deVere Group CEO predictions ahead of general election
The Founder and Chief Executive of deVere Group has predicted that the pound will fall to 1.20 against the U.S dollar if the UK election delivers a hung parliament.
The GBP/USD is currently trading close to 1.30 as President of the US Donald Trump heads to London.
With just over a week to go until the general election, parties continue to campaign to win over voters.
Nigel Green, the Founder and Chief Executive of deVere Group, has made a prediction for the outcome of the pound following the results of next week’s election:
“The overwhelming majority of polls tracking the UK election clearly suggest growing support for Labour,” Nigel Green said.
“The surge for Labour in the recent polls, which raises the spectre of another hung parliament, has been reflected by the dip in the pound against the dollar, the euro and other major currencies.”
“Sterling fell 0.2 per cent to $1.29 on Monday with the odds on a hung parliament being delivered next week narrowed to as low as 7/4 – down from 9/4 last week,” the Founder and Chief Executive of deVere Group continued.
“I think we can expect the pound to fall to $1.20 in the event of another hung parliament.”
“Should a Conservative majority be delivered, I believe the pound will reach $1.35.”
“A hung parliament is likely to lead to another EU referendum and another Scottish independence referendum.”
“This would intensify uncertainty perhaps into 2021. Uncertainty is something financial markets loathe and this is why the pound has dipped on the news of Labour closing in on the Conservatives ahead of this crucial Brexit election.”
“The uncertainty would also serve to continue to dampen business investment which, of course, will drag on economic growth.”
Nigel Green continued: “The significant drop in the value of the pound could contribute to reducing people’s purchasing power and a drop in UK living standards. Weaker sterling means imports are more expensive, with rising prices being passed on to consumers.”
“A low pound is also bad news for British expats who get a UK pension or UK income – plus it’s bad for holidaymakers and travellers abroad – with trips to Europe and the U.S. becoming increasingly more expensive. Even destinations such as Dubai and China are more expensive as their currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar.”
Nigel Green continued: “While it is most likely that a Conservative majority will be delivered, next week’s election is looking like it will be closer than many had expected at the beginning of the campaign.”
“Should Mr Johnson’s Conservatives win the election, the pound and UK financial assets stand to gain with immediate effect.”
Centamin shares spike following rejected merger approach
Centamin PLC (LON: CEY) have seen their shares spike on Tuesday morning after it was reported that the firm rejected a merger approach from Endeavour Mining.
Shares of Centamin spiked 7.68% to 120p. 3/12/19 10:23BST.
Centamin plc is a gold mining company focused on the Arabian-Nubian Shield. It has offices in London, UK; Mount Pleasant, Western Australia; and Alexandria, Egypt. Its registered office is in Jersey
Centamin have seen a mixed time of financial 2019, and the firm has been confident throughout the year. In October, the FTSE250 listed firm saw its shares dip after the firm saw its output levels decline.
Today, Centamin updated shareholders by saying that it had rejected a hostile approach from an industry rival, which saw shares in green.
Gold miner Centamin PLC on Tuesday said the combination proposal made by Canadian peer Endeavour Mining Corp would provide greater benefit to Endeavour’s shareholders than to its own shareholders and does not reflect the contribution that would made by Centamin to the merged entity.
In a response to the £1.47 billion, all share combination proposal, Centamin said that it is ‘better positioned’ to deliver shareholder returns on a stand alone basis than a combined entity, leading to a unanimous board rejection.
The offer values Centamin at £1.47 billion and proposes a share-exchange ratio of 0.0846 Endeavour share for each Centamin share. Were the merger offer to go ahead, Endeavour shareholders would own just shy of 53% of the new company, while Centamin shareholders would have just over a 47% stake.
The deal represents a 13% premium to Centamin’s closing price on Monday of 112.20 pence, Endeavour said.
Endeavour explained: “As meaningful engagement has still not been forthcoming, Endeavour is today announcing the terms set out in its proposal in an effort to encourage the Centamin Board to engage in discussions.”
Endeavour added: “On November 28, Centamin responded to the proposal with a continued refusal to discuss the prospects for a merger or its terms prior to the execution of a standstill agreement and non-disclosure agreement.
