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GNK $73.23 Genco Shipping & Trading Limited Announces First Quarter 2008 Financial Results
Wednesday April 30, 4:30 pm ET
Declares Increased Dividend of $1.00 per Share for Q1 2008
Increases 2008 Quarterly Dividend Target Rate to $1.00 per Share
Repays $73 Million of Debt
NEW YORK, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (NYSE: GNK - News) today reported its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2008.
The following financial review discusses the results for the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007.
First Quarter 2008 and Year-to-Date Highlights
-- Declared a dividend at a new quarterly target rate of $1.00 per share,
an increase of $0.15 over the previous target of $0.85 per share,
based on Q1 2008 results, payable on or about May 30, 2008 to all
shareholders of record as of May 16, 2008;
-- Excluding the $26.2 million gain on the sale of the Genco Trader,
recorded net income of $47.8 million, or $1.66 basic and $1.65 diluted
earnings per share;
-- Recorded net income of $74.0 million, or $2.57 basic and $2.56 diluted
earnings per share;
-- Took delivery of the Genco Champion, completing the acquisition of the
six drybulk vessels from affiliates of Evalend Shipping Co. S.A. for
an aggregate purchase price of $336 million;
-- Took delivery of the Genco Constantine, the fifth of nine vessels from
the Metrostar transaction;
-- Completed the sale of the Genco Trader, realized a gain on the sale of
assets of $26.2 million and repaid $43 million of debt from the sales
proceeds;
-- Repaid $30 million of debt with cash flow from operations;
-- Paid an $0.85 per share dividend on March 7, 2008 based on Q4 2007
results;
-- Increased our ownership of the outstanding stock of Jinhui Shipping
and Transportation Limited to 19.4% through April 30, 2008; and
-- Entered into an agreement to time charter the Genco Carrier at a gross
rate of $37,000 per day for 34 to 37.5 months, a 54% increase over its
current rate of $24,000.
Restripe. Take a look at this list for your DD. All are stocks in shipping industry, which is a very volatile and seasonal industry, but a good dividend payer (FRO!! as Wildbill told you). Most of the companies are steady payers, but the yield of the dividend can fluctuate. You can see several years' dividend payments of all in USA listed companies e.g. in Yahoo.
http://www.investorvillage.com/beta/smbd.asp?mb=6945&mn=1512&pt=msg&mid=4676415
Good and reliable dividend payers also are the Canadian Royalty Trusts (CANROYs). There are several trusta listed in USA (AAV, CNQ, ERF, HTE, PWE etc) and many many more in Canada. They pay their dividends monthly, which can have a nice compounding effect to your money. Google more information about these, there's plenty of it.
Xanadu
HERO $28.00 This HERO's No Zero
By Toby Shute May 2, 2008 Comments (0)
Last quarter, we detailed Hercules Offshore's (Nasdaq: HERO) mythic struggle in the morose Gulf of Mexico drilling market. The clouds appeared to be parting at that time, and sure enough, the shares have shuffled higher by nearly five bucks. Not every line of business is turning around, but Hercules is hanging in there.
Take, for example, the domestic-liftboats segment. Everything from bad weather to an influx of industry capacity conspired to drive down Hercules' utilization to a horrendous 38%. That harsh winter weather also hacked at the results of fellow shallow-water sevicers Cal Dive (NYSE: DVR) and Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE: HOS). No one can control the weather, but people are delivering additional liftboats to an oversaturated market, and that's just plain puzzling.
In response, all Hercules can really do is "cold stack" some of its least capable units, which means that they will not be crewed or actively marketed. The company also has some limited opportunities to relocate these boats to more inviting international basins. Dayrates abroad have now increased for three straight quarters, and utilization is steady.
As for domestic contract drilling, Hercules and Rowan (NYSE: RDC) are in the same boat -- sort of. The latter company has the really top-flight jackups capable of deep-shelf drilling, so it has a bit broader of an opportunity set as Gulf of Mexico drilling activity picks up. Still, Hercules is certainly well positioned for an uptick.
Management noted on its conference call that every $10,000 increase in Gulf dayrates translates to $0.50 of earnings, assuming 85% utilization. As I noted in my look at bottomed-out Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) has picked up its activity in the Gulf and is not alone. Combine that consideration with ENSCO International's (NYSE: ESV) recent comment that operators are looking less concerned about working through hurricane season, and Hercules may be looking at some fierce earnings come this fall.
Link to a good package of information about dry bulk shipping and news:
http://www.nordic-drybulk.info/
Including links to:
* Barry Rogliano Salles - Weekly Dry Bulk Newsletter - Update: Monday (Tuesday)
* Capital Link Shipping - Investing In International Shipping - Update: Daily 5/7
* China Coal Resource - Daily News - Update: Daily 5/7
* Clarkson - Shipping Intelligence Network - Update: Daily 5/7
* Compass Maritime - Weekly Market Report - Update: Friday (Saturday)
* GlobalCoal - News / Latest Headlines - Update: Daily 5/7
* Hellenic Shipping - News Worldwide - Update: Daily 6/7
(Shipping News - Freight S & P - Energy News - Shipbuilding - Stocks / Economy - TV / Video - Forum - Events)
* Interfax - News from Russia, CIS, Central Europe, China - Update: Daily 6/7
* Maritime Global Net - Daily News - Update: Daily 5/7
* Reuters - Water Transportation Industry Overview - Update: Daily 5/7
* Sea Trade Asia Online - Maritime News. Update: Daily 5/7
* Shanghai Daily - Shipping & Ports - Latest News - Update: Daily 6/7
* Skipsrevyen (N) - Ukeblik Tørrlast - Update: Monday
* Worldyards - The Worlds Shipbuilding Database / Latest News - Update: Daily 5/7
* Yahoo Finance - Industry Center – Shipping - Update: Daily 5/7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dry Bulk Fixtures
* Lloyds - > Dry Bulk Fixtures
* R.S. Platou - Oslo - Dry Bulk > *Latest Fixtures > *Online Services
* fredag 2. may. 2008 Dagens Bulk Index +142 til 9581
* UBS starts marine freight index on May 12. 2008 “Blue Sea Index”
-----------------------------------------
John Fredriksen gets support
Mr John Fredriksen gets support in his attempts to get the present Chairman of the board removed in TUI ag.
