Stockopedia Articles

Striking graphic of US income growth (or lack thereof)

Clive Corcoran — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:26:00 +0000

Is Gold starting to trade like a currency?

Sol Palha — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:11:38 +0000

Remember when $25, 000 was a success? Now it is a garbage collector.

Frank Dane

At one point on Monday the Dollar was trading in the red and Gold which should have shot up was actually trading roughly 10 dollars lower. As the Day progressed both the Dollar and the Euro were trending upwards together while Gold continued to slide. The story below attempts to provide a reason for this phenomenon.

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Gold prices in New York fell the most in a month on speculation that Greece’s fiscal crisis will be resolved, reducing#8230;

A Guide to Valuing Oil Companies (part 2)

Anna Morrell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:04:58 +0000
Anna Morrell wrote:
Some of the difficulties involved in valuing oil companies are because the company is always developing along the trajectory from 'we think there's oil there' to 'we know there's oil there and we can prove it'. As an investor, you're looking for the extra value - which might not be what the reserves are worth now, but what you think they'll be worth if three out of the next five wells hit oil.

Remember that reserve values can grow in two ways. First, the reserve can be increased if#8230;
BLND.L

The Value in Smaller Companies

Richard Power — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:43:00 +0000
Richard Power wrote:
Markets continue to be described as volatile, the translation being ‘investors are finding it almost impossible to identify a directional trend'. There are reasons for this; some from far flung locations such as China and Greece, others are closer to home, and therefore more relevant to the smaller company index in the UK. The first concern occupying the minds of investors is the general election, and the unquantifiable implications of the numerous outcomes. The second is the much muted double dip. Were it to happen, there is unlikely to be much evidence this side of the election, so smaller company#8230;
MAYG.L ABM.L

What is bothering the markets?

Lothar Mentel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:20:00 +0000
Lothar Mentel wrote:
The past few weeks have seen economic data and news flow playing out across the markets each week. If 2009 was all about banks, then 2010 is panning out to be all about countries, or more specifically the amount of sovereign debt and the associated fears of potential default.

Taking centre stage at present is Greece, but waiting in the wings are Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. The current issues in Greece and the implications across the wider European Union are making an understandably uncertain market even more nervous. Monetary policy decisions are likely to be a constant worry for#8230;

Gold And Silver: US Mint Bullion Coin Sales

Adam Hamilton — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:03:26 +0000
Adam Hamilton wrote:
The US Mint’s popular American Eagle gold and silver coins remain in high demand by US investors. Working to overcome production bottlenecks, the Mint radically stepped up operations last year to the highest levels by far of this entire secular gold bull. The Mint’s Eagle sales data offers interesting insights into physical precious-metals demand.

Back in the early 1980s, foreign gold coins like the famous South African Krugerrand were soaring in popularity. The US Congress didn’t want the United States to be left out of the prestigious national gold-coin realm, so it crafted the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985#8230;

Markets... Surprise!! Yes, they are still going up!

Robbie Burns — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:46:42 +0000
Robbie Burns wrote:
The UK market doesn't seem to care about our debt or the trouble we are in - the only thing that counts is following the US.

Wow. Great results from Nestor Healthcare Group (LON:NSR). I can see why they've been rising. I'm up more than £5,000 now including the spreadbets. On those figures I'm not at all tempted to cash in yet. Indeed.. can you guess what's coming? Yes, right! I bought some more! This time another 8,000 at 51.9. New target for these is 70p. I think there is another 25% upside#8230;

A Guide to Oil amp; Gas Company Valuation: What's the Drill Bit Worth?

Anna Morrell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:14:50 +0000
Anna Morrell wrote:
Valuing oil exploration companies is quite tricky. You're valuing possibilities and probabilities, rather than actual resources; and there's no one way of doing it, but rather quite a few different approaches. Even where a Competent Person's Report (CPR) gives you most of the data on resources, you need to be able to take your own view on what the resources are actually worth.

I'm going to run two articles on this topic. This first one is about how oil exploration companies develop and what resources and reserves are#8230;

Fox Davies Capital Update featuring Geopark Holdings, Nautical Petroleum, Dragon Oil, Europa Oil amp; Gas, Baobab Resources

Fox Davies Capital — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:01:13 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:

Geopark Hldgs (LON:GPK, 424p, ▼ (0.82%)) has formed a new strategic partnership with LG International Corporation (quot;LGIquot;), the Korean conglomerate to jointly acquire and develop upstream oil and gas projects in Latin America.

LGI is the energy, natural resource and trading affiliate of LG Corporation, the large international Korean company with 147 subsidiaries operating in over 50 countries and with annual sales exceeding US$100 billion. LGI has successfully invested and operated in the oil and gas exploration and production business for over twenty years including current upstream#8230;
EOG.L GPK.L BAO.L

Cove Energy ready to spend £25 million

Stockopedia News — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:19:01 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Cove Energy announced this morning a placing of 64,300,000 shares of 1 pence each at 40 pence per ordinary share. They have raised £25.7 million to be allocated towards explorational commitments and working capital. Cove expect the new ordinary shares to trade on AIM on the 15th March, 2010.

The upstream oil and gas company say they will use the new capital for ongoing commitments in Rovuma Basin, offshore Mozambique as well as for general working capital requirements. Following the success of the#8230;
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Global Energy Development targets growth despite profit slump

Stockopedia News — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:03 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Global Energy Development (LON:GED) reported today a pre-tax profit slump in 2009, attributable to volatile and consistently low oil prices. In a separate announcement today, the company announced their three year plan to increase production volumes.

Global Energy Development is a petroleum exploration and production company focused on Latin America, where they pursue a long-term strategy of finding and developing reserves. The company holds 100% of all contracts and rights to explore for and/or produce oil and gas from a geographically diversified portfolio#8230;
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Fox Davies Capital Update featuring BPC, Cove Energy, Circle Oil, KazMunaiGas, Coal of Africa

Fox Davies Capital — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:07:31 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Bpc (LON:BPC, 4.1p, ▼ (5.75%)) announced that the Company has placed a total of 69,842,860 new ordinary shares, at a placing price of 3.5p per share with institutional shareholders to raise approximately £2.4 million, gross of expenses. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Placing to provide additional working capital.

Cove Energy (LON:COV, 41p, ▼ (2.96%)) announced the Company has conditionally raised approximately £25.7 million before expenses by the issue of 64,300,000 new ordinary shares at a price of 40p per ordinary#8230;

Reading the tea leaves...

David Crawford — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:49:07 +0000
David Crawford wrote:
After a few poor days on the Absolute Return fund I am left nursing my losses and analysing whether my positioning is correct. I have moved to a net short position with a bias towards being short cyclical stocks including mining stocks.

When I think back to the beginnings of the stock market fall in 2007, it went something like this. The smart money went short when most of the market was still buying. The problems of over-leverage and a weakening housing market were apparent to all, but most market participants said that it would be an isolated event and#8230;

Tullow Oil to invest $500m in exploration growth

Stockopedia News — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:14:18 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Tullow Oil Plc (LON:TLW, PINK:TUWLF) announced this morning that their 2009 annual results were down on 2008, despite exceptional exploration developments. The group attributed the downturn to a slump in production volumes and commodity prices.

