Tycoons losing a fortune as oil field fails to deliver

FORMER BP boss Tony Hayward and financier Nat Rothschild have lost millions of pounds as their venture in Iraqi Kurdistan failed to take off.

The pair’s stock in Genel Energy has plunged in value as its main oil field turned out to be less lucrative than thought.

Shares hit record lows this week as the company announced reserves at its Taq Taq oilfield had been cut by around 66pc. They rebounded slightly yesterday as the company launched a bond buyback and said it expected to strike a gas export partnership with Turkey Energy Company.

But since highs of around 1113p in 2014, and a low of 57p on Tuesday, they were 65.25p last night.

Banking scion Rothschild, a Genel non- executive director, is believed to have had shares in 2012 worth around £190m. Yesterday, his 22.12m shares, or 7.95pc stake, were worth around £14m.

Chairman Hayward sold 150,000 shares in 2015 and now has a stake of roughly 0.6pc. Yesterday, they were worth around £964,000. It is believed in 2012 his shares were worth more than £15m.

The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2011 out of a merger between Turkish company Genel Energy International and Vallares, the oil and gas acquisition fund set up by Rothschild and Hayward.

Yesterday Genel announced an annual operating loss of £961m for 2016, after an £880m loss the year before. Revenue slipped to £152m, missing a target of up to £184m that it had already downgraded.

Carr’s Group plunged as it warned full- year performance would be well below expectations.

The agriculture and engineering firm blamed delays to a significant contract and a slower recovery in the US cattle price than it had been anticipating.

Carr’s said it tried to mitigate the impact through cost-cutting and winning new work, but that had been insufficient. It said the UK agriculture division had performed well in the half-year to March 4. Following the cautious update, Investec cut its target price by 30p to 134p. Shares fell 17.6pc, or 26.5p, to 124p.

The FTSE 100 finished down 0.06pc, or 4.2 points, at 7369.52.

Petra Diamonds was the highest riser on the All-Share. The mining company, which has operations in South Africa and Tanzania, is to issue £480m in loan notes and restructure its debt.

The firm will use the proceeds to repay bank debt. Chief executive Johan Dippenaar said the move would give the group more financial flexibility as the new debt would not be due until 2022.

Petra confirmed it was on track for the year and said the diamond market was stabilising. Shares soared 9.7pc, or 12p, to 135.8p.

RPC Group tumbled despite a confident update. The plastic products firm, which makes food, beverages, personal care and healthcare packaging, said revenue was expected to be ahead of last year thanks to acquisitions and organic growth. It said more acquisitions were possible. Shares slumped 7.7pc, or 68p, to 811p.

Wincanton won a five-year contract with drinks firm Britvic. The supply chain firm will manage the national transport operations for the soft drinks company, carrying out more than 100,000 deliveries a year. Shares slipped 2.2pc, or 5.75p, to 252p.

Carclo has bought Czech company FLTC for an initial £900,000.

FLTC makes exterior lighting products for the autos and transport industries and has been a supplier to one of Carclo’s subsidiaries – which accounted for around a third of FLTC’s 2016 sales – for the past three years.

Carclo, which makes plastic components mainly for medical products, will pay another £500,000 once the acquisition is completed. Its shares climbed by 2.3pc, or 3p, to 131p.