National strike paralyzes France
France faces the biggest wave of industrial action in modern history.
Most flights, busses and trains across France will not be running for five days.
Apple purchase first batch of carbon-free aluminium
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) have said on Thursday that they have bought the first batch of carbon-free aluminum, in an attempt to expand its environmental strategy policies.
Shares in Apple currently trade at $263 (+0.57%). 5/12/19 15:50BST.
The metal has been provided by Elyis, a Montreal based firm composing of Alcoa Corp (NYSE: AA) and Rio Tinto (LON: RIO) who is a FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) listed firm.
Rio Tinto hit news headlines yesterday after the firm saw its shares in green despite safety concerns at its Richard Bay operations.
Rio have been involved in the promotion of environmentally friendly policies, as the firm saw its shares spike in November after Rio Tinto made a pledge to the ERA to clean up a uranium mine.
Additionally, the firm, said they will take part and underwrite a fundraise by invest Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA).
Today, Apple announced that the aluminum will be shipped this month from an an Alcoa research facility in Pittsburgh and used in Apple products, although the technology company did not say which ones.
“For more than 130 years, aluminium – a material common to so many products consumers use daily – has been produced the same way. That’s about to change,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said in a statement.
Apple uses aluminium housings for many of its electronics, including iPhones, Apple Watches and Mac computers. Apple last year introduced Mac models that use recycled aluminium.
The Alcoa-Rio partnership want to commercialize a technology that uses ceramic anode to make aluminum which only emits oxygen by 2024.
Alcoa has already produced test metal with the process and joined with Rio Tinto to bring it up to commercial scale. Elysis plans to licence the technology and says that existing smelting facilities can be retrofitted to use it.
All parties involved have not disclosed the size or the cost of the first purchase. They described it as a “commercial batch,” and Elysis said the process is expected to have lower operating costs than traditional aluminium smelting.
Many multinationals such as Coca Cola HBC AG (LON: CCH) have made an ensured effort to step up to address environmental issues at a time where it has never been so important.
The steps made by firms such as Apple in this partnership shows ones in the right direction and will certainly put the firms in good media spotlight.
Multinationals need to make sure that these efforts are sustained and global efforts are put together to combat climate change and global warming.
Glencore shares plummet after SFO commence bribery investigation
Glencore PLC (LON: GLEN) shares have plummeted on Thursday afternoon following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office on bribery allegations.
Glencore was founded in 1974 by commodities trader and financier Marc Rich. Under its billionaire chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, the company has become the world’s biggest commodity trader, supplying the raw materials used in products from cars to smartphones.
Shares of Glencore PLC plummeted 8.5% to 218p. 5/12/19 15:21BST.
This afternoon, a statement was released to the stock market updating shareholders and investors that Glencore were set to come under investigation from the SFO.
In a statement to the stock market, the company said: “Glencore has been notified today that the Serious Fraud Office has opened an investigation into suspicions of bribery in the conduct of business of the Glencore group.”
“Glencore will co-operate with the SFO investigation.”
The SFO said: “The SFO confirms it is investigating suspicions of bribery in the conduct of business by the Glencore group of companies, its officials, employees, agents and associated persons.
“As this is a live investigation we cannot comment further.”
In May last year, Bloomberg reported that the SFO was preparing an investigation into Glencore to examine its dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
That report sent Glencore’s shares down by as much as four per cent. It is not evident if the SFO’s announcement today is connected to Glencore’s DRC operations.
On Tuesday, Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg alluded to a retirement next year, as he speculates about his future with the company.
“The old guys will be leaving. How soon? We’re reviewing it right now. I would imagine it would occur next year,” said 62-year-old Glasenberg, who has been chief executive since 2002.
“I’ve always said I don’t want to be an old guy running this company. As soon as those guys are ready to take over, I’ll be ready to step aside.”
“It’s more of the same, but now it’s getting attacked from a different angle,” said Hunter Hillcoat, a London-based analyst at Investec Securities Ltd. “Glencore was already trading at a discount because of the DoJ, but when this news comes out it gets whacked again.”
DS Smith wraps up productive half-year but shares dip
International packaging business DS Smith plc (LON: SMDS) saw its share price dip on Thursday, despite booking an impressive set of fundamentals during the half-year.
The Group’s revenue rose 4% year-on-year to £3.19 billion. This lead a jump in adjusted operating profit of 15% and profit before tax of 31%, up to £351 million and £213 million respectively.
DS Smith shareholders enjoyed similar success, with the Company’s adjusted EPS up 5% to 17.4p, and their interim dividend per share rising 4% to 5.4p per share.