“Mindful of Centamin’s response to Endeavour’s proposal in October 2018, Endeavour believes that Centamin’s insistence on a standstill agreement as a pre-condition to discussing the prospects for the Merger, or even preliminary terms which would be subject to reciprocal due diligence, risks denying Centamin shareholders a voice in the compelling strategic merits of a combination.”
A combined Endeavour and Centamin would have a pro-forma 2019 gold production of 1.2 million ounces in 2019, making one of the top 15 gold producers in the world, Endeavour said.
In the minerals and mining sector, Monday was a busy day. FTSE100 (LON: FRES) listed saw their shares in red, after the firm gave a pessimistic outlook on their 2019 production estimate guidance.
Additionally, KEFI Minerals and Ariana Resources gave positive updates to shareholders, which saw their shares in green.
Nokia to transform Finland’s national grid to support renewables
Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company Nokia Corporation (HEL: NOKIA) today announced that it had been asked to build an IP/MPLS network to ‘support the transformation’ of the national electrical grid of Fingrid (Finland’s national transmission system operator). This, the Company said, would better enable Fingrid’s smart grid to support renewable energy.
Summarising its goals, the Group said:
- Nokia is installing a mission-critical IP/MPLS network to enable Fingrid to digitalize and automate the management of its national power grid.
- The new smart grid will be better able to seamlessly integrate variable renewables such as solar, wind and micro-generation from bioenergy.
- The Nokia network will also support all current and legacy grid control applications including SCADA, teleprotection and current differential protection.
Nokia Comments
Speaking on the news, Kari Suominen, head of ICT for Fingrid, said, “We are committed to realising the potential of renewable energy generation and are embarking on an ambitious transformation of our national grid to make it smarter and more flexible. Nokia’s IP/MPLS solution plays an important role in the digital transformation of our distributed energy resource management by providing us with a reliable, secure and agile communications system that has the potential to support all of our power management needs.” Kamal Ballout, Global Vice President of Energy Practice for Nokia, said, “Fingrid joins our long list of transmission system operator customers who are modernizing their networks and transforming their businesses by embracing more distributed and renewable energy sources. Through continued investment in our IP portfolio, we are able to meet the specific requirements of today’s energy market, helping them evolve their infrastructure for a more sustainable future.”Investor notes
Following the update, Nokia rallied but then steadied out, up 0.13% or 0.004 EUR to 3.14 EUR per share 03/12/19 12:02 EET. On the New York Exchange, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) shares are down 1.14% or 0.04 USD to 3.46 USD per share 03/12/19 04:16 GMT. The Group’s dividend yield stands at 3.21%, their market cap is $19.94 billion.Retail sales down with later timing of Black Friday
New data revealed on Tuesday that total retail sales dropped by 4.4% in November compared to the same period in 2018.
The British Retail Consortium said that like-for-like sales declined by 4.9% over the month.
A major difference between this year’s data and that recorded in November 2018 is that last year’s figures included the Black Friday period.
Indeed, retailers in the UK have experienced strong trading over the Black Friday promotional week.
The successful trading period brings joy after the well publicised woes of the UK high street have dominated over recent months.
“At first glance, November’s decline in like-for-like retail sales of -4.9% will leave retailers reaching for the smelling salts, but context is key. If adjusted for the later timing of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, sales are more likely to have increased by a more palatable 0.4% like-for-like,” Paul Martin, Partner, UK Head of Retail at KPMG, commented on the data.
“Over the course of November, consumers will have held off making purchases in anticipation of discounts to come, despite many retailers spreading out promotions across several days, if not weeks. That said, consumers will also have put Brexit and political uncertainty to one side temporarily, focussing on promotions and the upcoming festivities instead,” Paul Martin continued.
“The key question will be whether demand can rebound enough to make up for several disappointing months of trading this year. Grocers are likely to have weathered the storm better than most but Black Friday is key to many non-food categories.”
“Retailers have their foot to the floor during this critical trading period, but it won’t be until Christmas trading reports land in January that we’ll truly know whether their strategies have proved fruitful.”
Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive at the British Retail Consortium, added that: “A No Deal Brexit has been pushed back to after Christmas, consumers were more prepared to open their wallets to a little extra festive spending.”
“Politicians may be in the full swing of campaigning today, but the next Government must be ready to hit the ground running on December 13th. If the next Government wishes to see retail spending remain healthy in 2020 it is essential they clarify our future relationship with the EU as soon as possible. If consumers are to avoid price rises, and reduced availability, politicians must put frictionless, tariff-free trade at the top of their new agenda,” the Chief Executive continued.
