Tesla shares jump as Q1 results exceed expectations

Liam Roche
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0
Tesla shares jump as Q1 results exceed expectations

Tesla could deliver 900,000 cars in 2021

Tesla shares (NASDAQ:TSLA) opened 7% higher on Monday as news emerged that the electric vehicle manufacturer exceeded expectations of its production and delivery figures.

At the end of last week Tesla confirmed it had delivered and produced 184,800 and 180,338 cars respectively in the first quarter of 2021. Analysts expectations were at around 168,00 vehicles for the period, according to data collected by FactSet.

It was a record-setting quarter, exceeding the 180,570 deliveries completed in Q1 of 2020.

Over the weekend, Daniel Ives, analyst at Wedbush, upgraded Tesla shares to outperform and increased its 12-month price target to $1,000, up from $950.

“In our opinion, the 1Q delivery numbers released on Friday was a paradigm changer and shows that the pent-up demand globally for Tesla’s Model 3/Y is hitting its next stage of growth as part of a global green tidal wave underway,” Ives wrote.

“We now believe Tesla could exceed 850k deliveries for the year with 900k a stretch goal, despite the chip shortage and various supply chain issues lingering across the auto sector.”

A February filing also revealed that Tesla’s saes in China more than doubled last year in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The electric car maker’s sales in China came in at $6.66 billion — around a fifth of the company’s $31.54 billion revenues.

Tesla’s share price remains down by 5% since the turn of the year as the company has had a tough 2021 so far.

88 Energy releases “encouraging” operations update from Alaska

Liam Roche
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0
88 Energy releases “encouraging” operations update from Alaska

88 Energy uncovers various prospective zones

88 Energy (LON:88E) announced that the results from the Merlin-1 well were “very encouraging” for the potential at Project Peregrine, in the NPR-A region of the North Slope of Alaska.

Various prospective zones were uncovered, matching the shows and logs found while drilling, as part of the first go of the wireline programme.

The explorer said one of these zones is considered to be a new prospective horizon within the Nanushuk Formation that may be wholly within the Project Peregrine acreage and was not one of the pre-drill targets.

The other zone is interpreted to be shared with one of the zones in the Harrier prospect, to the north of Merlin.

The AIM-listed company said its initial observations indicated the presence of an oil signature in the fluid, which was followed by slugging of hydrocarbon and water. 88 Energy’s statement said this is often a precursor to hydrocarbon flow from the reservoir.

However, the company had to pull out of the hole for repairs before obtaining samples due to equipment failure.

After repairs were completed, the run back in hole encountered several sticky sections, but the sampling tool did not re-establish good communication.

A decision was made to move to the next shallowest prospective zone, which had exhibited good oil shows and petrophysical characteristics, but wellbore condition issues prevented a test as the tool became stuck.

The tool was freed but the risk of returning to that zone was deemed too high.

Not being able to sample these two most prospective zones does not preclude a discovery, 88 Energy noted, but analysis of sidewall cores and potentially further drilling may be required for confirmation.

Several samples were taken in zones interpreted to be less prospective on the way out of the hole, all of which contained low saturations of hydrocarbons, which will now be sent to a laboratory for testing.

The presence of hydrocarbons in these zones is considered encouraging for regional prospectivity but does not constitute a discovery due to the low saturation levels.

Managing director of 88 Energy David Wall commented on the company’s findings:

“We appreciate that these early results may be difficult to interpret. That is because we do not yet have all the data required to allow interpretation,” said managing director David Wall in a release.”

“This means some uncertainty remains; however, it is already clear that Merlin-1 has delivered by far the best outcome of any of the five wells drilled by 88 Energy in Alaska over the last six years.”

“The company is extremely proud to have been able to achieve this result from a wildcat exploration well drilled on sparse 2D seismic, 60kms from the nearest control well, in the middle of the Arctic winter.”

BP to reach $35bn net debt target after strong start to the year

Liam Roche
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0
BP to reach $35bn net debt target after strong start to the year

BP to release Q1 results on 27 April

BP (LON:BP) announced on Tuesday that it expects to reach its $35bn net debt target in Q1 of 2021.