Fredriksens goal is to split up TUI and free Hapag-Lloyd (fifth largest container shipping company in the world) from the influence of a lousy managment in TUI who is the present owner of Hapag-Lloyd.
The latest to support him is a pensions fund in Britain. But it is expected that many others will follow...
According to Thomson Financial News.
I can ASSURE you youngsters that is ESSENTIAL to have some stocks that pay good dividends in your pension portfolio. You can very well trade untill your 100th birthday, but some regular income gives you more certainty. Economic uncertainty in older age - or in any age - can cause you bad trades or deals if you are compelled to sell something unprofitably to get money for something.
Of course you can have other kinds of secure income, main thing is that there is some. Dividends is an easy way for that.
Yes, and more healthier for ..er.. young and beautifull people like you and me :)
Wau! Thanks, Lobby.
Oh no, why not name Wall Street the capital? (Methinks it actually is it).
Many times it feels here that our (measly) finance world is a bit embarrassed, when they have to note that there are "other worlds" too.
Hello Stuffit. You know my passion towards dividends. No matter about the stock.. lol
Strengthening dollar raises again interest on this side of pond. If it continues - popular estimate seems to be that it could go on ca 6 months, to levels 1.40-1.35 versus euro - US stocks will certainly be attractive.
Thanks SL. We have trusts but they pay only 1-4% dividend. Trustworthy but booring.
Stock Lobster. What are these Investors Trusts, e.g. JER Investors Trust (JRT $ 8.12)? They are paying good 15% dividend. Are they some kind of bankers?
Would you buy it?
PDE $41.50 Pride Wins 5-Year Contract from BP for Newbuild Drillship
Pride International 5/1/2008
Pride International has been awarded a five-year contract from a subsidiary of BP for Pride's advanced-capability, ultra-deepwater drillship that is scheduled for delivery in mid-2010. The unit is being constructed at the Samsung Heavy Industries, Co. Ltd. (SHI) shipyard in Geoje, South Korea on a fixed-price basis and is expected to be initially utilized in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, with further operations possible on BP's other global deepwater interests. The drillship is one of three Pride ultra-deepwater units under construction at the SHI shipyard. All three units have now been awarded contracts with durations of at least five years.
The five-year contract is expected to commence during the fourth quarter of 2010, following the completion of shipyard construction, mobilization of the rig to an initial operating location and customer acceptance testing. Revenues that could be generated over the five-year contract term, excluding revenues for the reimbursement of costs associated with the mobilization of the rig, are approximately $984 million. The contract also provides for a cost escalation provision effective from April 30, 2008 through the five-year contract term.
The rig will be one of the most advanced ultra-deepwater drilling and completions units in the offshore industry, capable of drilling in water depths of up to 12,000 feet (equipped for 10,000 feet) and drilling to a total vertical depth of up to 40,000 feet. The rig will offer a variable deck load of 20,000 metric tons, dynamic positioning in compliance with DPS-3 certification, expanded drilling fluids capacity, a 1,000 ton capacity top drive and living quarters for up to 200 personnel. The rig will be modified from the original design to improve on its already extensive off-line operational capabilities. Design modifications include the addition of a 160-metric ton active-heave compensated construction crane that allows the rig to perform subsea construction activities, such as the placement of production trees and manifolds in up to 10,000 feet of water without obstructing the critical path of drilling deepwater wells, and an additional 2,000 feet of marine riser. The unit will not initially be functional as a dual-activity rig, but can be modified to add this functionality in the future. Pride has previously purchased the license for the use of dual-activity from the patent holder. Including the modifications requested by our customer to the rig's technical features, commissioning and system-integrated testing, the company has revised the estimated cost to construct the rig to approximately $725 million, excluding capitalized interest, and expects to fund the construction of the unit with available cash and borrowings.
Louis A. Raspino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pride International, Inc., stated, "With this five-year contract award, Pride has further expanded its service to BP to now include two advanced-capability, ultra-deepwater drillships currently under construction and expected to begin operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico during 2010, the management of drilling activities on three deepwater production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and deepwater drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean. This contract award allows us to further build a greater presence in the ultra-deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a strategically important and technically challenging region."
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=61334
"Club Med" may be true sooner than we can imagine...lol
lol...I don't know
ONT has some kind of technology, which, if accepted widely, would be a big bang to ONT. I hope Kujo could take a look at ONT now.
