LONDON (Reuters) – London listed-clean energy producer Greenko is focusing on wind and hydro power to feed the hungry Indian energy market, ruling out solar for at least three to four years.

“There’s so much to do with hydro and wind,” Mahesh Kolli, co-founder and president of the India-based company, told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that these were the most tried and tested technologies.

“Because it was so easy to sell the power, we said let’s not take any technology risk.”

India’s current power supply is insufficient for its needs and it does not have its own oil and gas reserves, so other sources of power – including the renewables that are seen as more costly in Europe and the U.S. – are snapped up.

The Indian government is trying to increase capacity to 342 GW by 2017, compared with current installed capacity of 163 GW. At present, keeping the power on for 8 or 9 hours a day is considered an achievement, Kolli said.

“It will take another decade or so to fill that gap.” Greenko, founded in 2006 by Kolli and CEO Anil Chalamalasetty, is planning to increase capacity to 1,000 Megawatts by 2015 from its current installed base of 183 MW.

Its operating assets are predominately hydro, but also include biomass and gas, which are used to provide baseload power when the hydro assets are not generating.

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – British housebuilder Barratt Developments (BDEV.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said concerns about the economy and the lack of mortgage finance meant the market for new housing was still challenging as it reported better-than-expected full-year profits.

“It’s early days in the autumn-selling season but so far private reservation rates are in line with expectations and prices are holding up,” Chief Executive Mark Clare told reporters on Wednesday.

House prices fell much faster than expected last month, according to a monthly survey from mortgage lender Nationwide, stoking concerns that Britain could be headed for a double-dip recession. [ID:nLDE6810UQ]

However, the latest figures from rival lender Halifax on Wednesday confounded expectations by showing a rise in prices in August. [ID:nLAC005759]

“There’s all sorts of challenges ahead and if you’re concerned about the risk of a double-dip then Barratt is probably seen at the top of the list for further impairments,” Arbuthnot analyst Kate Moy said.

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More on Britain’s austerity measures [ID:nLDE6720PZ]

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Britain’s Connaught (CNT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has called in administrators to its main social housing unit after government cuts caused contract deferrals that spiralled into financial difficulties.

Connaught, which employs 10,000 people, said after the market close on Tuesday that its lenders would not extend support to the group as a whole.

“As a consequence, the board is saddened to announce that it is in the process of appointing partners from KPMG as administrators of Connaught Plc and its subsidiary, Connaught Partnerships Limited,” it said in a statement.

Connaught’s other divisions, which comprise its compliance and environmental unit, are not affected by the administration and continue to trade as normal, the firm said.

A further statement on funding for the division will be announced on Wednesday, it added.

KPMG was not immediately available for comment on what would happen to the compliance unit or on job losses.

Connaught, which last year got over 80 percent of its revenue from social housing, first warned on profit in June before overhauling its management and, later, saying it had breached banking covenants. [ID:nLDE66P0DQ] [ID:nLDE66S0B5]

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) – British oil explorer Soco International (SIA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said a well being drilled in Democratic Republic of Congo found water and was being abandoned, causing its shares to reverse big gains made earlier this week.

The Nganga 1 well, the first of three to be drilled in the Nganzi block, encountered hydrocarbons but the sands were also water-bearing and the well lacked a lateral seal, Soco said on Friday.

“Currently, preparations are being made to plug and abandon the well, and subsequently move to the Kinganga Nyanya 1 exploration well, previously designated the “D” prospect,” the company said.

Soco started drilling the Nganzi block in July, making it the country’s first onshore-only drilling project in 40 years.

Its shares were down 8.2 percent to 437.6 pence at 0915 GMT, making them one of the biggest fallers among London’s top 350 stocks . The stock peaked at 510 pence on Wednesday, for a 12 percent gain on last Friday’s close, after news a well in Vietnam had found hydrocarbons. [ID:nLDE68007Z]

Numis analysts cut their recommendation on Soco to “Reduce” from “Hold”, saying it was expensive compared to peers such as Premier Oil (PMO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Enquest (ENQ.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Salamander (SMDR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and the next well had a higher risk of failure.

Soco chief executive Ed Story said the group was upbeat for the next well in the programme and was confident the problem of sands breaching the well was a localised issue.

LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) – British energy efficiency specialist Eaga (EAGA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it was signing up new contracts with utilities and public housing landlords, helping allay concerns it would be hit by government spending cuts.

Eaga, which helps install energy-saving measures such as insulation in households under government schemes, signed up two public housing landlords for its new solar scheme, giving it access to 16,000 roofs for possible installation of solar panels.

Incoming Chief Financial Officer Giles Sharp said Eaga was in advanced talks with a further 14 such landlords, which could give it access to about 250,000 roofs.

“I’d like to be in a position where we’ve signed up a few more of those as we move through the next months, and I think we’ll be able to do that,” he told Reuters after the group reported a 7.5 percent rise in full-year profit.

He added he expected about 10 percent of the roofs it surveys to end up with solar panels.

Its shares, which have lost 21 percent over the last three months, hurt by concerns over the government spending review due in October, were up 2 percent at 106.3 pence at 0919 GMT. [ID:nLDE6720PZ]

The company was also reassured by fresh business coming through the government’s Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) scheme, which requires electricity and gas suppliers to promote efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies.

