TPG shares jumped almost 12% yesterday on the US Private equity giant’s first day of trading.
The group valuation surged to $10bn. It’s the biggest floatation in the US so far this year. TPG has almost $109 billion in assets and has investments in AirBnb, Spotify and many other companies.
“We will continue to build on the business in the way we have historically – organic growth, seeing opportunities and building into it,” said CEO Jon Winkelried.
“Our experience has been that if you choose the right company in the right sectors, they will grow through the market perturbations that you see at times like these.”
The group was founded by David Bonderman and Jim Coulter.
Cineworld revenues almost hit pre-pandemic levels last month thanks to hits such as Spiderman.
Like-for-like revenues worldwide were at 88% of December 2019 levels. Upcomnig films including Jurassic World: Dominion and a Mission Impossible film also hope to boost revenues.
“This recovery has been driven by an excellent slate of movies, including record-breaking Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom, Black Widow, Dune, Free Guy, Eternals and No Time to Die,” said the group in a statement.
“We have seen recovery in theatre attendances across our geographies, which generated a positive cashflow performance for Q4. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has shown the importance for studios of cinematic releases,”said chief executive Mooky Greidinger.
“Whilst there are challenges ahead, we are excited to welcome customers to our cinemas to enjoy the highly anticipated slate of movies throughout 2022.”
SourceBio International (LON: SBI) should be publishing a trading update in the near future. The AIM-quoted diagnostics and testing company was hit by downgrades last year because of lower Covid PCR testing levels, but the emergence of Omicron has boosted demand.
The share price has recovered in the past two months, although it is still lower than one year ago. At 157.5p a share, SourceBio International is valued at £116.8m.
There should be guidance on the outcome of 2021 but more importantly there should be an indication of expectations for 2022. Last year’s figures could be slightly better t...
Video games label and developer Team17 (LON: TM17) is acquiring astragon Entertainment for €100m (£83m). An £80m placing will provide finance for the deal. This is the third and largest acquisition in 2022 and takes Team17 into the simulation games market. The Team17 share price has more than quadrupled in less than three years.
The initial payment is €75m(£63m) in cash with the rest dependent on the achievement of EBITDA targets for 2021 and 2022.
Germany-based astragon is a simulation games developer and publisher. Titles include Construction Simulator and Bus Simulator. More than 20 games h...
Rosslyn Data Management (LSE: RDT) 4p Mkt Cap £14m. Its New Year Trading Statement was mixed. It highlighted that 2021 was a transformative year. It raised market £7.3 m in May 2020 at 5p, with its new brokers Cenkos which, at the time, was a 5.3% premium. The funds were to increase the sales and marketing effort to accelerate the growth of sales pipeline of the Rapid (Supplier Master Data Management) which with post Brixit longer supply chains was set to be in strong demand. RDT was expected to build on its £36,000 positive EBITDA.
The finals to April 2021 rep...
Nickel shares are set to enjoy the benefits of increased demand for their metals as the world moves to increase the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs).
The anticipated exponential growth in demand for EVs in the coming years will require a significant ramping up in the production of the metals essential for their manufacture.
Nickel prices traded above $22,000 per tonne on the London Metals Exchange this week, having sunk to lows around $11,000 in March 2020.
The increasing nickel price is of course good news for nickel mining shares and could make them one of the foremost beneficiaries of the EV boom.
Nickel shares
BHP Group (LON:BHP)
BHP is a highly diversified miner with global operations that produce copper, iron ore, potash and nickel.
BHP posted a 69% increase in underlying EBITDA to $37.4bn in 2021 on revenue of $60.8bn.
Nickel accounted for £1.5bn of this revenue in the period from their Nickel West asset in Australia.
Although BHP provides a relatively small exposure to nickel compared to their diversified production of base metals and fossil fuels, they have included nickel – along with copper and potash – as commodities they want to increase their exposure to.
In their 2021 results, BHP outlined forecasts of metal demand over the next 30 years as the world decarbonises to reach climate change targets.
BHP’s forecasts predict nickel demand will increase nearly 400% in a scenario where 1.5 degree targets are met.
Although BHP offers a marginal exposure to nickel currently, it has plans to ramp their nickel exposure up, and the FTSE 100 stock provides safety through their diversified portfolio of assets and attractive dividend yield.
Horizonte Minerals (LON:HZM)
Horizonte Minerals is dual-listed on the TSX and London’s AIM and operates the Araguaia and Vermelho nickel projects in Brazil.
The company has conducted feasibility studies on the Araguaia projects and is working towards construction of a mine that could produce up to 29,000 of nickel per annum.
Horizonte’s Vermelho nickel cobalt project is being developed specifically to service the needs of the electric vehicle market and is currently undergoing feasibility studies.
In a tweet from the Horizonte Minerals account on 13th January, they said “At US$22,000/t #nickel Araguaia’s Stage 1 + Stage 2 NPV is US$2.23 billion.”
Their lack of revenues means investors are at risk of dilution should the company need to raise further funds in addition to funding packages already outlined by Horizonte. However, adventurous investors may stomach this risk given the firm has recently completed a £147m fundraise and the NPVs of their projects dwarf the current £245m market cap.
