Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Apologies if posted, but this is a very interesting take on oil.

Oil demand remains strong 17/5/12

Angelos Damaskos, manager of the Junior Oils Trust, comments on the performance of oil shares so far this year, and where he believes the best opportunities lie. This is the original, unedited version and should not be seen as a personal recommendation to invest or make any changes to your portfolio. Please note that Hargreaves Lansdown and Sector Investment Managers do not necessarily share his views.

After a strong first quarter this year for oil shares, the broader market uncertainty has taken hold again. The oil price has fallen sharply in early May on weaker than expected US employment data and worries on economic growth in Europe and the US. A return of Iran to the negotiating table and a more stable situation in the Middle East has removed some of the risk-premium in the oil price.

Nevertheless, Brent crude still trades at around $112/barrel, well above the five-year average in US dollar terms and near all-time highs in euro and sterling terms. These prices still generate record profits for oil companies, especially those that concentrate in up-stream operations. Despite recent strong share price recovery, oil shares trade at historically low multiples, indicating that further re-rating is possible.

Looking at the short-term prospects, the market is worried that demand for oil may drop as the economy fails to grow.

The economy, nevertheless, has not grown significantly for three years now after the global financial crisis in 2008. Demand for oil, however, has continued to grow during this period indicating that the developed economies have reached a demand pattern that is inelastic to price. Established standards of living mean that, in spite of economic suffering, oil consumption in the developed economies cannot drop much further. China and India on the other hand, a population mass of over 2.5 billion people, continue to grow, industrialise and demand more oil. About two-thirds of the world’s oil consumption goes to power transportation modes like ships, trains, trucks, cars and planes and all these are needed for world trade. If three years of economic hardship have failed to reduce the need for oil, it is unlikely that demand will collapse now.

On the supply side, it seems that there is little spare capacity. The Middle-Eastern and North African instability has meant that the world’s most prolific oil producing region would like high prices to keep its people happy, at least above $100/barrel. In the rest of the world, major new finds of oil occur in deeper waters and more complex geological formations with higher marginal cost of production. Production from such new sources may ensure oil does not run out for humankind in the foreseeable future but high prices will be needed to bring it to markets.

Oil shares, therefore, continue to be an attractive investment compared to the rest of the markets. Concentrating in smaller, production focused companies that also have active exploration activities should be a winning strategy over the long term, outperforming both the larger-capitalisation integrated oil companies as well as the commodity price.

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-manager-comments/oil-demand-remains-strong

Hi Niceonecyril,

Not sure if it's been posted on here before, but I have seen it somewhere.
Still its one of those reports that will do the rounds for a while.
Also there is so much out there, it's very difficult to remember what has and hasn't been posted before.
A report thats well worth a second read.

Regards Greek.

Hi greek,see AFC have RNS this am,Director change,still on my watch list.

Been holding AFC for many a year.

House prices: A tale of £2m properties


Six-bedroom Loynton Hall stands in 12.5 acres of land in rural Staffordshire

Looking out the snooker room window across the lush green grounds of up-for-sale Loynton Hall, it is hard to imagine that a one-bedroom city flat could fetch more from buyers.

Yet offers have already been turned down at higher values for the apartment tucked into the ground floor of a Regency building in Notting Hill, west London.

The tale of these £2m properties tells the story of supply and demand during the worst of times - a recession - and of geographical differences in UK house prices.

J Hunt http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18273297 ...Going going...

this gov are unbelieveable they u turns to be paid forby car owners your cat tax is going up on all cars

the rich people in the uk last years got away with not paying 35b in tax
these are from the inland revenue so if they no why are they not collecting it.

Oh no!.. not a tax on moggy's now?

.

Hunt looks pretty safe. He has done nothing wrong.

The Levison enquiry is just about ethics in the media. Hunt is not answerable to it. He is only answerable to Parliament.

H/S, "Hunt looks pretty safe. He has done nothing wrong.".. Only in your eyes.

And in the eyes of most of the news outlets. It is only the silly party (Liberal Democrats) and the very silly party (Labour) that think otherwise.

Hunt Exposed and clearly in the wrong.

Certainly not. Hunt even referred the BSkyB bid to the OFT and Ofcom, which was entirely against the wishes of Murdoch and angered him a lot. So that pretty much rules out any collusion. The whole thing is a lot of nonsense with the Labour party going out scalp and head hunting. Fortunately Labour are just as incompetent as usual. The Leveson enquiry would be more useful if it dug a bit deeper into the relationship between Blair and Murdoch during that era. I am sure there is much more mileage there.

As more damning evidence comes out about the collusion between The "Con" Party majority Government and Murdoch, we see that Hunt is obviously guilty. His Resignation/Sacking is only a matter of time.

I see Fred's twin is back posting

hunt must be sacked he told lies .camerons gov is corupt .they will be out in less than 3 years thats along time to wait for criminals to hold on to power,

I don't see any signs of Hunt lying.

My granddad gave me some sound advice on his deathbed..
"It's worth spending money on good speakers", he told me.

-----------------------------------------------------------
A woman brings eight-year-old Johnny home and tells his mother that he was caught playing doctors and nurses with Mary, her eight-year-old daughter.
Johnny's mother says, "Let's not be too harsh on them.... they are bound to be curious about sex at that age."
"Curious about sex?" replies Mary's mother. "He's taken her appendix out!"
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Disabled toilets.
Ironically, the only toilets big enough to run around in.
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I was reading in the paper today about this dwarf that got pick-pocketed.
How could anyone stoop so low?
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I just saw that Harry Potter film. A bit unrealistic if you ask me. I mean, a ginger kid, with two friends?


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What's the difference between Harold Shipman and Tony Blair?
Shipman actually did something about NHS waiting lists.
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A bride on her wedding night says to her husband 'I must confess darling, I was a hooker!'.
He says 'That's all right, dear. Your past is your past, but I must admit that I find it quite erotic. Tell me about it'.
She replies 'Well, my name was Nigel, and I played for Wigan !'.
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When I got divorced, my wife said she would fight for custody of the kids.
Took her out with one punch.