At lunch on Monday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week with a solid gain. The benchmark index is currently up 0.4% to 7,391.5 points.

Here’s what is happening on the market today:

Aristocrat Leisure announces major acquisition

The Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) share price is in a trading halt today so that it can undertake an equity raising to fund a major acquisition. According to the release, the company has made a cash offer to acquire London-listed leading global online gambling software and content supplier, Playtech, for $5 billion. This represents a valuation multiple of 11.4x Playtech’s adjusted EBITDA for the twelve months ended 30 June 2021.

HUB24 to acquire Class

The HUB24 Ltd (ASX: HUB) share price is trading lower today despite announcing a deal to acquire Class Ltd (ASX: CL1). According to the release, the company is acquiring the self-managed super fund (SMSF) administration software provider for 1 HUB24 share for every 11 Class shares owned. In addition, HUB24 will provide 10 cents per Class share in cash. Combined, this represents a 71.6% premium to Class’ last close price.

Zip Q1 update

The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is dropping on Monday despite announcing a record first quarter performance. The buy now pay later provider reported record quarterly revenue of $136.8 million, up 89% year-on-year. This was driven by a 101% increase in quarterly transaction volume to $1.9 billion and an 82% jump in customer numbers to 8 million. Zip also revealed that it successfully completed a global rebrand across six countries during the quarter.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Monday has been the Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC) share price with a 4% gain. This morning Ord Minnett initiated coverage on the nickel producer with an accumulate rating and $1.10 price target. The worst performer has been the Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price with a 4% decline on no news.

The post ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Aristocrat’s $5bn acquisition, Zip falls on Q1 update 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. owns shares of and has recommended Hub24 Ltd, Kogan.com ltd, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Class Limited and Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Hub24 Ltd. 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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For the many things the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is known for, stability is not high on the list. Yes, this buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer has delivered some neck-cracking growth over the past few years. Just for context, the Afterpay share price is currently still up an incredible 4,016% over the past 5 years at its current level of $121.47 a share (at the time of writing).

But that growth has not come smoothly.

A brief history of a BNPL giant

Back in 2018, Afterpay shares rose more than 200% between just April and August. In the 2 subsequent months, the company then lost roughly 42% of its value. In 2019, we saw a similar experience, with the shares putting on more than 70% over just a couple of months, but not without a subsequent 25% drop as well.

And then, we had 2020.

The coronavirus-induced market crash in early 2020 saw global markets tank. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) alone lost roughly 36% between 20 February and 23 March 2020.

But that was nothing compared to what happened to Afterpay shares. Afterpay was riding high in early 2020, hitting new all-time highs and peaking at close to $40 by February. But when the market crash hit, Afterpay shares were annihilated. The company rapidly fell from close to $40 in February to under $9 a share by 23 March. That was a fall of close to 80% peak to trough.

But for investors who managed to hold on during this wild ride, the rewards were even more dramatic. Once it became clear that the global economy was going to be liberally supported by government intervention, global markets rebounded across April and May 2020.

By May, Afterpay was back to making new all-time highs above $40 a share. By August, it had hit $80. And by February 2021, $160 a share (its current all-time high).

In more recent months, the Afterpay share price has been influenced by the takeover offer that was made for the company by Square Inc (NYSE: SQ). Square is to acquire Afterpay after the US-based payments company made an all-scrip offer of 0.375 Square shares for every Afterpay share back in August.

Why is the Afterpay share price so volatile?

So now we have a good idea of how volatile the Afterpay share price is, why is this the case?

That’s a complex question. The most important thing to note is Afterpay’s reputation as an ASX growth share. Growth shares are usually characterised by a number of factors. These include rapid revenue growth rates, negative earnings, a reputation for ‘disruption’ and a passionate investor base. Afterpay has arguably displayed all of these characteristics for a number of years now.

It is difficult to value a company of this nature with traditional metrics like the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. As such, we often see a wide variety of views as to what the future holds. In other words, you tend to see investors flocking to one of two camps: ‘Afterpay is way too cheap’, or ‘Afterpay is way too expensive’.

This dichotomy can be described as one of the possible reasons Afterpay shares have been so volatile over the past few years. If and when Afterpay is swallowed by Square, the ASX will lose one of its hottest, but most polarising and volatile shares it has seen in years. But the Afterpay share price has sure made many investors very happy along the way.