I red an article about the technology (and did not understand a word :)
GM Stock Lobster. Re: Berlusconi-Sarkozy alliance. This is what is feared in EU, especially for the Pan-European currency. The differencies of the opinions cannot be sweeped under the carpet infinitely. EU is weaker than it seems looked from Bruxelles.
ONT 0.98 was climbing yesterday with volume. Kujoooo, what's going on??
ONT has something to do with videos showing on cell phones.
PDE $41.50 UPDATE 3-Pride Int'l Q1 profit jumps; says open to consolidation
Thu May 1, 2008 5:32pm EDT
By Shradhha Sharma
BANGALORE, May 1 (Reuters) - Oil and gas driller Pride International Inc (PDE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a more than 100 percent jump in first-quarter profit that beat market estimates, and said it was open to consolidation in view of speculations about its possible merger with Norway's Seadrill Ltd (SDRL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research).
The company said it recognized the numerous benefits that could be achieved by further consolidation.
"We believe further consolidation will occur and we are always open to considering opportunities that would be compelling to our shareholders," a company official said in a conference call with analysts.
Last week, the company said Seadrill had acquired a 9.9 percent stake, sparking possible takeover rumors.
"I would say there's a decent chance of that happening," Jefferies & Co analyst Judson Bailey said by phone.
A merger of the two, if it takes place, would create the world's second-largest offshore driller. Pride's rival Transocean Inc (RIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which bought rival GlobalSantaFe Corp last year, is the biggest by far.
Responding to questions about a possible sale of its Gulf of Mexico jack-up assets, the company said it considers them non-core in the long term.
That effectively says that these assets could be sold very easily now, Bailey said.
The company said that while the assets continue to provide several short-term benefits including high cash flow and return on capital, it would not buy them in a present-day scenario.
"I've always said that long-term, those rigs probably won't be part of our portfolio," CEO Louis Raspino said on the conference call.
MODEST REVENUE GROWTH
The company said it expects a modest improvement in second-quarter revenue and sees earnings from continuing operations of 74 cents to 78 cents a share.
Analysts were looking for earnings of 77 cents a share on revenue of $564.3 million.
Pride said operating income is expected to improve with a fall in event-related repairs and legal claims experienced during the first quarter.
However, inflationary pressures are expected to raise costs by 2 percent to 3 percent, the company added.
Separately, Pride said it received a five-year ultra-deepwater drill ship contract from a subsidiary of BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research). The company expects to generate revenue of $984 million over the contract term.
EARNINGS JUMP
The Houston-based company said first-quarter earnings were boosted by higher day rates for its deepwater and mid-water rigs, and jack-up rigs operating in the international market.
Quarterly net income more than doubled to $240.7 million, or $1.35 a share, compared with $101.7 million, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier.
Earnings from continuing operations were 77 cents a share, compared with 42 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.
Pride said the results include an after-tax gain of $11.2 million, or 6 cents a share, on the sale of the company's 30 percent stake in a land drilling joint venture.
Analysts on average had expected earnings before special items of 68 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Pride, which competes with bigger rivals like Diamond Offshore (DO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Transocean, said revenue rose 18 percent to $557.4 million and came above analysts' average estimate of $536.4 million.
Shares of company closed down 2.2 percent at $41.50 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
Follow That Freight Index
Thursday, 01 May 2008
Recently, Swiss investment bank UBS joined a host of others banks in the shipping business. Not by purchasing ships, but by creating a freight index to track the variation in shipping costs. Yawn, right? Just another index. Not so fast. The gold standard for shipping rates is the Baltic Dry Index. The BDI is a weighted composite index of the daily rate of three different sizes of ships on four main shipping routes. Not only does it tell you what a ship would cost on a given day, it also has information value on the state of the global economy: things like supply and demand in certain commodities such as coal, iron and grains. The axiom for shipping wonks is that "people don't book freighters unless they have cargo to move." And when they do have cargo, they have to have the ships to get their products from point A to point B or they might as well become salmon fishermen.
But you can't invest in the BDI. If you were a private investor, the closest you could get was to invest in a shipping company - but that's a little like buying a cow when all you're interested in is the milk. Sure you get the milk, but you also get a whole lotta other things to worry about.
And if you're one of the hundreds of ship owners, operators, charters and traders, there was no way to hedge against the volatility of freight costs. Hedging would be invaluable in this case, because shipping costs are volatile with a capital V.
Many things can contribute to the rough seas of freight costs - supply and demand of the commodities transported is No. 1. In 2007, the average freight rate almost doubled from 2006. To get under the hood, there's no better source than the ingeniously named shipping trade magazine - theBaltic. In March 2008, they discuss the factors contributing to the rise of freight costs, and its subsequent fall in January of 2008 is discussed in an article called "Dry bulk markets damaged, but not sunk, by ‘perfect storm.'" Here's a brief breakdown.
Prices went UP because:
• Dry bulk shipping activity rose by 7%
• Iron ore transportation rose by 70 million tonnes - that's up 10% compared with 2006
• China alone imported over 390 million tonnes of iron ore in 2007
• China imported over 51 million tonnes of coal - a 34% increase. It was estimated that this demand created a need for an additional 40-bulk vessel in 2007.
• Cargos such as nickel, manganese ores and alumina rose around 10%
• Grains volumes transported rose 3%
And DOWN:
• In Brazil, Vale had to cancel around 5 million tonnes of iron ore shipments to China because of port congestion and maintenance problems
• Recession worries due to the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate cut
And UP again:
• Chinese iron and coal imports continue to increase
• Demand for grains around the world increasing
This will be on the final exam, and be prepared for a quiz on Friday.
