Akshaya Tritiya 2025: Gold continues to glitter, but silver can also add shine to your portfolio

    New York (Dow Jones)--Engelhard Corp's base price for industrial 
gold bullion was $3,307.00 per troy ounce, up $9.00 from previous. 
    Handy & Harman's base price for gold was $3,305.05 per troy ounce, 
up $8.75. The fabricated form price was $3,668.61, up $9.72. 
 

Around 30 shareholders and 30 guests attended the Annual General Meeting today. Bengt Stillström chaired the meeting.

CEO summarized the year of 2024

CFO Mari Kadowaki gave a summary of events and activities in ProfilGruppen during 2024.

Dividend

The AGM decided on a dividend of SEK 5.00 per share (previous year SEK 5.00) for the financial year 2024.

The record date for the dividend shall be Friday May 2, 2025. Payment through Euroclear Sweden AB is expected to take place on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

Election of the Board and auditor

Bengt Stillström, Tomas Narbom, Fredrik Pettersson and Marianne Brismar were re-elected as Board members. Bengt Stillström was elected Chairman of the Board.

The chairman informed that the employees appointed Mikael Ekbring and Anders Johansson as their representatives on the Board with Jesper Ranki and Jan Åkesson as deputies.

As new company’s auditor, Grant Thornton Sweden AB, was elected, with Joakim Söderin as auditor in charge.

Fees

The AGM decided on fees for Board members in 2025 of SEK 400,000 (400,000) to the Chairman of the Board and SEK 200,000 (200,000) each to other Board Members elected by the AGM and not employed by the company.

The remuneration- and audit committees are included in the Board's tasks and no additional fees will be paid. No fees will be paid to Board Members and deputies elected by the employees.

Remuneration for auditors was decided per approved invoices.

Decision regarding the nomination committee for

the AGM 2026

The AGM resolved that the Nomination Committee for the 2026 Annual General Meeting shall consist of Bengt Stillström, Lars Johansson, Mats Egeholm and Petter Stillström.

    Authorisation for the Board to decide on new issues

    of shares

The Annual General Meeting granted the Board authorization, during the period until the next Annual General Meeting, on one or more occasions, with or without preferential rights for the shareholders, to make decisions regarding new issues of a maximum of 700,000 shares, corresponding to in total approximately 9.5 percent of the share capital. The decision on a new issue may contain conditions stating that the shares issued may be paid by issue in kind, offsetting, or otherwise under conditions in accordance to the Swedish Companies Act 13 chapter 5§ first paragraph 6. The Board is authorized also to decide on the other terms of a new issue of shares.

The decision was taken with the required majority.

The reason for the authorization is to enable the company to issue shares as payment for acquisitions of companies or shares of companies and/or assets, which the Board deems to be of value to the ProfilGruppen group's activities, or in order to strengthen the company’s capital position.

Adoption of statements

The income statement and balance sheet as well as the consolidated income statement and the consolidated balance sheet for the 2024 financial year were adopted. The Board’s remuneration report was approved.   

Minutes from the AGM

Verified minutes from the AGM will be published on the company’s website.

Financial information

The interim report for the second quarter will be submitted on July 15, 2025, 14.00 CET. Dates for the release of financial information are available on the Group’s website.

Åseda, April 29, 2025

Board of ProfilGruppen AB (publ.)

Corporate ID no. 556277-8943

Oil price dynamics suggest the market is in an unusual state, with Brent's price structure reflecting near-term tightness but pointing to a surplus down the line, according to Morgan Stanley analysts. "The Brent forward curve is currently in backwardation across the first nine contracts but in contango thereafter," they say. "Such a 'smile' is unusual. In fact, it has little historical precedent." Brent's current structure shows prompt contracts are priced above later ones--a pattern known as backwardation. However, starting with the ninth-month contract, the curve shifts into contango, the opposite structure where future contracts are priced higher. Morgan Stanley currently forecasts Brent at $62.5 a barrel in the third and fourth quarter of the year, and at an average of $65 a barrel in 2026. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they see oil demand as resilient for now in a report for clients Tuesday morning.

Based on Goldman's global tracking, oil demand is on par with where it was a year ago.

One of the positives on the global demand side and thus prices, according to analysts at the investment bank, is that Chinese officials are looking to provide support for industries and exports that are especially impacted by tariffs. Based on its nowcast that monitors numbers for crude all over the world, China's oil demand is at a five-month high. There have also been reports that some U.S. imports, including ethane, may get a waver.

While China is seeing increasing demand, some of the smaller U.S. producers in the Permian Basin have downgraded their capital expenditure guidance and Permian rigs are down 5% year to date, the bank pointed out.

Refinery margins have also strengthened, the bank noted. The Singapore margin is up to a 14-month high, and power failures on Monday on the Iberian Peninsula also supported European margins. The bank said it believes margins will cool off as refinery maintenance season ends, most notably in Europe, and demand starts to soften.

Russian production picked up last week on recovering exports and that has pulled prices lower, according to the bank. Additionally, the business activity index from the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey was at its lowest since June 2020.

While the bank acknowledged oil price weakness on Monday that appears to be carrying over to Tuesday trading stemming from risks of larger OPEC+ increases, Goldman said that it sees improvement in compliance with its early April estimates.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

• Reporting by Denton Cinquegrana, dcinquegrana@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com

Cotton futures have been easing to trade around 66 cents per pound, their lowest since April 21, amid a rising dollar and better supply prospects.

According to market analysts, around two-thirds of Texas areas received beneficial rainfall over the weekend, which improved crop prospects in the largest cotton-producing state of the US. Additionally, StoneX raised its 2024/25 Brazil cotton harvest forecast to 3.78 million tons, up 0.4% from the previous month, citing improved yield estimates in Mato Grosso, where average productivity is expected to reach 1.81 tons of lint per hectare.

However, persistent trade concerns continued to weigh on the demand outlook.

Oil prices drop even further in afternoon trade, and are down more than 5% on the week as traders worry a protracted trade war between the U.S. and China could significantly hurt demand. Brent crude falls 2.2% to $63.35 a barrel, while WTI is down 2.3% at $60.60 a barrel. "The status quo is working against oil now, as the already imposed tariffs and the degree of uncertainty are eating away at confidence and therefore putting pressure on futures," says Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro. "Without a breakthrough in tariff negotiations, there is a greater chance that oil will go down further, and the latest recovery will only whet the bears' appetite." Market watchers also fear OPEC+ will accelerate output hikes for a second straight month in June, weighing on sentiment. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)