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Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Ladbrokes, Tullow Oil, and Premier Oil Should Lag the FTSE 100 Today

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The FTSE 100 has opened the week poorly, falling 0.61% to 6,490 points by 7:50 a.m. EDT after the latest figures from China saw first-quarter economic growth come in lower than expected. Amid a sell-off of commodities, the gold price fell 5% to its lowest level for two years — it’s now down 25% since its peak of September 2011.

But even with the index falling, there are companies doing worse. Here are three whose share prices are tumbling today.

Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes‘ shares have dropped 8.2% to 190 pence after the bookmaker issued a first-quarter profit warning. Full-year operating profit is now expected to come in at the bottom end of expectations after Q1 was hit by “a significant reduction in profit” from horse racing at Cheltenham and weakness in online gambling. Operating profit for the quarter dropped 13 million pounds to 37.4 million pounds.

Ladbrokes shares are now down more than 20% from a mid-March peak of 245 pence, with the previous six months’ bull run now almost completely reversed.

Tullow Oil
Shares in Tullow Oil have fallen 4.3% to 1,110 pence after the explorer delayed its Sabisa-1 well in Ethiopia, citing “hole instability issues” that require the drilling of a secondary “sidetrack” bore. Exploratory results are now due in late May. But on the upside, initial drilling did reveal hydrocarbon indications.

In other positive news, we were told that the first of the firm’s six well tests at Ngamia-1 in Kenya has demonstrated flows of 281 barrels of oil per day. Further tests should soon reveal the area’s full production potential.

Premier Oil
Premier Oil have also slipped 4.3% today, despite the firm announcing the first oil flows from its Huntingdon field in the North Sea, which commenced last Friday. Chief executive Simon Lockett said: “This marks the first of four U.K. North Sea projects from our development portfolio which will come on-stream over the next few years.”

After ramping up from an initial 30,000 bopd, the field is expected to produce 250,000 bopd to 300,000 bopd when in full flow.

Finally, reliable dividends can more than compensate for the day-to-day ups and downs of share prices. So how about a company that’s offering a 5.7% yield and could be set for some nice share-price appreciation, too? It’s the subject of our brand-new report “The Motley Fool’s Top Income Share For 2013,” which you can get completely free of charge — but it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today.

The article Why Ladbrokes, Tullow Oil, and Premier Oil Should Lag the FTSE 100 Today originally appeared on Fool.com.


Alan Oscroft has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/15/why-ladbrokes-tullow-oil-and-premier-oil-should-la/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Premier Oil, Quindell Portfolio, and Gooch & Housego Beat the FTSE 100 Today

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The FTSE 100 started the week off on the right foot, gaining 0.43% to close at 6,277 points. There isn’t any real news behind the modest rise, which has been boosted by a mild recovery in some mining shares, but poor U.S. jobs news from last Friday is causing some pessimism.

But even if things are looking a little gloomy, there are plenty of individual companies prospering. Here are three whose shares were on the up today.

Premier Oil
Premier Oil shares picked up 6.1% today to reach 385 pence after the oil explorer announced a new discovery in the North Sea off Norway. Premier has a 30% stake in the Luno II prospect, and the 16/4-6S well in the area has hit a “potentially significant oil discovery” with a gross oil column in excess of 40 meters. Tests will now be conducted to check for flow potential.

Premier Oil shares have picked up nicely since the start of the year, with the firm reporting record full-year earnings of $252 million last month. And shareholders are in for a dividend of 5 pence per share — their first since 1997.

Quindell
A first-quarter update from Quindell Portfolio sent the firm’s shares up a further 1.9% to 13.5 pence today, topping a nice start to April for the software specialist. Quindell, which provides software and outsourcing services to a number of sectors including telecoms and insurance, told us that it has achieved more than 25 million pounds in EBITDA in the three months to March and that margins are better than expected.

The company says it is on track to meet full-year expectations, which suggests that we should see a better-than-doubling of earnings per share, putting the shares on a forward P/E of around 10. Growth bargain? Could be.

Gooch & Housego
Shares in optical-components specialist Gooch & Housego have done well over the past month, and they gained a further 3.4% to 455 pence today after a first-half trading update told us the firm’s order book now stands at 29.6 million pounds, up 19% from the start of the year.

The U.S. aerospace and defense market has been tough, but Gooch & Housego has won orders from European customers in the same industry and has strengthened its Asian presence by starting up a Japanese subsidiary and expanding in Singapore and China. Trading so far is “in line with expectations.”

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The article Why Premier Oil, …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Premier Oil Reports Record Profit and 5 Pence per-Share Dividend

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By Maynard Paton, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The shares of Premier Oil have climbed 1.4% as of 10:30 a.m. EDT after the oil company revealed full-year earnings of $252 million.