Tullow is one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in Europe, quoted on the London and Irish Stock Exchanges. The Group has interests in over 85 exploration and production licences across 23 countries and focuses on four core areas: Africa, Europe, South Asia#8230;
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Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Gulf Keystone, Ascent Resources, Global Energy Development and Platinum Australia

Stockopedia News — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:05:29 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Oil amp; Gas News

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (BUY, £2.00) (LON:GKP, 93.75p, ▲ (9.33%)) has negotiated with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to reorganise the Company's interest in Gulf Keystone Petroleum International (GKPI) following a material default by ETAMIC. Under the agreement the 50% shareholding of GKPI held by ETAMIC reverts to GKP. GKPI will then be a 100% subsidiary of GKP. GKPI will pay $40m to the KRG which is an Infrastructure Support Payment due and owing by ETAMIC, in return for GKPI maintaining its 80% interest in Sheikh#8230;
GED.L PLAA.L GKP.L AST.L

Pursuit dynamics - half full or half empty?

valueinvestor — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:19:45 +0000
valueinvestor wrote:
One of the things that intrigues me about Pursuit Dynamics (LON:PDX) is that views on it are so polarised. Look at any of the bulletin boards - or at press comment on the company - and you'll find half the world seems to hate it, while the other half thinks it's the Second Coming. There doesn't seem to be much in the middle. The other thing that intrigues me is that the share price has rocketed over the last couple of weeks, particularly since#8230;
PDX.L

Defrauding the weak and the elderly

Sol Palha — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:06:14 +0000
Sol Palha wrote:
Once again, they find a way to stick it to the elderly, poor and the meek. Last time they decided that giving $250 dollars to senior citizens was too much money because according to their brain dead methodology inflation was not a threat and so increase was necessary. Now they are looking for ways to collect on debt that was once forgiven or forgotten, and they want to go after those on fixed income. Talk about rubbing acid into open wounds. The story below explains this terrible change of events in more detail. One also wonders why they have to#8230;

Provexis' tomato extract technology could challenge Aspirin

Stockopedia News — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:10:02 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Provexis (LON:PXS) announced today that it has completed the human trial comparing the effects of Fruitflow, its anti-thrombotic technology made from tomato extract, with aspirin.

Provexis focuses on the discovery, development and licensing of scientifically-proven functional food, medical food and dietary supplement technologies. Results from the trial show that Fruitflow, their patented, scientifically-proven extract, inhibits several pathways involved in platelet aggregation. In contrast, Aspirin, an anti-inflammatory drug, primarily targets only one specific platelet aggregation pathway. The results demonstrate that Fruitflow is effective in preventing platelet aggregation,#8230;
PXS.L

Texan wells produce results for Empyrean Energy

Stockopedia News — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:25:41 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:

Empyrean Energy (LON:EME) announced this morning that drilling has begun at their onshore Texan well, Aquarius. A separate report was issued stating the company have reached total depth at another Texan prospect, the Hercules well. The company have a 10% interest in both wells.

Empyrean Energy is a London-based company, established to finance the exploration, development and production of energy resource projects with a predominant focus on projects in geopolitically stable environments. Current projects include Riverbend (Texas, USA), Sugarloaf Hosston Project (Texas, USA), Project Margarita (Gulf#8230;

Victoria Oil and Gas strike good news at Cameroon well

Stockopedia News — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:50:00 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:

Victoria Oil amp; Gas announced today that their Cameroon project, the La-105 well, is showing rates in excess of 55 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Depths are reportedly between 7,005 -8,500 feet.

Victoria Oil amp; Gas is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with projects in Africa and the FSU. The Company's principal assets are the Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon and the West#8230;
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Circle Oil Exceed Expectations at Egyptian Well

Stockopedia News — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:02:33 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Circle Oil (LON:COP) announced this morning that the Egyptian Al-Amir SE-5 appraisal well has been successfully drilled, tested and is reportedly now ready for production.

Listed on AIM in October 2004, Circle Oil is an international oil amp; gas exploration, development and production Company with a portfolio of assets in Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Egypt and Namibia. The Company has expanded its portfolio over the past 2 years and now has assets in the Rharb Basin, Morocco; the Ras Marmour Permit in southern Tunisia; the Mahdia Permit offshore Tunisia; the Grombalia Permit#8230;
COP.L

Hybridan Smallcap Wrap featuring Summit, Cashbox and Sarantel

Hybridan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:53:05 +0000
Hybridan wrote:

This week: Summit far from its peak, Cashbox in a hole in the wall and Sarantel picks up the right signal

Ant (LON:ANTP 29.5p/ £7.16m)

Ant, the software company that allows TV operators to manage their content and provides customers with the ability to self-select services on demand, announced its 2009 year end results. Revenues were up 26% at £4.7m (2008: £3.7m), a grand performance considering the challenging economic environment. This reduced the loss before tax to £626,000 (2008: £1.013m), down 38% and with a strong cash position of £5.05m (2008: £5.65m). Ant#8230;

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Circle Oil, Victoria Oil amp; Gas and Leed Petroleum

Fox Davies Capital — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:06:25 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas Corporate News

Circle Oil (BUY, £0.80) (LON:COP, 37.5p, ▲7.1%) Circle Oil Plc announced that the Al-Amir SE-5 appraisal well has been uccessfully drilled and production tested in the Al-Amir Development Lease in the onshore North West Gemsa Concession in Egypt. The Kareem Formation Sandstones under test flowed 42oAPI oil at sustained average rates of 6,150 bopd and 6.9 MMscfd of gas using a 64/64quot; choke and at 4,300 bopd and 4.9 MMscfd of gas using a 48/64quot; choke from the upper of the two#8230;

British American Tobacco - Providing new highs

Fat Prophets — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:08:45 +0000
Fat Prophets wrote:
Tobacco giant British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) for one has recently reached all time share price highs and looking at recent results it is not difficult to see why. In a recession dominated year in which top line growth was a very rare commodity, the company managed to boost revenues by 17%, ramp up pre tax profits by almost 11% and increase its dividend payout by 19%.

BAT’s top line came in at £14.2 billion with various factors underpinning the result. Favourable exchange rate movements played a part, as#8230;
BATS.L

Lack of suitable rigs delay Pantheon Resources' drill schedule

Stockopedia News — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:25:42 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Pantheon Resources (LON:PANR) today announced that due to suitable rigs being currently occupied, the spudding of its second well on the Tyler County prospect has been delayed until May 2010.

The well operator, Vision Resources, is said to have undertaken a comprehensive search for rigs capable of withstanding the Tyler County environment, which covers deep shale plays in East Texas and Western Louisiana. However, because of a lack of available suitable rigs in the area, the drilling schedule has now been put back#8230;
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Valiant Petroleum hits initial targets at North Sea prospect

Stockopedia News — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:41:57 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Valiant Petroleum (LON:VPP) announced today that production has been commissioned and delivery has begun at the Don Southwest and West Don prospect in the North Sea. Since incorporation in 2004, Valiant has built its core position in the northern North Sea, operating with a strategy to create a portfolio of exploration, appraisal, development and producing oil and gas assets by utilising synergies within its joint venture and field areas, active technical involvement and operatorship.

