Glint Pay opens gold-based account for ‘largest corporate client to-date’
Fintech firm, Glint Pay, announced on Wednesday that it has taken its ‘first major steps’ in offering a gold-based corporate facility, as investment manager, Perspective Investments, opened a business account and became the fintech’s largest corporate client.
Perspective Investments said they will use their Glint Pay business account to store capital, and will offer employees the chance to receive a portion of their salary as gold, via the fintech’s new peer-to-peer ‘Glint It!’ service.
The company said that the ‘Glint It!’ facility allows customers to spend and receive spendable gold and currencies. It added that it has created a ‘bespoke product’ for Perspective Investments, in order to meet its demands and create ‘diverse corporate functionality’.
Speaking on the news, Glint Pay Founder and CEO, Jason Cozens, said: “This is a huge and exciting step forward in the industry. We’ve long spoken about democratising gold as a currency for consumers, now we’re on the road to doing the same for businesses of all sizes and sectors.”
“There is clearly appetite amongst corporates to utilise the purchasing power and relative stability of gold. As global economies and markets continue to fluctuate and the outlook remains uncertain, many view gold as more than just the traditional safe haven – it’s now becoming increasingly viewed as a viable and attractive option for consumers and businesses alike.”
He said that the demand from both consumers and corporates for gold-as-currency services was apparent upon the launch of their ‘Glint It!’ platform, and that there is ‘considerable growth potential’ in this relatively untapped market. He adds:
Arno Kitts, Founder & CEO at Perspective Investments, added: “With governments and central banks creating money to cover fiscal deficits, and with inflation higher than interest rates, the case for gold continues to strengthen. We are holding much of our capital and reserves in physical gold via our new Glint accounts. Also, we are offering our staff globally to be paid in Gold if they would prefer this”.
Today’s news follows a previous, and similarly optimistic update from Glint Pay, in which it announced that it had secured an additional £2.5m in funding to support growth plans.
KisanHub raises over £1m to transform the agri-food supply chain
Cambridge-based agritech startup KisanHub has raised £1.12 million for its seed-to-sale platform designed to help “growers, field staff, procurement managers and management teams make informed decisions” about improving sustainability in the agri-food industry.
Chief contributions came from the Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2) with backing from the Future Fund, and was supported by the existing investors, including IQ Capital, Notion Capital, and Sistema_VC.
The funds are intended to help the company “accelerate” its business in the UK and Europe and “further promote the values of sustainability in food supply chains with the support from government investors”.
The cloud-based connectivity platform combines crop intelligence with supply chain intelligence, ensuring that farms “meet contractual obligations on quality and quantity of the produce” by integrating data from crops, stores, load dispatches, satellites and field sensors.
It translates “raw and complex” food supply chain data sets into “actionable insights” to provide transparency and improve the flow of information across the supply chain from seed to sale.
KisanHub’s target customers are “agricultural enterprises supplying retailers and processors that work with a network of contract farmers and/or own their own farmland”.
For ease of transition, the company is able to integrate enterprises’ existing software or Excel systems in order to provide an end-to-end supply chain management solution.
Among KisanHub’s existing users is the global beverage giant, ABInBev, which has implemented the platform in order to connect with the growers and achieve its 2025 sustainability goals.
In addition, other major British suppliers including Spearhead, Burgess Farm Produce, Manor Fresh, and Jupiter Group have already partnered with KisanHub.
Dmitry Filatov, Managing Partner at Sistema_VC., commented on the news and the opportunities that lay ahead:
“KisanHub technology digitises the agricultural supply chain, improving the transparency and efficiency of the procurement process. The pandemic has only increased the demand for such solutions, as food supply security became more important than ever. Many risks, including seasonal and climatic ones, can be averted through the use of sensors and machine learning, and this is what KisanHub does”.
Axel de Mégille, director at Turquoise (which manages LCIF2), added:
“KisanHub helps keep everyone in the supply chain aware of the state of each batch of produce they are growing, aggregating or retailing, so that they can plan better and reduce waste. This investment fits well into LCIF2’s strategy of investing into technologies that help to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs).”
