Cadence Minerals shares were up 0.9% to 18.2p in late afternoon trading on Thursday after the company announced that DEV Mineraco S.A had resumed the sale and shipment of its iron ore stockpiles from the Amapa Project in Brazil.
The mining group said that the shipment represents the first iron ore export since the firm vested its 27% equity interest in the Amapa Iron Ore Project in early 2022.
The two firms own the mine through joint-venture company Pedra Branca Alliance, which owns 100% of DEV Mineraco S.A’s equity.
Cadence Minerals confirmed that it currently expects the shipment’s completion in April, with DEV set to continue with the shipment and sale of the 58% iron ore stockpile in the current economic conditions.
The company also said that DEV has continued to provide ship loading and transport services for the third party owned stockpile at its port.
SEEEN’s video monetization technology and YouTube optimisation services, which are supplied through its MultiChannel Network (MCN), have gained new customers in important vertical markets, building on earlier customer success in the fourth quarter of 2021.
SEEEN’s Contracts
A7FL Sports League
The A7FL Sports League, which debuted in 2014, is a US sports league that aims to provide an alternative to the NFL.
The season of the A7FL has just begun, and SEEEN’s services are expected to improve viewership of the league on its site and social media as it strives to reach a younger audience.
A7FL also hopes to boost engagement and revenue by monetizing crucial moments in its video output.
The A7FL customer win expands on SEEEN’s previous work with Sumitomo for the Rugby World Cup and the group’s MCN network’s own auto racing videos.
UK Financial Markets Publisher
SEEEN has also announced a new CreatorSuite customer who will use the software to power all of the videos on a UK-based financial markets publisher’s website.
The publisher plans to employ SEEEN’s CreatorSuite technology to boost the number of videos watched by the publisher’s 1 million monthly users while also improving advertising and subscription prospects.
SEEEN’s earlier successes with publishers, most notably the financial markets publisher contract announced in 4Q 2021, is built on this customer contract.
US Web Publisher
A significant US digital publisher has also signed on to join SEEEN’S MCN. The MCN has a critical mass of 10,000 producers and receives over 10bn video views per year.
Regarding the customer’s YouTube content categories and calendar, the company will use its knowledge and give direct consulting services. The customer will benefit from two of SEEEN’s technological products, CreatorSuite and Dialog-To-Clip, as part of this deal.
CreatorSuite facilitates the development of re-mixed videos from existing footage, while Dialog-To-Clip speeds up the creation of YouTube Shorts from key phrases.
This contract recognises SEEEN’s solution for publishers to improve their YouTube presence with new videos and YouTube Shorts created with the company’s unique technology.
Akiko Mikumo, Interim Co-CEO, SEEEN commented, “The commercial momentum for CreatorSuite, highlighted in our recent trading update, continues and we have demonstrated we are also able to cross-sell our YouTube MCN and optimisation services to many of these customers.”
“Content providers and the advertising industry have been looking for a fresh set of solutions to market short form video content. We look forward to securing further contracts in these verticals, as well as leveraging our recently announced strategic partnership with Kinetiq to drive larger deals with multi-national clients,” added David Anton, Interim Co-CEO, SEEEN.
888 Holdings shares rose 18.5% to 227.6p in early afternoon trading after the company reported a price drop in William Hill’s non-US business from £2.2 billion to £1.95 billion.
The group said the alterations to the deal reflected the change in the macro-economic and regulatory environment since the transaction was first agreed, along with compliance issues including an ongoing review by the Gambling Commission of Great Britain (UKGC) impacting William Hill’s business dealings.
888 Holdings added that it expects the transaction to bring pre-tax cost synergies of at least £100 million, alongside £15 million in capex synergies by 2025.
The gambling firm noted that it presently anticipates the cumulative achievement of an estimated £5 million in synergies in 2022, with £54 million in 2023, £70 million in 2024 and £100 million in 2025.
The company also said it expects to incur one-time cash costs of around 100% of its annual pre-tax cost synergies, spread throughout the initial three years after the deal is completed.
