BHP reshuffles executive team, Energean enters Morocco

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 38 points lower on Thursday, having closed up 0.34% on Wednesday at 7,515.38.

Stocks to watch

Mining giant BHP Group has announced a major executive leadership team reshuffle, with four people stepping into new roles, including its chief financial officer (CFO). The changes, which will take place in March 2024, "ensure that we continue to build organisational capacity, with the right mix of skills, experience and perspectives to deliver BHP's strategy and pursue our growth agenda," said chief executive Mike Henry. Vandita Pant, currently chief commercial officer, will replace CFO David Lamont who will remain as a senior executive officer in an advisory and projects capacity until 2025. Pant joined BHP in 2016 and was previously group treasurer and head of European operations.

Energean announced its entry into Morocco's offshore acreage through a farm-in agreement with Chariot on Thursday, acquiring 45% of the Lixus licence with an option to increase to 55% after drilling, and 37.5% of the Rissana licence, along with operatorship. The company said the agreement included the Anchois gas development with 18 billion cubic metres gross commercial potential and an appraisal well planned for 2024 targeting an additional 11 billion cubic metres of gross unrisked prospective resources, contributing to balanced-risk growth potential.

Newspaper round-up

Profiteering has played a significant role in boosting inflation during 2022, according to a report that calls for a global corporation tax to curb excess profits. Analysis of the financial accounts of many of the UK’s biggest businesses found that profits far outpaced increases in costs, helping to push up inflation last year to levels not seen since the early 1980s. – Guardian

Nationwide has told the 13,000 staff it had said would not be forced to return to the office when Covid lockdowns ended that they must start coming in from early next year for at least two days a week for most. During the coronavirus crisis the UK’s biggest building society unveiled one of the most far-reaching flexible working policies, called “work anywhere”, telling all staff who did not work in its branches that it was “putting our employees in control of where they work from”. – Guardian

The world is in a new era of low growth and high interest rates, according to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. It warned that inflation will be far more volatile than it has been in recent years – and economies can no longer grow as quickly as they have in the past without stoking price rises. – Telegraph

A New York-listed mortgage trust managed by the private equity giant Blackstone is at risk of a cash crunch, the hedge fund Muddy Waters has said. Carson Block, chief executive of Muddy Waters, revealed on Wednesday that it had begun shorting the stock, saying souring commercial loans could trigger a “liquidity crisis”. – Telegraph

THG’s activist investor has stepped up its campaign by urging the company to confirm break-up plans. Kelso Group has written to the business’s board calling for a stock market statement outlining proposals for a demerger of its three divisions. THG operates a beauty business, a nutrition business, and an e-commerce services platform, Ingenuity. The company first listed on the stock exchange in September 2020 with a valuation of about £5 billion, but its share price has since declined and the company is now worth around £1 billion. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed lower Wednesday as the blue-chip Dow Jones ended the day in the red for a third-straight session.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.19% at 36,054.43, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.39% to 4,549.34 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out of the session 0.58% weaker at 14,146.71.

The Dow closed 70.13 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session.

The Bank of Canada was in focus on Wednesday after the central bank decided to keep its policy rate unchanged at 5% for a third consecutive meeting.

However, the neighbouring bank acknowledged that there was evidence that the economy was no longer experiencing excess demand.

The decision comes just one week before the US Federal Reserve meets for one final time this year.