WPL says assessing potential sale of part of Browse

Mary Shelley’s classic novel about Dr Frankenstein and his monster sprang to mind in recent weeks as data from the US revealed signs of life in the economy. And there’s more to come.

Another regulation quarter for BHP with record iron ore production, recovering copper production, incremental contribution from new US assets and more projects added to the “to do” list. BHP’s arsenal of world class resource projects is impressive and it has the firepower to execute on all of them. Chinese economic growth appears unlikely to falter providing confidence in the outlook for BHP.

Oz Minerals share price performance has been uninspiring over the past 12 months or so. This is primarily due to negative investor sentiment as it relates to equities and copper, rather than any significant operational weakness. Indeed, the miner delivered a solid December quarter production report, also meeting full year guidance of between 100,000 and 110,000 tonnes of copper.

Iron ore and copper continue to dominate the headlines for Rio Tinto. Full year production of iron ore from the Pilbara region achieved yet another record keeping the company on track with its multi-year major expansion of the key steelmaking raw material. The portfolio is in transition as aluminium assets are adjusted and fresh acquisitions slip into the mix, but Rio’s attraction as a diverse resource play is undiminished. The under-geared balance sheet provides enormous flexibility for capital management or further acquisitions.

The Pluto LNG project remains the key catalyst for Woodside Petroleum’s share price in the near term. Starting up the $14.9 billion project this year and finding the gas resources for the second phase are the two elements that the market is fretting over. Meanwhile, Woodside’s quarterly production release showed a solid base that still supports this high quality business.

It could be argued that initial public offerings are the financial markets equivalent of Vegemite – you either love them or hate them. Some see new floats as a great way to access good companies, previously only available in the private domain; while others stay clear, suspicious that founding shareholders are looking to exit at top. Either way a lack of stock market history and investor familiarity will always mean that newly listed companies present additional risks to consider. Collins Foods is a case in point.