It will therefore have to create £197m of value from the assets it is buying if it is to make any money for shareholders in the long term.This tussle between bulls and bears is the stuff of the speculative end of the stock market, where valuations are based on hope and trust rather than measurable profit potential. The company as floated contained £9m in cash, but is now valued at £206m. But in truth, the circle of investors punting on White Nile is quite small, and it is the lack of available stock which has sent the share price so far, so fast. Phil Edmonds - the former England bowler, major shareholder and chairman - has attracted a loyal following after making big share price gains on previous ventures, including Central African Mining & Exploration and Southern African Resources.He has promised news of his acquisition today, and there are high-profile players - including the notorious short seller Simon Cawkwell, aka Evil Knievil - who are betting the deal will not justify the inflated share price at which White Nile shares were suspended this week. Something like Asia Energy can come from something that two or three years ago was just a field in Bangladesh.

Anything which can make big share gains will attract the private punter, and there is an amazing amount of chit-chat on the internet about these ventures."The internet bulletin boards have been a key part of the surge in White Nile shares, which were suspended on Wednesday ahead of a deal to buy oil interests in south Sudan. Continued improvements in the supply chain mean that despite top-line disappointment, Kingfisher will still meet the City's profit expectations for last year, but that wasn't enough to stop the shares falling nearly 2.5 per cent yesterday.Kingfisher has done an excellent job in decoupling the business from the ups and downs of the UK housing market, to which it used to be joined at the hip. In 2003, for instance, B&Q's sales rose 10 per cent, despite a 15 per cent drop in the number of housing transactions. Nor will the need for self-sacrifice on energy consumption become obvious until it is already too late.B&Q slowdownKingfisher must have been so busy watching its sponsored heroine, Ellen MacArthur, sail around the world in record time that it plain forgot about the business.

There were plenty of excuses for the 1.2 per cent fall recorded in like-for-like sales by the core B&Q brand for the final quarter of last year, but none of them really wash for a business which as market leader should still be firing on all cylinders despite the slowdown in consumer spending.B&Q seems to have been caught napping by competitors in flooring, lighting and wall decorations, while even in kitchens and bathrooms the company has been losing its edge. More importantly, the company seems to have lost sight of its "everyday low prices" selling proposition, swapping the obvious allure of constantly deflating prices across the board for less appealing, selective price promotions. Given the choice, the consumer will always buy on price, however green he pretends to be. If there is to be ever greater demand on finite sources of energy supply, then eventually the cost of established forms of energy will rise to a level where demand begins to fall.