CITY WHISPERS: Tactless Drax burned by its ill-timed report on the International Day of Forests

Timing is, as they say, everything. We must therefore ask ourselves whether Drax made the right choice in publishing its annual report on the International Day of Forests.

In it, the power producer, which burns wood (known as “biomass”) at its Yorkshire factory, said it sources 8 million tonnes of wood from around the world and that it had burned 6 million in 2023.

Although the government supports the burning of fallen trees, many are calling for this to stop.

In the long term, Drax’s ability to be “carbon neutral” depends on capturing emissions when they are created to squirrel underground.

Too bad for boss Will Gardiner that the slow progress on this project caused him to miss out on part of his annual bonus.

His overall package increased from £5.54m in 2022, when he received a long-term bonus, to £2.86m last year.

It must burn.

Lord Lucan in silver at Angus Energy

Speaking of salary, Lord Lucan managed to receive the largest salary among Angus Energy executives, despite resigning as executive chairman in August.

The British gas producer – long run by George Bingham, eighth Earl of Lucan, whose father disappeared in the 1970s on suspicion of murder – runs the Saltfleetby gas field in Lincolnshire.

Lucan received £331,000, while chief executive Richard Herbert, who joined the company during the year, earned £219,000.

Short sellers await Kingfisher results

Kingfisher, owner of B&Q, is due to publish its annual results on Monday, but some investors are hoping for gloomy figures.

The company has the dubious honor of being the most shorted stock in the FTSE 100, with 6.7 per cent of shares held by those betting its price will fall.

It is the second most shorted stock on the entire London Stock Exchange, beaten only by oil engineer Petrofac at 11.1 per cent.

Short sellers may have good reason to rub their hands, with market forecasts suggesting that Kingfisher’s annual profit fell to £556m from £611m last year, which is expected bring down its share price.

Kerching!

“Riski Soonak” looking for support

As the prime minister faces gloomy polls and mutinous MPs, he appears to have gained a new base of support among an unlikely crowd: cryptocurrency fans.

An image emerged online last week showing masked enthusiasts outside Parliament promoting “Riski Soonak”, a so-called “memecoin” with a caricature of the Prime Minister’s face in front of a Union Jack as its logo.

Despite their efforts, we doubt Sunak will be eager to exploit this support.

According to crypto data website Dex Screener, a Riski Soonak coin is worth just 0.0021p – not quite the £50,000 or so for a bitcoin.

Contributor: Francesca Washtell