As Brexit discussions have been put on hold, parties are now campaigning for the general election later this month.
Omega Diagnostics slims losses and confirms HIV test orders
In-vitro diagnostics products provider Omega Diagnostics Group Plc (LON: ODX) showed improvement as it narrows its losses and boasts a large order for its HIV testing products.
The Group’s revenues from continued operations bounced 6% to £4.46 million year-on-year for the half-year ended September 30th.
This progress was matched by its gross margin, which was up 5.8% points on-year, to 67.5%. More importantly, the Company swung its EBITDA around from negative £0.22 million to positive £0.25 million, and its adjusted loss before tax narrowed from £0.51 million to £0.35 million. The direction of travel was similar for shareholders of Omega Diagnostics, with their adjusted loss per share trimming down from -0.5p to -0.2p. The progress listed in today’s update was then made sweeter by news that the Company had secured a second conditional order order for 200,000 units of its VISITECT® CD4 350 HIV test.Talking its stakeholders through the order, the Company said,
“This order is in addition to the first purchase order for 50,000 tests announced on 16 August 2019. The combined order total for 250,000 tests remains conditional upon the Nigerian Ministry of Health (“MOH”) approving the Company’s VISITECT® CD4 350 test into its national HIV policy, a process which is still ongoing at present. A final delivery schedule will be confirmed once the MOH outcome is known with certainty.” Elsewhere in pharmaceuticals, Beximco Pharmaceuticals (LON: BXP), IMCD N.V. (AMS: IMCD), Amryt Pharma Holdings Ltd (LON: AMYT), Curetis NC (AMS: CURE) also boasted financial progress.Omega Diagnostics comments
Speaking on the future, William Rhodes, Interim Chairman of the Company, offered the following insights,
“I am encouraged that we continue to make progress across all three divisions. Our financial performance was aligned to our expectations and is further indication that the restructuring we undertook in the prior year is having a positive impact. The recent fundraise also provides us with sufficient funding to implement our short term strategies, and I would like to thank all our shareholders who participated.”
“In summary, we have continued to make progress against our plans, and are well positioned for near term growth in both our food intolerance and CD4 business units.”
Investor notes
The Company’s shares rallied 4.00% or 0.40p to 10.40p per share 02/12/19 16:30 GMT. Analysts from FinnCap reiterated their ‘Corporate’ stance on Omega Diagnostics stock. Neither a dividend yield nor a p/e ratio are available for the Group, their market cap is £15.41 million.Festivities in short supply as Trump reimposes tariffs
Continuing to push against his unwilling adversaries, today president Donald Trump kept on attempting to bring his economic machinations into being. His thinking of ‘low dollar, plus protectionism, equals good trade for US producers’, is as simplistic as his drive to bring such maxims into being is relentless. Alas, in the process, he has done done little more than antagonise everybody else – again.
Lamenting the new round of tariffs imposed on Latin American countries by Trump today, Spreadex Financial Analyst Connor Campbell stated,
“With the markets having done their best to maintain a positive outlook on the US-China situation, despite Hong Kong becoming a political pawn between the two sides, Trump went and added another couple of enemies to his trade war portfolio.”
“Delivering the news via, where else, Twitter, the President said that ‘effective immediately’ he would be restoring tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports from Brazil and Argentina. This came as Trump claimed those countries had been ‘presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies’ that was ‘not good’ for American farmers. Never missing a chance to attack Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve, he ended the announcement by haranguing the central bank about lowering rates and loosening monetary policy to weaken the dollar.”
“It doesn’t take a genius to guess how investors reacted. Reversing their early gains, the Eurozone indices all sank into the red, joined by an irritated Dow Jones. The FTSE tumbled back towards a 10-day low of 7310 after shedding 50 points, while the Dow sank below 28000 as it shed 130 points.”
“The real big losses, however, were saved for the Eurozone. With the region’s total manufacturing PMI marginally better than initial estimates, and issues for the pound (political) and dollar (manufacturing), the euro rose 0.4% and 0.5% against sterling and the greenback respectively. That left the region’s indices in a bad way; the DAX was down 1.7%, with the CAC falling 1.5%.”