The post Why is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price so volatile? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. 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 Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX: ALC) share price is rocketing higher today after the company announced the Sydney Local Health District has expanded its use of Miya Precision.

The expanded agreement will see Alcidion with an extra $1.8 million of revenue over the next 3 years.

At the time of writing, the Alcidion share price is 37 cents, 5.71% higher than its previous close.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news from the healthcare-focused software provider.

Alcidion share price soars on expanded agreement

The Alcidion share price is in the green after news Miya Precision is to help support more delivery of virtual care.

Miya Precision is a remote patient-monitoring platform. It provides Sydney Local Health District’s RPA Virtual Hospital‘s clinicians with a monitoring dashboard to support remote patient care.

Initially, the company’s contract with Sydney Local Health District was for 12 months. The initial contract saw Miya Precision used to manage the care of COVID-19 patients in home isolation.

Under the newly expanded agreement, Miya Precision will also help monitor patients with acute diverticulitis.

Alcidion’s managing director, Kate Quirke, commented on the news driving the company’s share price today:

We believe Alcidion can play a meaningful role in the development of virtual care across the hospital system in Australia and this partnership with Sydney Local Health District provides a strong validation of that. The opportunity to extend our technology to provide improved information and communication options for the patient in the home will significantly improve the patient experience and contribute to better outcomes.

According to the company, Miya Precision aims to reduce hospitalisations, increase the number of patients treated, and improve recovery outcomes.

Alcidion and Sydney Local Health District will also work to deploy the patient app, Miya Care.

The app will allow the RPA Virtual Hospital to better monitor care progress and improve engagement with patients. Miya Care will also use data from patient monitoring devices and wearable technology.

The post Here’s why the Alcidion (ASX:ALC) share price is jumping 5% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Alcidion Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alcidion Group Ltd. 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 Aventus Group (ASX: AVN) share price is shooting higher on Monday morning.

At the time of writing, the large format retail centre operator’s shares are up 9% to a record high of $3.62.

Why is the Aventus share price shooting higher?

Investors have been bidding the Aventus share price higher today after it announced plans to merge with Home Consortium Ltd (ASX: HMC) and HomeCo Daily Needs REIT (ASX: HDN).

According to the release, the agreement will see Aventus shareholders receive 2.2 HomeCo Daily Needs shares and either $0.285 cash or 0.038 Home Consortium shares for every Aventus share they own. This implies an offer price of $3.82, which represents a 15.3% premium to the Aventus share price at the end of last week.

The release notes that the merger will lead to a significant increase in scale, with a combined portfolio size of ~$4.1 billion and a market capitalisation of ~$3.2 billion. This is expected to qualify the merged group for eligibility for inclusion in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

It also expected to allow the merged group to capitalise on its combined 2.5 million square metre landbank across the strongest metropolitan markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide to deliver future last mile logistics infrastructure.

What now?

The Aventus Board unanimously considers the merger to be in the best interests of shareholders and recommends that they vote in favour of it. This is in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to the independent expert’s report.

Aventus’ Chairman, Bruce Carter, commented: “The Merger is attractive for Aventus securityholders, both because of the potential offered by being part of the larger merged groups and because the offer reflects a material premium to Aventus’ trading price and its NTA.”

This sentiment was echoed by HomeCo Daily Needs’ Chairman, Simon Shakesheff.

He said: “We believe the merger is strategically and financially attractive for both HDN and AVN and consistent with HDN’s objective to deliver stable and growing distributions. The increased scale and enhanced capability will allow the merged group to unlock significant value that would not have been accessible on a standalone basis.”

The Aventus share price is now up 30% in 2021.

The post Aventus (ASX:AVN) share price shoots 9% higher on HomeCo merger plans 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 AVENTUS RE UNIT. 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 Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP) share price won’t be going anywhere on Monday after the company requested a trading halt this morning.

What’s the trading halt for?

The Propel Funeral share price is halted pending an announcement regarding an institutional placement and a follow-on share purchase plan.

The company advised that the trading halt will remain in place until Wednesday 20 October or when an announcement is made to the market in relation to the outcome of the placement.