The oil and gas exploration company revealed today that#8230;
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Oil and Gas explorer, Gulf Keystone, raise cash to develop Kurdistan projects

Stockopedia News — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:23:30 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) announced today it has drawn down £900,000 of its £30 million standby equity distribution agreement with YA Global Master.

The independent oil and gas exploration and production company, with principal assets in Kurdistan and Algeria, signed a £30 million standby equity agreement with YA Global in May 2009.

Today they revealed that this is the seventh draw down under the standby agreement, totalling a sum of £17,960,000. Under the agreement, Gulf Keystone have allocated 1,181,009 shares#8230;
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Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Max Petroleum, Valiant Petroleum, Gulf Keystone, African Minerals and Cluff Gold

Fox Davies Capital — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:01:30 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas News

Max Petroleum (BUY, £0.50) (LON:MXP, 20.5p, ▲ (2.50%)) announced that it has commenced drilling the KZN-1 exploration well on the North Kyzylzhar II East Block prospect in Block E, the second of twelve post-salt exploration prospects scheduled to be drilled by the Company on Blocks Aamp;E in Kazakhstan. Furthermore, the Company will commence testing the BOR-1 exploration well on the Borkyldakty prospect in Block E later this week, upon obtaining final regulatory approvals.

Comment: Well KZN-1 is targeting post-salt objectives at around 1,500m#8230;
AMI.L GKP.L VPP.L MXP.L

Red Rock Resources: Value Proposition

Mining Maven — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:20:00 +0000
Mining Maven wrote:

After quite an eventful week in terms of price action, we saw Red Rock Resources  close on Friday at 1.9 -2.15 with heavy trading volumes (13.3m) throughout the day. This was driven in the main by a strong performance by Jupter Mines overnight in Australia. It certainly seems that the Tshipi Kalahari manganese story has struck the right cord with the market. No need to remind readers that Red Rock hold 93 million shares in Jupiter mines, which puts Red Rock on a mere AU$931k (or so £558k in our own devalued currency) per#8230;
RRR.L

A guide to behavioural investing

Anna Morrell — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:56:06 +0000
Anna Morrell wrote:
We like to think of ourselves as clever, logical, rational investors. We like to think we're smart. Unfortunately, as James Montier's recent book reminds us [ref] The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How Not to be Your Own Worst Enemy - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Book-Behavioral-Investing-Profits/dp/0470686022 [/ref] , we are often driven by pride, fear, greed, shamed, or contrariness. Investors are no more rational than anyone else. In fact, our brains often work against us.

Behavioural economics looks at how people behave, and why - and shows that markets are driven by irrational#8230;

The Singularity and our Future

John Mauldin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:20:00 +0000
John Mauldin wrote:
I, Robot
The Mauldin Test
Who Stole My Nanotech?
Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink
The Promise of Biotech
DIY-Bio
Random Takeaways
Home Again, Cambridge, and Cincinnati

We are in an era of accelerating change, moving toward a future that will be profoundly different from the past we grew up in. But what will the nature of that change be? What will the future look like? For the last 7 days I have been in an executive#8230;

Bubbleomics: Australian House Price

Andrew Butter — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:36:57 +0000
Andrew Butter wrote:
I have a mate with some rental property in Sydney so when I saw Mike Shedlock’s piece on Australian property I sent her the link.

Today I saw another article by Ironman at Political Calculation that, if I understood it correctly, says “stand down, the bubble popped in 2004.quot;

I don’t know hardly anything about Australia or their house prices. I went there for ten days in 1988 and met a lot of very hospitable people, placed a bet on the Melbourne Cup and won, that’s about all I remember.

But I think I know a thing or#8230;

Economics in One Picture

Greg Mankiw — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:35:00 +0000
Greg Mankiw wrote:

Source. Thanks to Joshua Gans for the pointer.

Precious Metals and the Dollar

Sol Palha — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:55:28 +0000
Sol Palha wrote:

Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow -- perhaps it all will.

Albert Einstein,1879-1955, German-born American Physicist

The dollar has rallied very strongly easily taking out the lower end of the targets we projected several months ago. It almost closed above 81 on a monthly basis. Had it done this, it would have made the outlook even more bullish. The dollar has gone on to put in series of new 9 month highs and thus by contrast one would have expected Gold and the other precious metals#8230;

Hedge Funds: Don't shoot the messenger

Tim Price — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:51:56 +0000
Tim Price wrote:

Marty: quot;You know in Greece they cut off the head of the messenger who brought bad news.quot;

Visser: quot;Now that don't make much sense.quot;

Marty: quot;No. It just made them feel better.quot;

-       From the screenplay to 'Blood Simple' by Joel and Ethan Coen.

The commentary will be taking a short break next week and will return on Monday 22nd March.

When you are a government and your finances are shot, pinning the blame on speculators as opposed to your own fiscal incompetence is always an option. Even that term „speculators‟ may be overly contentious, though after the#8230;

Debt: America's Greatest Export Success Until 2007

Andrew Butter — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:23:40 +0000
Andrew Butter wrote:
Beginning in the late nineties up to 2007 exports of debt (at that time mainly private sector “products”, now called “legacy” or “toxic”), was America’s biggest export category accounting for 21% of total exports (including debt) compared to 19% for Capital Goods (including autos and auto parts which were 4%). [ref] http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/press.html amp; http://www.bea.gov/international/bp_web/simple.cfm?anon=486060amp;table_id=1amp;area_id=3 [/ref]

In 2008 and 2009 exports of debt (the toxic stuff plus the nominally non-toxic stuff (US Treasuries)), only accounted for 3%. It is common practice to#8230;

Great books to help you invest

valueinvestor — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:51:03 +0000
valueinvestor wrote:
Everyone has their favourite investment books. Some are intensely boring, but full of information you need to digest. I remember, early in my career, being started on a couple of those - it nearly put me off investing for life. So I'm going to look at books that maybe won't instruct you in the niceties of the latest International Accounting Standards, but will inspire you as an investor and perhaps get you thinking about value, debt, money and the stock market in ways you hadn't before.

I've got to#8230;

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Xcite Energy, Max Petroleum, San Leon Energy and Hochschild Mining Plc

Fox Davies Capital — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:59:32 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas News

Xcite Energy (LON:XEL, 40p, ► (0.0%)) has signed a legally binding letter of agreement with Challenger Minerals (North Sea) Limited (quot;CMNSquot;) for CMNS to farm in to the Bentley field, commencing with the forthcoming 9/3b-R well intended to be drilled this summer. CMNS, a subsidiary of Transocean Drilling U.K. Limited, will provide US$4 million as its share of the 9/3b-R well costs in exchange for 4% working interest in the Bentley field through#8230;

Peak oil? How about snake oil!

