Donald Trump’s new budget receives criticism from Congress and House Speaker
Donald Trump has announced his new budget plan for the next fiscal year, as the American President looks to juggle current commitments and his new election campaign.
The US President never fails to make news headlines, and has vowed to win the New Hampshire seat in the next 2020 election which will determine whether he will win another four years in office.
The $4.8 trillion budget plan drew a negative reaction from many member of Congress, including some of his own Republican faithfuls.
Certainly there is no doubt that Trump has not won all members in the House of Representatives or the Senate, however divides in his own party may bring about speculation over the likeliness of him winning his next election.
Democrats were quick to step all over Trump’s new budget, as the Blue Party said that plans to cut social service had been betrayed.
Notable inclusions in the budget spawned from domestic immigration policy, where Trump pledged to continue to build the great wall which would be build across the US Mexico Border.
At the expense of this, social security and safety net programs were two of the bigger areas which received cuts, as the umbrella of welfare reform was slashed from Trump’s priority list.
“Americans’ quality, affordable health care will never be safe with President Trump,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Everyone knows the latest Trump budget is dead on arrival in Congress,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee.
Trump also has plans to replace Medicare spending by lowering drug costs as well as increasing means tested benefit criteria to make individuals less eligible for services such as social security disability benefits.
The areas which Trump seems to prioritize which are defense and military, budgets have remained flat from his pledge a couple years ago.
The US President has forecasted that this new budget will lead to a $4.6 trillion deficit reduction over the next decade, and will forecast economic growth of 3% – rather optimistic considering the state of global affairs.
As Trump looks to balance his campaigning commitments as well as secure his spot with current members of the House and Senate, the 2020 election seems open as ever.
N4 Pharma agree 14 month research deal with Nanomerics Ltd
N4 Pharma PLC (LON:N4P) have told the market that they have signed a research collaboration deal with Nanomerics Ltd.
N4 said that the deal would be spanning 14 months and this tie up will allow the testing of two candidate formulations using its Nuvec delivery systems.
The firm said that the partnership will be split into two phases, each lasting seven months.
In the first phase, N4 said that the companies will develop and test the thirty day stability of four different Nuvec formulations, using both a plasmid DNA and a small interfering RNA.
After this, the second phase will be underway where the testing of efficacy of the plasmid DNA will take place in an vivo antibody generation model.
Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented:
“This is an exciting opportunity for the Company to accelerate the development of its Nuvec® delivery system.
Through our collaboration with Nanomerics we will be gaining access to scientists and laboratories with considerable expertise in the field of nanotechnology delivery system development and testing.
Demonstrating 30-day stability will be a major milestone in highlighting the potential for Nuvec® to be used in a product and, by securing access to a novel siRNA, the Company will considerably broaden its data pack showing the versatility and utility of the Nuvec® system.
Phase 1 of this work will run alongside the existing planned in vitro and in vivo testing of more disperse Nuvec® formulations, further details of which were announced in the Company’s interim results statement on 18 September 2019. Phase 2 will replace the previously planned efficacy work announced in the interim results. By working with Nanomerics, the Company will now be able to undertake two efficacy studies.”
Ijeoma Uchegbu, Chief Technology Officer of Nanomerics, added:
“We are delighted to be working with N4 Pharma and its Nuvec® delivery system. Having reviewed their existing data we can see the potential of the technology and, together with the Company, have devised a work programme to advance Nuvec® to the next level, with the aim of truly understanding its capabilities and unlocking its potential.”
Shares in N4 Pharma trade at 3p (+9.00%). 11/2/20 13:58BST.
Cora Gold find high grade gold intercepts in Mali
Cora Gold (LON:CORA) have found multiple high grade gold intercepts at its Sanankoro gold project in southern Mali.
The gold miner said that drilling had targeted deeper oxide and sulphide extensions to the current inferred mineral resource of 5.0 million tonnes, which has a grade of 1.6 grams per tonne of gold, containing 265,000 ounces of gold.
From the results, Cora said that drilling results had shown 2.61 grams of gold over 29 meters, including 3.89 grams over 12 meters at one of its operations.
