Europa Oil & Gas shares (LON: EOG) fell after the group announced its final results for the 12 month period ended 31 July 2020.
Revenue for the full-year fell from £1.7m in 2019 to £1.2m in the 12 months to the end of July 2020, whilst pre-tax loss widened from £0.9m to £1.2m.
Chief executive, Hugh Mackay, has stepped down and Simon Oddie has been appointed as the interim chief executive and executive director.
“The award of the Inezgane permit offshore Morocco, the granting of planning consent for the Wressle Oil Field, the refocus of the Offshore Ireland portfolio onto the proven gas play of the Slyne Basin following the acquisition of FEL3/19 and the 1.2 tcf Edge prospect – much progress has been made during the year under review,” said Oddie.
“While the ongoing pandemic and volatility in oil and gas prices may impact exact timings of planned activity, we are confident that the momentum behind our various projects will continue to build in the year ahead.
“Our objective is to expose our shareholders to significant value creating opportunities while minimising risk. Our UK production, which is set to dramatically increase once Wressle comes online, provides us with a low risk cash flow generative platform. Our offshore Ireland and offshore Morocco assets, which hold company-making volumetrics, provide us with multiple opportunities to generate significant value.
“We also intend to resume our efforts to add a third leg to our business by securing a late stage appraisal project, once market conditions improve. Our confidence in Europa’s assets and team remains as high as ever and with this in mind, I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in the year ahead,” he added.
Europa Oil & Gas shares (LON: EOG) are fell on Tuesday’s opening 14.29% and are currently trading at 0.88 (0843GMT).
The UK’s unemployment period has jumped to 4.5% between June – August.
A month ago, the unemployment rate was 4.1% according to the Office for National Statistics.
The number of people between this period that were unemployed is 1.52 million, a number that has rapidly increased amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ONS said: “The annual increase was the largest since September to November 2011 and the quarterly increase was the largest since May to July 2009.
“The estimated UK unemployment rate for men was 4.9%; this is 0.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier and 0.7 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.
The estimated UK unemployment rate for women was 4.0%; this is 0.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier and 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.”
The news comes as the government is winding down the furlough scheme.
The unemployment figures are likely to hit part-time staff and self-employed people the hardest.
“Estimates for June to August 2020 show 32.59 million people aged 16 years and over in employment, 102,000 fewer than a year earlier. This annual decrease was driven by men in employment (down by 213,000 on the year to 17.04 million),” said the ONS.
“Employment decreased by 153,000 on the quarter; men in employment decreased by 115,000, while women in employment decreased by 38,000. This quarterly decrease was driven by people in employment aged 16 to 24 years, the self-employed and part-time workers, but was partly offset by increases in employment for people aged 25 to 64 years and full-time employees.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, responded to the new figures: “I’ve been honest with people from the start that we would unfortunately not be able to save every job. But these aren’t just statistics, they are people’s lives. That’s why trying to protect as many jobs as possible and to helping those who lose their job back into employment, is my absolute priority.
“This is why we put together an unprecedented £190bn package of support and have a comprehensive Plan for Jobs. Our measures have focused on protecting people’s livelihoods, which is what the furlough scheme has done and what our support schemes – including SEISS, the Job Support Scheme and Job Retention Bonus – continue to do.”
It’s no secret that the capacity utilisation of airlines, hotels and recreational outlets has been greatly diminished by the COVID pandemic, but recent data provided by Stockapps illustrates just how much of a hit European tourism has taken in 2020.
According to Stockapps Researcher, Rex Pascual: “As countries shut their borders to protect their citizens from the pandemic, global tourism virtually stopped. This was very apparent in Europe’s leading tourist destinations which were also one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic.”
During March, COVID pandemic panic was in full force, and saw UK tourism fall by 96%. Meanwhile, Italian tourism dropped by 98%, and summer holiday hotspot, Spain, saw tourism collapse to just 3% of volumes seen last year.
Stockapps year-on-year bookings data
On the worst-hit of the European countries, Pascual added: “The global tourism industry is one of the hardest hit industries with regards to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data presented by Stockapps.com, at the height of the lockdowns in Europe, France experienced a 99% decrease in reservations on popular accommodations sites; Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com compared to 2019.”
The research also indicated that even a summer spree was not enough to offset most of the damage done by the virus, with restrictions painting a rather bleak image of what the ‘new normal’ might look like for travel and tourism sectors.
