| ALZ | rumour that some new suitors have run the ruler over ALZ | AFR |
| BRU | Independent Resource Assessment Laurel Wet Gas Accumulation, Canning Superbasin. RISC has concluded the following: the gross area containing the Laurel accumulation BCGS on Buru’s permits is some 17,373 square kilometres (4.3 million acres); the Best Estimate (P50) of the Laurel Formation tight gas accumulation, is that it contains, net to Buru, an unrisked gross recoverable volume of 47 TCF of gas and 1,177 million barrels of condensate (not including hydrocarbon liquids (LPG), and the gas contained in the normally pressured part of the system which may be very significant). | Company report |
| EGP | talk that EGP could sell Qld properties to oavoid the upcoming capital expenditure and focus attention on the recently revamped Star Casino in Sydney. | AFR |
| ELD | Believed to be close to selling more of its timber projects while due diligence is being conducted on its auto busineiss. Offers are due for its rural services division Feb 28 | AFR |
| FLT | Flight Centre shops have also opened recently in Hong Kong and Singapore, as part of the company’s ongoing plan to expand its global footprint by 6-8% annually. “Almost half of our 2400 shops and businesses globally are located outside Australia and we’re now closing in on 100 corporate and leisure travel outlets in Asia and the Middle East,” | Company report |
| FXL | will seek to focus on bigger ticket financings for households and businesses | Company report |
| NCM | Half year profit of $320m, down 51%, but this was flagged. Main reason was that gold sales lagged production by 30,000oz during the period. Catchup in second half. Dividend 12.0c/share [market expecting 12.—13.0c]…in line. No franking as expected. Revenues impacted by lower production…as expected and slightly less gold and copper sales. Cadia East and Lihir projects now on-line. Capex costs slightly higher, probably to make sure market timetables were met. Total capital expenditure on major projects and studies decreased by A$228m during the current period. Having both Cadia East and Lihir projects now in production post US $3.5bn in expenditure is finally a major weight off the share market back. Handover of both projects has occurred and ramping to full production is now in train. Gold production target for the current half of 1.35Moz will be difficult given the one month delay in the Lihir project and minor disruption at Hidden Valley mines [NCM 50%]. Regardless, we think commentary that mine and total operational costs are likely to fall as contracts leave the expenditure sites and production move up dramatically. Second half earning of +US$500m are achieveable with the curernt gold price and A$. Longer term production to 2.7Moz in FY’14 is definitely on target as is a profit increase of 60% from FY’13 number of US$875m, ie US$1.42bn. | Company report |
| NSE | New Standard wishes to advise as Operator of the Goldwyer Joint Venture (GJV) with ConocoPhillips, that the Drilling Services Agreement (DSA) with Century Energy Services Pty Ltd (MB Century) has been terminated with immediate effect. Following the safe suspension of the well as per regulatory requirements, MB Century has been directed to demobilise MBC Rig #14 and associated personnel from the Gibb Maitland #1 drilling location in a safe and efficient manner. The decision to terminate the DSA was made based on concerns relating to safety, competency and operational performance and reliability grounds, with the latter supported by an independent audit of the drill rig commissioned by New Standard and finalised on 6 February. Rig down and demobilisation of MBC Rig #14 will now be undertaken as safely and quickly as possible. | Company report |
| RIO | NT Chief Minister Terry Mills said to be prepared drop conditions surrounding RIO’s Gove alumina refiner | Company report |
| SDL | Sundance Resources advises that the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission has extended its provisional approval for Sichuan to acquire 100% of Sundance by six months to 30 July 2013. In granting this extension, the NDRC has attached a special requirement that Hanlong will enter into an agreement with a Chinese corporation with sufficient capability to undertake the Mbalam‐Nabeba Project with Hanlong. The NDRC believes that Hanlong requires a large Chinese Partner with size, expertise and experience in large project development. Sundance understands that Hanlong must sufficiently advance such an agreement with the large Chinese Partner in order for the China Development Bank (“CDB”) to issue its Credit Approved Term Sheet for Hanlong’s acquisition of Sundance. Hanlong has also specifically confirmed to Sundance that discussions aimed at securing its large Chinese Partner are sufficiently advanced to enable the Term Sheets to be issued on or before 26 March 2013. Hanlong has agreed to provide a convertible note facility to Sundance on favourable terms for up to A$15m. The facility can be drawn in three monthly tranches, each of A$5m, to support Sundance’s working capital requirements. The first tranche of A$5m must be deposited into a trust account by the end of February 2013. | Company report |
| SDL | Wahun Iron and Steel is expected to be revealed as a partner to Hanlong Mining to implement the $1.4b takeover of SDL. | AFR |
| SGP | speculation of possible writedowns following those announced at MGR | Company report |
| SPN | SP AusNet is pleased to announce the successful pricing of a total of $430 million Australian dollar bond issues via two offerings. The first is for A$300 million of a new 7-year bond and the second is an additional issuance of its existing June 2022 bonds. The proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt and to fund growth capital expenditure. | Company report |
| WBC | cuts 2 year fixed home loan rate to below 5% to gain market share in the mortgage market | Company report |
| WOR | WorleyParsons has been selected to provide services related to site characterization, licensing and permitting for the development of the first Polish nuclear power plant. It will have a power output of approximately 3,000 MWe. | Company report |
| Asia | India’s growth will decelerate this FY to 5% from 6.2% last year, the statistics ministry has said in a forecast that is lower than a recent finance ministry outlook of +5.8%. The slowdown is due to continued weakness in manufacturing and farm output, with the economy being hampered by a lack of reform, wide fiscal and current account deficits, and high inflation | Seeking Alpha |
| UK | The Bank of England has again left its monetary policy unchanged, with its benchmark rate staying at 0.5% and its QE program dormant. | Seeking Alpha |
| UK | A reluctant ECB is close to agreeing a refinancing of Ireland’s debt after the country’s parliament authorized emergency legislation to dissolve the former Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide banks, now merged into IBRC, and sell their remaining assets of up to €14B to a bad bank. Dublin wants to lengthen the payment schedule of a €31B promissory note that helped support the failed banks. | Seeking Alpha |
| UK | new BOE governor alluded to possibly undertaking heavier monetary policy stimulus measures | WSJ |
| US | NFM fell 5k to 366k last week | WSJ |
Filed under: Company News, World News
