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The Invictus Energy Ltd (ASX: IVZ) share price has jumped 33% in the past two weeks.

Within that time, the miner kept investors up-to-date with operations at its African gas exploration project — including a date for on-site drilling commencement.

At market close on Friday, the Invictus Energy share price was up 3.23% at 16 cents.

So what’s been going on with this particular ASX 200 mining share? Let’s dive straight in…

Cabora Bassa contract awarded

On Friday, the oil and gas company announced it had awarded an “integrated well services” contract for its 80% owned and operated site in Zimbabwe’s Cabora Bassa Basin.

The contract went to Baker Hughes, which Invictus described as “one of the world’s leading oilfield service providers, operating in more than 120 countries worldwide”. The news appears to have been well received by investors, judging by the increase in the Invictus Energy share price.

The contractor will undertake tasks such as cementing, mud logging, and project management. It will work alongside Exalo Rig 202, which is also performing drilling work on the site.

With the first well “expected to spud” in the first half of this year, this contract puts Invictus “on track” to begin a 2-well drilling campaign by its intended deadline of May this year.

The Baker Hughes contract is expected to start within the next few weeks.

External contractors to assist site development

The miner has involved another external party, ERCE Equipoise, to digest and review the seismic data it collected late last year.

Managing director and CEO Scott Macmillan said the survey provided “greater insight into the subsurface and petroleum potential” of the site.

At the end of January, Invictus released its results for the December quarter. In it, the miner praised the recent share purchase plan (SPP) and capital raising for the Zimbabwe site. The Invictus Energy share price climbed 4.35% the following day.

Macmillan said the SPP allowed the company to “double its targeted raise” and would be used “to fund the rig mobilisation fee and long lead items”.

The company is in a strong position and is now firmly focused on the execution of the planned May drilling campaign.

Invictus share price snapshot

Over the last 12 months, the Invictus share price has increased by 107%.

This time last year, shares were trading around 8 cents. They hit their highest price of 21 cents in April.

At the end of December, the ASX 200 mining share saw a 26% jump coinciding with its SPP.

The company has a market capitalisation of $102.31 million and over 660 million shares issued.

The post Why this ASX 200 mining share has jumped 33% in 2 weeks appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week
• This little-known ASX cannabis share has quietly gained 26% in a month to trade at all-time highs
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• Could this give Medibank (ASX:MPL) shares a boost during earnings season?
• Here’s why these deep-pocketed investors are eyeing green Bitcoin

Motley Fool contributor Alice de Bruin 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 S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) may be down in the past month but this ASX cannabis share has steamed ahead.

The Cronos Australia Ltd (ASX: CAU) share price has rocketed 26.67% over the past 30 days. On Friday alone, the company’s shares leapt by 8.57% to finish the session at 38 cents. Earlier in the day, they hit an all-time high of 39.5 cents.

Let’s take a look at what could be helping this ASX cannabis share grow.

Why is this ASX cannabis share doing so well?

Cronos Australia is a medicinal cannabis company operating in the medical, clinics, and consumer segments.

Cronos merged with CDA Health Pty Ltd in December. The board appointed four new directors, Guy Headley, Benjamin Jansen, Kurt Schmidt, and Marcia Walker. CDA Health is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cronos Australia.

On 27 January, Cronos reported its medicinal cannabis unit sales in H1 FY2022 exceeded total sales for all of FY2021.

The Cronos Australia CEO, Rodney Cocks, described the merger with CDA Health as a “game changer” for the cannabis company and its shareholders.

Cocks said:

The merger with CDA Health is a key milestone achieved by Cronos Australia since its IPO in late 2019 and should propel the integrated company to a position of market leadership in Australia and position it for sustainable, profitable growth.

The combined Cronos Australia and CDA Health business will allow us to take the Company to the next level of growth, both in Australia and offshore.

Cronos Group Inc (TSE: CRON, NASDAQ: CRON) is the largest shareholder of Cronos Australia with a 31% stake.

Cronos share price snapshot

This little-known ASX cannabis share has ascended in value by 153% over the past year and 65% this year to date. For perspective, the benchmark ASX 200 index has returned 6% over the past year.

Cronos has a market capitalisation of about $209 million based on the current share price.

The post This little-known ASX cannabis share has quietly gained 26% in a month to trade at all-time highs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 2 ASX healthcare shares bucking the trend to hit new highs on Friday

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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It was a volatile but positive week for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) last week. The benchmark index ultimately recorded a 1.4% gain to finish the period at 7,217.3 points.

