Hargreaves Services Share Discussion Threads

[aishah] 03/6/2013 17:16

Hargreaves Services plc - Group SHE Accreditations at December 2010
http://www.hargreavesservices.co.uk/uploads/hargreavesservicesplc-groupsheaccreditationsjan2011.pdf

[simon gordon] 03/6/2013 16:08

Telegraph - 3/6/13:

MPs will vote on Tuesday on whether to introduce an amendment to the Energy Bill which would commit the UK to have a "near carbon-free power sector" by 2030.

The MPs' amendment would bring in the requirement almost immediately, whereas the Government is proposing separately to agree the target in 2016.

The backbench amendment could remove coal-fire and gas-fired power stations from their network unless they can capture and store their emissions

Backers have said that cutting carbon emissions is needed to check changes in global weather conditions.

[bamboo2] 30/5/2013 20:41

...a quandary or two.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22711416

Coal on the global market is so cheap that it threatens government attempts to tackle climate change, the chairman of the Environment Agency has warned.

Lord Smith says the UK's share of electricity generated by coal is up to 40% – the highest since 1996.

Unless this trend is curbed, he says, the UK will miss its targets on curbing climate change and sulphur pollution.

The price of coal has been driven down by the dash for shale gas in the US.

Gas is much less polluting than coal, so carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have fallen in the US. But European power generators have gobbled up the resulting cheap coal, driving carbon emissions up in several nations.

The EU's statistical agency Eurostat estimates that from 2011 to 2012, CO2 emissions increased by 3.9% in the UK. The rise is most likely to be due to increased coal burning.

UK emissions of sulphur, which is damaging to health, have risen when they are supposed to be falling.

Lord Smith urges the government to commit to long-term targets to remove almost all carbon pollution from electricity generation by 2030. MPs are due to vote on this issue next week.

He also urges ministers to resist any attempts by power generators to keep open old coal stations which are due to close under an EU directive on air pollution.

Lord Smith told the BBC: "There's lots of talk about a dash for gas but in effect we're in a dash for coal that's completely unsustainable. The government must ensure it doesn't continue."

Lord Smith says it is important the UK develops its own reserves of shale gas, so long as gas power stations are able to store the resulting CO2 emissions in the future.

"If we lock ourselves into gas generation for the next 40 years without capturing the CO2 emissions, we will never meet our targets on climate change," he said.

"At the current rate of progress we will miss our future carbon budgets."

A government spokesman said measures were in place to ensure new coal power stations could not be built unless they captured their carbon emissions.

There were no plans, he said, to extend the life of old coal power stations.

[aishah] 30/5/2013 16:38

The Momentum Investor
http://www.momentuminvestor.co.uk/

[checkers2] 30/5/2013 16:30

Sorry AISAH, who is TMI?
ta

[aishah] 28/5/2013 12:56

TMI comments that on a PE of 7 for 2013, shares look cheap.

[simon gordon] 17/5/2013 08:57

Yesterday WH Ireland upped price target from 900p to 950p.

[aishah] 17/5/2013 08:56

Jefferies, Buy, 1030p target

[aishah] 16/5/2013 12:15

Westhouse reiterate Buy with 984p target

[simon gordon] 16/5/2013 11:47

Scotsman - 16/5/13:

Hargreaves steps in to save Scottish coal miners' jobs By GARETH MACKIE

More than 200 jobs Scottish coal jobs have been saved after energy and waste services group Hargreaves Services agreed to buy "certain assets" of miner Aardvark, which is being wound up.

Aardvark is owned by Doncaster-based ATH Resources and has all its open-cast mines in Scotland. ATH fell into administration in December and Aardvark has now appointed Mark Granville Firmin, Brian Green and Howard Smith of KPMG as joint liquidators.

Hargreaves, which bought ATH's debt from private equity firm Better Capital in March, said it would also seek to buy Aardvark's operational sites at Duncanziemere and Netherton in Ayrshire.

The firm's chief executive, Gordon Banham, said the acquisition of land and assets from Aardvark will boost its reserves. It estimates that the proven coal reserves at sites with planning permissions are in excess of 3 million tonnes, with a further 2 million at sites that are in the planning process.