Industry Hedging
With all of this volatility, industry participants needed a way to hedge against wild price swings. Freight forward agreements (FFAs) are pretty much the only way that industry participants can protect themselves from the extremes. FFAs are pure, principal-to-principal agreements between a buyer and a seller to pay the difference between the cost of shipping something today, versus the cost of shipping something at a future date. It's the nonexchange-traded equivalent of the listed futures commodities investors are familiar with. There's a small industry of intermediaries who help manage FFAs: folks like Freight Investor Services [FIS] and GFI.
FFAs can be structured in a number of ways: based on a specific route; an average of the several routes a particular ship size would sail; by the day; or by the tonne from port to port. It's a growing market, and has become a highly flexible and sophisticated way to both speculate and manage risk. Freight forward contracts grew 150% in a year as of February 2008, and may grow another 20% as more banks and hedge funds get into the act.
Getting Wet Feet
UBS is trying to add some clarity to an opaque market. The index which they've launched - the UBS Blue Sea Index or BSI - takes the Time Charter type of freight forward agreement (meaning, how much a day a particular kind of ship costs to rent) and blends together different flavors, adds some secret sauce (in the form of an estimate of port congestion) and comes up with a magic number. Since there is no public exchange (these are forwards, not futures), UBS will be getting its underlying prices from a handful of the big players in the market (like FIS).
UBS is just the latest company to set up a freight derivatives operation. Most of the big boys are already there: Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Macquarie Bank, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and hedge funds GMI and Akuila Okeanos. The difference is that UBS is trying to index all this activity and thus expose it to investment.
Ilija Murisic, executive director of hybrid derivatives at UBS, is quoted in this article in the Financial Times, stating:
"The UBS Blue Sea index will be highly correlated with - and so act as an accessible proxy for - coal and iron ore prices and the Chinese economy."
The article goes on to say:
The new index will be based on forward freight agreements for three of the largest types of ocean going dry-goods carriers, mostly used to transport coal, iron ore and some agricultural products.
It will also benefit from port congestion in leading dry-bulk ports, which adds to shipping costs.
In other words, the Baltic Exchange - which is in the business of providing market information - is protecting its territory, and doesn't seem all that interested in UBS cornering the market with another index. For the moment, neither one of these indexes - the BDI or the BSI - is investable. But the BSI is at least designed to be used for investment purposes, and we expect that UBS will be offering exposure to hedge funds and larger institutional players in the coming months.
A BSI ETF anyone? We're not holding our breath.
Source: Seeking Alpha
OPEC Officials Say Speculation Leads Oil Price Rally
Thursday, 01 May 2008
Crude oil prices have soared to almost $120 a barrel because of investors speculating on commodities, OPEC members Kuwait, Libya and Qatar said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plans to hold an emergency meeting before a scheduled September gathering, they said. "Now the fundamentals are not controlling the price, so there are other factors controlling the price,'' Kuwait's acting oil minister Mohammed al-Aleem said in an interview in Kuwait today. ``You cannot control the price, you cannot predict it, because there are reasons controlling the market other than the fundamentals of supply and demand.''
Crude oil futures reached a record $119.93 a barrel reached two days ago and were trading at $116.05 on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:32 p.m. London time. OPEC has rebuffed requests from consuming-nation politicians for more crude, arguing that supply is adequate.
Speculation, a weakening U.S. dollar, and insufficient refining capacity are influencing oil prices, al-Aleem said. Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's state-run National Oil Corp., also blamed speculation for record prices, echoing comments by other OPEC officials this month.
``It could at any time go up further, as fundamentals are not the ones controlling the market,'' Ghanem said at a conference in London yesterday. `Speculation may be the determining factor.''
Qatar Minister
Oil has surged 76 percent in the past year as investors purchased commodities as an alternative to flagging equity markets and the weakening dollar, which fell to a record low against the euro earlier this month.
``Every time the dollar falls, oil goes up as speculators just move to the oil markets,'' Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said in a phone interview from Doha today. ``What I hear today is panic about the oil price, nothing about supply.''
He ruled out any possible meeting because OPEC is powerless to act. ``There is nothing we can do because we are not seeing any shortage in physical oil,'' al-Attiyah said. ``We don't have the tools to do anything.''
Kuwaiti and Libyan officials said that OPEC was ready to meet if needed, before its next scheduled policy-setting conference on Sept. 9.
Before September
``From now to September there could be a meeting but I'm not sure,'' said Ghanem. ``There is no plan to meet,'' he said, adding that the group is ``ready to meet at any time.''
``We will not hesitate to meet'' if needed, Kuwait's al- Aleem said.
OPEC pumped 32.35 million barrels of crude a day in March, according to Bloomberg estimates, and kept its production targets unchanged at its last three meetings on March 5, Feb. 1 and Dec. 5.
The view of OPEC ministers differs from analysts. Former Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani, who now heads a London-based think tank, said OPEC must increase output to boost global stockpiles.
``They have to increase production,'' Yamani, 77, chairman of the Centre for Global Energy Studies, said today. OPEC is ``keeping commercial stocks as dry as possible. They are producing only enough for consumption.''
Lower output from OPEC would eventually send oil prices to $200 a barrel, Yamani said. ``If they continue cutting production later on then, yes, it will happen,'' he said.