Reflecting on Monday’s stories outside of Donald Trump, other important updates came from; KEFI Minerals (LON: KEFI) getting the green light on their Tulu Kapi project, Hiscox Ltd (LON: HSX) looking set to drop out of the FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) index, Trainline PLC (LON: TRN) dipping after Labour announcing its transport policies, and Christmas looking set to be be costly for British consumers.Beowulf Mining shares spike after third quarter loss shrinks
Beowulf Mining plc (LON: BEM) have seen their shares spike on Monday afternoon following an optimistic update to shareholders.
Beowulf Mining plc is a UK registered Nordic focused exploration and development company listed on the AIM in London and Spotlight in Sweden. The CEO is Kurt Budge. The company was formed in 1988 as Beowulf Gold.
Shares of Beowulf Mining spiked 2.17% following the announcement, and now trade at 5p. 2/12/19 16:19BST.
Today, in the mining and natural resources sector there have been updates.
Additionally, KEFI Minerals and Ariana Resources gave positive updates to shareholders, which saw their shares in green.
Beowulf enlightened shareholders that they had narrowed their total loss in the third quarter, following a large exploration cost impairment one year ago which sparked shareholder appetite.
The miner, which is still in its development phase and has yet to generate revenue, reported that pretax loss shrank to £309,344 from £407,287 the previous year.
Share based payment expenses fell from £49,519 to £26,566 whilst administration expenses rose to £283,310 from £211,029.
Chief Executive Kurt Budge said: “It seems evident that the coalition government in Sweden has been struggling to reach consensus on Kallak and that politics is standing in the way of a decision being taken. We have heard before, from the government, that Swedish law is sufficient for assessing the Kallak application, and, that any assessment of Kallak should be ‘by the book’.”
Budge added: “At the beginning of October, Mr Baylan wrote to me of a ‘forthcoming government decision’ in our case. The company has made its case and now it is time for the government to decide.”
Certainly, shareholders should be pleased with the updated provided by Beowulf. As the market becomes increasingly competitive and saturated, the update should appease stakeholders in the short term.
Beowulf will now look to build on their positive update, and should look to swing into profit following revenue gains and business growth as long as they keep up their ensured efforts to expand and create new business opportunities.
Reacting to shaky manufacturing PMI data
Coming as little surprise to many, UK manufacturing PMI figures were weighed down by ongoing political and macroeconomic tensions. Donald Trump continued his scattergun campaign of protectionist tariffs, and the UK was doing his best to keep up, weighing in with general election uncertainty and the lingering Brexit motif.
Talking on the UK’s figures, Andrew Symms, Partner at DWF, comments on the IHS Markit/CIPS Manufacturing PMI data released today:
“The UK manufacturing PMI figures illustrate the impact of global trade tensions, Brexit uncertainty and an impending General Election that has resulted in the PMI to 48.9 in November from 49.6.”
“The underlying data does not paint a rosy picture. Manufacturing production fell and new order inflows deteriorated from both domestic and overseas sources. Employment also fell for the eighth straight month in November. A lack of transparency caused by Brexit ambiguity is holding back investment. Manufacturers need to take positive steps to understand their supply chains, mitigate risks and ensure, to the best of their ability, that financing is available in case conditions deteriorate further.”
Elsewhere in the UK market, Hiscox Ltd (LON: HSX) look set to drop out of the FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) index, Trainline PLC (LON: TRN) dipped following Labour announcing its transport policies, and Christmas looks set to be be costly for British consumers.
On a slightly brighter note, Spreadex Financial Analyst Connor Campbell spoke of the Eurozone’s PMI figures,
“The real big losses, however, were saved for the Eurozone. With the region’s total manufacturing PMI marginally better than initial estimates, and issues for the pound (political) and dollar (manufacturing), the euro rose 0.4% and 0.5% against sterling and the greenback respectively. That left the region’s indices in a bad way; the DAX was down 1.7%, with the CAC falling 1.5%.”
Some potential for losses during the day was offset by Chinese manufacturing data, which saw three-year highs despite difficult market conditions.
Speaking on the Chinese data released early on Monday morning, Financial Times Journalist Alice Woodhouse stated,
“The Caixin-Markit purchasing managers’ index hit 51.8 in November, nudging up from 51.7 in the previous month, in its quickest acceleration since December 2016. The 50-point level separates expansion from contraction. A separate, official reading of manufacturing activity released on Saturday showed a return to growth for the first time in seven months”.