The FTSE 250 member, which boasts investments and operations around the Falkland Islands, Indonesia, Norway, Mauritania, and Vietnam, said that post-tax profit had improved 47% last year to score the group’s fifth consecutive annual record. Premier also declared a 5 pence per-share dividend, the company’s first payout since 1997. The progress was supported by production rising 43% to almost 58,000 barrels of oil a day, which in turn pushed revenues from $837 million to $1,409 million.

Last year Premier spent $268 million on acquisitions and $772 million on development and exploration projects, which pushed net debt from $774 million to $1.1 billion. Premier also reported that its reserves and resources had expanded by 260 million barrels of oil, or 51%, to 773 million barrels of oil.

Simon Lockett, Premier’s chief executive, said: “Premier has built a strong asset portfolio which will act as a springboard for significant further growth over the medium term. … The next three years will see a further transformation of the business as we increase production and generate significantly greater cash flows.”

Meanwhile, Premier chairman Welton said, “The Board believes that the payment of a sustainable dividend underlines our confidence in rising cash flows, the strength of our balance sheet and the quality of our asset base.” Welton also claimed Premier’s share price had “not kept pace with the growth in value of the underlying assets of the business.”

Of course, you must decide for yourself whether Welton is right and Premier’s share price has some catching up to do. For what it’s worth, the company’s current 2.1 billion pound market cap is equivalent to less than 12 times 2012 profits. Premier also reckons its production could improve at least a further 13% to more than 65,000 barrels of oil a day during 2013, with a rate of 75,000 barrels achievable toward the end of the year.

Premier’s shares have almost tripled since their 2009 low and provide another example of how smart investors can make large sums from quality resources shares.

If you already own Premier shares and are keen to earn wealth-changing returns from other oil and gas explorers, this free Motley Fool report could help you on your way. The report explains the factors you need to consider — and the risks you might encounter — when evaluating potential multibaggers within the oil and gas sector. The report also profiles one part of the industry that looks set to grow considerably. Just click here to download the special oil and gas report today — it’s free.

The article Premier Oil Reports Record Profit and 5 Pence per-Share Dividend originally appeared on Fool.com.


Maynard Paton has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 More FTSE Shares for the Week Ahead

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — We’ve already taken a look at three companies that are due to bring us updates, and the December 2012 reporting season is almost over. But we do have a few more important firms in the news next week. Here are three you might want to look out for.

Next
Widely considered one of the U.K.’s strongest retailers, Next is due to release full-year results on Thursday. While some retailers have sadly gone to the wall during the recession, all Next suffered was earnings per share falling 8% in 2009, and since then earnings and dividends have continued to grow.

Forecasts suggest a further 12% earnings-per-share rise for the year ending January 2013, which puts the shares on a P/E of 14.7 based on a price of 4,150 pence. That P/E is slightly above the FTSE 100 average, but not by much. There’s also a 13% hike to the annual dividend expected for a yield of 2.5%.

In January, Next issued full-year guidance and estimated that pre-tax profit would be in the range of 611 million pounds to 625 million pounds, with EPS growth 14% to 17%. The company expects to have spent 245 million pounds buying back shares during the year.

United Utilities (NASDAQOTH.UUGRY)
Thursday will also see a pre-close update from United Utilities ahead of annual results for the year ending March 2013. Earnings have been up and down a bit in recent years, but United has generally offered a steady dividend yield of about 5% to 6% during that time. According to forecasts, the total dividend should be up by about 8% to 34.5 pence per share. But with the share price having gained 12% over the past 12 months, the yield could now be around 4.8%.

Within the company’s last interim update in January, we were told that first-half trading had been “in line with the group’s expectations.” It seems unlikely we’ll get any surprises on Thursday. Full-year results are due on May 23.

Premier Oil
We should have full-year results from Premier Oil on Thursday, too, and they should be pretty good. For the year ending December 2012, analysts are expecting earnings to rise 40%, putting the shares on a fairly modest P/E of about 11.5. And that multiple is set to fall to eight for 2013 following another earnings rise of a similar magnitude.

With forecasts like that, it’s perhaps surprising that Premier Oil shares are down about 6% over the past 12 months, especially after January’s trading and operations update revealed that production increased 43% in 2012 and that “a further significant increase in production is expected during 2013.” The group also anticipates breaking new ground by announcing a dividend for the year.

If you’re looking for other candidates that are likely to bring dividends and share price growth in the coming years, it could well pay to examine Neil Woodford‘s latest thoughts. The ace investor, whose Invesco Perpetual …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance