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• AGL (ASX:AGL) may need a ~$600m capital raise to complete demerger
• Are you more optimistic when the share market rises? Well, stop it
• The Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN) share price is in focus today. Here’s why
• Is the CSL (ASX:CSL) share price good value?

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The Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL) share price has started the week in a positive fashion.

At the time of writing, the investigative analytics company’s shares are up 2% to $1.61.

Why is the Nuix share price rising?

Investors have been buying the company’s shares this morning following the release of a board update.

According to the release, Nuix is launching a number of initiatives in response to recent market feedback.

This includes the establishment of an Independent Board Sub-Committee. Nuix believes doing so will ensure the appropriate oversight and review of recent matters raised by market participants.

The release explains that the Independent Board Sub-Committee will comprise of independent directors Hon. Jeff Bleich, Sir Iain Lobban and Sue Thomas. They will work with external advisers and Nuix’s internal legal and risk management functions.

In addition to this, the company revealed that it intends to expand its Board composition from the current five members with the appointment of additional independent non-executive directors.

Nuix has appointed an international search firm to assist in the selection process. Criteria for the appointees will consider an objective to increase diversity and include a preference for Australian-based candidates with experience in relevant areas. This includes areas such as international business, technology, finance and accounting, governance, and risk management.

Chairman commentary

Nuix’s Chair, Jeff Bleich, commented: “The recent Nuix investor day showcased a truly great company with unique and world-class technology and people. In my address I made clear that the Board was listening to the feedback from our shareholders and the market. These initiatives are important building blocks to continue to strengthen corporate governance and achieve our performance objectives.”

“Nuix remains focused on delivering for its customers, maintaining a robust and vibrant corporate culture and achieving its potential. The Company continues to attract and maintain world-class talent and add to its already deep executive bench strength, including the recent hires of a number of senior executives into important client-facing roles,” he added.

More reading

• The week that’s been for the Nuix (ASX:NXL) share price
• Nuix (ASX:NXL) share price slips 7% on looming legal action
• Why Flight Centre, Iluka, Nuix, & Oil Search shares are tumbling lower
• Which ASX 200 shares withstood today’s selloff?
• ASX construction giants under fire over cost blowouts, lack of competition

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A prominent stock commentator has warned of complacency setting in among retail investors after the spectacular post-COVID share market recovery.

Fidelity International investment director Tom Stevenson especially singled out unconditional optimism as a recipe for disaster.

“Are you becoming more optimistic as the market rises?” he asked in a column on Sharecafe.

“Watch this tendency because the best returns have been achieved by investors who adopt the opposite approach.”

He referred to a former colleague who taught junior fund managers “to become more bullish as the market fell”. 

“Easy to say and very difficult to do,” said Stevenson.

“The growing appetite for risk-taking in obscure and volatile assets like cryptocurrencies suggests people are chasing growth. That’s worrying.”

Invest when you don’t want to

Buying shares when everyone else is selling is the best way to nab returns.

But Stevenson acknowledges this is difficult, even for professionals.

“Are you an emotional investor? This is a silly question. Of course you are – you are a human being.”

The way to remove the emotion out of buying is to do it “regularly and systematically”, according to Stevenson.

“It makes you invest when you don’t want to – invariably the best time to do so.”

Have some cash in hand for volatile times

Aside from quarantining enough cash for day-to-day living and emergencies, Stevenson encouraged punters to set aside some capital during the good times. 

This is so you can buy up when bad times hit.

“If you were fully invested in March 2020 you would have enjoyed the subsequent recovery – but how much better if you could have added to your investments at bargain basement prices?” Stevenson said.

“Having some cash to hand (separate from what you’ve put aside to cover expenses) is essential if you are to benefit from Mr Market’s mood swings.”

How much can you stomach a downturn?

There are many first-time stock investors who are currently experiencing a downturn in their portfolio for the first time.

Stevenson reminded punters accepting the unavoidable share market downs goes hand-in-hand with enjoying the great highs.

But everyone has a different tolerance for volatility.