Tullow Oil shares receive boost on Ugandan green light
Shares of Tullow Oil (LON: TLW) have been boosted on Monday afternoon following an update to shareholders explaining the resolving of an Ugandan tax dispute.
Tullow Oil plc is a multinational oil and gas exploration company founded in Tullow, Ireland with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It has interests in over 150 licenses across 25 countries with 67 producing fields and in 2012 produced on average 79,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Tullow Oil have seen their shares boosted 3.59% to trade at 135p on Monday afternoon. 2/12/19 14:47BST.
The FTSE250 listed firm saw their shares crash a few weeks back, following a production warning issuance. However, some ground does seem to have been recovered since the alarming update.
The Ugandan Government said that they had reached a settlement about a dispute with international oil firms, which allows Tullow to revive plans to sell a stake in its assets.
The Ugandan Government has been in lockdown with firms such as Total (EPA: FP) and CNOOC (HKG: 0883) over the taxes assed on Tullow’s plans to sell part of its stakes in Ugandan oil fields.
Uganda’s previous oil tax disputes have been around capital gains tax on proceeds from asset sales.
Hanns Kyazze, a communications specialist at the ministry of energy and mineral development, said the government had offered the companies a deal to end the dispute, although he did not provide details on the agreement.
“They (firms) have now accepted that proposal and are moving on to ensure that package of proposed terms is operationalised,” Kyazze told Reuters.
Total, Tullow and CNOOC hold equal stakes in the fields, however Tullow decided to sell a 22% stake to its partners. This deal eventually collapsed due to business disputes.
Kyazze told Reuters a formal announcement would likely be made in coming days but that the agreement “untangles all issues that stalled and failed the deal, high on it are the taxes, who pays those taxes and how and when should those taxes be paid.”
With the dispute now settled, the government expects the firms to reach a verdict by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
Ariana Resources announce Cypriot acquisition
Ariana Resources plc (LON: AAU) have updated shareholders on Monday about a new acquisition in Cyprus which has been formalized.
Ariana Resources is an AIM-listed gold exploration and development company with joint venture gold mining operations in Turkey, the largest gold producing country in Europe. Ongoing exploration and development is supported by a profitable, low operating cost gold mine in western Turkey.
Shares of Ariana Resouces currently trade at 2p (+0.93%). 2/12/19 14:21BST.
Ariana have seen a mixed financial 2019, as the firm reported a strong second quarter after success at its Kiziltepe Mine back in July.
Today, shareholders can be pleased about the new acquisition as Ariana have shown an active interest to diversify and expand in an ever competitive market.
London-based Ariana has signed an earn-in to buy the interest in Venus Minerals Ltd, which holds the Klirou and Kokkinoyia gold prospects. It intends to develop them together as the Magellan project.
It has already spent €600,000 on taking a 6% holding in the company, and has committed to a further €2.4 million of expenditure over the next three years.
Klirou has a historical resource of 4.3 million tonnes of ore at 0.5% copper and 0.8% zinc plus unquantified gold, while Kokkinoyia holds 5.2 million tonnes at 0.7% copper and an unquantified amount of gold.
Ariana commented by saying that the resources at the mine are open in several directions, and there is significant potential for gold rich zones which may have been previously missed.
Ariana Managing Director Kerim Sener said: “We are exceptionally pleased to expand our interests within the Tethyan metallogenic belt and to do so in the operationally-friendly jurisdiction of Cyprus represents the fulfilment of a well elucidated long-term diversification strategy of the company.
“Cyprus holds a global reputation for high-quality copper deposits, which tend to occur in distinct clusters; many of which remain significantly underexplored. We are also pleased to be working alongside a first-rate in-country team, committed to the development of the Cypriot mining industry.”
“Ariana is making full use of its regional exploration and development expertise. After two years of careful due diligence and relationship building in Cyprus, Ariana is committed to the successful development of Venus Minerals,” Sener continued.
“We are also taking advantage of our geographic proximity to get maximum cost-time benefit from our existing team and infrastructure. In Venus, we now [have] what we believe to be an exceptional investment opportunity which we look forward to supporting for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Big name competitors such as Fresnillo have seen their shares crash following production expectations slashed.