The Prospector — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:08:03 +0000
The Prospector wrote:
I keep hearing about peak oil. We are running out of oil. The price can only go one way - up. US production peaked in the 1970s, and as fields decline, they're producing less and less (the average decline in production is 9% a year once a field has passed its peak). No one is finding any new oil, reserves are running down, it's time to panic and within ten years we'll be living in an apocalyptic wasteland reminiscent of Mad Max and the Thunderdome.

Yeah#8230;

Is it all too much and is 5550 the top for now?

Robbie Burns — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:56:00 +0000
Robbie Burns wrote:
I'm glad I follow the markets and not try and forecast them - I did think they might go down! A very strong showing but the big question is, is it all too much and is 5550 the top for now? It would look pretty bullish if 5550 went. The markets are definitely strong right now. Are they right? Who knows, they are there to be followed. However one wonders whether if they carry on rising whether that would induce a nasty fall.

Anyway what have I been up#8230;

Petroceltic plans to charge forward in Algeria, Tunisia and Italy

Stockopedia News — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:40:24 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
After a busy 2009, Petroceltic International (LON:PCI) today announced further drilling projects in Algeria, Italy and Tunisia for 2010.

Petroceltic is an independent upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on North Africa and the Mediterranean with headquarters in Dublin and interests in Algeria, Italy and Tunisia. Petroceltic is a publicly quoted company with shares listed on the Alternate Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange and on the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) of the Irish Stock Exchange.

In Algeria, the company said an appraisal programme will commence in the#8230;
PCI.L

Asian Market Wrap - March 4th 2010

ABN Newswire — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:24:13 +0000
ABN Newswire wrote:
[video]http://videos.stockopedia.co.uk/Asian%20Market%20Videos/asian_markets_overview_20100304_med.flv[/video]

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Petroceltic, Great Eastern Energy, Dominion Petroleum, Hydrodec, Hardy Oil amp; Gas and Kalahari Minerals

Fox Davies Capital — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:01:17 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas News

Petroceltic International (LON:PCI, 13p, ▲ (4.0%)) announced an operational update on its activities in Algeria, Tunisia and Italy. In Algeria, data collected in the 2009 drilling campaign has been incorporated into a P50 resource estimate of 5,796Bcf of gas and 64MMbbls of oil. Appraisal work on the licence will begin in Q4 2010. At the Ksar Hadada licence in Tunisia, where Petroceltic and Independent Resources own 27.03% and 18.97%#8230;
PCI.L KAH.L HDY.L DPL.L

The Mass Mindset: The Mistakes Most Traders Make

Sol Palha — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:24:50 +0000
Sol Palha wrote:

It's not the bulls and bears you need to avoid -- it's the bum steers.
~ Chuck Hillis ~

Stock is going nowhere; its pure junk, let me look at something else.

Lucky break, its going to definitely crash.

What, it's still going up, earnings are not so good, people are definitely getting carried away, its going to pull back and crash.

Ahh, see I knew it was going to crash, thank God I did not buy. (Mistake the mass#8230;

Do failed flotations show that the stock market is shut or showing great value?

Andrew Buchanan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:16:14 +0000
Andrew Buchanan wrote:
Do you remember that one of the themes of 2010 was going to be the revival of flotations or at least so said the pundits at the end of 2009? You would be forgiven if you thought that the stock market had given up on its primary function of financing companies, their growth and their ability therefore to employ greater numbers of individuals. The stock market, by which most people understand the Full List of the London stock market,#8230;

Valuation: Where Is The 30-Year Treasury Yield Going?

Andrew Butter — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:11:04 +0000
Andrew Butter wrote:
Not many people say this, but recently I noticed one of the guys at Minyanville saying…out of the blue, that the “fundamental” value of a stock is the best estimate of what the earnings will be discounted using the best estimate of what the 30 Year will be.

I almost had a heart attack!

Not many people say that; Tobin’s “q” says the “fundamental” is all about book value, that’s what you paid depreciated to now, but the way accountants do valuations of#8230;

Asian Market Wrap - March 3rd 2010

ABN Newswire — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:53:44 +0000
ABN Newswire wrote:
[video]http://videos.stockopedia.co.uk/Asian%20Market%20Videos/asian_markets_overview_20100303_med.flv[/video]

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Salamander Energy, Highland Gold, Beowulf Mining, Griffin Mining and Chromex Mining

Fox Davies Capital — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:59:01 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas News

Salamander Energy Plc (LON:SMDR, 259.2p, ▲ (1.89%)) has agreed to acquire the full authorised share capital of Bontang Energy Limited, the holder of a 20% interest in its operated Bontang PSC, from PT. Eksindo Petroleum Tabuhan (quot;Eksindoquot;). On completion Salamander will have a 90% interest in the Bontang PSC, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The consideration will be satisfied through the issue of 792,942 new Salamander ordinary shares to Eksindo. The Bontang PSC lies at the northern end of the prolific Kutei basin#8230;
SMDR.L BEM.L GFM.L

SEC’s curbs on short selling a waste of time

Sol Palha — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:24:36 +0000
Sol Palha wrote:
The rule puts in a so-called circuit breaker for stock prices, restricting short-selling of a stock that has dropped 10 percent or more for the rest of a trading session and the next one. The new curbs take effect in about 60 days but stock exchanges have six months after that to implement them. Full story.

The above rule will only serve to delay the inevitable and could actually worsen the situation. For example, let’s say a former high flyer disappoints the street with its earnings report. Normally, the stock is bid up in anticipation of blow out earnings,#8230;

Gold and Silver

Sol Palha — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:23:50 +0000
Sol Palha wrote:

See it big, and keep it simple.

Wilferd A. Peterson

From high to Low Silver has dropped over 24%. From high to low Gold has so far shed only roughly 12%. Silver also did not take out its 2008 highs when Gold went on to put in a series of new all time highs. This is another massive intra market negative divergence signal and yet another reason to suggest that Gold could correct/consolidate for several months. On a positive note gold has held up remarkably well in the face of a very strong rally from the#8230;

Frank Basa of Gold Bullion Development Corp: The Next Osisko?

Dominic Frisby — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:11:06 +0000
Dominic Frisby wrote:
Dominic Frisby talks to Frank Basa about his company Gold Bullion Development Corp (TSX.V:GBB) and the exciting drill results that have just come out at their Granada Project in Quebec.

GBB is an exploration company, a mining company and a processing company. Its strategy is to re-open former gold and silver producing mines in reknowned gold/silver camps in countries of low political risk. Its flagship Granada property, 4 miles south of Rouyn-Nevada in Quebec, is located on the prolific Cadillac trend, which has hosted numerous multi-million ounce gold deposits. This was once a man and GBB is#8230;

Red Rock Resources' Finest Hour!

