It has been another eventful day for the Kuniko Ltd (ASX: KNI) share price on Friday.

At one stage today, the battery metals explorer’s shares were down as much as 29% to $1.55.

But just 90 minutes later the Kuniko share price was up 22% for the day at $2.65.

What’s going on with the Kuniko share price?

The Kuniko share price has been heavily traded this week since landing on the ASX boards on Tuesday. This follows its spin off from clean lithium developer Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) with a listing price of just 20 cents.

While the company’s shares took off on day one, there was particularly strong interest in them on Thursday. This was due to the release of an update that got investors excited about its future prospects.

That release reveals that Kuniko has now kicked off geochemical sampling programs with a significant schedule of activity across its projects in Norway.

What is Kuniko exploring?

The Norway based battery metals explorer is targeting three fundamental metals for electromobility: Cobalt, Nickel and Copper. It is doing this at a suite of historical producing battery metals projects, with minimal previous modern exploration.

And much like former parent Vulcan Energy, the company’s extraction and production processes will aim to be carbon neutral and work in harmony with the environment. This is by harnessing the region’s natural energy.

The company notes that Europe will require a large volume of battery metals to support the >800 GWh battery manufacturing capacity required by 2030 to supply the electric vehicle market.

Per annum, this equates to approximately 160,000 tonnes of cobalt, 500,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,300,000 tonnes of copper. Kuniko believes it has an advantage by being ESG compliant and meeting EU regulations.

What else is happening?

Due to the incredible rise in the Kuniko share price since listing, it was dealt a speeding ticket by the Australian share market. It also prompted a report in the AFR claiming that Kuniko shares are being pumped and dumped by stock promoters.

And while the company has acknowledged that it has appointed online investor relations company S3 Consortium, it stated that “it has no relationship whatsoever with the Telegram group [app] referred to in the AFR news article, or any intraday or meme stock promoters.”

The post What’s going on with the Kuniko (ASX:KNI) share price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Rhinomed Ltd (ASX: RNO) share price is racing into uncharted territory today. This comes after the medical device company announced it has completed development of a nasal swab designed for children.

The news sent Rhinomed shares flying to an all-time high of 46.5 cents. However, some profit-taking has forced a pullback to 39.5 cents, up 23.44% at the time of writing.

What’s driving the Rhinomed share price higher?

Investors are scrambling to pick up Rhinomed shares following the positive news from the company.

According to its release, Rhinomed has created the “Rhinoswab Junior”, a world-first alternative method for testing children.

Designed to deliver the same benefits as the existing Rhinoswab, the new product has several novel child-friendly features. This is aimed at reducing fear, anxiety, and trauma associated with the use of existing nasal swabs on the market.

Rhinomed highlighted that it has received Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval to commence a clinical trial at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

The study will investigate the diagnosis of respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in children with Rhinoswab Junior. A collection of nasal samples will be taken from 250 children aged between 4 years and 18 years old. The trial is expected to be conducted for up to 50 days.

Management commentary

Commenting on the news pushing the Rhinomed share price higher, Rhinomed CEO Michael Johnson said:

With SARS-CoV-2 testing now part of our everyday lives, we need easier, more standardised and comfortable sample collection methods to encourage people to get tested.

Testing rates in children remain low due, in no small part to the levels of distress, anxiety and fear children experience when being tested with a standard swab. We have sought to develop a swab that not only works better, but actually removes this fear, anxiety and distress.

Principal investigator Dr Shidan Tosif added:

Rhinoswab Junior has the potential to turn an otherwise unpleasant experience into a far more relaxed and possibly even fun experience for children. The ability of the child to control the insertion of the device, coupled with the comfort and novelty of the Rhinoswab design, offers major improvements in the user experience.

The Rhinomed share price has gained almost 400% over the last 12 months, and more than 140% year to date.

The post Why the Rhinomed (ASX:RNO) share price is rocketing 23% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price is sinking today, falling 7.67% to $2.04 in afternoon trade.

This comes after the company released its FY21 full-year results after the market close yesterday.

Wasn’t it supposed to be a great year for lithium?

FY21 has seen a major turnaround for the lithium sector, underpinned by an improvement in lithium spot prices and an uplift in demand for raw materials.

Pilbara Minerals highlighted a significant increase in demand from customers during the second half of the year. This supported a total FY21 spodumene concentrate shipment of 281,440 dry metric tonnes (dmt) (compared to 90,768 dmt in FY20).

The increase in shipments and higher spot prices doubled revenues from $81.4 million in FY20 to $175.82 million.