Banham added: "This transaction brings to an end a long and complex restructuring process. Whilst it has been a lengthy and difficult exercise, we are very pleased with the end result.

"In comparison with an unstructured liquidation, we have saved or created over 230 jobs and been able to continue mining operations at two of the key sites."

Hargreaves was last week confirmed as preferred bidder to acquire some of the coal-mining assets of the failed Scottish Resources Group.

[meijiman] 16/5/2013 08:58

there should be several positive RNss linked to utilisation of the funds raised.
See every chance of plus 900p in the short term.

[gargoyle2] 16/5/2013 08:11

Looks like a nice pre-pack deal today.

[aishah] 15/5/2013 14:06

Yes, added today.

[gargoyle2] 15/5/2013 11:56

Chart looking good here. Slowly 'bowling' our way back up to 9 quid?

[simon gordon] 11/5/2013 08:58

SCSW - May 2013:

"As a guide, they say their medium term target is to achieve 3m tonnes per annum of surface coal production (in addition to existing Tower volumes). Hargreaves is targeting a range of profitability of between £5-£7.50 per tonne, i.e. jumbo-sized operating profit of £15m to £22.5m at the 3m tonne volume level."

[meijiman] 10/5/2013 19:30

Excellent news today..see the RNS post market close.

[simon gordon] 05/5/2013 09:42

Scotsman - 4/5/13:

ENERGY and waste group Hargreaves Services has emerged as a frontrunner to acquire the assets of the failed Scottish Resources Group (SRG) after the coal miner called in a liquidator last month, putting 600 jobs at risk.

The listed mining group looks likely to announce the terms of a deal on Wednesday after negotiations with SRG's liquidator as well as the Scottish Government's Scottish Open Cast Mining Taskforce.

SRG's Scottish Coal, founded in 1994 following the privatisation of British Coal, operates six open-cast coal mines in East Ayrshire, Fife and South Lanarkshire.

It is thought Hargreaves has been working to buy the working Scottish Coal mines, leaving the remaining 11 sites that have had coal extracted but which have not been restored.



SRG:

[simon gordon] 28/4/2013 12:29

Rail freight charges to increase for coal transport:

25/4/13:



The Scottish mines in Ayrshire could be the biggest losers if the new charges are implemented as the coal has to be transported the furthest distance to the English power stations. These trains run via the hilly Settle and Carlisle route to Yorkshire's power stations while these could be fed from the east coast ports using imported coal.

-

28/4/13:



The Untold Story suggests that the plug on Scottish Coal was finally pulled when the company and the banks realized that, with freight charges for shipping coal to increase from GBP 2.83 to GBP 4.04 per tonne from 2016 onwards, there was little chance of getting a return on any future investment in Scottish Coal.

The collapse of the Scottish Coal Company has, according to those charged with liquidating the business, been caused due to "Scottish Coal has been suffering from well published difficulties. A combination of falling prices, rising operational costs (particularly fuel) and a number of Scottish Coal sites exhausting their reserves has contributed to trading losses and significant cash flow pressures. Despite significant efforts in recent months, the company was unable to secure the level of investment required to enable the business to continue"

[simon gordon] 25/4/2013 15:24

ATH Resources produced 1.6mn tonnes in 2011. HSP bought some of their debt earlier this year. Maybe most of the fresh cash is going to be sunk into it.

[meijiman] 23/4/2013 08:32

I should have added that the sizeable Placing will probably lead to a period of indigestion for the share price as supportive institutions will have increased their holdings. Its another way in which PI's lose out, but longer term it is reassuring that the company sees good ways to utilise extra capital. Hopefully we should not have to wait too long before there is some news on the assets they intend to buy.

[simon gordon] 22/4/2013 18:19

Cheers meijiman!

FT - 22/4/13:

Britain still has 2.3bn tonnes of underground coal reserves, and 852m tonnes on the surface – equivalent to 60 years' supply. But much of this has been sealed off as the number of deep-pit mines has fallen from 170 at the start of the 1980s to just four. This will soon become three after the formal closure of Daw Mill colliery in Warwickshire, which was hit by a big fire earlier this year.