Mining Maven — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:55:00 +0000
Mining Maven wrote:
For Red Rock's Management and Shareholders alike, Monday the 1st of March 2010 will be remembered as the day the the company turned the page on a new chapter in its development cycle.  To borrow from Winston Churchill, these events are likely to be seen as marking quot;the end of the beginningquot; in the ongoing story of Red Rock Resources (LON:RRR). The big news came from Jupiter Mines, (ASX:JMS) the Australian miner in which Red Rock are currently 25% shareholder. Announcing they are in the advanced stages of negotiations to acquire a 49.9% stake in the Tshipi Kalahari Manganese project in#8230;
RRR.L

The Retirement Lottery

Niels Jensen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:17:19 +0000
Niels Jensen wrote:

“What you as the City of London have done for financial services, we as a government intend to do for the economy as a whole.”

Gordon Brown speaking at Mansion House in June 2002.

I was born in 1959, right at the tail end of the baby boom. I consider myself less fortunate than my parents, both of whom were born in 1935, when Fred Perry won at Wimbledon and President Roosevelt pushed through new social security legislation in the US as#8230;

Asian Market Wrap - March 2nd 2010

ABN Newswire — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:09:56 +0000
ABN Newswire wrote:
[video]http://videos.stockopedia.co.uk/Asian%20Market%20Videos/asian_markets_overview_20100302_med.flv[/video]

Dominic Frisby interviews Tim Coughlin of Lydian International and Frank Lucas

Dominic Frisby — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:04:11 +0000
Dominic Frisby wrote:
Exploration geologist, Tim Coughlin, of Lydian International (TSX:LYD) , who are developing Amulsar, a very exciting gold project in Armenia, discusses his latest company news: which is that Lydian are buying Newmont's stake in the Amulsar Project. This is a big development for the company and he looks at the why, the wherefore and the where next. He is joined for the interview by legendary corporate financier Dr Frank Lucas of Loeb Aron .

[audio]http://commoditywatch.podbean.com/mf/feed/vd22g9/Lydian.mp3[/audio]

Dragon Oil - Still breathing fire

Fat Prophets — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:02:33 +0000
Fat Prophets wrote:
Specialist oil and gas exploration and production companies such as Dragon Oil (LON:DGO) provide greater leverage to the price of crude oil than fully integrated energy companies such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell. Earnings of the industry heavyweights have been hamstrung by weak downstream operations… something alien to Dragon Oil.

Instead, Dragon has been able to focus on what it does best boosting its production profile through its expertise with the drill bit. Indeed during 2009, the Turkmenistan focused company increased average daily output by#8230;
DGO.L

Hybridan Small Cap Wrap featuring Animalcare, Avesco and Wren Extra Care

Hybridan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:21:01 +0000
Hybridan wrote:

This week: Animalcare flies, Avesco Rises and Wren Extra Care is expanding.

Animalcare Group (LON:ANCR 117.5p / £23.37m)

Supplier of pharmaceutical and other premium products and services to the veterinary industry and the manufacturer and supplier of premium quality livestock products to agricultural retailers has been moving up from the £1 per share level all this year. Last week it announced its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2009 and demonstrated why the share price is on the move.

James Lambert, Chairman of Animalcare said “I am pleased to report#8230;
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Fox Davies Capital update featuring Caza Oil amp; Gas, Chariot Oil amp; Gas, Valiant, Angel Mining, Beacon Hill Resources and Connemara Mining

Fox Davies Capital — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:30:11 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:

Caza Oil amp; Gas (LON:CAZA, 4p, ► (0.0%)) announced that it has contracted Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. to drill the Matthys-McMillan Gas Unit #2 development well located in the Wharton West Wilcox Field. The well is planned to be drilled to a total depth of 15,200ft and is a direct offset to Caza's Matthys-McMillan Gas Unit #1 well. Drilling operations were commenced on Thursday, February 25, 2010, and the well is expected to take 60 days#8230;

San Leon Energy: could this be the One?

monkeynuts — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:59:39 +0000
monkeynuts wrote:
I'm still looking for the oil company that's going to make my fortune. It certainly wasn't Petrel Resources (phew, glad I sold that at 50p!) and it's not Petroceltic International, which seems to be going gently into that good night, judging by the oil price. Strangely, I've done better with BP and Royal Dutch Shell B, particularly when you consider the dividend income I've had over the last five years or so! But the oil stock that's going to make a real mark on my portfolio#8230;
SLE.L

Becoming a better Investor

Sol Palha — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:26:01 +0000
Sol Palha wrote:
The main focus of any good trader should be to spend time trying to identify new and upcoming trends; this is not an easy task. It’s a difficult task because one has to go against the herd; one has to on many occasions even go against one’s own way of thinking because one is embracing a concept that one’s own nature will naturally try to rebel against. The reason for this struggle is due to the fact that we are wired to seek the company of others; we feel safety in numbers. This may be true when it comes to#8230;

Asian Market Wrap - March 1st 2010

ABN Newswire — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:35:36 +0000
ABN Newswire wrote:
[video]http://videos.stockopedia.co.uk/Asian%20Market%20Videos/asian_market_overview_20100301_med.flv[/video]

Fox Davies Capital Update featuring San Leon Energy, Victoria Oil amp; Gas, Tower Resources and Tullow Oil

Fox Davies Capital — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:02:40 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas Corporate News

San Leon Energy (Research restricted) (LON:SLE, 23p, ▲ (3.37%)) and Talisman Energy Inc. announced that a farmout has been signed between the San Leon Polish subsidiary Oculis Investments Sp. z o.o. and Talisman Energy Inc. for the exploration of shale gas in the Baltic Basin onshore Poland. Under the agreement Talisman has agreed to pay 60% of the costs of a seismic programme and has made a cash payment of EUR1.5m to San Leon. The remaining 40% will be conducted and paid for under the 2009 agreement between PGS and San Leon. Talisman will#8230;

Did The Fed Pay 'Face' For $187.5 Billion Chinese-Owned Legacy Assets?

Andrew Butter — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:43:51 +0000
Andrew Butter wrote:
Two pieces of disturbing news on the wires this week:

The Chinese are NOT buying US debt anymore.

The Chinese ARE buying US debt (except they are buying it through intermediaries). [ref] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/china-may-be-hiding-us-treasury-bonds-experts-20100226-p7h6.html [/ref]

And then there is always the fear that China might dump $700 billion or so of US Treasuries and so yields will go through the roof. [ref] http://www.moneyweek.com/investments/why-investors-fear-a-china-treasury-dump.aspx [/ref]

If I had a dirty mind, (which of course I do not), I might have suggested China was gaming the system, pushing up the yield before the auctions, so they can buy cheap.#8230;

Sirius Exploration - have recent events changed the picture?

The Prospector — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:35:51 +0000
The Prospector wrote:
With the news out today that it has listed its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on OTCQX [ref] http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sirius-exploration-plc-joins-otcqx-85796112.html [/ref] and since I messed up the net debt figures for Sirius Exploration (LON:SXX) last time I wrote about it (apologies again), I thought I might put together a little piece on the most recent results, so that I can try to get all my ducks in a row this time. (Yes, I know it's taken me a while to get round to#8230;
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What is Toyota's Best Strategy From Here?