And Sachin Shende, co-founder and CEO of KisanHub, said:
“We are delighted to welcome LCIF2 as an investor in KisanHub. This investment will enable us to grow the business in the UK and Europe and strengthen our links with local and national governments”.
FTSE stunted as pound gains on Brexit hopes
While not moving quite as enthusiastically as they did after previous vaccine updates, Pfizer‘s latest news saw global equities nudge higher on Wednesday. Noticeably muted, though, was the FTSE. Having led the pack in recent vaccine news rallies, the index was weighed the pound rising on renewed Brexit hopes.
While the Dow Jones rallied by 0.40%, and the CAC and DAX moved up by just under half a percent apiece, the FTSE lagged slightly behind with its 0.33% gains – having opened with a 35-point loss.
Meanwhile, the pound gained 0.31% against the euro, up to 1.1206, while it rallied 0.33% against the dollar, up to 1.3299. Speaking on Brexit chatter and commodities movements earlier in the day, IG‘s Senior Market Analyst, Joshua Mahony, said:
“The FTSE 100 is leading European declines, with a strengthening pound once again proving the undoing of the highly international index. With Brexit negotiations running out of time, we are finally seeing some glimmer of hope that a deal could be within reach.”
“With rumours of a potential deal early next week, expectation that EU negotiators will update envoys from the 27 member states on Friday does highlight the potential for a breakthrough.”
“However, the red lines over fishing rights, the level playing field, and governance remain a likely sticking point which remain a major hurdle that has been insurmountable thus far.”
“With no sign that those key topics have been resolved, there will be many sceptics at the prospect of an imminent trade deal.”
Today’s Brexit optimism may just be a flash in the pan, with no actual concessions being penned by either side. It may be likely that the game of diplomatic chicken will last until the latter stages of 2020 – as we near the NYE deadline.
Where indexes such as the FTSE will likely draw their short-term optimism from will be further vaccine updates. While Pfizer’s news today was more encouraging than ground-breaking, FDA approval for Pfizer or Moderna, or a new candidate from AstraZeneca, would give equities a welcome second wind.
New app launches for investors to track their carbon footprint
The first platform for retail investors to track the carbon impact of their investments – an app named Sugi – launched on Tuesday with the aim of helping investors ‘build a greener portfolio’ in line with their values.
Sugi, powered by Moneyhub’s Open Finance data and intelligence API, is a free to use app aimed at retail investors who want to compare the carbon footprint of their investments against industry benchmarks.
It was founded in 2019 by CEO Josh Gregory, who hailed Sugi’s launch as a step towards simpler and more accessible green investment:
“While COVID has accelerated awareness and demand of green investing, it’s hard for retail investors to take action.
“Sustainable investing is full of jargon and investors are rightly concerned about greenwashing. Another problem is ESG ratings: they’re meant to simplify complex issues but are themselves very confusing – even for experienced retail investors. All of this ultimately stops more people getting involved.
“Working with Moneyhub, the platform with the most comprehensive financial data connections on the market, allows us to give our users unparalleled access to their investment information in one place.
“By providing users with simple, objective data, Sugi aims to make green investing easier, understandable and more accessible for everyone”.
Unlike the “complex” ESG ratings targeted at institutional investors and asset managers, Sugi shows its users the annual carbon impact of each investment in absolute numbers, and compares the figures against an industry average and carbon data for similar investments.
The app contains carbon data for over 15,000 listed equities – 95% of the listed equities market – and over 3,500 exchange traded funds, as well as certain actively managed funds.
Sugi has stated its intention to introduce a broader range of funds and more environmental data “in the coming months”.
Users can link their investment portfolios – which can include ISAs and SIPPs – to Sugi via Moneyhub’s Open Finance API, enabling them to access “personalised impact data”.
Samantha Seaton, CEO at Moneyhub, commented on Sugi’s launch:
“Until now, aligning an individual investor’s portfolio with their own values has been virtually impossible, but by utilising the power of Open Banking and Open Finance, we are able to make it easy for investors to build greener portfolios.