Critics point to the survival of large-scale coal mining in the US – sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of coal – as evidence that Britain shut down its industry prematurely.

Despite efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels because of their role in global warming, latest government figures show that coal still accounts for about 40 per cent of electricity generation.

This was up 10 percentage points from a year earlier, reflecting the competitiveness of enduring of coal-fired power compared with natural gas despite the rising cost of environmental regulation.

Nearly 17m tonnes of coal was produced in the UK last year, the bulk from opencast mines. But this was dwarfed by imports of 44.8m tonnes, an increase of more than a third from 2011. Most of this comes from Russia, the US and Colombia.

Despite big productivity gains in surviving UK mines over the past 20 years, imported coal remains cheaper.

Tim Yeo, chairman of the energy and climate change parliamentary committee and former Conservative minister, says the industry has probably been in irreversible decline since the 1970s. Thatcher "may have accelerated the process with her tough line but it did not alter the direction of travel".

Some pits closed that could have survived for a time – Tower Colliery in south Wales produced successfully for 15 years after a workers' co-operative bought it.

But Gordon Banham, chief executive of Hargreaves, which closed its Maltby mine this month after geological problems, said: "Unfortunately I don't see there's a future for deep mining in the UK long term."

"When these mines close, they close for ever," he added. Sinking a new shaft could cost £500m.

However, Hargreaves, a big coal importer, is more optimistic about the outlook for surface mining. The Aim-listed company last week announced a £42m share issue to acquire more UK open cast mining assets. "There's still a lot close to the surface," said Mr Banham.

Some power generating companies believe domestic coal production should be encouraged for energy security reasons as North Sea oil and gas output declines. Energy imports exceeded UK production in 2011 for the first time since 1974.

Four power generators agreed last year to write off parts of loans in a restructuring of UK Coal, which supplies 17 per cent of coal-fired electricity needs, to avoid its collapse.

Calvin Jones, of Cardiff University, said policy makers had been short-sighted in writing-off domestic coal. "Industrial policy should try to be more forward-looking instead of based on historic competitiveness."

Additional reporting by John Murray Brown, Sylvia Pfeifer and Chris Tighe


RENAISSANCE EXPECTED TO BE SHORTLIVED

Coal has enjoyed a resurgence in Britain despite regulation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, writes Sylvia Pfeifer.

The cost of gas in Europe is still linked to oil prices, which have remained high. Shale gas discoveries in the US have driven domestic natural gas prices there to a 10-year low, sending cheap US coal to Europe.

Coal usage has been encouraged by the EU's carbon trading scheme which has kept prices for emissions low as the eurozone crisis has cut demand. Britain has enough coal and gas-fired generation to switch between the fuels as prices fluctuate.

Andrew Horstead, analyst at Utilyx, a consultancy, said coal generators were earning more than £25/MWh to generate power compared with £5/MWh for gas.

Energy experts doubt that this signals a long-term trend. The introduction of the carbon price floor, which forces industry to pay a set amount for carbon pollution, will start to bite. Many coal-fired plants are reaching the end of their life and new ones require use of commercially unproven carbon capture and storage technology.

[meijiman] 22/4/2013 18:05

Yes the share price should be nearer 1000p.
Odey now over 8%.
Decent piece in today's FT 'Coal no longer energy king .......' page 4.
Suggests coal is by no means out of the equation and gives a few quotes from Gordon Banham.
Hargreaves will be able to buy cheap and low cost UK coal close to the surface as per detailed in the recent Placing doc. The source of coal imports table shows by far the largest country source is from Russia where HSP is very active.
Sounds like a win win situation.

[castleford tiger] 21/4/2013 10:52

It will but what are we going to use?

Green ideas are ok but still costing the country a fortune.

Drax going to wood and its all imported. How much energy is used getting it here?

HSP has a good few years yet and is now cherry picking the open cast it wants without the resteration costs and pension problems.

The price looks too weak to me.

Tiger