Andrew Butter — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:48:20 +0000
Andrew Butter wrote:
What was happening at the grilling of the President of Toyota was pretty clear early on. When I tuned in, the chairman of the committee was explaining that she owned a Camry Hybrid, and that the only reason she had bought it was that, although she has wanted to buy American, the American manufacturers didn’t make that model. One of the inscrutable Japanese executives remarked, quite innocently, that the car she had bought was American.

“Ah…err…but it has your (dirty Japanese) name on it”

“Yes but it was made in America using American made components with American workers”

“Oh…so#8230;

Ariana Resources: A piece of Turkey in the heart of Mayfair

Mining Maven — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:43:00 +0000
Mining Maven wrote:
The Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair on Wednesday evening was the setting for Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) latest investor presentation. Hosted by Proactive Investors, Ariana shared the billing with Western Potash (TSX.V:WPX) who have a quot;solutionquot; mining project in Regina Canada and Resource Generation (ASX:RES), who are developing a coal mine in South Africa. Having attended a few of these Proactive events, one knows their success is always dependent on the calibre of company/management presenting and the mood of the room#8230;
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The Multiplication of Money

John Mauldin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:14:00 +0000
John Mauldin wrote:
Where Is All that Greek Gold?
The Greeks Write Back
The Euro and a Conspiracy of Hedge Funds
So Where's the Inflation?
No Help for Homebuilders
The Singularity, San Antonio, Home, and Addictions

The economy grew in the fourth quarter by 5.9%, the most in years. The adjusted monetary base is exploding. Bank reserves are literally through the roof. The Fed is flooding money into the system in an effort to get banks to lend. An historically normal response by banks (to increase#8230;

Global Gold Supply - thoughts on the 2009 World Gold Council GDT report

Adam Hamilton — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:07:47 +0000
Adam Hamilton wrote:
Last week the World Gold Council (WGC) released its highly-anticipated Gold Demand Trends (GDT) report for Q4 and full-year 2009. GDT reports contain analysis of independent data compiled by GFMS Limited detailing supply and demand trends in the global gold market. They are jam-packed with key fundamental reads that undergird gold’s secular bull.

Generally only select groups of industry stakeholders and traders are the ones who anticipate these reports. Most people couldn’t care less what they say, and if you mention WGC they’ll think you’re talking about golf. But#8230;

The Price of Everything: Alice through the breaking glass

Tim Price — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:52:22 +0000
Tim Price wrote:

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.quot;

-       Woody Allen.

In Frédéric Bastiat's parable, a shopkeeper has a window broken by his son and is obliged to pay, say, six francs to fix it. Some onlookers reason that breaking windows is a good thing, since it causes money to circulate - in this case, into the hands of#8230;

Algorithmic trading: exploring the edges of market mayhem

Clive Corcoran — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:06:00 +0000
Clive Corcoran wrote:
In yesterday's US trading, the first part of the session was in effect a well orchestrated ambush by the bears to spook the prop trading desks and funds which have been playing the reflation/cyclical recovery theme. Weakness in Europe from more abysmal data in the UK relating to very weak business investment, ongoing headaches about Greece and a plunge of 2 cents in sterling as well as several other currency pairs testing fairly critical levels was also infused with worst than expected unemployment claims in the US. The result was#8230;

Centamin Egypt posts narrowing loss, Sukari development ongoing

Stockopedia News — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:43:36 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Precious and base metals explorer Centamin Egypt (LON:CEY, TSX:CEE) announced its half yearly report this morning, posting a consolidated operating loss of $0.5m for the six months to the end of December - down from $24.4m a year ago.

Centamin is a mineral exploration, development and mining company. Centamin has been exploring for gold in Egypt since 1995, and in 2005 was granted a 160km 2 exploitation lease over the massive Sukari Hill gold project. The current resource at Sukari is 10.29 million ounces Measured and Indicated, and 3.45 million ounces Inferred, with#8230;
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Chariot Oil amp; Gas provides trading update - seismic analysis in Namibia ongoing

Stockopedia News — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:20:06 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Chariot Oil amp; Gas (LON: CHAR), the Africa focused oil and gas exploration company, provided an update today ahead of its full year results. The Company indicated that, over the past six months, work has continued across all the offshore Namibian blocks of interest, the focus being on the analysis of the seismic data that was acquired last year.

Chariot is an independent oil and gas exploration company with interests in Namibia – strategically positioned within the South Atlantic Margins (counterpart margin to that#8230;
CHAR.L

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Pan Andean Resources, Chariot Oil amp; Gas, Avocet Mining and Minera

Fox Davies Capital — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:09:26 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:

Oil amp; Gas News

Pan Andean Resources (PRE, 15.25p, ► (0.0%)) announced they have agreed terms with Petrominerales regarding the acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Pan Andean. Under the proposals, Pan Andean shareholders will receive £0.15 in cash and one share in Hydrocarbon exploration, a newly created unlisted Plc for every one Pan Andean share held. The proposals value Pan Andean's current issued and to be issued share capital at approximately £22,345,703, equivalent to £0.175 per Scheme Share. This implied#8230;

African Aura Mining commissions survey for Cameroon targets

Stockopedia News — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:40:16 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
African Aura Mining (LON:AAAM) announced today they would be commissioning an airborne physical survey across southern Cameroon in order to define priority targets across its iron and gold projects.

African Aura is a TSX-V (AUR) and AIM listed exploration to production company focused on gold and iron ore in sub-Saharan Africa. It has three principal early stage iron ore projects in Cameroon, namely Nkout, the adjacent Ngoa and Akon Hills.The sub-region of southern Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of Congo hosts a number of substantial iron deposits, which#8230;
AAAM.L

Alan Greenspan wins Dynamite Prize for Credit Crunch

Tim Iacono — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:35:16 +0000
Tim Iacono wrote:
One of the most disturbing aspects of the recent economic collapse and the ongoing financial market crisis is that there is still widespread disagreement over who or what caused it.

All too often, pundits say, quot;You can't lay all the blame for our current condition on one institution or one manquot; and that is true, but these same commentators oftentimes skirt answering the toughest of questions about what nearly brought the whole financial system down by distributing the blame among many players and many failings.

By arguing that#8230;

NCC Group - welcome to the world of software escrow

valueinvestor — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:30:17 +0000
valueinvestor wrote:
Ncc Group (LON:NCC) is another of those intriguing tech stocks I've found with a strong stream of recurring income. It's not easy to explain exactly what it does; it has some consulting operations, but those contribute by far the smallest share of its income. It also has an assurance testing arm, but the lion's share of its revenue comes from escrow solutions.

You probably know escrow from eBay, where for large value deals, escrow delivers both buyer and seller additional certainty by 'parking' funds in a third party account#8230;
NCC.L

Experian - much more than just a consumer credit giant

valueinvestor — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:40:09 +0000
valueinvestor wrote:
Experian Group Ltd (LON:EXPN), the marketing and credit reference company, used to be part of Great Universal Stores (GUS) and is the first stock that ever made me real money. But it was demerged in 2006, and is now a FTSE 100 company - as is Home Retail Group, its renamed former owner. Though Home Retail Group Plc has higher revenues, Experian Group Ltd has higher profits - and nearly three times higher market capitalisation.

