Paul Chan Mo-po will seek to explain Hong Kong’s efforts to combat terrorism financing and work to attract more funds and business to the city during a five-day Europe trip, noting that stabilising geopolitics will strengthen foreign ties and the economic environment. The finance chief’s coming trip was announced on Sunday, and follows the easing of tensions after United States President Donald Tr...
Paul Chan Mo-po will seek to explain Hong Kong’s efforts to combat terrorism financing and work to attract more funds and business to the city during a five-day Europe trip, noting that stabilising geopolitics will strengthen foreign ties and the economic environment. The finance chief’s coming trip was announced on Sunday, and follows the easing of tensions after United States President Donald Trump visited mainland China and the reveal that Russian President Vladimir Putin was also set to...
makasana/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Equinor ( EQNR ) is a multinational oil company that's been volatile lately as oil volumes have varied with the US-Iran-Israel war. YTD the company's price is up 60%, benefiting from massive demand for oil and gas not impacted by the Strait of Hormuz. Despite this appreciation, as we discussed in our last article , the company remains our favorite oil meg...
makasana/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Equinor ( EQNR ) is a multinational oil company that's been volatile lately as oil volumes have varied with the US-Iran-Israel war. YTD the company's price is up 60%, benefiting from massive demand for oil and gas not impacted by the Strait of Hormuz. Despite this appreciation, as we discussed in our last article , the company remains our favorite oil megacap. Equinor 1Q 2026 Results Equinor had an impressive 1Q 2026, with $9.8 billion in adjusted operating income. Equinor Investor Presentation The company generated $6 billion in CFFO for the 1Q and $3.1 billion in net income. That puts the company squarely in the single-digit P/E ratio territory. However, Equinor also does not have a lofty debt load, and realized Brent prices of <$80/barrel is a YoY improvement, but it's well below current Brent crude prices of $100/barrel. Equinor had strong performance from volumes, which we'll discuss in more detail below, and the company has continued to maintain strong discipline. In Norway's NCS, Equinor made 7 new discoveries, maintained strong production, and started drilling in Brazil. From Adura, a UK North Sea company formed from a merger of assets with Shell, it saw its 1st dividend. Financially, Equinor has continued to pay a dividend that's still more than 4% after share price increases. The company's annualized $1.5 billion buyback target is almost 6% annualized in total shareholder returns. Equinor Volumes From a volume perspective, Equinor saw incredibly impressive 9% O&G production growth. Equinor Investor Presentation That was driven by new NCS production and regularity along with record high production in the US. That pushed production past 2.3 million barrels/day, massive production at a time of high prices, which will drive substantial cash flow. While power generation remained constant, renewable production increased dramatically versus gas-to-power. Ørsted's wind production has continued to grow , where Equinor has ...
Getty Images Juniper Capital Advisors made a material investment in PEDEVCO ( PED ) that includes the acquisition by PEDEVCO of some operating properties. Based upon the previous results back in fiscal year 2020 of a similar investment then made by Juniper into what was then Penn Virginia, this could turn out to be a major positive turning point for PEDEVCO. Penn Virginia later changed its name to...
Getty Images Juniper Capital Advisors made a material investment in PEDEVCO ( PED ) that includes the acquisition by PEDEVCO of some operating properties. Based upon the previous results back in fiscal year 2020 of a similar investment then made by Juniper into what was then Penn Virginia, this could turn out to be a major positive turning point for PEDEVCO. Penn Virginia later changed its name to Ranger Oil, which was then acquired by Baytex Energy ( BTE ). Those hoping for a similar outcome here may want to get on board before the train leaves the station. Last Article As a side issue, this combination materially changes the company while introducing a new major shareholder. It is a shareholder I have long followed with a very good long-term record. So I very much like the transaction. On the other hand, it makes any of my previous coverage, including the last article, largely irrelevant. Material Changes and Non-Events Similarly, first-quarter results are dominated by a "mark-to-market" unrealized hedging loss that is largely irrelevant to the situation. Only about one-tenth of that loss was realized (and that is shown elsewhere as a reduction in the selling prices). The rest is the opportunity cost of selling the production ahead of time for a fixed price before knowing that the Iranian situation would happen. What will happen instead is that the production covered by the hedge will be sold at the price of the hedge, and the profit or loss will be determined at that time. In the meantime, production ran up from the 1,000 BOED range to past the 6,000 BOED range. This will materially change the company's finances going forward. Additionally, the company received a badly needed cash injection that will allow this company to move forward expeditiously to materially add value going forward. I, personally, made about a 400% return from the Baytex situation noted previously. I, therefore, am looking forward to what happens here in the future. The future is going to be ...
Exclusive: Then-home secretary justified proscription of group in newspaper column despite advice it might unfairly impact trial of six activists Yvette Cooper wrote a newspaper column about Palestine Action despite prosecutors warning it could prejudice criminal proceedings against six activists from the group, it can be revealed. The then-home secretary wrote the column justifying Palestine Acti...