The Company celebrated ‘Record Group profitability’ despite economic headwinds. It added that it saw good organic profit growth in its European division, while progress in its US business was offset by the impact of export paper pricing.
Elsewhere on Thursday, Bigblu Broadband plc (AIM: BBB.L), Clipper Logistics PLC (LON: CLG) and AJ Bell PLC (LON: AJB) all saw their share prices dip, despite reporting good financial progress.
DS Smith comments
Miles Roberts, Group Chief Executive“Our leadership in e-commerce and sustainable packaging solutions has enabled us to perform well despite a difficult macro environment and volatility in paper pricing. The continued growth in margin and strong pricing discipline has been particularly pleasing as we deepen our relationships with FMCG customers and grow market share.”
“We continue to capitalise on the strong long-term growth drivers of fibre-based packaging, with our industry-leading innovation driving differentiation in the market. Assuming current macro-economic conditions prevail, we anticipate an acceleration of volume growth in the second half of the year which, together with the resilience of our business model, supports our expectation of further growth in the year.”
Investor notes
After a slight recovery, the Company’s shares were down 5.70% or 21.60p, to 357.30p per share 05/12/19 15:16 GMT. Analysts from Peel Hunt reiterated their ‘Buy’ stance on DS Smith stock. The Group’s p/e ratio is 11.38, their dividend yield stands at 4.54%.Cora Gold shares receive boost on mineral resource estimation
Cora Gold Ltd (LON: CORA) have seen their shares jump on Thursday afternoon, following a mineral resource estimation for its operations in Mali.
Cora Gold is a gold exploration company focused on two world class gold regions in Mali and Senegal in West Africa. Historical exploration has resulted in the highly prospective Sanankoro Gold Discovery, in addition to multiple, high potential, drill ready gold targets within its broader portfolio.
Cora Gold’s primary focus is on further developing Sanankoro in the Yanfolila Gold Belt (southern Mali), which Cora Gold believes has the potential for a standalone mine development.
Shares in Cora Gold jumped 2.43% to 5p. 5/12/19 15:00BST.
Cora Gold have seen a very productive few months, with shares being sustainably in green. In July, the firm saw its shares in green after they announced an extension of high grade gold mineralisation at its Sanankoro Gold Discovery in Southern Mali.
A few weeks after, Cora again pulled it out of the bag as it reported progress at its Selin project at the Sanankoro Gold Discovery in Southern Mali.
The Company said that gold oxide mineralisation extended up to depth of 90 metres. They recorded potential commercial mineralisation subsections of 25 metres at 2.81 g/t, 19 metres at 1.61 g/t and 9 metres at 2.37 g/t.
Today, 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.
Chief Executive Jonathan Forster said: “This estimate is the first step in defining the overall oxide potential at the project, where to date less than a quarter of the one to two million ounces SRK exploration target has been tested.”
“We have also been able to include a small amount of sulphide material in the mineral resource estimate, confirming our belief that exploration expansion into the sulphide zones could provide significant future upside,” Forster said.
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.
One test was conducted on sulphide core to provide a preliminary indication of the hardness of the sulphide ore, the company said, with results showing that the sulphide ore is “moderately hard”.
The gold mining sector has been very busy this week, and firms have seen their shares become volatile.
The mineral and mining sector has been busy this week, as FTSE100 Fresnillo saw their shares in red on Monday as the firm cut its 2019 production estimates.
Additionally, FTSE250 listed Centamin PLC have seen their shares in green following an unanimous board rejection of a hostile takeover approach by rival Endeavour Mining.
Scientists funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation develop a monthly contraceptive pill
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a research project that developed a new contraceptive pill for women.
The gelatine capsule developed by the US research team offers an alternative to the birth control pill.