“You also need to be realistic about what you can, and cannot, live with,” he said.

“How well do you know yourself? Twelve years into a bull market, it is tempting to think that we have a greater tolerance for risk than we actually do. You will find out what your real risk appetite is when your portfolio is worth 30% less than it is today.”

More reading

• The Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN) share price is in focus today. Here’s why
• Is the CSL (ASX:CSL) share price good value?
• Synlait (ASX:SM1) share price on watch after guidance downgrade
• These are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX
• Two men face 10 years’ jail for insider trading of ASX shares

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The Euro Manganese Inc CDI (ASX: EMN) share price is on watch this morning after news of the company’s Chvaletice Project was released. Shares in Euro Manganese closed the last session trading for 47 cents.

The manganese producer has updated the market on its Chvaletice Project, which aims to produce high-quality and environmentally friendly ultra-high-purity manganese for European electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery industries.

The project is located 90 kilometres east of Prague and is expected to be completed in in late 2024 or early 2025.

Euro Manganese’s wholly owned subsidiary, Mangan Chvaletice s.r.o, owns 100% of the Chvaletice Project.

Let’s take a look at the news that could impact the Euro Manganese share price today.

Chvaletice Project update

According to Euro Manganese, the Chvaletice Project’s definitive feasibility study will be completed by the first quarter of 2022.

The study will mean the company will be able to make a final investment decision and secure financing for the project.

However, Euro Manganese warned the project is facing risks from COVID-19 that could impact the company’s ability to meet its upcoming targets.

The news follows the close of the second tranche of an oversubscribed $30 million placement, completed by Euro Manganese earlier this month.

Euro Manganese also announced it’s still in discussions with customers for the project’s high purity manganese products.

It states interest in the project’s products is increasing as it’s the only large manganese resource in the European Union.

Euro Manganese is still working to complete the Chvaletice Project’s last Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. The assessment is also due to be finished in the first quarter of 2022.

The company has engaged with the Czech community and has support from the Czech Government. As a result, it believes none of the project’s stakeholders house any critical concerns.

According to Euro Manganese, previous activities at the Chvaletice Project have contaminated the local ground water. The company says it plans to remove the pollutants and restore the site to “a more natural state”. It hopes the Chvaletice Project will use only recycled, contaminated, and wastewater in its production process. Tests to find if the contaminated ground water could be a water source for the plant are planned.

Finally, the company has bought 97% of the equipment needed to build the Chvaletice Project’s demonstration plant. It states the detailed designs for the plant are progressing well.

Commentary from management

Euro Manganese’s CEO Marco Romero commented on the company’s vision for the Chvaletice Project, saying:

For many prospective customers, the Chvaletice Manganese Project ticks all the boxes.

As a recycling project, we have the potential to be one of the world’s greenest sources of high purity manganese, which will help auto makers and battery manufacturers meet the EU’s increasingly stringent environmental standards. We expect to help the EU meet its decarbonisation goals, while cleaning up a longstanding source of water pollution and creating long-term local employment. There’s no other [high purity manganese] production opportunity like this in the world.

Euro Manganese share price snapshot

In general, the Euro Manganese share price has been performing well on the ASX. Though, after a good start to 2021, it’s been struggling in the past few months.  

Currently, the Euro Manganese share price is up 8.14% year to date. But the price has fallen 47.16% since its 2021 high of 88 cents in mid-January.

Shares in Euro Manganese have also gained 481.25% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $117 million, with approximately 371 million shares outstanding.

More reading

• Why the Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN) share price is up today

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If you’re interested in blue chip shares, then you might want to take a look at the CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price.

CSL is one of the world’s leading biotherapeutics companies with a portfolio of leading therapies and vaccines. This includes flu vaccines and countless plasma-based products.

What’s been happening?

CSL has been impacted both positively and negatively by the pandemic. While demand for flu vaccines have been increasing materially, its ability to collect plasma has been hurt by social distancing and other COVID-19 related headwinds.

The latter is bad news for CSL as plasma is a core ingredient in many of its most lucrative products. The shortage of plasma has driven up prices and is likely to impact its margins in FY 2022.