Exclusive: Then-home secretary justified proscription of group in newspaper column despite advice it might unfairly impact trial of six activists Yvette Cooper wrote a newspaper column about Palestine Action despite prosecutors warning it could prejudice criminal proceedings against six activists from the group, it can be revealed. The then-home secretary wrote the column justifying Palestine Action’s proscription even though the Crown Prosecution Service advised it might unfairly impact a trial concerning a 2024 break-in at an Israeli arms manufacturer’s factory. Continue reading...
Labour’s sometime safest seat in the UK, birthplace of Aneurin Bevan and Neil Kinnock, last week sent no Labour delegates to the new Senedd Reminders of the Labour movement’s roots are inescapable in Tredegar, south Wales: murals pay tribute to party giants Aneurin Bevan and Neil Kinnock, both of whom were born here. The Workmen’s Hall Library is long gone, replaced by a car park, but the Cambrian...
Labour’s sometime safest seat in the UK, birthplace of Aneurin Bevan and Neil Kinnock, last week sent no Labour delegates to the new Senedd Reminders of the Labour movement’s roots are inescapable in Tredegar, south Wales: murals pay tribute to party giants Aneurin Bevan and Neil Kinnock, both of whom were born here. The Workmen’s Hall Library is long gone, replaced by a car park, but the Cambrian Inn, which hosted early trade unions and Chartist groups, survives. The Tredegar Medical Aid Society, which Bevan used as a model for the NHS, was across the road; today it is a heritage centre paying tribute to the public health pioneers and the area’s coal-mining and steel-making past. Continue reading...
Growing up in Gwynedd, I was made to feel not ‘Welsh enough’. But things have changed – and the Senedd victory shows the politics of exclusion has no answer Plaid Cymru and its leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, made political history this month: they won the Senedd . For the first time ever, Wales now has a progressive majority that is not dependent on Labour. Polls had put Plaid and Reform UK neck and ne...
Growing up in Gwynedd, I was made to feel not ‘Welsh enough’. But things have changed – and the Senedd victory shows the politics of exclusion has no answer Plaid Cymru and its leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, made political history this month: they won the Senedd . For the first time ever, Wales now has a progressive majority that is not dependent on Labour. Polls had put Plaid and Reform UK neck and neck. In the run-up to the election, some of my Welsh friends were panicking. They were relieved that Reform came second. I was never convinced that Reform’s brand of essentially English ethno-nationalism was ever going to triumph in Wales. The party seemed to think it could transpose its tactics from next door and that they’d work in the same way. Yet unlike Plaid, Reform UK has no story to tell about what it means to be Welsh. Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Facts can be expensive in a dangerous world. I have covered some brutal wars during my three decades at the Guardian, but journalists are now actively targeted in a way I have never seen Support independent journalism today It has never been so dangerous to be a journalist than now, and the threat keeps growing. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recorded 129 deaths of reporters and other ...
Facts can be expensive in a dangerous world. I have covered some brutal wars during my three decades at the Guardian, but journalists are now actively targeted in a way I have never seen Support independent journalism today It has never been so dangerous to be a journalist than now, and the threat keeps growing. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recorded 129 deaths of reporters and other media workers in 2025, the most it has ever recorded, and five more than the previous record, which was last year. I have worked for the Guardian for more than three decades and covered some brutal wars, but journalists are now in the crosshairs, actively targeted, in a way I have never seen before. Continue reading...
China’s industrial sectors are racing to integrate artificial intelligence to boost efficiency, bolstered by state support, but experts warn that critical vertical markets – such as healthcare and aerospace – may be too “high risk” for the shift towards autonomous agents. Hailed as the driver of a “fourth industrial revolution”, AI is shifting away from chatbots to agentic AI – systems capable of ...
China’s industrial sectors are racing to integrate artificial intelligence to boost efficiency, bolstered by state support, but experts warn that critical vertical markets – such as healthcare and aerospace – may be too “high risk” for the shift towards autonomous agents. Hailed as the driver of a “fourth industrial revolution”, AI is shifting away from chatbots to agentic AI – systems capable of independent execution within a workflow, industry experts said at the International Data Corporation...
It's hard not to get caught up in stocks' day-to-day gyrations, and there's plenty of near-term noise absorbed by investors, but at the end of the day, owning stocks is an avenue for participating in a company's future, hopefully growing earnings. Investors taking fliers on Critical Metals (NASDAQ: CRML) have to balance near-term noise with future expectations because this materials stock can give...
It's hard not to get caught up in stocks' day-to-day gyrations, and there's plenty of near-term noise absorbed by investors, but at the end of the day, owning stocks is an avenue for participating in a company's future, hopefully growing earnings. Investors taking fliers on Critical Metals (NASDAQ: CRML) have to balance near-term noise with future expectations because this materials stock can give and take away in short order. From the 52-week high of $32.15 notched last October, Critical Metals closed at $11.46 on Wednesday, May 13. On the other hand, the stock surged 26% over the past month. Talk about a roller-coaster ride. Then there's the element of future expectations, because at the moment, this is a mining company that, well, isn't mining anything yet. So it's not unreasonable to say that owning Critical Metals stock today is owning hope, which adds to the meme-stock, lottery-ticket vibes attached to this name. Continue reading