Bert Monro, CEO of Cora Gold, commented,
“Cora has successfully intersected multiple higher-grade gold intercepts at Sanankoro in its latest drill programme. This set of results mainly tested continuity of mineralisation at depth, in part below the limit of the existing Resource pit shells. The current Resource has a range of pit depths from about 40-100m so there is significant scope to increase the open pit Resources with further successful drilling.
“Our recently announced Scoping Study, which was calculated on our current Maiden pit-constrained Inferred Mineral Resource of 5Mt at 1.6 g/t Au for 265,000 ounces of gold, highlighted the attractive economic returns possible at Sanankoro including a high IRR of 84% and short capex payback of 18 months. We look forward to announcing further results from this drilling programme covering predominantly potential extensions to existing Resources.”
Cora Gold’s mineral resource estimation
Cora Gold saw their shares jump In December following a boost to their mineral resource estimation. The firm said it has received a maiden pit constrained mineral resource estimate from independent consultants SRK Consulting UK Ltd for its Sanankoro gold project in southern Mali. Whereas the gold recovery from oxides is shown to range from 92.9% to 95.7%, the sulphide resource estimate has assumed an 80% extraction rate for gold recovery. This has been determined on the basis of “very preliminary” metallurgical testing of two sulphide samples, Cora noted. Shares in Cora Gold trade at 6p (+2.13%). 11/2/20 13:42BST.Namaka results hit by coronavirus leading to shares crashing 23%
Nakama Group PLC (LON:NAK) have seen their shares crash on Tuesday as revenues took a bruising from the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
There is no doubt that the coronavirus now has become a global crisis, and millions of Chinese stocks, businesses and indexes have been wiped off following the spread.
Global Governments are now taking a heavy approach to stop any risk of spread or contamination, however it seems that the disease has already hit the UK with a numerous number of cases being reported.
Nakama, who hold operations in Hong Kong, London, Singapore and have other operations in Asia have seen their revenues bashed following the coronavirus outbreak.
Nakama shares crashed 23.53% on Tuesday afternoon and trade at 0.65p. 11/2/20 12:58BST.
The recruitment firm said that trading to the end of March has met expectations, however the final quarter presented challenges.
Nakama said that revenue was bruised by the outbreak of coronavirus in both Hong Kong and Singapore, as local businesses look to delay new hiring until the virus assessment has been fully completed.
“The impact of Coronavirus on revenues for both Hong Kong and Singapore have been immediately felt. As a result of the curbs on movement of people imposed by regional governments, firms are currently choosing to delay, in some cases indefinitely, the start dates of new hires until the full impact of the virus has been determined, directly impacting revenue recognition for the Group. Furthermore, recruitment activity generally has been immediately impacted by the effects of Coronavirus. Despite this immediate challenge, the Asia region, as a whole, remains highly attractive and it is expected that the future growth of the business will be focussed on developing the Group’s reach in region.”
In the UK, Nakama said that the region remains “challenging” following the changes to IR35, which has reduced Nakama’s monthly revenue figures.
The firm concluded by saying:
“At the start of the calendar year the decision was made to relocate the Nakama UK office to Caterham, where the Highams business is based. Management are pleased with the positive response this has received from employees to date. Furthermore, as a result of the implementation of the new robust performance management programme, the Managing Director of the Singapore office exited the business and has been replaced internally.
While headcount in the Group has decreased year on year, the Board believes that these reductions are necessary in order to bring the cost base in line with revenues to ensure the business continues to be profitable going forward.
The Group’s cash position remains severely constrained and the Company faces a short-term cash challenge until the full impact of the recent cost reductions has come through. The Board are considering several alternative sources of funding to improve the Group’s cash position, but the Group still urgently requires an injection of capital.”
Primorus Investments hail Greatland Gold performance in strong end to 2019
Primorus Investments PLC (LON:PRIM) have reported a strong final quarter in their Tuesday update as subsidiary investments have led to success.
The firm hailed the recent performance of Greatland Gold (LON:GGP) as one of the drivers of success in the final quarter of 2019.
Primorus told the market that they had invested £625,000 into Greatland Gold, and this initial investment has now trebled to be valued at £1.9 million following a string of success for the gold miner.
The potential profit from its investment in Greatland stands at £1.3 million, and Primorus tips the investee’s share price to rise even further.
Primorus also noted that Truspine Technologies had made progress. This firm is a medical devices company, and Primorus said that Truspine is “moving fast towards a London IPO”.
Alastair Clayton, Executive Director commented:
“Whilst the fourth Quarter of 2019 was again another period of solid growth across our diverse portfolio, it is fair to say that post-period (early 2020) has got off to an excellent start. We will return to these headline-grabbing matters later on but given the long-overdue but underwhelming increase in share price at the time or writing, it is worth remembering that Primorus is not a one trick pony.
We find ourselves in early 2020 with a diverse and growing portfolio, primarily in unlisted technology and energy companies. Our 5 largest investments by deployed capital are Engage Technology Partners (£1.5m), WeShop (£875,000), Greatland Gold PLC (£625,000), TruSpine (£500,000) and Fresho (circa £260,000).
On top of our direct equity investments we sometimes add to our balance sheet through a use of debt investing that generates interest and picking up equity options. A good example of this was the Zuuse Series B investment where the outlay was returned to treasury and interest in fully paid shares and a significant number of in-the-money options (compared to last raise) being sent to the balance sheet.
We do also have shares in publicly listed companies in an effort to increase the liquidity and look through value of the portfolio. Sometimes these are very small investments made to effectively manage cash and add incrementally to the balance sheet through opportunistic means.
We may also sometimes identify something special that we believe represents an opportunity in a listed company that has the potential to make an outsized contribution to our shareholders. Clearly our investment in Greatland Gold PLC is an example of this.
So, the question really is what should our share price be if the core portfolio of unlisted investments is better recognised? I believe many of our investments have the potential to, or already have, eclipsed even the Greatland Gold investment in terms of performance and as demonstrated in 2019, many of our investments can be exited in the absence of a public quotation.”
Primorus driven by Greatland success
Greatland Gold have been successful over the last few weeks, and have seen a positive period of trading. In December, the firm said that it had identified mineralization at its mine in Tasmania, Australia. The firm said it completed a systematic grid-based drilling programme at Firetower, comprising 14 diamond holes with depths from 50 metres to 160 metres, for a total of approximately 1,530 metres. The programme was designed to test the main zone of gold mineralisation and results to date have confirmed broad widths of gold mineralisation, Greatland said. In addition, two further holes were drilled for around 670 meters to test the new targets identified by a 3D induced polarisation survey at Firetower East, approximately 500m east of Firetower. Shares in Primorus Investments PLC trade at 3p (-1.67%). 11/2/20 12:40BST.China New Energy unaffected by coronavirus as confidence remains for 2020 trading
China New Energy Ltd (LON:CNEL) have seen their shares lifted by over 5% following a strong second half performance.
The firm said that it had traded consistently in the second half of 2019 and gave shareholders reassurance over current tensions in China.
It is no doubt, that shareholders would have been worried about the firm’s performance as the coronavirus continued to spread across China and death tolls continue to rise.
It seems that China New Energy have managed to overcome struggles in the second half of their financial year leading to shares in green today.
Notably, the firm also gave an update today saying that it does not expect the coronavirus to hinder performance in the first few months of trading in 2020.
Notably, the ethanol production system provider said its performance in the six months to December 31 is expected to be ahead of that for the six months to June 30.
In the six months to June 30, China New Energy’s pretax profit rose to CNY27.1 million, from CNY8.1 million, on a revenue that surged to CNY163.9 million.
On a great note for shareholders, the firm said that 2019 total revenue is expected to be at its highest figure since it was first listed in 2011.
Chair Yu Weijun said: “I am proud of our team for both supporting our local community and providing business continuity during this challenging time. The macroeconomy for our industry remains unchanged and, as we enter 2020 with a strong order book, we remain confident that the business will have continued success in 2020 and beyond. This will be detailed in our annual report which we expect to release in the first quarter of 2020.”
The firm has made an ensured effort to try and stop the outbreak of coronavirus in China, as the death toll continues to rise.
