UPDATE 1-Forbes Coal Q2 revenue up on strong exports


For the June-August period, the South Africa-focused coal miner — which has two mines Aviemore and Magdalena — reported revenue of C$35.2 million.Last month, the company said export sales in the quarter had more than doubled sequentially to 192,400 tonnes of coal, helped by higher production at its Aviemore anthracite.Toronto, Ontario-based Forbes, which mines for bituminous and anthracite coal from mines in the Klipriver coalfield in South Africa, said commissioning of the second phase of expansion at Magdalena is on track for the third quarter.Shares of the company closed at C$2.00 on Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

UPDATE 1-BPM shareholder group eyes support from Sator Fund


Rival union and employee shareholders at the mutual lender are fighting over board nominees after the bank overhauled its governance structures in a move to boost management independence, as requested by the Bank of Italy.The Fabi and Fiba trade unions recently presented a slate of candidates for a new supervisory board which will be appointed at a BPM shareholder meeting scheduled for Oct. 22. The slate is headed by Marcello Messori.The supervisory board will appoint a management board.Lando Sileoni, secretary general of the Fabi union, told reporters the aim of the group’s slate was to “guarantee the success of the capital increase via a contribution by the Sator Fund.”He said another aim was to “construct around Matteo Arpe, indicated as chief executive, a top-quality management team”.The Bank of Italy has asked for a complete renewal of corporate structures at the bank with high profile choices in a clear break with the past.Arpe, whose early career included a long spell at top investment house Mediobanca , helped turn round Rome bank Capitalia before it merged with UniCredit . He founded the Sator Fund.Messori said on Monday Arpe was ready to join the management board but added neither he nor Sator owned shares in BPM nor had committed to any investment.Last Friday, the powerful rival union and employee association “Friends of Bipiemme” named its own candidates for the bank’s supervisory board.The association owns less than 4 percent of the undercapitalised lender but controls shareholder meetings because of a one-head-one-vote rule. ($1 = 0.725 Euros)