The Vulcan Steel Limited (ASX: VSL) share price has landed on the ASX boards this afternoon following the successful completion of its initial public offering (IPO).

At the time of writing, the steel manufacturer’s shares are up 1.5% from their listing price to $7.20.

The Vulcan Steel IPO

The Vulcan Steel share price commenced trade at midday after raising $371.6 million at $7.10 per share.

However, unlike other recent IPOs, the funds raised from the offering will not be used to support the company’s growth. Rather, these funds will go to existing shareholders that are selling down their holdings.

The release notes that this provides a liquid market for its shares and an opportunity for other investors to invest in Vulcan Steel. It also notes that listing on the share market provides Vulcan Steel with access to capital markets to enable additional financial flexibility to pursue growth opportunities.

Upon listing, Vulcan had a market capitalisation of $930 million. This has increased to just over $943 million following the rise in the Vulcan Steel share price.

In FY 2021, Vulcan Steel reported revenue of $731.5 million and net profit after tax of $61.1 million. This is expected to rise to $809.3 million and $73.7 million, respectively, in FY 2022. This means the company’s shares are trading at a touch under 13x estimated FY 2022 earnings.

“A momentous occasion”

Vulcan Steel’s CEO, Rhys Jones, said: “This is a momentous occasion and a pivotal step for Vulcan. On behalf of the Company, I would like to welcome all our new shareholders. We received strong support from institutional and individual investors in Australia, New Zealand and further afield. Our employees responded positively to the Priority Offer.”

“We are especially proud that many have decided to participate in the opportunity and that 20% of our employees are now shareholders in the company. We are excited about our prospects. Our team’s focus is unwavering when it comes to enhancing customer satisfaction, growing our business and earnings, and in the process creating more value for our shareholders,” he added.

The post Vulcan Steel (ASX:VSL) share price rises after completing IPO 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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Consumer advocacy group Choice’s annual Shonky Awards is an “honour” roll that no business wants to be named in.

The awards recognise the worst products and services of the year, in terms of consumer benefit.

So it’s no wonder that ASX shares for buy now, pay later provider Humm Group Ltd (ASX: HUM) had plunged 0.58% by Thursday afternoon after its product was named in as a “winner” of a Shonky.

According to Choice, it has singled out Humm for lending up to $30,000 with “dubious checks and balances to keep Australians safe from predatory debt”. 

Choice chief Alan Kirkland is concerned BNPL players are deliberately avoiding safe lending laws.

“That means they don’t need to check whether you can afford to repay a debt before they lend you money,” he said.

“Choice asked Humm 4 times how they check whether they are lending safely and we could not get a straight answer. This is unregulated credit, pure and simple.”

Humm is ‘proud’ of its customer relationships

In response, a Humm spokesperson told The Motley Fool that the company is “proud of its strong relationship with customers”.

“We conduct a detailed product suitability check with third-party credit bureau Illion and mandatory income verification on all app-driven purchases in-store and online over $1,000,” said the spokesperson.

“We then utilise our own sophisticated credit algorithms to ensure that customers have the ability to repay.”

The company cited that fewer than 1.5% of its customers apply for financial hardship support.

Humm shares have plunged more than 24% so far this year.

BNPL can be ‘dangerous’

According to Choice, Humm was voted within the financial counsellor community as the “worst BNPL provider” for hardship assistance.

Financial Counselling Australia chief Fiona Guthrie called for the BNPL industry to be regulated like other credit providers.

“Our recent survey of buy now, pay later services showed that Humm is the worst company for helping customers in financial difficulty,” she said.

“The industry overall is not doing well. One of the reasons for that is because buy now, pay later can be a dangerous product. It’s so easy for people to find themselves with multiple accounts and in over their head.”

Unlike most other BNPL providers, Humm has been around the block a few times. 

The Sydney business has been offering finance products since 1991 before its recent foray into the BNPL area.

The post ‘Worst BNPL’: ASX company called out for ‘unsafe lending’ appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Humm (ASX:HUM) share price falls despite revealing recommencement of dividends
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Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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 recommended Humm Group Limited. 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 NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF) share price has been among the best performers on the ASX 200 on Thursday.

In afternoon trade, the private health insurer’s shares are up 4.5% to $7.05.