888 Holdings confirmed that it has fully committed debt financing from several institutions, including J.P. Morgan Stanley, Mediobanca and Barclays Bank of around £2.1 billion, which will either take the form of senior secured term loans or alternative senior secured debt with the potential addition of junior debt and a fully-committed revolving credit facility of £150 million.
The betting company mentioned that in order to accelerate deleveraging, it is set to suspend dividend payments until the combined group’s net leverage ratio meets or is below 300%, or until the board decides to resume payments.
The technology innovator that delivers SaaS solutions, Access Intelligence signed several new contracts with companies such as Netflix and Nestle, according to its announcement on Thursday.
At the time of Access’ January trading update, the group mentioned the success it made in its core business. Since the beginning of the financial year, new clients have continued to join the company for its services.
Reddit, Amazon, Aston Martin, and KPMG are among those in EMEA and North America who have signed up with Access Intelligence.
Despite the obstacles pointed out earlier in the year by the group, new contract wins from major corporations such as Woodside Energy, Tiffany & Co, Netflix, Nestle, and Chevron, as well as new victories in the public sector working with government divisions in Singapore and Malaysia, are reassuring.
Access Intelligence launched Pulsar in Australia and New Zealand, and received a positive response from clients in the region, while in Southeast Asia, the group continues to refine its market positioning strategy in light of the country’s present socioeconomic conditions.
Joanna Arnold, Chief Executive Officer, Access Intelligence, said, “These contract wins demonstrate the strength of the combined Pulsar and Isentia offering to our clients.”
“We are delighted with the contract wins we have seen in Q1. We continue to trade in line with expectations and we look forward to updating shareholders further with the announcement of our full year figures to 30 November 2021 on 25 April 2022 “
Shell posted an updated outlook for Q1trading highlighting a write-down between $4bn and $5bn as a result of its losses associated with Russia on Thursday.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Western corporations such as Shell quickly withdrew from Russia, dissolving trading connections and winding down joint ventures leading to a rough start to 2022 for the oil and gas company.
Shell shares have been bouncing with Russian oil bans, however, the rise in oil prices has cushioned the blow.
Shell had previously estimated the write-down to amount to $3.4bn on its exit from Russia due to contractual obligations, credit losses and receivable write-downs.
The post-tax impact from impairment of non-current assets and extra costs connected to Shell’s Russian activities is expected to be $4bn to $5bn for the first quarter of 2022 according to the results.
Shell has a market cap of approximately $210bn and it explained that the write-down will not impact the company’s earnings.
Shell has not renewed Russian oil contracts and will only do so if directed by the government, however it is legally obligated to take delivery of crude purchased under contracts made before the invasion.
Shell’s Results
Integrated Gas including Renewables and Energy Solutions
The company’s maintenance activities, including the planned reversal of one of the trains at Pearl GTL, are estimated to drive production between 860 and 910 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboe/d). The Canadian Shales assets are expected to produce around 50 kboe/d, according to the forecast.
Shell’s LNG liquefaction volumes are projected to be between 7.7 million tonnes (mt) and 8.3mt.
In comparison to the fourth quarter of 2021, trading and optimization results for Integrated Gas are estimated to be better, and the underlying Opex is estimated to be between $1.7bn and $1.9bn for the oil and gas company in Q1 2022.
The company’s depreciation before taxes is projected to be between $1.2bn and $1.4bn. The tax bill is likely to be in the range of $700m to $1.1bn for Shell.
Shell’s renewables and energy solutions are estimated to contribute between $100m and $600m of the overall Integrated Gas adjusted earnings.
Upstream
Between 1,900 and 2,050 kboe/d are predicted to be produced by Shell. The projection includes a 50 kboe/d drop as a result of the transfer of Canada Shales assets to Integrated Gas.
The company’s underlying Opex is estimated to be in the range of $2.3bn to $2.7bn with pre-tax depreciation projected to be between $2.8bn and $3.1bn and the tax bill is expected to range between $2.8bn to $3.3bn.
Oil Products
The marketing results for Shell are estimated to be in line with Q4 2021, with the underlying Opex estimated to be in the range of $1.8bn to $2.0bn and daily sales volume estimated to range between 2.2m and 2.6m barrels.
