TimesOnline: Scotland: Cairn to make FTSE 100 debut: “Cairn is poised to join the FTSE 100 index at the quarterly reshuffle, putting it in the same league as giants BP and Royal Dutch/Shell Group.” (ShellNews.net)

Robert Ballantyne

Posted 6 Sept 04  

THE Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy, which has seen its shares quadruple in value since January after a series of huge oil discoveries in India, is set to join the blue-chip FTSE 100 this week.

Although Cairn will be reporting interim results, the markets are looking for other indicators — an audit report on the extent of the Mangala reserves in Rajasthan, and Cairn’s drilling update on more recent finds.

Bill Gammell, Cairn’s chief executive, has ordered his engineers to “drill and drill” as the company seeks to uncover the potential of its huge concession in India.

Gammell has always seen Cairn as an exploration company, though it is beginning to put together production infrastructure for the new field.

The results, while expected to be solid after higher oil prices, will not yet include full production from Rajasthan.

“Discoveries so far this year have resulted in a ballistic share price performance that is arguably already factoring in more success,” said Williams de Broe, the stockbroker.

With its market cap soaring to more than £2 billion, Cairn is poised to join the FTSE 100 index at the quarterly reshuffle, putting it in the same league as giants BP and Royal Dutch/Shell Group. The FTSE 100 review on September 8 is based on the the closing price of stocks on September 7, the day Cairn posts its interim results and reserve estimates.