Europes 2nd biggest oil company BP Plc has said their profit fell 53% on lower energy prices.  They have said that there is “little evidence” of a recovery.

Their 2nd quarter net income has fallen to $4.39 billion, or 23.16cents a share, from $9.36 billion, or 49.23cents, in the earlier period.

CEO Tony Hayward of BP said that estimated cost cuts would exceed an earlier target as it increased production to more that 4,000,000 barrels a day.   There has been “significant falls” in the first half and the recovery will be “long and drawn out” as the demand stabilizes said Tony.

An analyst from Panmure Gordon and Co recently said in an interview “I have serious concerns about the operating environment and that the oil price may come under pressure.”

Later this week BP’s rivals will be releasing their results which are Spains Repsol YPF, Total SA of France, Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

U.S oil futures averaged $59.79 a barrel in the 2nd quarter, 52% lower than a year earlier, while gas futures slumped 67%.  NY oil futures have rebounded 53% since the beginning of 2009 and traded at $68.44 today.

Irish flight company Ryanair is cutting the number of flights from Stansted airport by 40%.  This will start this winter from October 2009 to March 2010.

Currently they have 40 aircrafts at Stansted airport and this will be reduced to 24 by winter.

The reason for the cutbacks is because Standsted is one of their most expensive bases.  They tried to persuade BAA to cut hight passenger fees this winter but failed.

The 16 aircrafts to be cut will be moved to other european bases.

CEO of Ryanair Michael O’Leary said “Sadly UK traffic and tourism continues to collapse while Ryanair continues to grow traffic rapidly in those countries which welcome tourists instead of taxing them”.

This just goes to show how damaging the governments £10 tourist tax and BAA high airport charges are damaging the UK tourism and the economy.

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Sports Car Manufacturer Porsche SE is close to reaching an agreement with Volkswagen AG with regards to a merger.  CEO Wendelin Wiedeking has sain recently in an interview “I think all the details, later on within the next days” will be resolved.  Wiedeking has said that the deal to sell Porsche to Volkswagen “its already on the table” meaning the sale is very close to agreements.

Qatar Investment Authority has put an offer to buy a stake in Porsche’s holding company and options in Volkswagen stock.  Porsche currently has a 51% stake in Volkswagen which has put them in 9 billion Euros worth of debt. 

Juergen Meyer a portfolio manager at SEB Asset Managment firm in Frankfurt has been quoted saying “The most reasonable solution would be that Porsche sells its call options on Volkswagen shares to Qatar and Volkswagen acquires a stake or 100% of Porsche’s car business”.

Cheif Executive Officer Wiedeking became CEO in 1993 and has transformed the company of the 911 and the Cayenne, which when he started the manufacturer was almost bankrupt.  He has turned the company around into the industry’s highest profit margin company.  In was’nt until 2005 he began using cash from the business to buy shares in Volkswagen, a company that builds more cars in a week than Porsche does in a year.

The family owners and Qatar have been asked to participate in a planned five billion euro share sale at Porsche, people familiar with the talks said this week.  Qatar may pay 2 billion euros for a stake, one of the peoples said.

If Persian Gulf were to invest this would leverage to negotiate a deal to merge with VW.  An agreement between the families earlier this year in May with VW to pursue a merger to create a 10 brand behmoth that would include Audi luxury division of VW as well as the Skoda and Seat mass market units.

The 2nd largest US bank JPMorgan has announced that profits have risen for the first time since 2007.  This has beat all estimates from analysts putting a smile back on investors faces.

Second quater earnings had increased to $2.7 billion, which is 28 cents per share.  Compared to $2 billion, 53 cents per share a year earlier.

14 analysts who surveyed the company estimated an average price share of 5 cents a share a while back.  Investment banking revenue from trading and stock and bond underwriting is helping offset rising defaults on consumer loans, such as mortgages and credit cards.  This has allowed Jamie Dimon (CEO) to post net income during every quarter of the US recession that started back in 2007.  JPMorgan is the only bank within the nations top five to manage that feat.  Lets hope the others are soon to follow.