On the one hand, French and Spanish tourism did recover to just 13% and 16% below their normal levels in June. However, Italy lagged behind, with its peak in August still 44% below normal levels, and UK tourism experienced the most modest recovery, with its high in August still 55% short of normality.
We might imagine that these statistics are downbeat but hardly surprising given the year we’ve all had. What we should be worried about, though, are the volatile developing markets which are highly dependent on consumer demand, both from Western tourists, and for goods.
As stated by Oxford Professor, Sunetra Gupta: “[…] my primary reason for being vocal has all along been my deep concern about the economically vulnerable, in this country and globally. I am terrified when I read reports of 260 million people going under the poverty line as a result of [lockdowns].”
“We must consider all the consequences. I think we also need to take a more holistic view and not just this individual, nationalistic view. Think globally, think internationally.”
Worth a thought, nonetheless. Lockdown may save our loved ones’ lives – but through loss of commerce, it may also cost others theirs.
Two years on from the game’s understated release, Among Us has announced itself as the latest big trend in the international gaming community.
This fact was never more clearly evidenced than through data published by Safebettingsites.com, which noted that downloads of the game at the start of September were 3710% what they were at the start of January.
Among Us is inspired by social deduction game, Mafia, and designed to be played by 4-10 players, who are either assigned the role of ‘cremate’ or ‘imposter’. Imposters have to try and kill all of the crewmates without being caught before the crewmates finish their minigames; crewmates can win the game by finishing their mini-tasks before everyone is killed, or if they figure out who the impostor is.
The game was already well-received in South Korea and Brazil but only became popular in the US once influential Twitch Streamers began to broadcast themselves playing the game. Once this occurred, the game achieved ‘meteoric’ popularity, and saw downloads increase from 1.1 million during the first two weeks of 2020, to 42 million Steam downloads during the first half of September.
Safebettingsites Among Us data
Despite its limited popularity, and only having three developers, Among Us was consistently updated and improved since its release in June 2018.
Commenting on the game’s success, Safebettingsites Researcher, Rex Pascual, noted: “On September 20, 2020, Among Us reached over 388,000 concurrent viewers on gaming platform Steam, placing third in its rankings behind well-established gaming behemoths CS:GO and Dota 2 and in front of long time number one PUBG. This achievement is all the more impressive considering Among Us was the creation of a team of only three developers compared to the development teams of such games like PUBG.”
The independent developers of Among Us, InnerSloth, decided in September that it would cancel the release of the game’s sequel, Among Us 2, due to the surge in popularity of the game’s original installation.
The company also remains independent, though it will be interesting to see if this remains the case, with chatter of a second game giving the group an attractive pipeline going forwards. However, in addition to its clever hook, what makes Among Us and its counterparts so popular, are their artistic and cult feel, which is highly personal to the company’s small team.
While the game’s developers might seek backing for future projects, any kind of takeover would risk losing the indie charm, which plays an integral part of the company’s current success.
Gaining as much as 3.4% last week, global equities optimism remained largely in place as the week’s trading kicked off, with considerable rallies in the US and Asia leaving their European counterparts trailing behind.
Up 0.89%, to 28,842, the Dow Jones hit 28,842 points, a new five-week high. Moving ahead even more bullishly, the Nasdaq also posted a new five-week high, up 2.03%, up to 11,915. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 sat in-between its US counterparts, rising 1.34%, to 3,524 points.
Speaking on US equities optimism, Kingswood CIO, Rupert Thompson, believes a mixture of stimulus hopes, and a solid Biden lead, have helped consolidate gains in US indexes.
“Far from Trump benefiting from a sympathy vote, his antics have increased Biden’s lead in the polls to close to 10%. The betting markets now give a two in three chance of Biden winning the Presidency.”
“If there is a clear victory for Biden, this reduces the chances of possibly the worst outcome for the markets – a result which would remain in dispute for a number of weeks after the election. A decisive victory, particularly if it includes the Democrats gaining control of the Senate, would also mean it would be easier for Biden to implement his plans for a sizeable fiscal stimulus package early next year.”
“The concern recently has been that Congress and the President have failed to agree a package to replace the stimulus measures which expired in July. The position here changed almost daily last week but on balance an agreement still looks unlikely this side of the election. If so, the prospect of a new Democratic Government able to enact an increasingly badly needed fiscal stimulus clearly has its attractions.”
The most impressive shifts, however, came from Asian equities, with the SSE Composite soaring 2.64%, to 3,358 points, while the Hang Seng jumped 2.20%, to 24,650. Slightly further East, the Nikkei slumped, down 0.29% to 23,559 points.