The estimate is a result of earlier-than-expected proceeds from disposals and a “very strong quarter”, the oil company said today.

At the end of 2020, BP had a debt pile of $39bn. The company previously expected to reduce its debt to $35bn by as late as 2022.

The company plans to begin buying back shares once it reaches its debt target, and will provide an additional update upon releasing its Q1 results on 27 April.

BP also said it expects it sale proceeds to be near the upper-end of its current $4bn to $6bn range.

This follows the company making a $5.7bn loss last year as the coronavirus pandemic took a hefty toll on the oil industry.

Bernard Looney, chief executive officer at BP, commented on the announcement while looking ahead to the company’s Q1 results.

“We are pleased to announce that we now expect to have reached our $35 billion net debt target during the first quarter 2021. This is a result of earlier than anticipated delivery of disposal proceeds combined with very strong business performance during the first quarter. We look forward to updating the market at our first quarter results, including further information on share buybacks.”

On early morning trading BP’s share price is up 2.69% to 297.6p per share.

ASOS set to reveal interim growth

Andrew Hore
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0
ASOS set to reveal interim growth

Online fashion retailer ASOS (LON:ASC) is reporting its interims on Thursday 8 April and the figures will show if growth has slowed down since the first four months of the year.
In the four months to December 2020, UK sales were 36% higher. Overall group sales were 23% ahead with Europe, the US and rest of the world all growing at around 18%. France was a strong market because shops were closed.
There was a change in mix of sales with more business in areas such as face and body and leisurewear. That led to a dip in gross margin.
Six months
The rate of growth is not expected to be maintained d...

New AIM admission: Parsley Box

Andrew Hore
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0
New AIM admission: Parsley Box

Parsley Box has gained an even higher profile thanks to the flotation on AIM. The delivered ready meals supplier has also gained customers as shareholders. However, initial trading was disappointing with the shares ending the first day at 185p, before recovering to 187.5p. That is a 6% discount to the placing price.
This is still an early stage business. The low-cost model with most aspects of the business outsourced reduces the overheads of the business. It is important to note that Parsley Box uses existing delivery businesses rather than a costly fleet of vans operated by the company. This ...

New AIM admission: ActiveOps

Andrew Hore
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0
New AIM admission: ActiveOps

ActiveOps is in the high-profile sector of management process automation software. This is a fast-growing sector and ActiveOps has a relatively long track record, which shows that once customers are gained, they increase their spending over a number of years.
ActiveOps hopes to gain credibility with larger customers through being a quoted company. Although existing shareholders sold shares in the placing the management and employees still own a significant stake.
There are targeted new customers and management is adding partners that can help add to the direct sales.
The share price has risen ...

Destiny Pharma set for next phase

Andrew Hore
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0
Destiny Pharma set for next phase

There was a sharp rise in the share price of Destiny Pharma (LON: DEST) following the results of the phase 2b clinical study on the use of XF-73 nasal gel for the prevention of post-surgical infections. The shares have fallen back, and they remain attractive considering the potential for this antimicrobial treatment.
The study covered 124 patients. Destiny says there was a 99.5% reduction of infection in the nose 24 hours before open heart surgery. XF-73 is also safe and well tolerated. There is no antimicrobial resistance generated.
The next step will be the design of a phase III study. Discu...

Bushveld to receive $30m to increase capacity at Enerox

Liam Roche
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0
Bushveld to receive $30m to increase capacity at Enerox

Bushveld to invest $7.5m of its own money

Bushveld Minerals (LON:BMN), a vertically integrated primary vanadium producer, announced on Thursday that a group of investors in Enerox GmbH will allocate $30m to ramp up its annual production capacity to 30MW (120-240MWh) by 2022.

The AIM-listed company said its portion of the investment stands at $7.5m, having paid $5m this week and with the remainder to follow in April.

Bushveld also confirmed it pocketed $8.8m from selling off some of its holding in Invinity Energy Systems.