Charles Bobrinskoy who is vice chairman of Ariel Investments in Chicago said “This is a real tribute to Jamie Dimon” in a recent television interview.

JPMorgans 15 percent gain this year on the New York Stock Exchange is the 2nd best performance in the 24 company KBW Bank Index just behind State Street Corp.  The stock climbed 4.5% to $36.26 in composite trading yesterday.

The bank has made $1.47 billion in profit which has quadrupled since last years 2nd quarters earnings.  The boost in profit was from fees from underwriting stock and bond deals and fixed income trading. 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc recently said on july 14 that it made $3.44 billion in the quarter from trading and underwriting stock.  Revenue was up from $9.43 billion last year to $13.8 billion this year ending month June 26.

It has been reported that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are to spend £300,000 at Wimbledon on their company exectutives dispite the company being in a financial mess.  This has caused fury as tax payers bailed out the bank with £20billion only last year.

An MP was quoted for saying that he felt the extravgence of RBS is “disgusting” at the amount of money they are laying on for a few days at Wimbledon.

The bank is currently 70% owned by the state and taxpayers are also guaranteeing more than £325billion in toxic assets.

LDV was put into administration last week and is in talks with Phones4U owner John Caudwell as a possible takeover bid.

The billionaire has asked his team to look into the company and review the situation and then will bring in new management to take the company to new life.

John sold Caudwell Group telecoms business in 2006 for £1.46 bn which at the time was the top of the market.  This will be his first step back into the industry since 2006.

John sees LDV has a lot of potential as the demand for vans overseas is still very high, particulary in third world countries he says.  He is still in early talks with pricewaterhousecoopers and hasn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement yet.

In 2003 Mr Caudwell sold his Singlepoint telecoms business to Vodafone  for £400m and Caudwell Holdings, including Phones 4U, to a private equity consortiumthree years later.

At the moment Caudwell spents most of his time working with the Caudwell Children charity which is near to the LDV Midland base.

After the sale of the Caudwell group he has invested £15m in advanced marine propulsion system and a further £100m into commercial property which are both managed by business associates.

Another firm interested in LDV is Malaysian firm Westar.  They pulled out of a deal early this month which forced LDV to go into administration but they say they are still interested in the firm.

Also another firm called Nanjing which are a chinese manufacturer which bought MG Rover in 2005 are also said to be interested in LDV.  Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group are also said to be interested.

By the looks of things it could turn into a bidding war for the LDV company.  PriceWaterHouseCoopers said it had 3 interested parties but would not comment on Caudwells approach.

A recent uprise in buyer enquiries and a shortage in properties is starting to move the housing market according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Buyer enquires in May 2009 was the highest amount estate agents have seen since 1999.  The average number of properties sold over the past three months rose to 11.8, up from 10.6. Fewer surveyors also reported a fall in house prices.

Houses on estate agents books are falling month by month 58.4% from 69.4%.  The lack of supply and with the increase in buyer interest is starting to stablise the housing market.  Although this seems very positive predictions are that house prices still have some more to fall.

The findings from Rics were supported by house price figures published today by the government’s communities department , which showed prices rose by 1.1% month-on-month in April, after dropping 1.3% in March. This means the year-on-year fall in house prices narrowed to 13% in April from 13.6% in March.

A recent survey shows that businesses are still declining in May despite optimism that the market was starting to pick up.

This shows that shoppers are still wary about spending money in this difficult times.  CBI which took the survey of many retailers said that 31% of retailers reported rising sales in May compared to last year May.  48% reported falling sales in May, giving a net balace of 17%.  Which gives a good balance of +3%, in April, which some analysts hoped had marked the beginning of a retail recovery.

The CBI has said the decline has slowed down compared to 40-50% negative balances seen in January, which is giving signs that the end of the recession is not to far away, possibly by the end of 2009.

A decline in consumer spending by money struggling shoppers fearing for their jobs drove the sharp fall in GDP, of 1.9%, in the first three months of 2009.