While Experian is best known#8230;
EXPN.L

It's all starting to hit the fan over Greece's 'difficulties'

Clive Corcoran — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:27:00 +0000
Clive Corcoran wrote:
Events regarding the Greek situation are taking a turn for the worst. The following rather amusingly tragic remark can be found at the BBC website

Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos has accused Germany of failing to compensate Greece for Nazi occupation during World War II.

Mr Pangalos made the remarks during a wide-ranging BBC interview about Greece's financial difficulties.

quot;They [the Nazis] took away the Greek gold that was in the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back,quot; he said.

Germany has rejected#8230;

Dana Petroleum to drill 17 exploration wells in 2010

Stockopedia News — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:10:22 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Dana Petroleum Plc (LON:DNX) provided an update today on their drilling program and forward plans for the coming months.

In Egypt, the Bamboo well, of which Dana has a 50% working interest, was spudded. At teh RAD-3x well off shore the gulf of Suez, Egypt, drilling is now complete. Unfortunately however the company did not encounter the anticipated reservoir here and the well has been plugged and abandoned. The financial loss of this operation for Dana was USD$5m. The company said it plans to drill#8230;
DNX.L

Coastal Energy to produce 8,000 barrels a day at Thai prospect

Stockopedia News — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:34:19 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Oil and gas exploration and production company Coastal Energy Co (LON:CEO) announced today an update on their Thai prospects, Songkhla B-02 and Songkhla A-04.

Although the Songkhla B-02 reportedly reached a depth of 3,375 metres and encountered 12 feet of net pay in the lower Oligocene reservoir, the findings were reportedly not substantial enough to justify further standalone development. The possibility of reaching the reservoir via a high angle well from Songkhla A will be investigated at a later date,#8230;
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Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring San Leon, Centrica, Providence Resources, Dana Petroleum, Chariot

Fox Davies Capital — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:05:14 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas Corporate News

San Leon Energy (Research restricted) (SLE, 23.25p, ▲ (1.09%)) have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended share for share acquisition of Island Oil amp; Gas. The Acquisition is for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Island and will be implemented by San Leon by means of a scheme of arrangement, as detailed under Section 201 of the Companies Act, 1963. Island Shareholders will be entitled to receive 1 new San Leon share for every 2.3 Island#8230;
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A pretty strong showing over the last few days - can it last?

Robbie Burns — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:25:52 +0000
Robbie Burns wrote:
I have some doubts and would not be surprised to see a fall. I'm not a forecaster but lots of things look priced about right for now - it's a matter of where we will be in a year from now. Your guess is as good as mine and I can't guess it.

I've bought some Axis-shield (ASD) - been eyeing these up for some time but they looked weak over 400 so I've been waiting for a lower entry and I think I got it, we'll see. A tricky one to get right so would take#8230;

Galliford Try sees increased construction order book

Stockopedia News — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:10:58 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
The UK based housebuilding and construction company Galliford Try (LON:GFRD), announced today their half year results for the period June to December 2009.

The company, which is organised into five divisions: Building, Infrastructure, PPP Investments, Housebuilding and Affordable Housing amp; Regeneration, reported today that they have made progress with both the first stage of the transformational housebuilding strategy and also increased the construction order book.

Group revenue for the period was GBP570m, compared to GBP774m for H2 2008. Earnings per share were down#8230;
GFRD.L

Accor SA says time for Services Business to check out

Stockopedia News — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:25:13 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Accor SA (EPA:AC) announced today that it expects to proceed with the plan to demerge its two core businesses, Hotels and Services, into two separately listed companies, without any capital ties between them. According to the report, employee representatives have already responded to the demerger plan, which will be submitted to shareholders for approval at an Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting on June 29, 2010.

Currently Accor is the market leader in Hotels and Services, with over 150,000 employees operating in over 100 countries. Between#8230;

A banker's perspective of the Greece derivatives debt dodge

Yves Smith — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:49:26 +0000
Yves Smith wrote:
By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. Last week, Yves wrote her perspective on the Goldman-Greece cross currency swaps. Here's a slightly different take. Comments are appreciated.

By now, you know about the much-discussed swaps that Greece used to conceal it's debt load. While the amount of debt concealed is low relative to the total, the mere fact that Greece attempted to conceal its true fiscal position is damning in light of revelations in October that the government's fiscal hole for 2009 is three times the original#8230;

Churchill Mining to release feasibility study at Indonesian prospect

Stockopedia News — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:06:27 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Churchill Mining (LON:CHL), together with their partners, the Ridlatama Group, released today an update on the East Kutai Coal Project in Indonesia.

Churchill’s aim is to leverage off the growth currently being experienced in China and India and in particular their appetite for raw materials used as feedstock in their burgeoning energy and steel industries. Churchill’s growth plan quickly accelerated in 2007-2008 following the discovery of a very large thermal coal deposit (Churchill 75% owner) in the East Kutai Regency of Kalimantan,#8230;
CHL.L

Aurelian Oil and Gas anticipate 18% increase in production

Stockopedia News — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:43:37 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Oil and gas Eamp;P company Aurelian Oil amp; Gas Plc (LON: AUL), announced today an operational update on its core areas of activity and key developments.

Aurelian was founded in 2002 to explore for hydrocarbons in the Carpathian thrust zones of Eastern Europe and adjacent areas. Current projects span the region from Poland to Bulgaria, with exploration prospects in four countries: Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland. Aurelian is the operator in all of these except Bulgaria.

Highlights included the signing of engineering, procurement, construction management#8230;
AUL.L

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Aurelian Oil amp; Gas, Churchill Mining and Tower Resources

Fox Davies Capital — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:03:14 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas Corporate News

Aurelian Oil amp; Gas (AUL, 36.5p, ▲ (2.82%)) announced re-iterated the milestones achieved since October 2009, including a significant upgrade in GIIP potential at the Voitinel Project in Romania from 50-100Bcf to 400Bcf, as well as the signing of key contrats for the Siekierki tight gas project in Poland. The Climauti-1 well will spud in April 2010 and is expected to increase production from Bilca by 18%. Additional prospective leads have also been identified in Slovakia through recent seismic processing and interpretation. Additional#8230;

China to Reallocate Stimulus Spending to Spur Consumption

ARC China — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:38:58 +0000
ARC China wrote:
As described in a recent HSBC report, China will shift its stimulus spending away from new infrastructure to education and healthcare in 2010. With GDP growth hitting 10.7% in Q4 2009, Beijing policymakers are now focusing on ensuring that the recovery creates more balanced growth. Switch- ing spending to education and healthcare is seen as key to achieving this goal. Over 70% of the RMB 4 trillion stimulus package was put into infrastructure projects in 2009. This ratio should come down to around 40% in 2010, with the rest#8230;

Red Rock Resources - the value investor's perspective

Mining Maven — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:53:00 +0000
Mining Maven wrote:
As readers will know, Mining Maven's approach is always from a value investors perspective. Identifying and following opportunities where value is not fully reflected in the current share price. We usually start with the balance sheet, where very often we find value cosseted in complex project portfolios. But the real opportunities rest in identifying current, not historic value; and this often also requires thorough analysis and careful investor assessment of the Company's up to date plans and prospects.