$200 Oil
Qatar's al-Attiyah said that oil prices could ultimately reach $200 a barrel because of a continued decline in the dollar's value, not a lack of supply. ``With respect to any analyst, I am not receiving any complaints from end-users.''
OPEC members need a clear vision for future oil demand and supply in order to make sufficient investments in developing new oil reserves, al-Aleem said.
``Stability in demand is essential,'' al-Aleem said. ``The difference in investment between low demand and high demand is $270 billion, that's the scenario.''
The Kuwaiti minister called on OPEC members to cooperate to stabilize oil prices during a speech at the World Islamic Economic Forum in Kuwait today, without saying how.
Kuwait is the fourth-largest oil producer among OPEC's 13 members, Libya ranks ninth and Qatar is the second-smallest.
Source: Bloomberg
I have no idea of any price, Milner. Personally I think those "news" feel odd, and this buzz now in Oslo has no ground.
I just wanted to tell about these "news", if somebody has interest in GDOCF here. Let's keep an eye on the case.
OF COURSE - you MIGHT think that JF wants to concentrate on tankers (FRO) and drilling (SDRLF). That's what puts the guessing on move.
GDOCF.PK (NOK 32.20 = USD 6.25) ALERT!
FYI: Rumours circulating on base of a Financial Times article that claims that John Fredriksen "is preparing a bid" for Golden Ocean!! Extract from the article from April 29:
"Norway's Golden Ocean rose 0.8 per cent to NKr31.9 on talk that Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen was preparing a bid for the shipping firm.
Shares in Germany's Tui rose 2.6 per cent to €18.78 after news that Vladimir Yakushev, managing partner of shareholder Alexei Mordashov's S-Group Capital Management, would replace Franz Vranitzky on its supervisory board. Mr Fredriksen has an 11.8 per cent stake in Tui but has been rumoured to want to sell."
Most of the commentators suspect that there is an error in the article, and a bid for German TUI and Golden Ocean are mixed.
But more stuff to the rumour mill:
Dated 28.04.2008 www.oceanconnect.com
"According to Lloyd's List today...Bently investments, a vehicle for Greece's Restis and Kollakis families is expected to make a full scale bid for Golden Ocean this week. Bently improved its proposal to provide Golden Ocean with interim cash raising the amount from $5.1m to $7.5m over the next four months. This offer has been sufficient to saw creditors into granting two weeks of access to the company's numbers and delaying the next crucial hearing in the Delaware courts until May 1st. Let us not forget Mr. Fredriksen is still sitting on the sidelines having already in his control as much as 26% of Golden Ocean's original $296m bond issue and strengthening his position in recent weeks by gaining the first right of refusal over paper held by another two bondholders...."
This news should be old news - dating from 1999-2000, when Restis/Kollakis families and Frontline were fighting for owning Golden Ocean.
The dates of these "news" have spurred the confusion - is something really going on or only confused columnists? Neither Golden Ocean or John Fredriksen have commented on these articles. Must see and wait.
IF - and I say big IF - John Fredriksen (owns near 30% of the company shares) is going to sell Golden Ocean, rest assured that the price will be good.
The risk, however, is that growing demand in China and other emerging nations like India, will be met by Chinese or Indian companies instead. European manufacturers may find themselves priced out of the market. There is a limit to how low they can drop their prices if they still want to maintain their production facilities in Europe. We have faced the same issue here in the United States, and the result was a wholesale loss of our manufacturing sector and the offshoring of possibly millions of jobs.
That is true sooner than we can believe. Everything developes so fast in those countries - they have all the information ready now for them which from us took centuries to acquire. They are no more only manufacturers, they soon begin to compete in engineering, planning, designing etc. with us.
I watched a program about the university education in China, and the eager and devotion of the students to their studies (no matter about the environments) was enviable. They are coming.
Hello Mt. Blanc. Surely sales from Europe to abroad have suffered nearly in all sectors. Machine engineering (Volvo, MAN, Wärtsilä, all producing in euro district) still have shown growth.
It is hard to believe that this kind of losses (Siemens -67%) are a result of only one quarter. Euro has strengthened versus dollar 25% over two years now, and it begins to show in results. Costs in euros and revenues in dollars is tough to manage - not to mention decline in commerce.
Dollar has strengthened versus euro in this week, and many specialists are forecasting that 1.60 was the bottom, and dollar is on its way up.
GM Stock Lobster. Those kinds of net rev falls in one quarter are really strong. Siemens is a company as global as can be, so that does not seem to help. Sales to US sank most.
Hello Milner. Here's news today:
30/04-2008 13:39:00: (DESSC) Delivery of newbuilding
We are pleased to inform that Deep Sea Supply today
has taken delivery of "Sea Pollock", a newbuilding PSV
from Cochin Shipyard, India.
The vessel is a UT 755L Platform Supply Vessel,
and the vessel was delivered on time and budget
The vessel is the 6th delivery in a series of 8 newbuilding
PSVs delivered to Deep Sea Supply from Cochin.
30 April 2008
Deep Sea Supply PlcCopyright © Hugin AS 2008. All rights reserved.
Ouch! Strong euro starting to show effect: Siemens 1Q net income down 67%, Clariant down 50%, Sanofi, Alcatel and SAP flat. All blaming higher costs.
"RESCUE THE DOLLAR! THE FED CANNOT SAVE HOUSING
This should be obvious to anyone over the age of 10, let alone a room of grown men and women with Phds and master degrees from the finest universities."