In terms of the product results of the company, trading and optimisation results are predicted to be much higher than Q4 2021.
The group’s estimated refining profit is around $10.23 per barrel, up from $6.55 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Due to fewer turnaround events, refinery utilisation for Shell is predicted to be between 70% and 74%, higher than Q4 2021.
The underlying Opex is estimated to be in the range of $1.6bn to $2bn for Shell, with daily sales volume estimated to range between 1.5m and 2.3m barrels.
The company’s pre-tax depreciation is estimated to range between $700m and $900m, with around half of that going to marketing and the other half to refining and trading.
The tax bill is projected to be between $400m and $700m, with marketing accounting for 20%-30% and refining and trading accounting for 70%-80%.
The pipeline business will be shifted from marketing to the refining and trading sub-segment in the first quarter of 2022 as part of the continuing re-segmentation initiatives.
Chemicals
Shell’s chemicals margins are likely to be flat compared to Q4 2021, owing to lower unit margins due to higher feedstock and utility costs, which will be compensated by higher utilisation.
The volume of chemicals sold is projected to range between 3.1mt and 3.6mt in Q1 2022.
Due to fewer turnaround events, chemical manufacturing plant utilisation is predicted to be between 78% and 82% in Q4 2022, which is higher compared to 2021 for Shell.
The underlying Opex for Shell is projected to be in the range of $800m to $1bn and depreciation is projected to cost between $250m and $300m before taxes.
The company expects credit of up to $100m from the taxation charge and due to higher feedstock and utility costs offset by improved utilisation, adjusted earnings are estimated to be in line with the fourth quarter of 2021.
Shell shares have dropped 1.6% to 2,098p following the announcement of the $4bn write-downs caused by the exit from Russia.
The FTSE 250 was up 0.1% to 21,128.8 and the AIM was up 0.3% to 1,050.9 in afternoon trading on Thursday, despite another wave of anti-Russian sanctions and minutes from the latest Fed meeting revealing intent to significantly scale back asset purchases and raise rates.
“Both the cure, higher interest rates, and the disease, surging prices, are harmful to markets right now,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“The minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting showed it plans to drastically scale back asset purchases and that there is backing among its members for big rate hikes, all helping to pour cold water on investor sentiment.”
888 Holdings enjoyed a 21.5% increase to 233.4p following the announcement that the price of its William Hill non-US operations acquisition had fallen to £1.95 billion from £2.2 billion. The company currently intends to purchase the assets in June 2022 following its accelerated bookbuild to fund the project.
Wizz Air recovered ground with a 4.1% increase to 28,725p after the company was caught in the Covid-19 wave with staffing shortages alongside companies including EasyJet and IAG earlier in the week.
EasyJet saw a boost of 2.8% to 539.1p as shares rebounded after the company took a significant fall earlier in the week following its cancellation of over 200 flights.
Caledonia Investment shares rose 3.4% to 36,375p after the firm announced its portfolio update, with a 28% total NAV return for Q1 2022.
Countryside Properties took a blow of 9.4% to 251.9p after the company reported a 42% adjusted operating profit fall and a 13% drop in revenue for the last six months, alongside an operational overview that revealed “execution related” failures across its site operations.
Marshalls’ shares fell 4% to 664.7p after the company announced the completion of the £187 million fundraise for part of the acquisition of pitched roof system manufacturer, Marley Group. The acquisition of Marley is going to cost Marshalls £535 million.
Vistry shares took a hit of 3.4% to 930p due to the company joining fellow housing companies Persimmon and Bellway in signing the UK Housing Pledge, which is set to see it shoulder the cost of altering fire hazards across its properties built in the past 30 years.
Meanwhile, on the AIM, Engage XR Holdings shares soared following its partnership with Victory XR announcing the rollout of 10 Metaversities funded by Meta.
The project reportedly features Virtual Reality university campuses for students to attend as an augmented type of remote learning.
Bezant Resources shares were up 11.1% after it reported maiden results in its joint-venture copper-gold mine with Caerus Mineral Resources.