According to the company’s FY21 results, it had $7.5 million of cash and $79 million of net debt as at 30 June 2021.

Growth via acquisitions

Propel Funeral has spent almost $150 million on acquisitions since its ASX debut in late 2017.

More recently, the company committed $15.4 million on three acquisitions to drive its presence in the South Australian and New Zealand markets.

According to its FY21 full-year results, the company said that it “remains focused on its core investment strategy to acquire assets and social infrastructure which operate in the death care industry in Australia and New Zealand”.

What’s next for Propel Funeral?

The Propel Funeral share price is sitting around all-time highs following resilient operating and financial performance so far in FY21-22.

The company recently provided a trading update for the first quarter of FY22, citing modest revenue growth of 13% against the prior corresponding period whilst performing a record number of funerals in the first quarter.

Despite COVID-19 impacts, management said that “hopefully extended lockdowns, strict funeral attendee limits and travel restrictions will soon be behind us, enabling bereaved client families to grieve in a manner that they ordinarily would, surrounded by family and friends.”

Encouragingly, Victoria announced last week the easing of restrictions from midnight, Thursday 21 October. This will allow 20 fully vaccinated people to attend indoor funerals and weddings or 50 outdoors.

Propel Funeral share price snapshot

The Propel Funeral share price is up 55% year-to-date, closing at record highs of $4.42 last Friday.

The post Propel Funeral (ASX:PFP) share price halted ahead of cap raise appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Class Ltd (ASX: CL1) share price is rocketing higher on Monday morning. This move is amid the company entering a scheme arrangement to be acquired by HUB24 Ltd (ASX: HUB).

At the time of writing, the Class share price is trading 60.77% higher to $2.91. This puts the self-managed super fund (SMSF) administration solutions company’s shares at the highest level since early 2018.

Why is the Class share price rocketing higher today?

Investors are bidding up the Class share price on Monday morning following a takeover bid from HUB24. The offer from the $2.27 billion investment platform company represents a significant premium to its previous closing price on Friday afternoon.

According to the release, to acquire Class, HUB24 has offered 1 ordinary share for 11 ordinary Class shares. Additionally, the larger company will provide shareholders with 10 cents per ordinary share in cash to secure the acquisition. Shareholders can rest assured an interim dividend for FY22 of 2.5 cents per share has been declared on top of this payment.

Based on the closing price of HUB24 shares on 15 October, the consideration on offer implies a $3.11 Class share price. Similarly, the deal assigns a market capitalisation of $386 million to the SMSF solutions company.

The Class board has unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favour of the scheme. Unless the company receives a superior offer from another party. Furthermore, the board cited the potential for increased strength and technological innovation after merging with HUB24.

Management commentary

Commenting on the acquisition proposal, CEO and managing director Andrew Russell stated:

The combined strengths of Class and HUB24 will further accelerate the transformation of Class and provide exciting opportunities for future growth. We’re pleased Class will continue to run as a separate business unit within the HUB24 group so our team can continue to deliver on our strategy, whilst leveraging our deep technology expertise to deliver superior outcomes to both sets of customers.

From here, the deal will undergo 2 court hearings for reviewing the scheme booklet. If this progresses, the scheme is expected to be implemented mid to late February 2022.

Class in the past

Today’s jump breaks the downward trend that the Class share price had been experiencing over the last 12 months. Prior to today, the company’s shares had sunk approximately 16% over the last year.

Finally, the deal represents a 121% increase on the 52-week low recorded on the Class share price in May.

The post Class (ASX:CL1) share price explodes 60% on takeover news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Hub24 Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Class Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Hub24 Ltd. 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 Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price is edging lower during Monday morning trade. The retail conglomerate released an announcement regarding its off-market share buy-back.

At the time of writing, Woolworths shares are swapping hands for $40.11, down 0.15%. It’s worth noting that its shares are within sight of breaking their all-time high of $42.66 reached on 20 August.

Let’s take a closer look into what the company provided to the ASX.

Woolworths completes share buy back

In today’s statement, Woolworths advised it has successfully completed its $2 billion off-market share buy-back.

Management determined the final market price to come at $40.06 for each Woolworths share. This represents a 14% discount on the 5-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) to the closing price on 15 October.

Eligible shareholders will receive $34.46 for each share, including a capital component of $4.31 and a dividend component of $30.15.