Unfortunately, not all shares climbed higher with the market. Here’s why these were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week:

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

The Appen share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 last week with an 11% decline. Investors were selling off this artificial intelligence data services company’s shares again last week amid weakness in the tech sector and concerns over potentially softening demand for its offering. This followed a weak update from Meta (Facebook) and a recent announcement from the tech giant regarding advances it has made with data labelling algorithms.

Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN)

The Mineral Resources share price was out of form and tumbled 8.4% last week. The catalyst for this was the release of the mining and mining services company’s half year results. Those results fell well short of expectations, with Mineral Resources delivering an underlying net loss after tax of $36 million for the six months. This compares to the consensus estimate of a $105 million profit.

Nanosonics Ltd (ASX: NAN)

The Nanosonics share price wasn’t far behind with a decline of 7.3% over the five days. This follows news that the infection prevention specialist is revising its deal with GE Healthcare in North America immediately before it terminates in June. The new sales model will see Nanosonics become responsible for all inventory, shipping, installations, and training of new customers. The changes are expected to impact its sales in the second half and lead to an increase in costs as its builds up its direct sales capabilities. GE Healthcare has been instrumental in growing Nanosonics’ market share in North America.

AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL)

The AGL share price was a poor performer and dropped 7.3% last week. The majority of this decline occurred the day after the release of its half year results following a mixed response from brokers. For example, Morgans responded to the energy company’s half year results by retaining its hold rating and cutting its price target to $7.24. Although AGL delivered a result that was better than Morgans expected, the broker continues to believe that it is a difficult investment proposition ahead of its demerger.

The post These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Why AGL, Magellan, Xero, and Zip shares are sinking
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Friday
• Why are these ASX 200 tech shares tumbling more than 6% on Friday?
• What’s the outlook for AGL (ASX:AGL) shares according to these brokers?

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 and has recommended Appen Ltd and Nanosonics Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Appen Ltd and Nanosonics 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 Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price finished slightly above its previous close on Friday.

At the close, shares in the private health insurer were up 1% to $3.18. Despite the higher finish, the company’s shares are still 7% off the mark from where they started the year at.

It appears that reports shared Thursday night concerning Medibank Private have had a minimal impact on the Medibank share price on Friday. The matter disclosed by The Australian speculated that the Australian health insurer had reached a deal to acquire a day hospital operator.

Let’s take a look at the details.

A power play for Medibank shares?

According to reports, Medibank Private could be acquiring Cura Group. Starting in 2008, Cura operates day hospitals and surgeries across Australia, now with 26 under its umbrella — these include:

• Barton Private Hospital
• Somerset Private Hospital
• Sydney Day Surgery Prince Alfred
• Queensland Eye Hospital
• Newscastle Endoscopy Centre

A 70% stake in Cura Group was previously acquired by Fresenius Medical Care in 2017. At the time, this transaction was believed to be worth $400 million. However, at that time the operator only held 19 assets across its portfolio. In total, these assets pulled in ~$127 million of revenue in 2016.

Back to the present for Medibank shares — it is currently unknown for what amount a deal between Cura and Medibank Private would be worth.

Furthermore, some have speculated that the ASX-listed company is looking to align the announcement of the deal with its first-half earnings on 25 February.

If carried out, the deal would further deepen Medibank’s vertical integration of healthcare providers. This would add to past deals including:

• 33.4% stake in preventive care clinics operator Myhealth Medical Group in 2021
• 49% stake in East Sydney Private Hospital in 2020; and
• Complete acquisition of in-home care provider Home Support Services in 2018

The goal shared by ASX-listed Medibank is to set itself apart from other health insurance providers.

The post Could this give Medibank (ASX:MPL) shares a boost during earnings season? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• When might Medibank (ASX:MPL) shareholders ‘feel better’?
• How do Medibank (ASX:MPL) dividends compare to NIB?

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. 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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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) often makes financial headlines for its wild price swings.

Sometimes for leaping higher. Sometimes for plummeting lower.

But investors – and your faithful media – are also increasingly taking note of the massive amount of energy soaked up by Bitcoin miners.

By some estimates, the vast amounts of computing power required to run the blockchain networks that enable the crypto’s transactions as well as mine new tokens, already uses as much energy as all of the Netherlands.

And the world’s biggest crypto by market cap could soon surpass the energy use of all of Australia.

With the world increasingly focused on decarbonising, you can see how this could pose an image problem.