Bezant Resources and Caerus Mineral Resources noted a selected cut-off grade of 0.5% copper, along with a hard rock resource estimate of approximately 2.7 million tonnes at a copper equivalent grade of 0.74%, copper equivalent 0.51% copper and 0.26 grams per tonne of gold.
Arden Partners shares fell 19.4% to 14.5p following the company’s update on its Nomad condition, which revealed that the London Stock Exchange had denied Nomad status to Arden Partners’ takeover by Ince Group, putting the takeover status in question.
Omega Diagnostics dropped 8.9% to 5.1p on the back of its ongoing dispute with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The group reported an estimated 41% increase in revenue to £12.3 million despite a drop in Covid-19 related revenues, which are set to account for approximately £2.6 million.
FTSE 100 lost 0.2% to 7,571 on Thursday as investors reacted to the latest comments from the Federal Reserve and a further sanctions on Russia.
The negativity was evident across Europe with most major indices trading down on the day.
“European markets started in fairly sober mood – with UK stocks no exception – unsurprising perhaps given some tough rhetoric from the US Federal Reserve on interest rates and the latest round of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia yesterday,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Shell
Shell revealed the impact of Russia through the announcement of a increase in its write-down from $3.4bn to almost $5bn due to its exit from Russia hurting the oil and gas company’s shares.
Shell shares lost 1.5% to 2,105p following the write-down announcement.
BP shares fell 0.7% to 378p as its connections to Russia remain intact and investors look to “what it might imply for its much larger Russian footprint,” according to Russ Mould, Investment Director, AJ Bell.
Oil prices gained 1% to nearly $102 per barrel on Thursday, which might be the reason why BP and Shell’s losses have been contained.
Halifax confirmed the 1.4% growth in housing prices assessed by the Housing Price Index (HPI). The jump of 1.4% is the largest increase in housing prices in the last 6 months.
The average house price has reached a new record high of £282,753, and “continues to defy gravity” said Mould.
“The dynamics of insufficient supply and strong demand continue to underpin prices, but you have to believe that will change at some point and, when the market turns, it could be painful.”
Along with rising house prices driving housebuilder shares to fall, the Building Safety Pledge by the UK Government is aiding the fall in stock prices.
The cost of remediating for Barratt’s building safety pledge will amount to roughly £400m which is driving Barratt Developements’ share down 3% to 514p.
Persimmons shares fell 1.4% to 2,206p as the company also signed the UK government pledge on Wednesday, which aims to ensure the safety of high-rise buildings. However, rising house prices aren’t helping the company, either.
Aviva shares fell 4% to 426p and abrdn shares dropped nearly 3% to 205p as the stocks were declared ex-dividend, making them the top fallers of the FTSE 100.
Entain shares fell 0.5% to 1,614p despite the company reporting a strong start to 2022 with net gaming revenue of 31% in Q1 2022, supported by the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
“Entain has become a big beast of a player in the gambling world, and it continues to shoot for the moon in terms of ambitions,” said Mould.
“Never content with making the most of what it already has, the group continues to spread its tentacles with the recent launch of an innovation hub called Ennovate to develop next generation immersive entertainment services.”
Airtel Africa led the FTSE 100 performers with its shares gaining 2.5% to 142p as the company enjoyed the reaction from the market to its adopted regulatory SIM card measures at its Nigeria telecommunications unit.
AstraZeneca shares increased 1.3% to 10,599p as the follow-up results from the Phase III Champion-MG trial showed that Ultomiris demonstrated long-term efficacy in adults with generalised myasthenia gravis, a rare and chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease that leads to a loss of muscle function and severe weakness.
BT Group gained 2% to 190p and Ocado shares rose 2.5% to 1,233 as the companies enjoyed a rebound.
The UK Investor Magazine was thrilled to welcome, Cadence Minerals CEO, Kiran Morzaria, to the podcast for a deep dive into Lithium, Electric Vehicles and Cadence Minerals.
We drill down into the Lithium market and where Cadence Minerals sits on the global stage.
Kiran provides deep insight into the global lithium market as we explore the upcoming supply deficit set to take hold from 2025. With prices Lithium soaring, we look at the longer term projections and the dynamics of Lithium spot prices.