“Our partnership with Sugi demonstrates the true potential of Open Finance and its ability to solve real-world, complex financial issues, beyond account aggregation and payments.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside Sugi to deliver a product that is not only the first of its kind in the UK, but will make a positive impact on our planet as well”.
The launch is one of a number of new additions to the increasingly climate-conscious economy, after PM Boris Johnson announced the launch of a ‘green revolution’ to mark London’s Climate Action Week.
It follows on the coattails of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ‘green gilts’ announcement last week.
PM launches new ‘green revolution’ with 10-step strategy
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday his long-awaited plan for the UK’s ‘green industrial revolution’, outlining an ambitious 10-point strategy to shift away from carbon emissions and generate up to 250,000 jobs.
Environmental groups have praised the direction of the plan but critics have questioned the scale and commitment from the private sector.
In an article published by the Financial Times on Tuesday, the PM stated that the time has come for the UK to seek green solutions as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Now is the time to plan for a green recovery with high-skilled jobs that give people the satisfaction of knowing they are helping to make the country cleaner, greener and more beautiful.
“This plan”, he added, “can be a global template for delivering net zero emissions in ways that create jobs and preserve our lifestyles.
“Green and growth can go hand-in-hand. So let us meet the most enduring threat to our planet with one of the most innovative and ambitious programmes of job-creation we have known”.
The full list of the PM’s climate conscious plan is as follows:
1. — To ramp up UK wind energy production with enough offshore capacity to power every home by 2030.
2. — To invest up to £500m in hydrogen power.
3. — To develop plans for few nuclear power, from large scale to small and advanced modular reactors.
4. — To invest more than £2.8bn in electric vehicles and end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in 2030 (but still permit the sale of hybrid vehicles that can “drive a significant distance with no carbon coming out of the tailpipe” until 2035).
5. — To achieve “cleaner public transport”, including green buses and new cycle lanes.
6. — To achieve nonstop transatlantic travel by manufacturing zero emissions planes and ships.
7. — To invest £1bn in 2019 alone to “make homes, schools and hospitals greener, and energy bills lower”.
8. — To establish a new “world-leading” industry in carbon capture and storage, backed by £1bn of government investment with focus on “clusters” in the North, Wales and Scotland.
9. — To “harness nature’s ability to absorb carbon” by planting 30,000 hectares of trees per year by 2025 and “rewild 30,000 football pitches’ worth of countryside”.
10. — To invest in and fund new low-carbon technologies, and strive to make the City of London the “global centre for green finance” through sovereign bonds, carbon offset markets and disclosure requirements.
While the PM has hailed the plan for “making strides” towards the UK’s net zero by 2050 pledge, some Labour MPs have called it a ‘pale imitation’ of the measures necessary to combat climate change.
Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband – whose plan for a green Covid recovery announced in the spring involves £30bn spent over 18 months – said the No 10 proposals fall below the mark and contain several “reheated pledges”.
“People are losing their jobs now. This isn’t fundamentally a green stimulus, it’s nowhere near the scale of what is required.
“This announcement doesn’t remotely meet the scale of the jobs emergency or the climate emergency. France and Germany are investing tens of billions of euros. This provides, at best, £4bn of new money over several years.
“What we needed was a really bold green economic stimulus, and what we got was a pale imitation of that. It’s deeply, deeply disappointing”.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas similarly criticised the plan as “vague and underpowered”, stating:
“This is a shopping list, not a plan to address the climate emergency, and it commits only a fraction of the necessary resources”.
Others have been more encouraging, however, with the director of SME-focused bank Conister Finance & Leasing Ltd welcoming the PM’s pledges and the opportunities ahead for small and medium-sized businesses.
“The government’s plan shows that it is serious about a transition to a new economy, with some concrete commitments announced to accelerate the move towards a net zero carbon economy by 2050. There are significant opportunities for the SME sector to capitalise on this transition”.
Randeep Somel, fund manager for M&G’s new Climate Change Solutions Fund launched this week, added:
“The UK government is striking at the main sources of CO2 in our economies; power generation, transportation, and building efficiency.