The uplift in demand enabled better utilisation of its processing plant. In addition, Pilbara Minerals also completed several key process plant improvements which helped increase feed, utilisation, and lithium recoveries.

Despite the strong operational and top-line performance, Pilbara Minerals recorded a $51.4 million loss (FY20: $99.3 million loss).

Looking ahead, Pilbara Minerals forecasted a spodumene concentrate production of 460,000 to 510,000 dmt and shipments of 440,000 to 490,000 dmt.

Despite a solid operational performance and production outlook, the Pilbara Minerals share price has pulled back sharply on Friday.

Broader lithium sector selloff

The Pilbara Minerals share price is swimming against the tide today, following a broader selloff for the ASX lithium sector.

Large-cap peers such as Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE), Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) and Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) have tumbled 5.53%, 0.95%, and 4.49% respectively.

Emerging players are also feeling the selling pressure with names such as Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL) and Charger Metals NL (ASX: CHR) down a respective 3.92% and 2.86%.

Pilbara Minerals share price snapshot

The Pilbara Minerals share price is up 136% year-to-date.

The company’s shares have topped out this month, down 15% from their 11 August all-time high of $2.46.

The post Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) share price slides 7% after selloff in lithium sector appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun owns shares of Vulcan Energy Resources Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX: MYX) share price is sinking on Friday following the release of its full year results.

At the time of writing, the pharmaceutical company’s shares are down 10% to 26.5 cents.

This leaves the Mayne Pharma share price trading within touching distance of its multi-year low of 26 cents.

Mayne Pharma share price sinks after posting $208.4 million loss

• Revenue down 12% to $400.8 million
• Reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) down 18% (or 5% in constant currency) to $66.1 million
• Underlying EBITDA down 10% to $86.5 million
• Loss after tax of $208.4 million

What happened in FY 2021 for Mayne Pharma?

FY 2021 was another tough year for Mayne Pharma. Currency headwinds and weak generic products sales led to a 12% year on year decline in revenue to $400.8 million. Management notes that its generic products business was impacted by new competition on key products and ongoing pricing pressures across the portfolio.

And due to Nextstellis set-up costs, the company’s EBITDA fell harder. It was down by 18% on a reported basis to $66.1 million. If you exclude these set-up costs, EBITDA would have been down just 10%. This was thanks also to operating expenditure reductions of $18 million.

But no amount of cost savings could stop Mayne Pharma from posting a loss after tax in FY 2021. It declared a loss of $208.4 million for the year. This was driven by a $229.3 million non-cash intangible asset impairments of the generic portfolio. This follows a $99 million impairment to the generics business in FY 2020.

What did management say?

Mayne Pharma’s CEO, Scott Richards, commented: “At a group level, results have been impacted by the weakening USD which had a $10m adverse impact on EBITDA, the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing challenges in the US retail generic sector.”

“On a constant currency basis, reported revenue was down 3%, reported EBITDA down 5% and underlying EBITDA down 10% excluding NEXTSTELLIS set up costs. Pleasingly, all segments other than the Generic Products segment contributed to EBITDA growth compared to the prior corresponding period (pcp).”

What’s next for Mayne Pharma?

One possible glimmer of hope for the Mayne Pharma share price is management’s positive view on the long term. This is thanks to its pipeline of products with large addressable markets.

Mr Richards said: “The Company has significantly strengthened its US dermatology pipeline in recent months signing four supply and distribution agreements with leading suppliers for eleven dermatology products which treat key skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis and rosacea. Our partnering success validates our unique go-to-market approach in dermatology which focuses on providing better outcomes for patients, prescribers, and specialty pharmacies.”

“All products have final FDA approval other than two which have tentative FDA approval. The two largest products with combined IQVIA sales of more than US$300m are expected to be meaningful contributors to our business this fiscal year given current market conditions and competitive dynamics. The Company continues to prosecute its other programs pending at the FDA including a generic version of Nuvaring, which is targeting an addressable market of US$680m.”

The company also expects its growth to be boosted by the successful commercialisation of Nextstellis in the US and Australia, the launch of more than a dozen dermatology and women’s health products in the US targeting markets with IQVIA sales of US$1.5 billion, the accelerating growth of Metrics Contract Services and International, and continued optimisation of its cost base.

Though, judging by the Mayne Pharma share price performance today, some investors aren’t sticking around to see if FY 2022 is a big improvement on the last few years.

The post Mayne Pharma (ASX:MYX) share price crashes 10% on $208.4m loss in FY21 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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