, compared to an increase of 1.7% across London as a whole. Howsy’s research cites Google’s move to Camden in 2016 as the “most notable” example, where rents in the borough have increased by 9.2% since the company moved there. This compares to an increase of 0.8% across London as a whole. “It’s great to see such big names committing to London, and the wider economic benefit they bring through the provision of jobs, investing in their workforce and the surrounding area is a big plus,” Calum Brannan, Founder and CEO of Howsy, commented on the research. “However, the downside of so many additional people being drawn to the rental market is this greater demand causes a spike in rental prices. This creates a further financial obstacle for those living in the area without the benefit of a robust tech-based salary and can see many existing residents drive out,” the Founder and CEO continued. “This new age of tenant also comes with an evolved level of requirements for UK landlords to deal with and as we become a nation that is connected on a 24/7 basis, tenants expect an agent or platform that can provide such a service.”

Many small businesses have not or cannot prepare for no-deal, study

Dina Caruso
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1
Many small businesses have not or cannot prepare for no-deal, study
New data revealed on Friday that many small businesses in the UK have either not prepared or are unable to prepare for a no-deal departure from the European Union. New research from the Federation of Small Businesses shows that 39% of small businesses in the UK believe a no-deal departure from the European Union will have a negative impact on them. Of these small firms, only 21% have planned or have prepared for the anticipated problems. Meanwhile, 63% do not think they are able to plan. The Federation of Small Businesses said that, for those that have prepared, the average costs have amounted to roughly £2,000. For smaller businesses that export and import, the average cost increases to £3,000. Moreover, 31% of the small businesses that have prepared have stockpiled ahead of the extended Halloween deadline. “As the risk of a chaotic no-deal Brexit on 31 October remains alive and kicking, it is worrying that many small firms have either not prepared or are finding that they can’t prepare,” Mike Cherry, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, commented on the data. “Ongoing uncertainty is to blame for preparations hitting the skids with the picture still not clear as to how the UK will leave the EU on 31 October. Until we get clarity, small firms must prepare for the cliff edge where possible, and make preparations for a no-deal Brexit,” Mike Cherry continued. “Preparing for this outcome is coming at a high price though with small firms being hit by an unstable pound and having to shell out money on a potential outcome that has been highly disruptive, remains uncertain and is unwanted. Government must use what little time is left before 31 October to provide small firms with the support they need to navigate the uncharted and turbulent waters of a no-deal Brexit.” As the Brexit deadline approaches, the only certainty that prevails is additional uncertainty. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament not only illegal but null and void.

Peel Hunt believes there is value in Burford

Andrew Hore
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Peel Hunt believes there is value in Burford

Broker Peel Hunt has initiated research on litigation finance provider Burford Capital (LON: BUR) and is broadly positive about the company, which has been under fire from critics over the past two months. The note is not without criticism for the firm, though.
Peel Hunt believes that there are governance and disclosure problems, but that they are exaggerated. Burford will need to deliver on its promises of better governance and accounting information.
Burford is the global leader in litigation finance so it should lead the way in reporting and explaining its figures. By its nature, Burford ...

OnTheMarket revenue struggles

Andrew Hore
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OnTheMarket revenue struggles

Signing up clients is one thing but making them pay is much more difficult. That is particularly true when they receive a service for free for some months. OnTheMarket (LON: OTMP) is finding this out and the achievement of a significant profit is getting further away.
OnTheMarket is a portal that enables estate agents to promote the homes that they are trying to sell. This is an alternative to other portals, such as Zoopla and Rightmove. Many of the estate agency clients also have a stake in OnTheMarket and more shares are being issued as incentives to agencies.
Housebuilders are also being ...

FTSE led the market surge following hollow trade war optimism

Jamie Gordon
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0
FTSE led the market surge following hollow trade war optimism
On the back of general election jitters, the Pound Sterling maintained its plateau. This, along with yet more empty words on the trade war situation from Donald Trump, saw the FTSE claim the top spot in Thursday’s winners’ circle. Despite being quoted by the NYT as having lied over 10,000 times during his tenure, markets were willing to swallow up whatever hollow hope he was willing to dole out, and the CAC and DAX ended their sombre start to the week. Speaking on the FTSE’s success and Thursday market movements, Spreadex Financial Analyst Connor Campbell stated,

“The European markets were once again somewhat out of step with the US, still seemingly processing the déjà vu of yesterday’s overly familiarly and cynically-timed trade optimism from Donald Trump.”

“After rising yesterday, the Dow Jones pulled back this Thursday, falling towards 26900 as it dropped 0.2%. In contrast, the DAX and CAC were up 0.5% and 0.9% respectively as they swallowed the President’s claim that a trade deal could be arriving sooner than many think. That allowed the German bourse to hit 12300, with its French cousin crossing 5600.”

“Putting them all to shame was the FTSE, which let rip with a 100 point surge, leaving it at 7380 and near an 8-week peak. This despite some serious casualties amongst its ranks: Pearson fell 14% on problems in its US higher education courseware business; Imperial Brands shed 11% thanks to fears surrounding the crackdown on vaping in America; and IAG lost 3.5% as it took a heavy hit from the month’s pilot strike.”

“Keeping the FTSE buzzing was its commodity sector, obviously influenced by Trump’s trade deal rumours, alongside the continued misery of sterling. The pound failed to make any in roads regarding a recovery of yesterday’s losses; instead the currency spent much of the day flat, paralysed by all the recent talk of a general election.”

Elsewhere in political and macro economic news, there have been updates from; the Supreme Court’s ruling, the collapse of Thomas Cook (LON: TCP), ECB stimulus, the bid for the London Stock Exchange (LON: LSE), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON: LLOY), Jo Johnson quitting, Hilary Benn’s Brexit delay bill, Barclays (LON: BARC) and Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK).
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