You are so right. I remember you once said: "Educated, but not enough brain"
WEL $1.94 picked by Motley Fools as
Tomorrow's Monster Stocks?
(Edit.:former picks were aot DRYS and FSLR. Click the link to see the other picks this year)
Rich Duprey
April 28, 2008
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The market's best stocks include companies that have risen many tens of times in value over the past decade. These aren't penny stocks: They're viable companies with sound business prospects, achieving phenomenal returns every year. Finding just one or two of these companies can help you establish a winning portfolio.
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Na good. You have only the earthquakes to fear!
Come to Scandinavia. The Swedes claim they have found oil in the Baltic Sea!
GM Stuffit. Oh my, is the tornadoes season starting already? Is that where you live?
DOCK (NOK15.10 = USD 2.94) New Dockwise contracts for transport of 3 drilling rigs and dredging equipment
Bermuda, April 29, 2008. Dockwise Ltd. announces that five contracts have been awarded to their subsidiary Dockwise Shipping for the transportation of three drilling rigs and two voyages with dredging equipment.
Dockwise Shipping will transport miscellaneous dredging equipment for Van Oord Dredging & Marine Contractors and Jan de Nul as well as the jack-up drilling rigs Petrojack II, Aban VIII and Deep Driller IV in 2008.
The new build Jack-up drilling rigs Petrojack II and Aban VIII are currently being completed in Singapore, whereas the Deep Driller IV will be relocated.
All contracts contribute to the Dockwise strategic objective to materially expand activities in both rig transport (core business) and transport of offshore production facilities. The total value of the contracts is close to USD 18 million.
Our financial guidance for 2008 is that adjusted EBITDA will increase by at least 60% relative to 2007. Reporting on Q1 results is scheduled for 20 May 2008 before trading.
For further information
Fons van Lith
+31 (0)6 51 31 49 52
Fons.van.Lith@dockwise.com
About Dockwise Ltd
Dockwise Ltd. has a workforce of more than 1200 people both offshore and onshore. The company is the leading marine contractor providing total transport services to the offshore, onshore and yachting industries as well as installation services of extremely heavy offshore platforms. The group is headquartered in Bermuda with amongst others operational offices in Breda, The Netherlands. The group's main commercial offices are located in The Netherlands, the United States, China, Korea, Australia and Nigeria. The Dockwise Yacht Transport business unit is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and has offices in France and Italy. The Dockwise Shipping network is supported by agents in Japan, Singapore, Spain, Argentina, Australia and Italy.
For further information: www.dockwise.com
Published: 11:04 29.04.2008 GMT+2 /HUGIN /Source: Dockwise Ltd /OSE: DOCK /ISIN: BMG2786A1062
SDRL - Share purchase and notice of mandatory offer in SCORE
Reference is made to the press release dated April 28, 2008 in which Seadrill Limited announced an intention to purchase 15.8 million of the outstanding shares in Scorpion Offshore Ltd. at a price of NOK80 per share. The Board of Seadrill has decided to limit the number of shares purchased to 8,100,000 shares. Following this transaction Seadrill owns 19,494,700, corresponding to 36.00 percent of the outstanding shares in Scorpion Offshore.
As a consequence of the acquisition, Seadrill will put forward a mandatory tender offer for the remaining outstanding shares in Scorpion Offshore within four weeks. Accordingly, a draft offer document will be filed with the Oslo Stock Exchange for its review and approval.
The Board of Seadrill has in connection with the acquisition of the shares made a thorough evaluation of different ways to expand the company further. Lead-time for new building of floater assets are currently more than three years. The Board has concluded that investment in a fleet of seven modern high spec jack-ups which all will be delivered within the end of 2009 will boost the company's cash generation and add value and dividend potential going forward. The shareholders should be assured that Seadrill's focus will continue to be to develop the world's leading fleet of modern deepwater floater assets, however opportunistic investment approaches will be used to optimize the equity return to the shareholders until further growth can be secured in the deepwater market.
Carnegie ASA and Pareto Securities AS acted as Seadrill's advisors in connection with the share purchase.
Seadrill Limited
Hamilton, Bermuda
April 29, 2008
Published: 08:42 29.04.2008 GMT+2 /HUGIN /Source: Seadrill Limited /OSE: SDRL /ISIN: BMG7945E1057
SDRL - New four-year contract for tender rig in Malaysia
Seadrill has been awarded a four-year contract by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd in Malaysia with immediate commencement for the self-erecting tender rig Teknik Berkat, in which Seadrill has a 49 percent ownership interest. The estimated contract value is approximately US$182 million. The agreement includes early termination and immediate release of Teknik Berkat from the current contract with CarigaliHess.
Analyst contact:
Jim Dåtland, Vice President Investor Relations +47 51 30 99 19
Media contact:
Trond Brandsrud, Chief Financial Officer +47 51 30 99 19
Seadrill Limited
Hamilton, Bermuda
April 28, 2008
SDRL Published: 21:50 28.04.2008 GMT+2 /HUGIN /Source: Seadrill Limited /OSE: SDRL /ISIN: BMG7945E1057
FRO $56.55 - Purchase of VLCC Newbuildings
Frontline Ltd. ("Frontline") has entered into a contract with Zhoushan Jinhaiwan Shipyard Co.,Ltd. in China for delivery of four 320,000 dwt VLCC newbuildings. The vessels will be delivered from June 2011 until December 2011. Frontline has also secured options for further two similar VLCC newbuildings at a fixed price.