The good news is that plasma collections have been improving greatly and are expected to reach pre-COVID levels later this year. This is likely to mean that any margin pressures will be very short-lived.

Is the CSL share price in the buy zone?

According to a note out of Macquarie from last week, its analysts believe the CSL share price is in the buy zone. Macquarie has put an outperform rating and $312.00 price target on the company’s shares.

It isn’t the only broker that is positive on the company. Analysts at Citi have a buy rating and $310.00 price target on CSL’s shares at present.

The latter commented: “Over the last few weeks, most of CSL’s listed competitors have reported results. When we look at the data overall, it points to an improvement in the rate of plasma collection in April, which has been the main impediment to growth throughout the pandemic. It also points to continued strong demand for the end-product, in particular IG. Overall this gives us confidence in our Buy call on CSL, although we are yet to see the earnings trough for the company which will occur in FY22 given the long lead times from plasma collection to sale.”

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• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy now

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The Synlait Milk Ltd (ASX: SM1) share price is on watch this morning after the company downgraded its FY21 guidance.

Synlait shares finished Friday’s session trading 7.5% higher at $2.99 per share.

The milk powder and milk solids product manufacturer’s share price is down more than 50% over the past 12 months. Let’s take a look at Synlait’s new guidance.

Synlait’s expectations turn sour

Synlait shares will be in the spotlight after the company’s board downgraded its guidance figures this morning. This came after the company undertook an internal review of the “already disclosed risks” that are currently hampering its business performance.

Synlait now expects to make a net profit after tax (NPAT) loss of between $20 million and $30 million in FY21.

One of the reasons for the downgrade is the company’s expectation of ongoing shipping delays, which will result in the sale of some ingredient products occurring after the FY21 balance date.

Synlait is also achieving lower prices for ingredient products than usual, due to “prevailing market prices”, which it blames on a combination of sales phasing and volume pressure. Furthermore, the company says it’s adopting a “more conservative” approach to year-end inventory volumes and valuation, leading to what it believes is a safer guidance figure.

The Synlait share price crashed in late March after the company cancelled its original FY21 guidance following a significant drop in demand from A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M). At that time, the company had forecast FY21 NPAT to be “broadly breakeven”.

But faltering guidances aren’t the Synlait board’s only problem. It’s also been hit in the past two months by the losses of its CFO and CEO in quick succession.

Management comments

Synlait CEO John Penno kept his update comments short but not so sweet, saying:

I am disappointed to share this news with our investor base. As a team we are focused on closing out this year as well as we can, then resetting, and delivering a much improved financial performance in FY22.

Synlait share price snapshot

The Synlait share price has performed poorly since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic slammed the Chinese milk and baby formula market shut. Synlait shares are now down near the company’s five-year lows, after peaking at over $12 in late 2018. The company’s shares have lost 39% in 2021 alone.

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At the start of each week I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) remains the most shorted ASX share despite its short interest easing to 10.2%. This travel agent’s shares have come under pressure recently after guiding to a larger than expected second half loss and concerns over travel agent commission reductions.
• Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) isn’t far behind after its short interest rose to 10.1%. Last week this ecommerce company revealed that inventory issues continue to weigh on its performance. As a result, it expects to fall well short of analyst expectations in FY 2021.
• Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) has seen its short interest rise week on week to 10%. This gold miner’s shares have been sold off this year due to regulatory issues at its Bibiani operation in Ghana and underwhelming production and guidance.
• Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) has seen its short interest rise to 9.9%. Short sellers have been increasing their positions in this online furniture and homewares retailer due to a recent and disappointing trading update.
• Tassal Group Limited (ASX: TGR) has short interest of 9.6%, which is flat week on week once again. Weakness in salmon prices and trade war concerns appear to be behind this high level of short interest.
• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) has seen its short interest rise week on week to 9.4%. A stuttering travel market recovery, valuation concerns, and travel agent commission reduction fears could be weighing on investor sentiment.
• Electro Optic Systems Hldg Ltd (ASX: EOS) has entered the top ten with short interest of 8.3%. Short sellers may be concerned that the communications, defence, and space company’s performance will be impacted by supply chain issues.
• Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has short interest of 8.2%, which is up again week on week. Short sellers may believe the Network as a Service provider’s shares are overvalued, especially with bond yields rising.
• Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) has 8% of its shares held short, which is up slightly week on week. It appears as though investors are concerned about its major contract renewal negotiation with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW). The sudden exit of its CEO may also be weighing on sentiment.
• JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) has entered the top ten with short interest of 7.4%. Short sellers may feel the retail giant’s shares are overvalued considering a sharp profit decline is being forecast in FY 2022.