The transaction involves 58 million Woolworths shares or 4.6% of the entire issued capital.

Due to strong demand, the buy-back was scaled down by 81.2% to minimise disadvantaging shareholders with small holdings. For those who had 180 shares or less as a result, Woolworths noted it will buy back all of these shares.

However, for shareholders with more than 180 shares, the company will buy back 18.8% of the shares offered.

Woolworths group chief financial officer, Stephen Harrison said:

We are very pleased to have successfully completed the share buy-back, returning $2 billion of capital to shareholders, as foreshadowed at the time of the Endeavour Group demerger. Woolworths Group remains well-positioned to pursue our future growth aspirations, given the strength of the Group’s balance sheet.

Woolworths share price snapshot

It’s been a modest 12 months for Woolworths shares, increasing in value of around 15% over the period. The company’s share price has been relatively steady along the way, despite taking a dive during the “September effect”.

Woolworths commands a market capitalisation of about $51 billion and has 1.27 billion shares on its registry.

The post Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price edges lower following share buy-back completion 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. 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 Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY) share price has started the week with a bang.

In morning trade, the energy producer’s shares are up 16% to a multi-year high of $4.42.

This means the Senex share price is now up 75% since the start of the year.

Why is the Senex share price zooming higher?

The catalyst for the rise in the Senex share price on Monday has been news that the company is a takeover target.

This morning the company revealed that it is in discussions with Korean giant POSCO International Corporation in relation to a potential change of control transaction.

According to the release, on 2 September, POSCO submitted a revised non-binding and indicative proposal to acquire 100% of Senex for a cash offer price of $4.40 per share. This followed the submission of two prior non-binding proposals of $4.00 per share and $4.20 per share on 30 July and 27 August, respectively.

What’s the latest?

The Senex Board met and carefully considered the latest proposal and granted POSCO with a period of exclusivity to complete due diligence enquiries and further advance the proposal.

Following further discussions, Senex has agreed to extend POSCO’s exclusivity period out until 5 November. This is in order to provide POSCO with additional time to assess a further revised proposal at a price higher than $4.40 per share.

The release explains that POSCO has indicated that if a transaction proceeds, it is likely to be implemented by way of an off-market takeover offer. This would be subject to a 50.1% minimum acceptance condition and Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

Though, it has warned that there is no certainty that discussions between POSCO and Senex will result in a binding agreement. As such, Senex shareholders do not need to take any action at this time.

The Senex Board intends to update shareholders and the market in due course in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations.

The post Senex (ASX:SXY) share price jumps 16% to multi-year high amid takeover talks 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 Lark Distilling Co Ltd (ASX: LRK) share price is frozen this morning amid the company’s newly announced capital raise and acquisition.

The company halted trade of its shares this morning, before announcing that it has entered an agreement to acquire Kernke Family Shene Estate Pty Ltd, the owner of the Pontville Distillery and Estate.

Lark Distilling also updated the market on its accelerated export strategy and released its quarterly results this morning.

At the time of writing, the Lark Distilling share price is $5.06, having gained 4.55% on Friday.  

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news from the producer of whiskey, gin, and liquor.

Here’s why the Lark Distilling share price is frozen

The Lark Distilling share price is in the freezer on Monday as it announces its plans to raise approximately $58 million to fund a $40 million acquisition.

The company is acquiring an estate and distillery at Pontville, 30 minutes north of Hobart.

The estate includes 40 acres of land, a 130,000-litre distillery, cellar door, eight bond stores, a working cooperage, and historic stables and homestead.

Pontville will be Lark’s third working distillery in Tasmania, alongside its Cambridge and Bothwell sites. It will increase Lark’s production capacity by around 50% to 576,000 litres each year. Additionally, Lark now expects to have more than 2 million litres of whisky – valued at $435 million – under maturation by 30 June 2022.

Lark will start distilling at Pontville from February 2022. It will open its cellar door from that date.

Additionally, Lark expects to commission a new 1 million litre greenfield distillery on the Pontville site in 2023.

All whisky distilling, product innovation and development will continue to be led by Lark’s Master Distiller, Chris Thomson, and his team.

To pay for the acquisition, Lark is undertaking a $46.5 million institutional placement and a share purchase plan worth up to $5 million.