The ordering of the tonnage has been done as a function of a positive market outlook, attractive contract price and payment terms, and is supported by the wish to continuously renew the fleet. Frontline's affiliated company Golden Ocean Group Limited has very good experience with the quality and deliverability of Jinhaiwan shipyard. It has been of vital importance for the Board that the deal can be executed and financed without significantly reducing Frontline's dividend capacity in the short to medium term. The ordering confirms Frontline's position as a leading operator of quality VLCC tonnage.
April 27, 2008
The Board of Directors
Frontline Ltd.
Hamilton, Bermuda
Published: 08:52 28.04.2008 GMT+2 /HUGIN /Source: Frontline Ltd /OSE: FRO /ISIN: BMG3682E1277
SDRL $31.30 - Order to purchase 15.8 million shares in Scorpion Offshore Ltd.
SeaDrill Limited has resolved to not accept the voluntary offer set forth from Fortune Private Equity LLC on Scorpion Offshore Ltd. ("Scorpion"), and has in order to give the shareholders in Scorpion a similar alternative, which is not subject to 90 % acceptance, decided to offer to purchase 15.8 million of the outstanding shares in Scorpion to a price of NOK 80 per share based on an all or nothing order. If successful, Seadrill will pursue to set forth a mandatory offer of the remaining shares.
Seadrill has retained Carnegie ASA and Pareto Securities AS as financial advisors for the acquisition of Scorpion shares.
Scorpion shareholders who want to support this initiative, need to submit their sell-order to Carnegie ASA, by telephone +47 22 00 93 87 or Pareto Securities, by telephone +47 22 87 87 50.
Hamilton, Bermuda
28 April 2008
Contact: Tor Olav Trøim, Director + 44 207 824 5530
Published: 17:51 28.04.2008 GMT+2 /HUGIN /Source: Seadrill
The Great Forgotten Clean-Energy Source: Geothermal
04.03.2008
The U.S. uses less than 1 percent of our available geothermal energy.
by Prachi Patel-Predd
Edit.: All of the United States’ soil is suitable for a technology known as geothermal heat pumps, which transfer heat from the ground to homes in the winter and reverse direction to provide cooling in the summer. Heat pumps have the potential to provide nearly all U.S. households with heat and hot water.
If we could extract all the geothermal energy that exists underneath the United States to a depth of two miles, it would supply America’s power demands (at the current rate of usage) for the next 30,000 years. Getting at all that energy is not feasible—there are technological and economic impediments—but drawing on just 5 percent of the geothermal wealth would generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 260 million Americans. The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) asserts that reaching that 5 percent level, which would produce 260,000 megawatts of electric power and reduce our dependence on coal by one-third, is doable by 2050.
So what is holding us back? Tapping geothermal energy means facing the harsh realities of thermodynamics: Typically, geothermal electricity is generated when hot water or steam underground is piped to the surface to drive a turbine, usually through heating an intermediate working fluid that actually turns the turbine’s blades. The turbine drives a dynamo that then produces the electricity. Crucially, the temperature of the piped-up water dictates the efficiency of a turbine-based system: the hotter the better, with a minimum of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit needed. But there is a limited number of geothermal hot spots that naturally contain water and that heat it to such high temperatures at accessible depths. Probably the best example of one in the United States is The Geysers. In a valley 72 miles north of San Francisco, steam billows from the earth’s surface. (This prompted the first European visitor to the site, in 1847, to believe he had discovered the gates of hell.) An elaborate array of gleaming metal pipes brings steam up from underground to drive turbines that generate 850 megawatts of electricity.
California, Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon all have enough high-temperature hot spots to potentially meet a significant portion of their electrical demand—as much as 60 percent in the case of Nevada—but rarely are the temperatures as high as at The Geysers, which produces steam of 400 degrees and hotter. Most of the time, developers have to look as far as six miles below ground to locate hot, flowing liquids. Finding suitable drill sites can be a big headache.
Doug Glaspey, chief operating officer of U.S. Geothermal, an Idaho-based company that just finished building a 13-megawatt geothermal electrical plant in southern Idaho, says he wishes he had “X-ray vision, so I could see where the reservoirs are. The highest-risk part of this business, bar none, is searching for reservoirs. Drilling a well costs two to three million dollars per well. If it fails, you got nothing.” Moreover, once companies hit a good hot spot, they still have to set up a power plant or a heating system, which requires big up-front costs and multiple wells. Glaspey estimates that it costs “$3.5 million to $4 million per megawatt” to build a geothermal power station.
In addition, geothermal power plants have energy efficiencies of just 8 to 15 percent, less than half that of coal plants. High up-front expenses plus relatively low efficiency makes the cost of geothermal electricity about double that of coal, which sells for around five cents per kilowatt-hour.
Gerald Nix, recently retired geothermal technologies manager at the NREL, believes that improving exploration and drilling technologies could make geothermal power cheaper than coal, however. Current attempts to refine these technologies fall under the banner of engineered geothermal systems (EGS), which can squeeze heat out of spots where the rock is not porous or permeable enough for water to circulate, or where there is not enough water in the first place. EGS uses techniques such as reopening old fissures in the rock, and then pumping water through the fracture. EGS could contribute at least 100,000 megawatts to the U.S. geothermal power budget by 2050, according to a 2006 report, “The Future of Geothermal Energy,” written by a team led by MIT chemical engineering professor Jefferson Tester. What is desperately needed to advance EGS, Tester says, are large-scale demonstration projects. “It’s not as if we don’t know how to drill holes and fracture rocks,” he says, “but we have to demonstrate EGS on a scale that would be useful for commercial enterprise.”