“Not only will these investments help the UK in reaching its Paris Climate Deal commitments, they will provide stimulus to an economy that is still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The UK has begun the process to address a myriad of challenges via its green industrial revolution announcement. While critics may say the £4 billion allocated so far by the government is too small, it is a strong statement of intent and one that is likely to spur private sector investment many multiples of the announced government figure”.
Nicola Shaw, the UK executive director of National Grid, rounded off the mixed reaction with a plea for corporations to work with the government to achieve the PM’s commitments:
“The prime minister has set out great ambition for the net zero transition including commitments on offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.
“Now, industry and government must work together to turn this ambition into reality, with transformational investments to deliver real change, which will create jobs in every part of the country”.
British Land announces reduced dividend, shares fall
British Land shares (LON: BLND) were down on Wednesday after the group revealed a loss and a reduced dividend.
For the half-year to September 30, the group posted a pretax loss of £757m, which widened from the £440m loss posted in the same period a year previously.
Revenues at the group were also lower, falling 22% from £328m to £255m.
The group’s portfolio value fell 7.5% to £10.32bn from £11.16bn.
Chief executive, Chris Grigg, is to be replaced this week by finance chief Simon Carter.
Carter commented on the latest results: “Our first half results naturally reflect the challenges in retail. Against this backdrop, we remain focused on active asset management, working to maximise rent collection and keeping our units occupied with successful retailers. There is a clear preference from shoppers and retailers for out of town, open air retail parks. Our approach and attractive asset mix means that prior to the November lockdown, we were delivering significant outperformance on footfall and retailer sales and a steady improvement in rent collection levels.
“We remain thoughtful and active in terms of capital allocation, executing GBP675m of sales since April, enhancing the strength and resilience of our balance sheet. We have also resumed the dividend on the basis of a fixed percentage payout of underlying earnings to provide maximum strategic and financial flexibility.
“Going forward, we have four clear priorities for our business: realising the potential of mixed use; progressing value accretive development; addressing the challenges in retail; and active capital recycling,” he added.
British Land will be continuing dividend payments of 8.4p. This is lower than last year’s rate of 15.97p.
British Land shares (LON: BLND) are trading -2.31% at 499,20 (1537GMT).
North American funds and the “tectonic shift toward sustainability”
As global markets continue to be gripped by the Coronavirus pandemic, the recent US election also had its part to play in the recent volatility.
The strung-out election week saw US big tech stocks surge, which helped to see Nasdaq bounce over 6%, while the Dow Jones hiked up by around 3.5% amid the results.
Despite the ongoing volatility, US markets have continued to rise since summer – particularly in comparison to other major regions across the world.
The US is among the world’s most dynamic economies and has created some of the world’s most powerful and innovative companies.
We take a look at two North American investment funds and how they are shifting focus amid the pandemic.
BlackRock North American Income Trust
BlackRock aims to provide “an attractive and growing level of income return with capital appreciation over the long term”, which is predominantly through investment in a diversified portfolio of primarily large-cap US equities. The company has over 27 years of experience running trusts and has holdings in Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook. As approaches to investing are rapidly changing, BlackRock believes that how the world is changing amid the Coronavirus is “accelerating transformations in our economies and societies across four dimensions – sustainability, inequality, geopolitics and the policy revolution. “A tectonic shift toward sustainability was already underway, and the pandemic shone a spotlight on some underappreciated environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors such as employee safety and supply chain integrity.” BlackRock is priced at 162.50 and has a premium of -7.3% and a NAV of 175.38.Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust
Baillie Gifford is a North American company that believes that “exceptional growth companies are the major drivers of market wealth creation”. With this in mind, it invests in US companies that have the potential to grow and to hold onto them for long periods of time, for long-term capital growth. Top holdings include Tesla, Shopify, Amazon, Wayfair, and Zoom Video Communications. Companies that have gone from strength to strength amid the pandemic, Amazon’s latest trading statement revealed profits to triple and posted a quarterly sales of almost $100bn (£77.4bn). Writing for Baillie Gifford, James Anderson focuses on how the pandemic has changed our investment habits. “It’s been startling but wonderful to see the progress of so many of our companies in the crisis. But it comes with challenges. It’s still hard to discern how far pandemic-induced changes will persist. “There’s a great deal of work to be done. But we do believe that the pandemic period is accelerating the process of change that we continually focus on in our portfolio. We see little road to recovery for supposed value stocks. If we can remain patient and disciplined the opportunities have only proliferated.” The bulk of the group’s assets are currently in consumer discretionary (33.1%) and information technology (28.4%). Baillie Gifford is priced at 260.00, with a premium of +3.8%, and a NAV of 250.38.Spirax-Sarco shares dip as pandemic continues to hamper industrial production
FTSE 100 listed steam management and engineering firm, Spirax-Sarco (LON:SPX), saw its shares fall on Wednesday, as the company noted the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic on industrial activity.
