Pioneer Natural Resources Company (PXD) reported its third quarter results of 2 cents per share, well below than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 6 cents and year-earlier quarter earnings of 91 cents. Before adjusting one-time items, loss per share was 6 cents.  Despite the increased production volumes and lower production expenses, earnings were down due primarily to weak realized prices. Revenue for the quarter was $410.1 million, down nearly 32% from the year-earlier level.  Total production for the quarter averaged approximately 113 thousand barrels oil equivalent per day (MBOE/d), up 2% year over year, reflecting the strong performance of Pioneer’s low-decline assets. Oil production averaged at 31.7 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), up approximately 7% year over year. Natural gas liquids production slightly decreased to 18.6 MBbl/d. Natural gas production also modestly increased to 374.2 MMcf/d.  On an oil equivalent basis, average realized price was ...

While assigning a “buy” rating to Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), MENA investment bank Naeem Holding praised the company’s growth strategy and noted that it has “evolved into a well-balanced group with operations in mature markets providing healthy cash flow, while more exotic markets offer growth.” Its analysts forecasts the firm to generate free cash flow of roughly $1.6 billion in 2009. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Telecel Globe, Orascom invests in small and mid-cap mobile operators across Africa and Asia. And back in December, it raised eyebrows by becoming one of the first countries to invest in North Korea when it opened Ora Bank–a joint venture along with the country’s state-owned Foreign Trade Bank–while concurrently launching a high-speed mobile network that is 75% owned by Orascom Telecom and 25% by the state-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation after

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According to Joel Toujas-Bernat, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Tunisian mission chief, Tunisia maintains a “relatively favorable position” to address the financial crisis.  In addition to the government’s historically “cautious” monetary policy, which created a buffer zone for public finances, Toujas-Bernat cited an anticipated “good performance” in agriculture and energy as the underpinning for the country’s projected 3% growth rate this year.  Though the country’s export markets in particular have been affected by the crisis, he continued, “the political openness of the economy”, which has  realized improvements in both productivity and competitiveness, has helped made Tunisian companies “more robust” and thus better equipped to withstand the economic shock.

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Banque Attijari de Tunisie, or the Attijari Bank, the Tunisian branch of Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank (NYSE:ATW)–Morocco’s leading banking and financial services group and the seventh-largest bank in Africa in terms of total assets–surpassed the Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie in 2008 to become the country’s second most profitable bank behind Bank of Tunisia. Among other impressive figures, Attijari saw growth in interest margin (+30.6%), the margin on commissions (+11.9%) and income on its securities portfolio (+20.4%). Additionally, the institution’s turnover reached 220.30 million dinars, a 21.7% increase, while gross operating income was up 44.5% to 60 million dinars. Deposits, meanwhile, increased by 24.1% to a rate greater than loans disbursed (1.96 billion dinars, 15.2%). And the total balance sheet of the bank increased by 19.9% to 2.83 billion dinars. Moncef Chaffar, Chairman of the

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Interesting article from April 24th’s Investment Dealers’ Digest (IDD) regarding Houlihan Lokey (“From Century City To Baghdad”, subscription required), a middle-market investment bank whose restructuring practice has given it an international reputation, and whose decision to rebuff various bulge-bracket suitors over the past decade or so now looks increasingly prudent.

In addition to working with the Russian government on its Soviet-era debt, as well as with the Seychelles, the firm’s sovereign advisory services team is in the midst of helping Iraq ease its debt burden, and has been successful with 42 creditor nations, through meetings and negotiations with various creditors’ central banks, ministries of finance and ministries of commerce.   Bankers are now working on the closing phase with eight nations, the article states.  “There is a lot of traveling to different capitals,” notes Derrill Allatt, a managing director.  “We have had success. There was an agreement with

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With oil finally trading back above the $50-a-barrel level, it’s time to recognize that crude prices are probably not going to remain low for very long, and may end up fluctuating in the $50-$80 range - regardless of what happens to the prices of other commodities. After all, the economies in both China and India are apparently continuing to grow at a fairly rapid pace, and those countries’ demand for transportation and other forms of energy are thus likely to keep pace. For some minerals, the period of high prices from 2005 to 2008 has produced a surplus. But no such effect has been seen in the oil market, as large new discoveries are hard to find. If we’ve learned anything in the last few years, it’s that political risk is very important in oil investments. It’s not just a question of outright ...

One of the definitions of “stress” offered by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium”. Well, any bodily or mental tension investors might have been suffering from as a result of financial factors were shrugged off on Thursday with the announcement by US regulators that ten of the nation’s largest banks had to add a total of “only” $74.6 billion in equity following the completion of stress tests. However, whether this will indeed restore the equilibrium remains to be seen.

Source: Walt Handelsman

The diagram below, courtesy of the Financial Times, summarizes the stress test results in a nutshell. Click here or on the image below for a larger graphic.

Source: Financial Times

As investors welcomed the

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Tunisia is one of the leading call centers and outsourcing destinations in Africa and in the Arab world, according to Hadj Gley, its Minister of communication technologies.  Gley noted at a conference this past week that he hopes to realize the development of the sector’s legislative framework by offering tax free returns and other incentives to foreign investors keen to set up projects in the country. The minister also mentioned the procedures adopted by the government to strengthen investment in call centers and remote support centers, through the activation of the network structure of the Internet Protocol (MPLS) at the national level in addition to the extension of the El Ghazala technological pole which specializes in ICT activities and research. Served by a modern infrastructure and a qualified workforce, the country is increasingly attracting major international outsourcing companies such as “SR Teleperformance,” which employs over as thousand

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Posted by Frontier Markets

London-based Silk Invest Ltd just announced the successful launch of both its Luxembourg domiciled African Lions Fund and Arab Falcons Fund (see charted performance against relevant indices hitherto below).  Per one report, the new funds are being aimed at European fund of fund managers (though the firm ultimately seeks to target “more traditional investors such as pension funds”), and will be capped at $500m.

Touting the funds, Silk CIO Daniel Broby noted that African and Arab countries “have restructured their economies and are best positioned to profit from the next stage of globalization.”  Further, he added, “we have a generational opportunity in frontier markets; industrialization is coming to the final places in the world where it hasn’t come yet – namely Africa and the Arab world.”

Both funds will limit exposure to individual countries as well as individual sectors to 25%. Broby remarked that the African fund ...