It appears the public opinion snowball has picked up enough momentum, and the optics look favourable enough for prime minister Boris Johnson to consider a second lockdown, even if it is implemented incrementally.
And, while a tragedy for businesses and communities alike, I think the prime minister airs on the side of the prudent majority who, when pushed, would probably sigh and agree to observe tighter restrictions, if they are deemed necessary.
So who says a second lockdown is the wrong course?
Interestingly, however, the ‘herd immunity’ narrative appears to be moving into more creditable channels of public opinion. Granted, most don’t apply the exact verbiage of Dominic Cummings’ sinister-sounding master plan, but outlets such as the Telegraph, pundits such as Andrew Neil, and even the World Health Organisation Director General’s Special Envoy, Dr David Navarro, are now speaking out about the risks of a second lockdown.
One of the driving forces behind the challenge to lockdown is infectious disease epidemiologist and Oxford Professor of theoretical epidemiology, Sunetra Gupta, who believes that the economic and social harms experienced by the worst off – in the UK and in poorer countries – outweigh the potential harms the virus might cause. She adds that areas which have already been hit hardest by the virus, are less likely to see the same degree of reuptake.
Speaking to the Biomedical Scientist magazine about the suspected second wave, Professor Gupta stated that: “It’s not really a resurgence. It’s just where it didn’t increase in the first place. Now all the barriers have been removed, it is increasing. I don’t see any surprises in that pattern. What I do think is interesting is that it’s not resurgent in many areas that did suffer the full brunt of the pandemic, so in London, New York, northern Italy, Sweden.”
Her view is that herd immunity has not yet been reached, but that early signs of resistance appear in certain geographies. She states that the next step is to use serological testing, and try to determine not just who has COVID, and what proportion of the population has been exposed to it.
On the prospect of a second lockdown, she says that: “I don’t see any clear and rational thought behind it. More importantly, my primary reason for being vocal has all along been my deep concern about the economically vulnerable, in this country and globally. I am terrified when I read reports of 260 million people going under the poverty line as a result of these measures. We also have to think of the young and what they have been denied.”
The alternative to lockdown, however, still appears somewhat fudged, and awkwardly apologetic about what it would mean for the safety of vulnerable people. She adds: “I think the best strategy for protecting the vulnerable is to shield. Obviously mistakes were made in terms of sending infected people back to care homes. I think we should be very careful, especially when we move back into winter. But in many parts of the UK, the infection rates are down to a point where people can make a sensible decision about what level of risk to take.”
Professor Gupta adds that the initial Oxford study of the virus’ spread also noted that the disease may have appeared in the UK a month before it was officially declared. This loss of time likely limited the effective roll-out of key preventative and research procedures, which could have been used to identify key characteristics about how the virus transmits, and where.
“We’ve been looking at blood banks in Scotland and can see infections going up in mid March, which suggest the virus was there in February. Then there’s the work in the sewers where they’re looking for the virus. I think it’s important to have these sentinels in place to try and see when the virus arrived and where it spread.”
Overall, though, she believes the political outlook is skewed, and that the UK’s efforts to cocoon, are plunging tens of millions around the world into destitution: “I think it’s important not to look at the situation along the one dimension of ‘how are we going to get this under control?’ We must consider all the consequences. I think we also need to take a more holistic view and not just this individual, nationalistic view. Think globally, think internationally.”
COVID teaming, looks to blight Christmas
Not quite as cheery as Bing Crosby’s holiday classic, but it appears that despite the threat of business closures, isolation, life being put on hold, and now the very credible counter-narrative of millions being pushed back into poverty, the UK might observe a second lockdown over the festive period.
Hopefully the government has learned lessons from round one – including not turning care homes into incubation chambers, and not handing billions in taxpayer funds to companies who don’t pay UK corporation tax. For now, Boris has given himself the traffic light system, which will probably afford the PM a couple of weeks to decide whether the public are calling for escalation or de-escalation of lockdown measures.
He still remains in an unenviable position, stuck between the centre-ground who are likely, onerously in favour of a second lockdown, and his more ardent right-wing, who are thoroughly fed up of restrictions.
Though only representative of my small following of Twitterati, here is the response to my question, ‘Would you agree with existing/new Covid lockdown measures over the Christmas period?’:
Aminex shares (LON: AEX) soared over 168% on Monday as the group Ruvuma gas project gained approval from the Tanzanian government.
The wholly-owned subsidiary, Ndovu Resources Limited, has received approval and the transaction is expected to be completed in the next few days.