Further, the company’s directors plan to put $6.4 million towards the capital raise via a conditional placement. The conditional placement is subject to shareholder approval.

The placements will see 10.6 million new Lark Distilling shares offered for $5 apiece. That represents a 1.2% discount on Lark’s previous closing price and around 16.8% of its issued capital.

The share purchase plan will also see new shares in the company offered for $5 each.

Lark is also planning to export its products from 2023. It expects the global whiskey market to grow by 8% each year until 2025.

Commentary from management

Lark Distilling’s managing director, Geoff Bainbridge, commented on the news driving the company’s share price today, saying:

These assets provide significant whisky inventories on value accretive terms and re-balance the maturity profile of our overall whisky under maturation. Critically, the age profile and quality of the whisky under maturation being acquired will enable The House of Lark to commence an export programme from [financial year 2023] which is approximately 12 months ahead of previously published plans.

Quarterly results

Lark Distilling also released its results for the first quarter of financial year 2022 this morning.

Over the quarter just been, the Lark Distilling share price gained 50%.

Financially, the quarter also looks to have been strong despite COVID-19 impacts.

Lark Distilling brought in $4.1 million from sales over the 3 months ended 30 September. That’s 80% more than it did in the first quarter of financial year 2021.

However, it’s $451,000 less than it did in the fourth quarter of financial year 2021. The company attributed the dip in sales to COVID-19-related border closures.

The company expects its trade will continue to be impacted by COVID-19 until December when vaccination rates in Tasmania are forecast to reach 90%. As a result, Lark has pushed back the opening of its new whiskey bar, The Still, until then.

Additionally, the net sales value of the company’s Whisky Bank at Maturation was $267 million as of 30 September, up from $236 million as of the end of last quarter.

During the quarter, Lark Distilling was crowned a finalist for the IWSC Worldwide Whisky Producer of the Year 2021. The company’s Forty Spotted Gin also received multiple awards at the Spirits Business Gin Masters.

Lark Distilling share price snapshot

This year has been good to the Lark Distilling share price.

It has gained 251% since the start of 2021. It is also 274% higher than it was this time last year.

The post Lark Distilling (ASX:LRK) share price frozen amid acquisition and capital raise appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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It’s a bumper day for the MyDeal.com.au Ltd (ASX: MYD) share price after the company released a record first quarter update.

At the time of writing, the MyDeal share price is up 11.5% to 82.5 cents.

MyDeal share price jumps on record Q1 sales

The e-commerce business continued to make headway in the first quarter ended 30 September. Some key highlights include:

• Record gross sales of $68.5 million, up 49% quarter-on-quarter and up 22.6% on FY20
• Record active customers of 929,461, up 38.8%
• Returning customers driving transaction growth, accounting for nearly 60% of all transactions vs. 49.7% in Q1 FY21
• Positive operating cash flow of $5.5 million
• Cash balance of $47.2 million million as at 30 September with no debt

During the quarter, MyDeal commenced a brand refresh across all operating channels in a move to make “MyDeal famous and becoming the place where Australians start their shopping journey”.

This included an updated company logo, typography, colour palette, and tone of voice which forms its central “MyDeal feel” to embrace the positive emotion of shopping.

Phase one of the brand strategy rollout will include an extensive multi-channel brand campaign through various mediums including TV, radio, digital broadcast channels, out-of-home, and at sporting events.

Management commentary

MyDeal CEO Sean Senvirtne was pleased with the record quarter, despite “cycling a period of unprecedented growth”. Commenting on the company’s growth trajectory and strategic initiatives, he said:

Through relentless focus on our key strategic initiatives, doing it ‘right not rushed’ and executing to plan we have been able to grow faster than the industry average. Operating in a growing and underpenetrated online household goods market within Australia, MyDeal continues to acquire more market share and will continue to thrive in the years to come.

What’s next for MyDeal?

The MyDeal share price is down 32% year-to-date despite the company’s strong growth trajectory.

Looking ahead, Senvirtne said that “we are looking forward to what we predict will be a highly successful 2020 … as we position ourselves to capitalise on the increased demand for online shopping.”

The post MyDeal (ASX:MYD) share price jumps 11% on record first quarter update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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