We analyse the current requirements of Electric Vehicle market and how companies like Cadence are working to meet these needs.
Cadence has two Lithium projects Kiran presents in detail.
We finish by touching on Cadence’s flagship Amapa Iron ore project and what investors can look forward to after Kiran’s recent trip to Brazil.
Halifax has confirmed record house prices in its Housing Price Index (HPI) released today, and said monthly prices had grown 1.4% at its highest increase in six months.
The index revealed that the average house price reached a new record high of £282,753, with the two years since lockdown seeing a £43,577 increase as consumers sought out more space and better houses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Families in particular searched for more space away from cramped conditions as the coronavirus spread rapidly across the UK and lockdown restrictions kicked off in March 2020.
“The story behind such strong house price inflation remains unchanged: limited supply and strong demand, despite the prospect of increasing pressure on households’ finances,” said Halifax managing director Russell Galley.
“Although there is some recent evidence of more homes coming onto the market, the fundamental issue remains that too many buyers are chasing too few properties.”
“The effect on house prices makes it increasingly difficult for first-time buyers looking to make their first step onto the ladder, but also challenges homemovers who face ever bigger leaps to move up the rungs to a larger property.”
The Halifax HPI report estimated that the rising rate of inflation and the cost of living squeeze would bring a slowdown in the housing market over 2022.
However, this trend prediction is not necessarily guaranteed, with some analysts projecting that the housing market growth could continue despite the spiking rate of inflation.
“While other sectors like energy and food have been consistently increasing, the housing market may begin to suffer a slowdown in demand if the current rate of increase continues as more consumers start to struggle to enter the market,” said Walid Koudmani, chief market analyst at financial brokerage XTB.
“On the other hand, demand at current levels remains high and could sustain a continuation of this trend despite measures by the central bank designed to mitigate inflation.”
The UK Government announced its intention today to hit 95% low carbon energy by 2030 in its newly unveiled British Energy Security Strategy.
The news comes as the Government scrambles for alternative energy sources following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has seen global energy companies divest from the country’s 4 million barrels of oil per day in exports.
The Government announced plans to roll out its expansion of solar, nuclear, wind, and hydrogen, with the ambition of developing one nuclear reactor per year compared to its previous goal of one reactor per decade.
The proposal includes the use of Small Modular Reactors in a key role to ramp up UK nuclear development and produce around 24 gigawatts by 2050, which represents a projected 25% of nationwide electricity demand.
The administration is set to launch a £120 million Future Nuclear Fund later this month to kickstart a wave of new energy projects.
The plan also includes an intention to source 50 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind by 2030, which would reportedly produce enough power for every house in the country.
The Government announced the launch of a heat pump manufacturing competition later on this year worth up to £30 million, which would reduce UK reliance on gas.
Further North Sea gas projects are also scheduled for an increase in funding as the country works to procure a supply pipeline with a lower carbon footprint in its transition to alternative energy.
Additional aims include a 500% rise in the nationwide solar capacity from 14 gigawatts by 2035 and a 200% increase from the current 10 gigawatt capacity for low carbon hydrogen production by 2030.
“We’re setting out bold plans to scale up and accelerate affordable, clean and secure energy made in Britain, for Britain – from new nuclear to offshore wind – in the decade ahead,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“This will reduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices we cannot control, so we can enjoy greater energy self-sufficiency with cheaper bills.”
The move follows a 54% rise in the energy price cap on 1 April 2022, which is set to see the average household energy bill rise £700 per year, on top of a 30-year high 6.2% inflation rate.
The Government said it aims to ease the pain of surging energy costs for consumers with its introduction of alternative, cheaper energy measures.
“We have seen record high gas prices around the world. We need to protect ourselves from price spikes in the future by accelerating our move towards cleaner, cheaper, home-grown energy,” said Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
“The simple truth is that the more cheap, clean power we generate within our borders, the less exposed we will be to eye watering fossil fuel prices set by global markets we can’t control.”
“Scaling up cheap renewables and new nuclear, while maximising North Sea production, is the best and only way to ensure our energy independence over the coming years.”
