BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton has this morning announced a final deal in terms of compensation over the Samarco dam failure in Brazil. $211 million will be paid out to the foundation established to help those impacted by the disaster. Coming just days after settling a law suit with the Brazilian government over the same incident, shareholders will be looking forward to drawing a line under the situation.
fastjet
The AIM-listed low cost African airline fastjet published results this morning, but this was accompanied by proposals to raise fresh capital. Although the airline has succeeded in cutting losses by undertaking a series of strategic revisions – load factors are up 17 percentage points and revenues are up by 27% – a $10 million cash injection is being sought. Interestingly the new shares are being issued at a premium to the existing price. Will investors be willing to take the risk?
Funding Circle SME Income Fund
An interesting note from Funding Circle SME Income Fund, the SME lender, has been published this morning. The company is highlighting that the costs of hedging foreign currency exposures back into Sterling has risen significantly and is likely to stay that way as a result of greater volatility in the Pound. That’s leading to some revised guidance, but they still expect to pay a fully covered dividend of 5p – 6p a year. With the shares trading at just over £1, that still provides what many would consider an attractive yield.