More reading

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• Why the Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price crashed 14% to a 52-week low

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Two men are each facing 10 years in prison and a possible $810,000 fine for alleged insider trading of ASX shares.

Former Beacon Minerals Ltd (ASX: BCN) project manager Alexander McCulloch and external services provider Darryl Brian Mapleson both faced Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.

McCulloch faced 2 charges of insider trading, while Mapleson was charged with 3 counts.

According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), both the accused allegedly knew of confidential results from Beacon’s stage one drilling program at the Jaurdi Gold Project.

McCulloch is accused of encouraging two associates to buy up shares before the result was announced to the ASX.

Beacon had commissioned Mapleson to be its Competent Person to handle announcements to the ASX. A competent person is a person that mitigates risk for a company.

He allegedly bought up 12,792,850 shares between 19 and 24 January 2017.

The drilling result was then revealed on the ASX on 31 January, which immediately pushed the stock price up 33%.

If found guilty, the maximum penalty for their insider trading charges is 10 years imprisonment or an $810,000 penalty — or both.

Mapleson’s case has been adjourned to 4 June, while McCulloch will return to court on 2 July.

Beacon shares were up 1.37% on Friday, changing hands for 3.7 cents.

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• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has just capped off an extraordinary week. The index managed to eke out a small gain, despite enduring a dramatic mid-week sell-off, which saw the ASX 200 lose close to 2% on one day. That was the ASX’s largest one-day loss in just under 3 months.

Despite this, four other days of gains saw the index just manage a 0.2% rise for the week, which took the ASX 200 to 7,030 points. That’s still a good 2% below the new all-time high we saw the index make a fortnight ago.

So what prompted the rather high levels of volatility we saw last week? Well, there was all kinds of money moving around, which seemed to spark a lot of the market gyrations. To start things off, the ASX banks had a fairly tame week, falling pretty much in line with the market on Wednesday, and rising with it on Thursday and Friday.

The exception was Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), which lost close to 3% on Wednesday. But that might reflect the recent high share prices CBA has been making of late. It remains the only ASX big four bank to have outperformed its 2015 all-time high, reached in 2021. Indeed, it even hit a new record high of $98.84 on Tuesday.

But the same can’t be said of the big ASX miners. BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) all had clangers last week. BHP fell more than 4% over the week, losing close to 1% on Thursday — a day the ASX 200 added more than 1%. Rio and Fortescue followed similar trajectories. The catalyst for these moves was (of course) further weakness in the iron ore price, which continued to descend from its all-time highs to under US$200 per tonne last week.

ASX energy shares were also in the firing line, as reports that Iranian oil might be rejoining the global supply for the first time in years circulated during the week. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX: WPL) shares had lost 4.3% by Friday afternoon.

ASX 200 ups and downs

ASX energy shares were also in the firing line, as reports that Iranian oil might be rejoining the global supply for the first time in years circulated during the week. Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) shares had lost 4.3% by Friday afternoon. But ASX gold miners were one sector that seemed to pick up some of the money flowing out of other commodities. The largest of these, Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), put on 0.54%. But some of the mid-tier miners were far more attractive propositions for investors. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) added 6.74%, whereas Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) managed a hefty 9.77% gain.