So, we were rather pleased to note the latest Edison research update on#8230;
RRR.L

Busy times ahead for Baobab Resources

The Prospector — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:08:12 +0000
The Prospector wrote:

Baobab Resources Plc (LON:BAO) is a mining exploration company with an exclusive focus on Mozambique. It was formed in 2005 to acquire Capitol Resources, a Mozambique-based company, which held 16 exploration licences. These give the company a longer term pipeline of prospects, but right now only two of them are actively being exploited - Mundonguara and Tete, a copper/gold and iron ore prospect respectively.

The copper-gold mine at Mundonguara has a Stage 1 JORC compliant inferred mineral resource - it was asessed at 3.1 mt, 1.4% copper, 0.11g/t#8230;
BAO.L

Nighthawk Energy aims for 1,000 barrels a day at Jolly Ranch

Stockopedia News — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:13:19 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Hydrocarbon development and production company Nighthawk Energy Plc (LON:HAWK) announced today an update on their Jolly Ranch project, Colorado. Nighthawk holds a 50% interest in Jolly Ranch, comprising the Jolly Ranch, Middle Mist and Mustang Creek areas, covering approximately 370,000 gross acres of Lincoln, Elbert and Washington Counties. Running Foxes is the operator of the project and holds the remaining percentage interest.

To date, 10 wells of 7,500-8,000 feet have been drilled on a core 50,000 acre area by Nighthawk#8230;
HAWK.L

Mwana Resources to sell 80% of Ghana joint venture to Shore River Resources

Stockopedia News — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:03:34 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
The pan-African, multi-commodity resources company, Mwana Africa (LON:MWA), announced today that Shore River Resources has agreed to buy 80% of its share in the Butre Ahanta exploration joint venture in Ghana.

Mwana’s principal operations and exploration activities cover gold, nickel and other base metals, and diamonds in Zimbabwe, the DRC, South Africa and Ghana. Mwana Africa has been operating for some time in Ghana but in May 2009, Mwana’s exploration activities in Ghana were substantially reduced following the sale of#8230;
MWA.L

Leed Petroleum off to a good start in Gulf of Mexico

Stockopedia News — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:45:27 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Oil and Gas exploration company, Leed Petroleum Plc (LON:LDP) announced today that the 'Ship Shoal 201 A-6' well has reached total depth and that the confirmed presence of hydrocarbon pay is in line with their expectations. Leed have a 100% working interest, and a 80.2% net revenue interest in the well.

The Ship Shoal A-6 well, located in the Gulf of Mexico, was spudded at the beginning of February and reached a total depth of 13,341 feet about 2 weeks#8230;
LDP.L

Hybridan Small Cap Wrap featuring Sareum, Milestone, Ascot Mining, Gulfsands Petroleum, Discovery Metals and Savile

Hybridan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:44:55 +0000
Hybridan wrote:

This week: Sareum flies, Milestone is on message and Savile sinks

3D Diagnostic Imaging (3D.P.PL 9p /£ 9.66m)

PLUS listed 3D Diagnostic Imaging PLC, whose subsidiary, CarieScan Limited, is a leading producer of handheld devices for the early detection and monitoring of tooth decay, last week announced that Professor Nigel Pitts, Professor of Dental Health at the University of Dundee, has been appointed Chairman to CarieScan's newly formed Scientific Advisory Board. The Board will be responsible for improving understanding of evidence around electrical caries detection and monitoring#8230;
MSG.L AFN.L TRK.L CRW.L SAR.L PHC.L SAVG.L ELE.L DME.L GPX.L

Dana Petroleum - weakened sentiment on back of recent exploration results

Fat Prophets — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:12:20 +0000
Fat Prophets wrote:
With oil demand set to grow for the first time in two years in 2010 companies that produce the black stuff are worth following closely. The new trading range of crude oil appears to be between $70 and $83 and as such the background for oil and gas explorers is positive with oil recently reaching new yearly highs. This is particularly crucial for companies like Dana Petroleum as without any downstream assets, such as refineries or petrol stations, they exposed mainly to the oil price.

Over recent months,#8230;
DNX.L

Fox-Davies Capital Update featuring Nighthawk Energy, Leed Petroleum, Dragon Oil and Mwana Africa

Fox Davies Capital — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:50:10 +0000
Fox Davies Capital wrote:
Oil amp; Gas News

Nighthawk Energy (LON:HAWK, 30p, ▼ (1.64%)) announced an update in respect of the Jolly Ranch project in which it holds a 50% working interest with Running Foxes Petroleum Inc., the operator, holding the remaining 50% interest. Jolly Ranch comprises both conventional and non-conventional oil producing horizons targeting primarily Pennsylvanian age formations, namely the Marmaton (conventional) and Cherokee and Atoka (non-conventional) shales. The project covers approximately 370,000 gross acres located in Lincoln, Elbert and Washington Counties, Colorado and geologically located in the southern part of the#8230;

Transparency for Thee, But Not For Me

Craig Pirrong — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:23:20 +0000
Craig Pirrong wrote:
I am reading Reinhart and Rogoff's This Time Is Different. Interesting, in a scary sort of way.

One thing that struck me with particular force, particularly in light of recent news, is their lament at the difficulty of ascertaining just how much debt governments have issued. They state quite forcefully that government accounting is notoriously opaque, and that governments are the enemies of transparency.

Ripped right from the headlines, that. Think all the news stories emanating from Europe, focusing on Greece, but making it clear that dodgy accounting and budgetary gamesmanship is rife throughout Europe. Not that the US#8230;

What the People's Bank of China Cannot Do With Its Reserves

Michael Pettis — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:54:37 +0000
Michael Pettis wrote:

It is a real toss-up as to which generates more bizarre comment in the international press: Beijing’s long-feared dumping of US Treasuries, or the use and value of the PBoC’s central bank reserves. The revelation last week that Chinese holdings of US Treasury obligations fell in December by $34.2 billion, to $755.4 billion, generated a frisson of fear and excitement, leading one prominent newspaper to worry that “If there is one thing that gets investors twitchy, it is the fear#8230;

Desire Petroleum announce spudding of Liz Falklands Well

Stockopedia News — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:23:34 +0000
Stockopedia News wrote:
Desire Petroleum (LON:DES) announced today its Liz exploration well has spudded. Following the arrival of the semi-submersible Ocean Guardian rig arrived in the Falklands last month, the well is being drilled to an estimated target depth of 3,500 metres. The company expect the drilling to complete within 30 days, at which point a further announcement will be released.

Desire Petroleum is a UK company dedicated to exploring for oil and gas in the North Falkland Basin. It was founded in 1996 and#8230;
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