The Pill
The gelatine capsule sits in the user’s stomach for weeks, and slowly releases hormones required to prevent pregnancy. The newly developed pill is likely to create competition in the pharmaceutical sector. The commonly used birth control pill requires a daily intake. In comparison, women only need to take the newly developed pill once a month.Impacts
The research team that developed the pill believes the product will allow women to have more control over their fertility. The pill will create more choices for women. Furthermore, the gelatine capsule solves the concerns raised by many women about forgetting to take a daily dose. Many women report forgetting to take the pill or running out of the pill when travelling. Currently, the newly developed pill has only been tested on pigs. The experiment on pigs found that the monthly dose was sufficient for the hormones to stay in the body for 29 day following intake.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that the newly developed pill has a great potential to redefine women’s reproductive rights across the world. Consequently, the research team hopes to start human trials within the next couple years. The research team reported that the newly developed pill is likely to be more successful in preventing unwanted pregnancies by increasing patient adherence. Moreover, monthly treatments tend to be more successful compared to daily treatments due to increased patient adherence.Redefining Reproductive Rights
Millions of women across the world prefer oral contraceptives. If the newly developed pill passes human trials, it is likely to become popular among those who prefer oral contraceptives. The newly developed pill offers the possibility of redefining human health and gender equality across the world by reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. Additionally, the reduced dosage makes the pill more accessible for women living in developing nations. On the other hand, reduced dosage decreases production costs of the pill. Furthermore, it reduces transportation costs of sending the pill to nations where many live under the poverty line. If successful, the gelatine capsule will have a tremendous impact on global health.Metro Bank’s Chief Executive set to step down
Metro Bank PLC (LON: MTRO) have updated the market on the departure of their Chief Executive Donaldson.
Shares of Metro Bank trade at 179p (-0.56%). 5/12/19 14:40BST.
The firm has seen a mixed trading period across 2019. In January, the firm saw its shares tumble after expectations were missed.
The firm said that their underlying profits in 2018 missed analyst expectations, as the lender reported a 138% rise in profits to £50 million in the year to 31 December 2018, however, profits were £9 million lower than expectations.
Later in the year, the firm managed to secure a £375 million injection following a share placing plan. This came after a few months of struggle after its share price lost 75% of its value amid an accounting error.
Metro Bank said its Chief Executive Craig Donaldson will step down at the end of the year, with newly-appointed Chief Transformation Officer Dan Frumkin taking over on an interim basis.
Donaldson, who took over as CEO in 2009, will remain “available to the board as an advisor” until the end of 2020, the firm said in a statement.
The challenger bank paid tribute to Donaldson, for leading it through a “challenging” period. Metro saw themselves slip out of the FTSE250 index back in September, and has been struggling after a series of accounting and financial errors.
Metro Bank had to postpone a debt issue in September due to “market conditions”.
Frumkin’s appointment as interim CEO from January 1, subject to regulatory approval, comes shortly after he joined the firm in September. Metro Bank said it is considering both an internal and external appointment to find a permanent CEO.
Chair Michael Snyder said: “On behalf of the board and all our colleagues, I want to thank Craig for his steadfast leadership of the bank over the past 10 years. Thanks to his passion and commitment, today Metro Bank serves nearly two million customer accounts and is rated number one for personal current account service.
“My priority is to appoint a permanent CEO and to appoint new non-executive directors to the board who will bring even more retail banking experience. I look forward to steering the bank as we define and start to deliver the next chapter.”
The struggles that Metro Bank have faced across 2019 have been reinforced by the changes that Moody’s made on Monday, where they lowered the UK banking sector outlook from stable to negative.
Metro Bank, joins a long list of global banks who have found it tough to operate in a cut throat market.
At the end of October, Lloyds Banking Group PLC saw their shares crash following a poor quarterly update. The firm saw a 97% fall in pre-tax profit for the third quarter from last year.
Additionally, profit before tax for the third quarter fell 97 percent to 50 million pounds from £1.82 billion last year.
Another notable firm which have seen struggles worse than Metro Bank is Deutsche Bank.
The German lender have collapsed across 2019, with the firm now fighting to stay afloat in a cutthroat market. Deutsche Bank saw a €3.1 billion loss at the end of July, following a strategy which pledged transformation after they axed 18,000 jobs at the end of June.
Metro Bank’s Chief Executive steps down at a time where market trading has never been tougher, a new director will have to take over the reins and turn fortunes around.
A full company report for Metro Bank can be found here from the UK Investor Magazine.MJ Gleeson shares in red despite confident outlook
MJ Gleeson PLC (LON: GLE) have seen their shares in red despite a confident update to shareholders posted on Thursday.
MJ Gleeson Group plc founded in 1903 specializes in urban regeneration and land development. It has public facing divisions, Gleeson Homes and Gleeson Strategic Land.
Shares in MJ Gleeson fell 0.77% on Thursday afternoon to 811p. 5/12/19 14:18BST.
In July, the firm saw its shares rally on record performance across all divisions. The firm saw strong sales growth following higher demand for home for sale in Northern England and the Midlands.
The positive update added that Gleeson Homes is currently active on 69 sites and expects to grow to 80 sites in the coming year. It is also on track to achieve its goal of doubling its volumes to 2,000 new homes per year by 2022.
Today, the firm said it expects to deliver annual results in line with forecasts backed up by a strong performance by its Home unit.