We also continued to see whipsawing volatility in ASX tech shares, as well as for cryptocurrencies. The most dramatic of these had to be EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML). EML suffered a rare and brutal 50% sell-off on Wednesday after the company disclosed it was under investigation by the Irish Government over alleged money laundering on its platform.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) was also in investors’ bad books after a less-than well-received trading update. Put simply, Kogan isn’t growing as fast as it hoped in the aftermath of the pandemic last year. It also flagged some inventory issues and increased costs. Investors weren’t impressed and sent Kogan shares to a new 52-week low.

In contrast, beaten down buy now, pay later shares Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) shrugged off previous share price weakness and rallied over the week. As for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), it (along with most other cryptocurrencies) had a shocking week, plummeting to a multi-month low of close to US$30,000 per coin on Wednesday. It then rallied back to around US$40,000 on Thursday, before again retreating back to around US$33,000 per coin at the time of writing. Just another week for Bitcoin holders I guess.

How did the markets end the week?

Well, the ASX 200 started the week out at 7,014.2 points and finished up at 7,030.3 points, making it a 0.23% gain for the index for the week. As we mentioned earlier, Wednesday was the only day in the red last week for the ASX 200. But what a day it was – delivering a 1.9% drop.

Despite this, we saw ASX 200 shares add 0.13% and 0.6% on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Following Wednesday, we had a 1.27% gain on Thursday and another 0.23% on top for Friday. That was enough to keep the week in the green overall.

Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also fared mildly well. The All Ords started out at 7,239.4 points and finished up at 7,265.3 points for a gain of 0.36%.

Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?

Time now for our most salacious segment, where we compare the ASX 200’s best winners and poorest losers. Put the kettle on, and we’ll start with the losers:

Worst ASX 200 losers	% loss for the week
EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML)	(34.6%)
Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)	(14%)
Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX: MND)	(10%)
Iluka Resources Limited (ASX: ILU)	(9.8%)

The aforementioned EML Payments was the ASX’s wooden spooner last week, with its hefty 34.6% loss. EML starts this week at the lowest share price the company has traded at since November last year. Likewise, the (also aforementioned) Kogan share price is currently exploring old territory. It starts the week at $8.70, close to 70% below the $25.57 all-time high it managed to hit last year. You have to go back to May 2020 to find the last time Kogan hit these prices.

Turning to mining operational company Monadelphous, and there is no obvious reason this company shed a substantial 10% last week. Perhaps investors just wanted a change of flavour. The same can’t be said of miner Iluka Resources. This company gave an update on its Sierra Rutile project last week. The company discussed production issues and announced a reassessment of the whole operation. This evidently did not impress the markets.

Now with the losers out of the way, let’s take a gander at the winning ASX 200 shares:

Best ASX 200 gainers	% gain for the week
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)	19.4%
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)	13.1%
Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)	11.9%
Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR)	9.8%

Last week’s winner Appen is a company that is slowly regaining the trust of investors, it seems. Appen shares were walloped earlier this month after the company’s CEO gave an evidently uninspiring presentation. But things seem to be turning around for Appen in investors’ eyes. The company announced a restructuring plan last week, which seems to have redeemed it somewhat. Appen is now up close to 20% since 14 May. But it’s also down close to 70% from its 2020 all-time high.

Xero is another ASX tech share that seems to be in recovery mode after a tough few weeks. There was no major news out of the accounting software company, so perhaps investors were just seeing a ‘buy-the-dip’ opportunity.

Likewise, there wasn’t a lot of official reasons why Corporate Travel Management shares were in demand last week. Perhaps the ongoing vaccine rollouts are giving investors some optimism with this one. And finally, Gold Road Resources was the best performing ASX gold miner last week. Gold prices have been on the rise again recently after a couple of month of stagnation. Gold Road appears to be the favourite play here.