This latest gain means the NIB share price is now up almost 17% in 2021.

Why is the NIB share price charging higher today?

The catalyst for the rise in the NIB share price today has been the release of a trading update at its annual general meeting. That update reveals that NIB has started FY 2022 in a very positive fashion.

According to the release, the private health insurer’s premium revenue increased 8.5% over the prior corresponding period to $669.5 million during the first quarter. This was driven by modest increases in policyholder numbers in Australia and New Zealand and premium increases.

In respect to the former, Australian resident health insurance (ARHI) policyholders increased 0.6% and New Zealand policyholders grew 1.3%. Offsetting this slightly was a 0.1% decline in international inbound health insurance (IIHI) policyholders.

Also potentially giving the NIB share price a boost was its claims update. The release shows that estimated ARHI claims fell 2.4% over the prior corresponding period to $442.5 million.

What’s next?

There was no mention of its guidance at the meeting. In light of this, the company appears to still be targeting ARHI net policyholder growth in the range of 2% to 3%.

At the meeting, NIB‘s new Chair, Steve Crane, spoke positively about the future.

He said: “While FY21 has certainly been another extra-ordinary year and not without its challenges, our business is in very good shape. We continue to grow with increased profitability, we are well capitalised and there is no shortage of opportunity ahead.”

The post Why the NIB (ASX:NHF) share price is one of the best performers on the ASX 200 today 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 recommended NIB Holdings Limited. 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 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price just broke into new all-time highs.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, one Ether was trading for US$4,665 (AU$6,220), 8 hours ago from the time of writing.

That surpasses the previous record high, set on 11 May this year. And it gives the world’s No. 2 crypto a market capitalisation of US$540.5 billion.

The Ethereum price has retraced 2% since setting its new highwater mark, currently trading for US$4,570.

As for the all-time low?

While we’re on the subject of records, if you’re wondering when the Ethereum price hit rock bottom that was 6 years ago. On 21 October, less than 3 months after its blockchain went live, Ether fell to an all-time low of 42 US cents.

If you’d snapped up some tokens at that price, you’d be sitting on a virtual gain of 1,086,252% today. Of course, you would have had to sit through 72 months of wild price volatility to get there.

Why did the Ethereum price have such a strong October?

Today’s record high Ethereum price comes on the back of the more than 40% gains posted last month.

Ether started October trading for US$2,995 (AU$3,993) and finished the month at US$4,431.

One of the tailwinds helping propel Ether higher has been the strong performance of the world’s biggest crypto, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). When Bitcoin gains, or loses, many altcoins tend to follow.

And Bitcoin also posted stellar gains in October, finishing the month up 41%. Some of the bullish price moves related to investor enthusiasm over the first US-listed futures-based Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE: BITO), launched on 19 October, has seen near-record inflows.

The Bitcoin ETF has many analysts and investors speculating that an Ethereum ETF is only just around the corner. Which could also be helping drive resurgent animal spirits for the token.

Real-world applications

Another potential force helping boost the Ethereum price is its real-world application for business and finance.

Bitcoin is mainly used as a potential store of wealth or to accept or pay for transactions. But Ethereum can be used for things like self-executing smart contracts and other decentralised applications.

On 21 October, Darren Abrams, co-founder and managing director of digital currency provider Aus Merchant Investments, told the Motley Fool:

Ethereum is a platform, upon which a multitude of decentralised applications are built. These decentralised applications or ‘dapps’ as they are often referred to, are part of a revolution in the computing space known as web 3.0… While Bitcoin is central to the Web 3.0 movement, it’s use case is limited. Ether, and other smart contract blockchains, have an almost infinite number of use cases.

Is the Ethereum price inflation resistant?

We’ll leave off Ethereum’s price run to new record highs with a nod to investors’ inflationary concerns.

Bitcoin has long been billed as digital gold. A haven in times of broad stroke price increases. As with gold, that hasn’t always been the case. But the mantra remains.

Now Ether is beginning to garner similar attention.

As Bloomberg notes, “Fans of Ethereum are jumping on the anti-inflation narrative“.

Whether those fans are proven correct over the longer term or left nursing heavy losses remains to be seen.

Invest with care.

The post The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price just hit all-time highs after a strong October appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. 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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