There is, presumably, enough to pay the fees of Capital’s receivers, the splendidly named B Mistry & Co.
Sift through a history of Lloyd’s of London and the name Poole crops up quite a bit. It will feature even more now that David Poole is joining David Coleridge’s underwriting group Sturge Holdings as chief executive.David, or Lord Poole to give him his title, who was on secondment from James Capel to the Prime Minister’s policy unit at Number 10, will join Sturge in September. The move might please a family with Lloyd’s links going back to the 18th century.’He’ll be very useful to us,’ says former Lloyd’s chairman David Coleridge who steps down as Sturge chairman in February. ‘He understands the world of corporate capital and that’s what it’s all about these days.’Lord Poole, whose first wife, Fiona, is married to former Tory party chairman Sir Norman Fowler, is taking a rest before his new job. He is sailing off Greece.It seems family connections do not count for much, even if you are David Coleridge. When the Old Etonian retires from Sturge Holdings after 37 years on the pay roll, filial assistance might not be forthcoming.Asked whether he might earn a few post-retirement pounds writing articles for his son Nicholas, who runs Vogue and Tatler publisher Conde Nast, he replied that such an arrangement was unlikely: ‘I’d quite like to, actually. But I’m not sure he’d pay me.’John Simmonds, the retired Lloyds Bank man who took over the running of Harrods Bank earlier this month, is gearing up for an advertising campaign.

His target market are young aspirants who are tired of shoddy treatment by the clearers and keen on trading up.Trouble is, he can’t decide where to place the adverts He wondered whether GQ, the men’s magazine, might suit. But when he flicked through the current issue (content: virtual-reality rape plus a scantily clad Brigitte Bardot) he had second thoughts ‘Perhaps I’m getting a bit prudish,’ he says.. A SPARKLING second-quarter performance by British Petroleum convinced the stock market yesterday that the recovery at the oil company, supported by firmer prices, could go further. David Simon, chief executive, said while demand for oil and gas continued to grow, movement of the oil price from about dollars 18 a barrel also depended on supply-side effects like the disruption in Nigeria.
The group reported a 40 per cent increase in second-quarter replacement cost net profits to pounds 335m before exceptional items, taking net profits for the half-year 36 per cent higher to pounds 640m, above City expectations.A second interim dividend of 2.5p was declared, 19 per cent up on the previous year’s 2.1p, making a total for the year so far of 5p.The figures, which BP attributed to improved productivity, lower costs and volume growth in the face of a lower oil price, led analysts to lift profit forecasts. Nick Clayton, of Nomura Research, increased his estimate from pounds 1.325bn to pounds 1.48bn for this year and from pounds 1.645bn to pounds 1.76bn for 1995.The half-year improvement came despite a dollars 3 fall in average oil prices.

The effect on downstream profits was partly offset by a 4.5 per cent increase in hydrocarbon production, including a 27 per cent jump in gas output. Cost cuts of pounds 140m partly produced a pounds 107m turnround to a pounds 70m operating profit in chemicals.Analysts were wrong footed in their forecasts by a cut in BP’s tax rate, which fell to 29 per cent in the second quarter, compared with 33 per cent in the previous quarter and 41 per cent in the second quarter of 1993.A writeback of previously unrelieved advance corporation tax, prior-year credits and a shift to higher profitability in lower tax regions accounted for the reduction.That boosted BP’s second- quarter net profits, which were pounds 30m higher than in the previous quarter. A firming of oil prices, particularly for Alaskan crude, boosted downstream operating profits in exploration and production by 27 per cent to pounds 479m.The increase was almost entirely cancelled by a slump in operating profits in refining and marketing as final product prices lagged behind the rises in oil prices.Chemical profits in the second quarter jumped by pounds 20m to pounds 45m because of higher sales of polyethylene and acetic acid and cost savings offset partly by some weakening in margins because of increased feedstock costs.Improved levels of profits enabled BP to pay down pounds 241m of debt during the second quarter. By the end of June BP’s debt was pounds 7.4bn.Bottom Line, this page(Photograph omitted). THE CHINESE authorities are expected to approve plans by National Power and GEC to form a company to build and operate a coal-fired power station in Jiaxing county.

The plant would generate about 2,500 megawatts and could cost more than pounds 1bn, writes Mary Fagan. The project consortium also includes Zhejiang Power Development Company, East China Power Corporation and China International Trust and Investment Corporation. It is thought the British partners may put up about 40 per cent of the costs.
National Power confirmed that informal talks have been going on for some months. The company regards the project as a potential foothold into the Chinese market.It is one of several international projects being pursued by National Power as it expands beyond Britain. It is a partner in a coal-fired power station under construction in Portugal and has a stake in a power-station project in Spain using clean-coal technology. The company also has interests in five power stations in the US..