The firm said: “As widely reported in the press, business activities in China are being disrupted by the Coronavirus outbreak and, whilst the Company does not currently believe this will cause a significant financial impact in 2020, the Board of CNE would like to provide shareholders with further information to understand the situation as it relates to CNE.
The Company and its employees have been playing an active role in supporting the local community with the eradication of the novel coronavirus. On 30 January 2020, the Company donated and distributed 5 tons of medical grade alcohol (75% abv ethanol produced by CNE clients) to local hospitals to assist with disinfection. This was distributed to 17 local hospitals including: First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen, the Second People’s Hospital of Guangdong Province and the Guangdong Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Whilst the Company’s clients mostly produce ethanol for renewable-fuel and potable markets, this illustrates the continuing demand for medical grade ethanol for sanitary applications.”
Shares in China New Energy trade at 2p (+5.84%). 11/2/20 12:24BST.
Total SA expand into Spanish renewables market with two deals
Total (EPA:FP) have told the market that they have expanded into the Spanish renewables market on Tuesday.
The French titan said that it had agreed two deals to add two gigawatts of solar power to its portfolio and operations, as it makes an ensured effort to diversify into the renewables sector.
Total said that the deals have been struck with Spanish firm Powertis and Solarbay Renewable Energy.
Figures and statistics are yet to revealed for the deals however Total said that they would be paying fees to the firms at agreed steps during the project commencement.
Total have notably set a target for their generation capacity of 25 giggawatts by 2025, and this deal follows deals in India and Qatar.
Under the terms of the deal, the respective partners will establish a joint venture to develop solar projects in Spain, and could be a point of revolution for the French titan.
“Spain benefits from a solar resource that is unparalleled in Europe. Its photovoltaic market is one of the most dynamic in Europe, with an expected capacity increase from 6 GW to nearly 40 GW by 2030,” Julien Pouget, Total’s senior vice president for renewables, said in a statement.
Notably, Total Solar will acquire 100% of solar projects being developed by Solarbay in the Andalusia, Aragon and Castile-La Mancha regions of Spain, representing total capacity of up to 1.2 GW.
The projects and operations are set to commence at the end of 2020.
Total and Shell expand into renewables
A few weeks back, oil major Shell (LON:RDSA) also purchased a French renewables firm in an attempt to diversify into environmentally friendly policies and operations. The firm said that they had moved to purchase French wind farm specialist EOLFI as part of its plans to expand into the oil major’s electricity business. EOLFI have focused largely on solar and wind energy operations – including a specialism in offshore wind farms. Shell have big aims to diversify out of oil and gas into renewable energy, and this move is a bold statement to competitors. Shell want to become the world’s largest electricity company and expects to invest £1.6 billion to $3 billion a year — nearly 10% of its overall spending — on its power division by 2025. Many multinationals are now seeing the value of moving into the environmental friendly operating arena. The move from Total will come as a double benefit, first to expand operations and widen their network and secondly it represents a real chance for them to meet their environmental goals which will please shareholders.JD Sports Footasylum merger still under scrutiny from CMA
JD Sports (LON:JD) and Footasylum (LON:FOOT) have been locked in a battle of wills with competition regulators over a potential merger deal, and today there has been an update.
The Competition and Markets Authority have said that this merger would substantially lessen competition in the UK, which has decreased the chance of the deal being completed.
Today, the CMA said that the second phase investigation has found that the deal will produce less competition within the market nationally which would lead to UK consumers paying higher prices, see lower quality of customer service, lower discounts and less choice both online and in store.
“The CMA’s current view is that blocking the deal by requiring JD Sports to sell the Footasylum business may be the only way of addressing these competition concerns,” said Kip Meek, Chair of the independent inquiry group leading the investigation.
“We’re currently concerned that shoppers could lose out after the merger, for example through fewer discounts and less choice in stores and online,”
“This could particularly affect younger customers and students, who shop in JD Sports and Footasylum.”
JD Sports have had this say, saying that the verdict by the CMA was “fundamentally flawed”.
The CMA recognized that Footasylum only holds a 5% market share, which JD argued meant that this transaction is small in the relative size of JD Sports and the overcrowded market place.