A wrap of the ASX 200 blue-chip shares

Before we go, here is a look at the major ASX 200 blue-chip shares as we start on yet another week in paradise:

ASX 200 company	Trailing P/E ratio	Last share price	52-week high	52-week low
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)	37.96	$284.30	$320.42	$242
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)	21.81	$98.05	$98.84	$58.65
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)	21.95	$25.65	$26.43	$14.99
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ)	16.96	$28	$29.55	$15.19
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)	20.32	$26.47	$27.84	$15.22
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)	8.43	$22.30	$26.40	$12.95
Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)	37.02	$41.48	$42.57	$33.82
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)	32.69	$54.21	$56.40	$38.08
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)	27.08	$47.75	$51.82	$33.73
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO)	15.86	$122.12	$132.94	$90.04
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)	21.11	$16.60	$19.26	$14.97
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)	23.02	$3.43	$3.58	$2.66
Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)	–	$13.84	$15.64	$12.36
Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD)	–	$5.85	$7.49	$4.99
Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM)	18.06	$27.78	$38.15	$23.08
Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)	–	$21.61	$27.60	$16.80
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)	18.35	$151.28	$162.06	$102.45
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)	–	$93	$160.05	$41.68

And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:

• S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) at 7,030.3 points.
• All Ordinaries Index (XAO) at 7,265.3 points.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average at 34,208 points after rising 0.36% on Friday night (our time).
• Bitcoin going for US$33,500 per coin.
• Gold (spot) swapping hands for US$1,882 per troy ounce.
• Iron ore asking US$191.60 per tonne.
• Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$66.44 per barrel.
• Australian dollar buying 77.28 US cents.
• 10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 1.67% per annum.

That’s all folks. See you next week!

More reading

• 2 quality ASX 200 tech shares that might be buys
• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are highly rated
• 2 ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook

The post ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Tech shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) could be worth looking at because of the underlying growth that they’re achieving.

Businesses that have fallen a bit in recent times might be better value than a few weeks ago.

Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB)

The Hub24 share price has fallen by around 10% over the last month.

It’s currently rated as a buy by the broker Credit Suisse which has a price target on Hub24 of $27.70.

Hub24 is one of the larger ASX fintech businesses. The Hub24 platform offers advisers and their clients a large range of investment options including managed portfolios, enhanced transaction and reporting functionality.

It also owns HUBconnect, which focuses on leveraging data and technology to provide solutions to challenges for licensees and advisors, and helps with the delivery of professional advice to Australians.

Hub24 recently revealed its update for the quarter to 31 March 2021. It experienced a record quarter of net inflows of $1.9 billion, which was an increase of 41% year on year and $0.2 billion higher than the last quarter.

Its funds under administration (FUA) is now $51.4 billion, including the acquisition Xplore Wealth which contributed $17.2 billion as at 31 March 2021 with platform FUA of $35.6 billion (up 136% year on year).

The ASX 200 tech share’s new business pipeline continues to grow with 28 new licensee agreements signed during the March quarter, with large boutique licensees, self-licensed practices and a new distribution agreement with an existing Xplore client where additional Hub24 products will be offered alongside the current Xplore solutions.

According to Credit Suisse’s forecast, the Hub24 share price is valued at 49x FY22’s estimated earnings.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

The TechnologyOne share price has also fallen around 10% over the last month.

It’s Australia’s largest enterprise software company with offices across six countries. It provides a global software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to help customers get access to high-quality software anytime. It has over 1,200 corporations, government agencies, local councils and universities as clients.

UBS currently rates TechnologyOne shares as a buy with a price target of $9.15. UBS likes the Australian government growth, stronger UK position and the SaaS growth.

The business is due to hand in its FY21 half-year result this week, but the FY20 result included a number of growth measures. TechnologyOne saw underlying profit before tax increase by 13% for the year. SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 32% to $134.6 million.

TechnologyOne explained that its SaaS ERP solution helped when COVID-19 hit. Customers could seamlessly shift to remote working. Management said that COVID-19 has reinforced the significant value proposition of its software.

In FY20 the ASX 200 tech share continued to win new, large enterprise competitors. More than 30 organisations replaced its competitors’ systems, including from Oracle, SAP and Microsoft.

As the broker pointed out, it continues to dominate in the local government sector. It has closed 40 major deals with more than $45 million in total contract value. It now has more than 300 council customers. According to UBS, it’s valued at 38x FY21’s estimated earnings.

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