Horizonte Minerals is the purest play on nickel of the three nickel shares we have included.
Having raised approximately £5 million through their IPO, Technology Minerals plan to create a circular economy for battery metals in one group. This will involve the mining of battery metals through multiple projects and recycling of the metals through Recyclus Group. Technology Minerals has a 49% stake in Recyclus Group.
Technology Minerals is at the very early stages of establishing their operations but has commissioned a Competent Persons Report (CPR) for their project in Cameroon and has applied for exploration permits.
The CPR found three of five permits are considered prospective for nickel-cobalt-manganese mineralization.
The report makes similarities to the Nkamouna in southeastern Cameroon operated by Geovic Mining Corp where 120.6 Mt @ 0.65% Ni, 0.23% Co and 1.35% Mn has been identified.
Technology Minerals’ nickel journey is just beginning and may face bumps in the road, however, the overall business model will interest those looking for exposure to the EV and clean energy market, when compared to other nickel shares.
The FTSE 100 traded sideways on Thursday as London’s leading index consolidated recent gains above the key psychological support level of 7,500.
The 7,500 mark provided a stiff point of resistance in the early trading days of 2022 but has convincingly broke through to trade at pre-pandemic highs.
Technical analysts will now be watching the FTSE 100 and a test of 7,500 to judge whether the index can build a base there for the next leg higher. The FTSE 100 was trading at 7,546 at midday in London.
FTSE 100 corporate updates
The FTSE 100 traded sideways as the market digested a number of corporate updates including Tesco’s festive trading update and and an instalment from Persimmon.
Persimmon shares were knocked down 1.7% after it missed some analyst estimates as completions were pushed back due to Omicron.
“With approaching 300 sites in operation, Persimmon have a lot of moving parts. Some analysts expected turnover to be a shade higher, but then again, the big jump in forward bookings, up from £1.32bn to £1.62bn suggests that demand is fine and most likely, some completions slipped over the year end as Omicron raced through workforces up and down the country,” said Clayton, fund manager at HL Select.
“Having stepped up land purchases, Persimmon should be able to capitalise on demand, so long as they can get the planning system to work for them. With sales rates up 20% in the second half the company is well positioned for the new year.”
“Despite a strong Christmas and a small upgrade to forecasts, Tesco didn’t do enough to impress the markets, at least in early trading on Thursday,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“However, there was still plenty to please long-term investors. The more focused strategy progressed under Dave Lewis and his successor Ken Murphy has helped deliver the supermarket’s highest market share in four years.”
“Tesco’s online sales continue to track much higher than pre-pandemic levels. This is important as the greater scale in this part of the business is improving its profitability.”
The UK Investor Magazine Podcast is joined by the the Deputy-CEO and CFO of Tech company Partimatch Tech, Anna Motruk.
Parimtach has grown from a small startup to a multinational company that operates in 8 countries globally including the UK, Tanzania and Cyprus.
Parimatch provides technology solutions to the gaming industry and has partnerships with Betvictor and a number of football clubs including Chelsea, Leicester and Juventus.
Anna provides deep insight into the Ukrainian tech sector and the factors that have made it one of the fastest growing tech communities globally.
Despite less demand, Halfords has posted a 13.9% rise in two-year revenue growth.
Over the past two years, revenues have soared by 90% as cycling became popular over the pandemic.
Over the first half of the third quarter, sales were strong but were impacted by Omicron.
“These results demonstrate the strength of our motoring services offer, and the outstanding performance from our autocentres business confirms the rationale behind our recent acquisitions,” said chief executive Graham Stapleton.
Profit outlook remains the same, which is £80m to £90m in full-year profits.
After strong sales in the last quarter, Tesco has raised its profit outlook.
Compared to last year sales were up 0.3%, however, compared to pre-pandemic levels sales jumped 8.8%.
CEO Ken Murphy commented: “We are delighted that we were able to help our customers have a great Christmas.”
“Despite growing cost pressures and supply chain challenges in the industry, we continued to invest to protect availability, doubled down on our commitment to deliver great value and offered our strongest ever festive range.”
“This put us in a strong position to meet customers’ needs as, once again, COVID-19 led to a greater focus on celebrating at home. As a result, we outperformed the market, growing market share and strengthening our value position,” he added.
Richard Lim, CEO at Retail Economics, commented: “The retailer’s single-minded focus on competitive pricing and driving loyalty through its Clubcard-only discounts has won over customers this Christmas. The use of Clubcard has been a masterstroke from the retailer, enhancing the perception of value and playing on the hugely powerful customer instinct of FOMO – the fear of missing out.
“Online continued to deliver strong gains as a wave of new e-commerce converts stuck to a new way of getting their groceries over Christmas. Sales growth was mightily impressive in the wholesale part of the business with Booker seeing double-digit growth as catering and convenience boosted sales.
“Looking forward, the imminent squeeze on incomes will force many households into recessionary behaviours, trading down to own-brand and shopping around as they look to make budgets stretch that little bit further. Tesco is well placed to win new customers with their laser-like focus on value as they double-down on their Clubcard success.”