Robert Ambrose, chief executive of Aminex, said: “We are delighted to finally receive Government approval of the Farm-Out and would like to thank all agencies of the Tanzanian Government that were involved in the process.
“We would also like to thank ARA Petroleum for its invaluable assistance and support in securing Government approval of the Farm-Out and in advancing $5m to the Company over the past 12 months. We now look forward to completing the transaction within the next few days and handing operatorship over to APT.”
Aminex shares (LON: AEX) are currently trading +200% at 1.20 (1511GMT).
FTSE 100 listed IT company, Aveva (LON:AVV), saw its shares slide on Monday morning, as the company saw half-year revenues slide due to COVID disruption.
The company said that revenues are expected to finish at £333 million for the first half period, which it said was ‘broadly in-line’ with the group’s plans, save for FX-related headwinds and two medium-sized subscription deals slipping from the second to third quarter.
One of these contracts was the renewal of a ‘significant’ global account. With revenues from this contract being pulled forwards into September 2019, unadjusted revenues declined by 12% in H1 2020. Accounting for the contract renewal, revenues declined year-on-year by 7% during the first half.
Speaking on the confidence it has in its offering, and future prospects, the Aveva statement read: “Notwithstanding Covid-19 related disruption, there has been solid demand for AVEVA’s software due to its ability to drive efficiency, flexibility and sustainability for customers across a wide range of industries. AVEVA has performed creditably in the first half against this backdrop and its outlook for the full year remains unchanged.”
“The order pipeline for the remainder of the financial year is strong, underpinned by a higher volume of contract renewals, including major Global Account contracts, as well as the contracts that slipped from the second quarter. As such, the Board expects to see solid revenue growth in the second half and remains confident in the full year outlook.”
Following the update, Aveva shares slid by 4.79% or 227.00p, to 4,499.00p 21/10/20 11:45 GMT. This more than 6% above its consensus target price of 4,209p, but far below its year-to-date high of 5,290p.
The company currently has a consensus ‘Hold’ rating, and a 63.49% ‘Underperform’ stance from the Marketbeat community. Its p/e ratio is 43.57, below the IT and tech average of 65.37.
National Express shares (LON: NEX) fell over 3% on Monday’s opening as the group announced a new chief executive.
The FTSE 250 transport firm said Ignacio Garat will replace Chris Davies as the new chief executive from 1 November.
Ignacio was previously the Senior Vice President Southern Europe, France, and Benelux Operations for FedEx and will receive a base salary of £575,000.
In a statement released on Monday, Sir John Armitt, National Express chairman, said: “I am delighted to welcome Ignacio to National Express Group.
“Ignacio has the extensive international operational and strategic experience to lead National Express Group through the challenges presented by the pandemic, as well as the significant future opportunities that exist. Ignacio’s track-record of focusing on safety, operational excellence and strong financial performance, aligns closely with National Express Group’s priorities. On behalf of the whole Board, I look forward to working with Ignacio in the months and years to come and thank Chris Davies for his steady hand during his time as interim Group Chief Executive.”
Garat said: “I have watched National Express Group’s growth in recent years to become the leader in its sector, so it is a privilege to be given the opportunity to lead the company as it navigates the pandemic and positions itself for future growth.
“National Express has an international portfolio of market-leading businesses and a strong reputation for service and safety excellence. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to drive further improvement and deliver for both the communities we serve and our investors,” he added.
National Express shares (LON: NEX) are down 3.97% at 167,95 (1002GMT).
The FTSE 100 had a sluggish start to the week amid concerns of new lockdown measures.
The blue-chip index 0.2% to 6,004.77 just before 9 am on Monday ahead of the government’s emergency Cobra committee.
The FTSE 100 slipped as shares in energy firms fell due to a drop in oil prices. BP was down 1.8% and Shell fell 1.6%. The FTSE 250, however, was up 0.6%.
“Further lockdowns would jeopardise the already fragile economic recovery and have lasting, negative effects on consumer confidence,” said Milan Cutkovic, an analyst at Axi.
However, European investors “have not lost faith that further stimulus measures will follow, and that an effective Covid-19 vaccine will soon be placed on the market, bringing the pandemic somewhat more under control,” he added.
Ahead of the Cobra meeting, a spokesperson said: “Our primary focus has always been to protect lives and livelihoods while controlling the spread of the virus, and these measures will help achieve that aim.”
Boris Johnson will announce a new three-tier lockdown system for England today. The alert levels will be “medium”, “high” and “very high”.
