CITY WHISPERS: Shareholders take aim at oil firm’s whole board

Shareholder rebellions have been all too common this year. 

Most of the time investors’ ire is targeted at bumper pay packets, as in the recent revolts at Ocado, Marks & Spencer and Kier Group. 

But AIM-listed Europa Oil & Gas, a £9million UK and North Sea energy group, last week left its annual meeting with a bloody nose after shareholders rebelled against all five members of its board. 

All at sea: Europa Oil & Gas left its annual meeting with a bloody nose after shareholders rebelled against all five members of its board

A third of votes cast pushed back against chief executive Simon Oddie. 

More than 26 per cent were against chairman Brian O’Cathain. It follows a disappointing result in October from a well drilled in the North Sea.

This halved Europa’s share price. It is now trading close to a penny stock – far from the 3.55p it hit in February. 

Only a minority of votes were cast – which is hardly an endorsement of the company’s engagement with shareholders in itself. 

Still, if it was on the main market, that would be enough to get it on the Investment Association’s AGM naughty list.

Currys expectations muted

Expectations for Currys’ half-year results, due on Thursday, are muted. 

House broker Liberum expects profit of £9million – not the £91million this time last year, when people were still spending big on sprucing up homes and upgrading electrical goods. 

But the outlook might be looking up a bit, even in a cost-of-living crisis. 

The World Cup is likely to have boosted TV sales, going by an update on Friday from John Lewis. 

Football’s coming home… 

Fracking firms irked by coal mine decision

Environmental campaigners weren’t the only ones appalled by the decision last week to give a green light to a coal mine in Cumbria. 

The decision irked fracking firms – whose industry was banned again weeks after being given hopes of a fresh start under the short-lived Liz Truss premiership. 

Politicians insist this is because fracking can’t be proved safe. But many oppose it on ecological grounds. 

As one industry insider said, it was ‘paradoxical’ to support the coal mine but shut frackers out, adding the Government appeared ‘to have decided to unjustifiably forget about us’

Investors seem to be forgetting about them too. Shares in listed UK fracking firms Egdon Resources and IGas Energy are valued at far less than they were before Truss’s U-turn. 

Saxo Bank’s outrageous predictions

Could 2023 be the year when we see an un-Brexit referendum, the euro rising to $1.25 and Joe Biden impeached? 

Probably not. But that hasn’t stopped Saxo Bank and Standard Chartered putting out their outrageous predictions for the coming 12 months, using a quiet few days for their ‘silly season’ ahead of an onslaught of economic data this week. 

The City oracles are tongue in cheek. Though interestingly, both have posited that there could be a spike in gold prices. 

It’s trickier to write that off when you consider the 12 months we’ve just had. And some of these banks’ more outlandish previous forecasts – including Saxo calling Brexit – came true. 

The way things are going, who knows what’ll happen?