Bushveld chief executive Fortune Mojapelo commented on the company’s wider strategy:

“Investing in VRFB manufacturers is a part of Bushveld Energy’s strategy, designed to play a catalytic role in mobilising third-party capital to assist VRFB manufacturers scale up of sales and manufacturing capacity in order to meet the fast-growing demand for long duration energy storage solutions.”

“The sell down of our Invinity stake is no reflection of any diminishing faith in the potential of the company,” said Mojapelo.

“We are proud of its achievements and continue to cooperate on other topics, including vanadium supply, vanadium electrolyte rental and the overall growth of the VRFB industry.”

“Our decision is rather informed by our conservative capital allocation strategy across the group, which focuses resources on our mining and processing operations and seeks to place Bushveld Energy on a path to self-fund its future plans,” he added.

US jobless claims rise as country continues to reopen

Liam Roche
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0
US jobless claims rise as country continues to reopen

Virginia and Kentucky see the biggest rise in claims

New claims for unemployment benefits increased by 719,000 in the US last week while remaining around pandemic lows as the vaccine roll-out gains momentum and shops across the country reopen.

This marks an increase of 61,000 in jobless claims for the week ending 27 March, according to the US labour department. The figure comes in below economists’ expectations of 680,000 claims.

A week ago, 658,000 initial claims were registered, the fewest since the beginning of the pandemic.

The figures also demonstrated a narrowing in claims for federal pandemic unemployment assistance of 4,112 in claims to 237,025. This scheme allows gig workers and the self-employed to get assistance.

Among the states that saw the biggest jumps in applications – up by 30,696 and 15,869 claims – were Virginia and Kentucky respectively. Ohio saw the biggest drop.

In early morning trading the S&P 500 is up by 0.66% to 3,999.62 as US stocks held steady following the news.

Joe Biden has been striving to expedite the distribution of vaccines as well as eligibility for people to receive them. This, combined with many states easing lockdown restrictions, has led to an upturn in hiring.

Last week Biden confirmed in his first press conference as president that he had doubled his administration’s vaccination target to 200m during his first 100 days in office. He has also promised that 90% of US adults would be eligible for a jab by 19 April.

So far, in excess of 150m vaccine doses have been given out in America.

In addition to his $1.9trn stimulus plan, Biden also announced a $2tn infrastructure plan to provide additional support to the economy as it recovers from the effects of the pandemic.

The figures on jobless claims precedes Friday’s nonfram payroll report, which it is anticipated will show that 647,000 jobs have been added to the US economy, along with a fall in unemployment to 6%.

Wey Education share price jumps amid talks of £70m takeover

Liam Roche
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0
Wey Education share price jumps amid talks of £70m takeover

Wey share price up by 43.1%

Wey Education (LON:WEY), the AIM-listed online teaching group, has seen its stock jump up on Thursday as it reached an agreement to be taken over by Inspired Education Online which has valued the business above £70m.

Inspired Education Online, founded in 2013, owns 60 private pay schools across the world in addition to its online business King’s College Online, is offering 47.5p a share in cash for Wey.

In response the education company’s share price jumped by 43.1% to 46.5p, an increase of 14p.

Commenting on the Acquisition, Nadim Nsouli, founder, Chairman and CEO of Inspired and director of Bidco, said:

“We are pleased to receive the recommendation from the Board of Directors for the acquisition of Wey Education, a long-term leader in online education with a strong reputation in the UK and international markets,” Nsouli said.

“We believe this represents an exciting development for both Inspired and Wey, which will support the Combined Group’s growth nationally and internationally. Wey, which is providing a British curriculum education through its online live teaching and learning platform, will now be able to benefit from the support of a global schools group with leading educational experts, strong brand recognition, and premium physical facilities across the globe.”

From the perspective of Wey, Barrie Whipp, chairmen of the company said:

“The Board believes that Wey being part of the Inspired Group will be positive for students, staff and teachers that remain with the business. Inspired has made an all-cash offer at a price per share that the Wey Education Board feels it can support and a premium to the current share price that allows shareholders to realise a gain fairly reflecting Wey’s future growth opportunities. Accordingly, the Wey Education Board intends to unanimously recommend the offer by Inspired to Wey’s Shareholders to vote in favour of the Scheme.”

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