During the second quarter, industrial production (IP) fell by 12%. Although this improved to a 4% year-on-year decline during the third quarter, the company noted that two consecutive months of growth ‘slowed markedly’ in August and September, as activity began to approach pre-pandemic levels.
Spirax-Sarco said that trading has ‘continued to hold up well’ even against the challenging macroeconomic backdrop. All of its facilities remain open, and organic sales decline in the four months to the end of October was less pronounced than during the first half.
Its Steam Specialities business benefitted from the reduced IP contraction and IP growth in China. Its Electric Thermal Solutions business saw similar trends, with a continued decline in its Chromalox product was offset by growth in its Thermocoax offering. Finally, the company said that the Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group enjoyed strong sales to the biopharmaceutical sector.
Group operating profit remained ‘slightly below’ the same period the previous year, and the company noted that currency effects continued to have ‘an adverse impact’, as sterling maintained strength versus its basket of trade currencies. Speaking on its outlook, the Spirax-Sarco statement read: “After reaching a low point in the second quarter when global IP contracted 12%, macro-economic conditions improved in the third quarter with a global IP contraction of 4%. IP is now forecast to contract by an overall 5.5% in 2020. ” “However, the sequential month-on-month rate of IP growth slowed markedly in August and September, infection rates remain high in the Americas and increasing levels in Europe are resulting in further lockdowns. Although the impact on IP growth in the fourth quarter resulting from the COVID-19 resurgence remains uncertain, these factors could further slow the rate of IP recovery in the final quarter of 2020, as we anticipated at the Half Year results announcement in August.”Following the news, the Spirax-Sarco shares dipped by around 4.5%, down to 11,370.00p a share 18/11/20. Analysts currently have a consensus ‘Hold’ stance on the stock, and a target price of 8,549.23p, around 25% below its current level.
Market dynamics of UK and US small cap growth shares
Alan Green joins the UK Investor Magazine Podcast to dissect the factors driving the small caps markets in the United States and the UK. We explore factors such as vaccines, Brexit and natural resources.
In keeping with prior Podcasts, we pay attention to three UK equities in Bidstack (BIDS), Destiny Pharma (DEST) and RA International (RAI).
Micro Focus shares rally on positive outlook
Micro Focus shares (LON: MCRO) surged over 20% as the group confirmed that earnings margins for FY20 will be “towards the upper end of management expectations”.
In a trading statement, the software group said revenue declined by approximately 9% compared to the second half of the previous year.
This is an improvement in the revenue trajectory of 2% compared to the first half of the financial year. Set against the context of continued challenging market conditions, “this performance is encouraging,” said the group in a statement.
Chief executive Stephen Murdoch said:
“We are in extraordinary times as a result of COVID-19 and I must take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to our employees for how they have adapted to the challenges presented and ensured we stay focused on delivering for our customers.
“We are now nine months into our three year turnaround plan for the Group and whilst there remains a great deal to do I am pleased with progress in both overall operational effectiveness and in the delivery of our key strategic objectives. Cash generation and working capital management remain strong, the investments we’ve made are showing encouraging early results and we continue to see a clear, ongoing customer need for our solutions and approach to digital transformation.
“I am confident we are making the changes and building the foundations necessary to continue to make progress in the delivery of our plan.”
Micro Focus shares (LON: MCRO) are up 27.46% at 346,30 (1018GMT).