LONDON (Reuters) – London-listed oil and gas producer JKX (JKX.L: Quote, Profile, Research) trimmed production expectations for the year, with a delay in getting a rig to its Poltava licences in Ukraine knocking output in the current quarter. JKX, whose operations are mostly in Ukraine and Russia, said full-year production would come in at over 10,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared with 11,689 boepd for the first half.

Analysts had been looking for 2010 production of 12,000 boepd.

JKX Chief Executive Paul Davies said the rig for Poltava, which had been expected by the end of the second quarter, should be on site next month.

He said production should get back on track at the end of the third quarter and would hit around 11,500 boepd at the end of the year.

JKX stuck to its target to increase production to 20,000 boepd during 2011, as it reported first-half operating profit up 9 percent on Friday.

Analyst Nathan Piper at RBC Capital Markets said he was not concerned by the lower production, although he expected some weakness in the share price.

“They’ll get round to (drilling), but just a little bit slower than expected. These things happen.”

LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) – London-listed oil and gas producer JKX (JKX.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) trimmed production expectations for the year, with a delay in getting a rig to its Poltava licences in Ukraine knocking output in the current quarter. JKX, whose operations are mostly in Ukraine and Russia, said full-year production would come in at over 10,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared with 11,689 boepd for the first half.

Analysts had been looking for 2010 production of 12,000 boepd.

JKX Chief Executive Paul Davies said the rig for Poltava, which had been expected by the end of the second quarter, should be on site next month.

He said production should get back on track at the end of the third quarter and would hit around 11,500 boepd at the end of the year.

JKX stuck to its target to increase production to 20,000 boepd during 2011, as it reported first-half operating profit up 9 percent on Friday.

Analyst Nathan Piper at RBC Capital Markets said he was not concerned by the lower production, although he expected some weakness in the share price.

“They’ll get round to (drilling), but just a little bit slower than expected. These things happen.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Aggreko, the world’s biggest provider of temporary power, again upgraded its outlook for the year after posting a jump in first-half profit, helped by contracts for major sporting events.

Aggreko said Wednesday events such as the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the soccer World Cup, for which it provided generators and chillers, brought its Local Business unit 48 million pounds in revenues in the first half.

“We believe that we will make further good progress in the second half and the outcome for the year as a whole will be slightly better than our previous expectations,” Chairman Philip Rogerson said in a statement.

Its shares, which had already gained 58 percent this year helped by two previous outlook upgrades, were up 1.8 percent at 1,453 pence at 0758 GMT, among the top blue-chip gainers in London.

“What’s led us to nudge our views forward is that our local business seems to be over the worst and rates, which took a hammering last year, are coming back up,” CEO Soames told reporters.

A Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of analysts taken before Wednesday’s results showed a mean estimate of 285 million pounds ($440 million) for 2010 pretax profit.

BIT OF A DESERT

LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Aggreko (AGGK.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s biggest provider of temporary power, again upgraded its outlook for the year after posting a jump in first-half profit, helped by contracts for major sporting events.

Aggreko said on Wednesday events such as the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the soccer World Cup, for which it provided generators and chillers, brought its Local Business unit 48 million pounds ($74 million) in revenues in the first half.

“We believe that we will make further good progress in the second half and the outcome for the year as a whole will be slightly better than our previous expectations,” Chairman Philip Rogerson said in a statement.

Its shares, which had already gained 58 percent this year helped by two previous outlook upgrades, were up 1.8 percent at 1,453 pence at 0758 GMT, among the top blue-chip gainers in London .FTSE.

“What’s led us to nudge our views forward is that our local business seems to be over the worst and rates, which took a hammering last year, are coming back up”, CEO Soames told reporters.

A Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of analysts taken before Wednesday’s results showed a mean estimate of 285 million pounds ($440 million) for 2010 pretax profit.

BIT OF A DESERT

LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Oil services groups Petrofac (PFC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Lamprell (LAM.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said they were seeing a rise in demand for their services as their main client bases in the Middle East and Asia continued to spend money on new projects.

FTSE 100 company Petrofac, which designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure, said it was confident its backlog of contracts would by the end of this year be higher than the $8.1 billion with which it ended 2009. [ID:nLDE67J1MG]

Unlike Petrofac, which shrugged off last year’s downturn in oil services, UAE-based Lamprell has seen profits fall as others reined in spending.

Lamprell said on Monday, however, that its order book at the end of July had doubled over the last 12 months to $836 million, helped by contract wins from Abu Dhabi’s National Drilling Company and its new area of offshore wind services. [ID:nLDE67M070]

Shares in Petrofac rose 2.06 percent to 1,390 pence, while shares in Lamprell, which specialises in rig refurbishment and construction, were up 1.1 percent to 266.9 pence by 0948 GMT, compared to the European index of oil and gas companies which was up 0.15 percent.

Their comments also echo reports from Dutch maritime engineering group SBM Offshore (SBMO.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) and Norwegian seismic surveyor Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) that oil and gas extraction outside the Gulf of Mexico has been unaffected by the massive BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) spill there. [ID:nLDE66R1PQ] [ID:nLDE67G1DV]

Lamprell CEO Nigel McCue said the expected rise in safety requirements and regulation as a consequence of the disaster should be positive for business in the longer term.