Uses for geothermal energy go beyond generating electricity:Geothermal sources not hot enough to make electricity efficiently can heat buildings by circulating water through pipes. This country has a swath of such lower-temperature hot spots. Draw a line from North Dakota to Texas, and nearly every state west of that line has sources with temperatures of at least 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
+++
Even without a handy hot spot, the ground can be tapped to reduce our need for fossil fuels. All of the United States’ soil is suitable for a technology known as geothermal heat pumps, which transfer heat from the ground to homes in the winter and reverse direction to provide cooling in the summer. Heat pumps have the potential to provide nearly all U.S. households with heat and hot water. In fact, the amount of thermal energy in the ground available for heating—more than a million megawatts—dwarfs the amount available for electricity generation. Yet, according to the NREL, we use less than 1 percent of that. The reason: a lack of research investment.
The tide seems to be turning in favor of geothermal energy in the U.S.
Geothermal energy research has been a victim of poor funding for years. Consequently, much of our technology dates back to the 1970s, when the oil crisis spurred an interest in geothermal energy. At that time, the U.S. Geological Survey sifted through its vast collection of data to determine the extent of the resource, while big oil and power companies invested in power plants such as the one at The Geysers. When oil prices dipped in the 1990s, the tide went out on all types of renewable energy. At the Department of Energy (DOE), geothermal funding plunged from $100 million in the 1980s to a little more than $20 million in recent years. Competing with oil and gas exploration for geological expertise, and with only minimal backing from the government, U.S. geothermal projects largely became the realm of small companies in the West.
Elsewhere around the globe, aggressive public policy has pushed geothermal success. For example, Iceland’s energy policy has emphasized geothermal power since the 1970s. As a result, 85 percent of Icelandic houses are heated geothermally, and five geothermal plants now provide almost a quarter of the country’s electricity.
With climate concerns, oil prices, and energy security now on everyone’s mind, the tide seems to be turning again in favor of geothermal energy in this country. The 2007 Energy Act authorized the DOE to spend $95 million for geothermal research (although Congress has appropriated only a fraction of that so far). Unfortunately, the Energy Act failed to extend tax credits for renewable energy producers, which are crucial, MIT’s Tester says, given the initial costs of finding geothermal resources and setting up plants.
But the private sector is beginning to push geothermal energy in the United States, too. Last year renewable energy developers paid millions of dollars in land leases for geothermal development in the Northwest. The huge untapped geothermal potential in the United States is also grabbing international attention. Last September the Nordic financial group Glitnir announced that it plans to invest $1 billion in the U.S. geothermal market over the next five years. Even the big oil companies are starting to pay attention. Nix says that representatives from ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron have attended recent EGS workshops.
Furthermore, construction companies are noticing that there is money to be made with heat pumps. (Although installing one entails a higher initial cost than a natural gas furnace, a pump will pay for itself in 10 years.) The California Energy Commission estimates the cost of a pump to be about $7,500 for an average-size home. Currently roughly 1 million pumps are installed in the United States, and 50,000 to 60,000 pumps are being added every year.
In total, more than 3,400 megawatts of geothermal power is currently under development in the United States, according to the Geothermal Energy Association. With the right backing, the heat beneath us could help keep the planet from warming up.
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/apr/03-the-great-forgotten-clean-energy-source/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=
Ormat Should Benefit from the Ethanol Backlash
by: Aaron Katsman posted on: April 17, 2008 | about stocks: ORA
Edit: click the link to read 11 comments on article
With people rioting all over the world because of surging food prices, we have started to see a backlash against the cause of the food inflation - ethanol. As global warming alarmists convinced legislators and the media that we need to pour money into ethanol in order to solve the global warming “crisis,” and use it as an alternative to crude oil. So backed by government subsidies, farmers changed their crops over to grow corn, thus creating shortages of other food stuffs and soft-commodities. With smaller supplies, the prices have soared, and now the developing world is taking it on the chin, as citizens are unable to purchase even the most basic food.
What we are starting to see is a backlash against this. The media has started to run stories about the wisdom of ethanol. Better late than never, I guess. The fact that it takes more energy to produce it than it does produce. It also uses a large amount of water in the process, and it's not as if the world is full of spare water.
Hopefully common sense will prevail and we can put an end to the ethanol nonsense. If so, one company that could profit is Ormat Technologies (ORA). The Israelicompany specializes in geothermal and recovered-energy-based power plants. With crude oil hovering around $114/barrel, alternative energy is very much still in focus. But far from a dream, Ormat is a real company with real earnings and real technology.
The company has been announcing deal after deal, and Wednesday was no exception. It announced that a Minnesota cooperative agreed to a 20-year electricity purchase agreement with one of Ormat’s units.
If you are looking for a way to potentially play alternative energy, then forget about ethanol, and spend the time doing some research on Ormat.
Disclosure: The author’s fund holds a position in ORA, he has no position in any other stock mentioned as of April 16, 2008.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/72657-ormat-should-benefit-from-the-ethanol-backlash?source=yahoo
Windsor class?? No, I have no idea. Could they be ships strengthened for moving in icy waters?