JD added that they expect Footasylum will contribute less than 2% of the Group’s earnings in the year to January 2020 which, after a robust post-Christmas sales period
Peter Cowgill, Executive Chairman of JD Sports Fashion Plc, commented:
“The CMA’s provisional decision is fundamentally flawed and demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of our market to an alarming extent, given its six-month review.
“The competitive landscape described by the CMA is one which neither I, nor any experienced sector analyst, would recognise. Just take a walk down any major UK high street or search for Nike or adidas trainers on Google and you can see for yourself how competitive this marketplace really is.
“The CMA’s provisional findings do not reflect the objective evidence, with excessive weight being placed on surveys asking hypothetical questions of a small sample of selected customers equivalent to less than 25% of the footfall of one JD store in Manchester for one week, rather than assessing the reality of how consumers actually shop on a national scale.
“When the Group made its offer in March 2019, it was our intention to support Footasylum and its employees to grow the business and increase the quality, range and choice of products available to customers.
“We remain convinced that a combination of the two businesses would provide significant long-term benefits to customers, colleagues and brand partners, while maintaining Footasylum’s presence on the high street as the music-inspired casual retailer which it is today.”
British Pound finds optimism following December Economic Growth
The British Pound has appreciated on Tuesday following positive reports of UK Economic Growth in December.
The data from the ONS, painted a positive picture on Tuesday where December was a positive month for the UK economy, however on a quarterly basis economic growth remained flat.
Despite quarterly growth remaining flat, it seems that there was not much hope in the first place as this matched both analyst and market expectations.
Annual GDP for the fourth quarter was 1.1% which showed progression from the 0.8% figure that expectations had set out before the update.
On that note, the British Pound has seen highs today of 1.1858 against the Euro and is currently seeing a 0.0237% appreciation, which currency traders will be hopeful about considering the volatile nature of the British Pound.
Notably, on Tuesday the pound has seen lows of 1.1821 which was a dip from yesterday’s closing price of 1.1834.
The Pound will expect fluctuations across the next few months, much is happening in the world and it seems that Brexit is continuing to take its toll as PM Johnson continues to fight legislators in Brussels on a Brexit withdrawal deal.
The British Pound found optimism today following a positive period of Economic Growth, where gross domestic product grew 0.3% on a monthly basis, reversing a 0.3% decline seen in November and above consensus forecasts for a 0.2% rise.
“Although there is some evidence, both externally and in this dataset, that there has been stockpiling taking place in late 2019 ahead of the second planned EU exit date in October, initial estimates indicate that this was to a lesser degree than that taking place ahead of the original planned EU exit date in March,” said ONS.
The Pound will still see much turbulence over the next few months, and the ONS said that UK GDP was “particularly volatile” in 2019.
Despite the ongoing crisis with the coronavirus, combined with stunted Brexit negotiations it seems that currency traders are staying cautious and on edge as the Pound ebbs and flows everyday as negotiations and global events unfold.
William Hill agree deal with CBS Sports as digital expansion plan thrives
William Hill (LON:WMH) have announced that they have agreed a deal with CBS Sports in the US.
William Hill said that they have agreed a strategic partnership with CBS to be an exclusive book and wagering data provider as part of their plans to diversify into foreign markets.
The bookmaker said that the partnership is set to roll out in March on digital platforms that broadcast CBS Sports, as a full rollout is expected later down the line.
CBS have said that they will use William Hill’s odds, experts and sports books to increase their digital offerings and expand their presence in the US Sport broadcasting market.
William Hill will also exploit benefits including the exclusive rights to promote its brand across CBS’s range of digital platforms and networks.
“We’re thrilled to launch this momentous partnership, which will allow us to deepen our investment and further extend our leadership in delivering multi-platform sports wagering content, while providing William Hill with unprecedented reach for their market-leading betting platform as they continue to grow their industry leading US business,” said Jeffrey Gerttula, executive vice president & general manager of CBS Sports Digital.
“Becoming the official sports betting provider to CBS is another major step forward for William Hill in our US expansion,” said William Hill Chief Executive Ulrik Bengtsson. “Now we have exclusive media, branding and promotional rights across CBS’ leading digital sports properties, to take the William Hill brand further and faster in the US.”