The house builder said it has experienced a “strong” demand at its Homes division, with net reservations since the start of its current financial year up more than 10% compared with the same period last year.
Gleeson said Homes has a pipeline of 13,042 plots with a gross development value of £1.7 billion, of which 6,910 plots are owned and 6,132 are conditionally purchased.
“Strong demand, good mortgage availability and our ability to offer attractive levels of affordability to our customers, means the outlook for the division remains very positive,” said Chair Dermot Gleeson.
“Against this background the board remains confident that the group’s results for financial 2020 will be in line with expectations,” added Dermot Gleeson.
The firm said it expects the Homnes unit to record an increase in completions for the first half of 10%, with the previous half year total being 691 units.
For its financial year to the end of June 2020, the company said it plans to deliver an increase in completions of at least 10% versus prior year’s 1,529 units.
In the Strategic Land division, the firm saw strong demand for consented land. Gleeson said it expects results for the first half to be lower than usual, as the majority of land sales are expected in the second half of financial 20.
The struggling nature of the UK homebuilding industry is one that has been seen for many firms, however competitors do seem to be making ground.
FTSE250 listed Homeserve saw their shares rally in November. The firm saw a 2% rise in pretax from £19.3 million to £19.7 million, which caught shareholders attention.
A notable merger in the sector also came from Galliford Try and Bovis Homes Group plc, who had agreed a homebuilding deal which saw Bovis takeover the two Galliford housebuilding business units which was valued at £1.14 billion.
In an industry that is facing struggles, shareholders of Gleeson should be relatively appeased with the performance. The fact that the firm is set to meet expectations is a positive in the market and shareholders will have to be patient to see results amid political uncertainties.Bigblu Broadband short-term debt position leads share price dip
Alternative provider of fast broadband services, Bigblu Broadband plc (AIM: BBB.L) posted steady progress across most of its fundamentals, despite its debt widening on further investment.
The Company said that, “In order to support further growth through the EBI partnership via the one-off transition of customers from the historic Viasat joint venture, the Company increased investment in stock during the second half.”
In turn, it said that, “whilst Net Debt over the course of the year was in line with previous guidance, as at the 30 November year-end date, it was temporarily higher than expectations at approximately £14.2 million vs £16.9m at the half year.”
It said that this figure reflected some short-term timing issues and exceptional costs associated with the Viasat agreement, and said management were confident its debt position would reduce ‘significantly’ in the near future.
Beside that point, Bigblu Broadband said trading for the year was ‘in line with management expectations’, with improvement seen in its customer additions, revenue growth, ARPU’s and EBITDA margin.
The Company said that during the period, it had also secured new funding to accelerate Quickline’s growth plans, and had launched a new partnership with Eurobroadband Infrastructure.
Elsewhere in the tech sector, Falanx Group (AIM: FLX) saw their losses widen, ULS Technology plc (AIM: ULS) suffered in a challenging market, Solid State plc (LON: SOLI) boasted a strong first half and IMImobile PLC (LON: IMO) posted strong half-year results.BigBlu Broadband comments
Andrew Walwyn, CEO of BBB, added the following insights,
“We are delighted with the continued strong performance across all of our key metrics with increasing levels of organic revenue highlighting the growing maturity of our business model and our ability to deliver increasing returns.”
“Importantly, we are now generating high levels of recurring revenue as we move towards profitability and continue to be a market leader in a rapidly growing sector with strong markers for increases in demand and spend from existing and new customers. Given our proven model, the strong market dynamics and technology advances, we believe that Bigblu represents a favourable customer choice against traditional alternative solutions and remains extremely well placed to take advantage of growth opportunities in the sector in 2020 and beyond, and therefore we are confident with market expectations for revenue and EBITDA. As such, we look forward to the forthcoming year with optimism working with excellent network partners to drive continued customer growth with continuously improving excellent products.“
Investor notes
After a slight recovery, the Company’s shares were down 6.16% or 6.75p to 102.75p per share 05/12/19 14:05 GMT. Analysts from Barclays Capital initiated its ‘Overweight’ stance on Bigblu Broadband stock. Neither the Group’s p/e ratio, nor their dividend yield, are available. Their market cap is £59.59 million.JPD Capital Keynote at Cannabis Investor Forum
Jon-Paul Doran unveils the new JPD Capital fund at the Cannabis Investor Forum 2019.
Find out more about the Cannabis Investor Forum here.
Following the unveiling at the Cannabis Investor Forum, JPD Capital officially launched in early 2020 to invest specifically in medicinal cannabis investments.