Enter ‘green Bitcoin’.

Renewables to the rescue

While the overall energy use required to run the blockchain networks isn’t likely to fall anytime soon, the source of that energy is increasingly carbon neutral.

And that, according to Dan Roberts, CEO of Iris Energy Ltd (NASDAQ: IREN), is seeing more corporates and “semi-government institutions” express an interest in investing in sustainably mined Bitcoin.

According to Roberts (quoted by The Age):

It’s something that will take three to six months to play out. But specific things are being worked on with specific organisations and semi-government corporates who are now quite interested in procuring green sustainable bitcoin directly from a miner.

Iris runs its crypto mining operation out of Canada solely off renewable energy.

Roberts said that the greening of the token is helping stoke institutional investor interest. But he noted it’s already proven to be an attractive investment, even with its currently significant carbon footprint:

Bitcoin is selling itself with its scarcity attributes and the central banks are selling it on its behalf by continuing to debase the currency. The whole renewables side of that is just the next overlay for investors to think, ‘What are the stakeholders? Are we being socially responsible? What’s the right way to go about a transition to a different asset class?’

Bitcoin price slide no huge concern

As far as the performance of Iris, Roberts said the fall in the token’s price since November’s all-time highs isn’t a big concern.

According to Roberts (quoted by The Age):

On a day-to-day basis … it’s zero effect. We believe in bitcoin. We’re building 30-year infrastructure, we control our own destiny. Bitcoin is volatile, but it’s volatility within an asset that’s been going up 10x every two years on average.

The post Here’s why these deep-pocketed investors are eyeing green Bitcoin appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Is this ‘impediment’ holding back the Bitcoin price?
• Could Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) be eyeing off a $150,000 future?
• Bitcoin price rally fizzles. Here’s what the experts are watching for next
• The best cryptocurrency exchanges for Australians
• $3.6 billion crypto heist thwarted, sending this obscure cryptocurrency skyrocketing

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin. 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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If you’re a fan of small caps, then you’re in luck because there are a number of exciting ones with huge potential on the Australian share market.

Listed below are two small cap ASX shares that analysts rate highly. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)

The first small cap ASX share to consider is Airtasker. It is a growing online marketplace for local services which has an estimated $600 billion global total addressable market across Australia, the US, and the UK.

Management estimates that it has only captured a 0.3% slice of the Australian market at present, which clearly gives it a long runway for growth over the next decade and beyond in just the domestic market. And with the US market 10 times larger, there’s a mouth-watering opportunity for Airtasker over there.

Morgans is very positive on Airtasker. It highlights that the company’s product works for both sides of the marketplace, has attractive unit dynamics with healthy gross and contribution margins, an enormous TAM in the early stages of ecommerce adoption, and a large international expansion opportunity.

The broker has an add rating and $1.27 price target on the company’s shares.

Whispir Ltd (ASX: WSP)

Another small cap share to watch is Whispir. It is a software-as-a-service communications workflow platform provider. Whispir’s platform allows businesses and governments to deliver actionable two-way interactions at scale using automated multi-channel communication workflows.

Whispir has been growing at a strong rate over the last few years. This led to the company’s Annualised Recurring Revenue (ARR) growing 26.6% during the first half to $60 million. And while this is a large number, it is still well-short of its market opportunity. For example, management estimates that it has a TAM of US$4.7 billion in the just United States.

Ord Minnett is a fan of the company and has a buy rating and $3.45 price target on its shares.

The post 2 exciting small cap ASX shares with enormous potential appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 3 highly rated small cap shares with heaps of potential
• 2 small-cap ASX shares we’ve bet big on: fund manager
• 4 small cap ASX shares for your watchlist
• Why Airtasker, ARB, Bubs, and Sezzle shares are pushing higher
• Why the Airtasker (ASX:ART) share price is rocketing 17% higher today

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 and has recommended Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Airtasker Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Whispir 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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Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) failed to continue its streak of positive performances. At the end of the session, the benchmark index finished 0.98% lower at 7,217.3 points.

It was a sorry old day for tech shares as the sector tumbled 3.8%. The move followed a similar affair across tech names on Wall Street last night after US inflation hit the highest level in 40 years at 7.5%. Fortunately, mining giants held up the ASX to some extent.

However, the question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the top ten stocks that came through for investors:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the coal mining company rallied 4.95% without any new information floating through the grapevine. Find out more about Yancoal Australia here.

The next biggest gaining ASX share today was Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG). Shares rose 4.18% following the release of the general insurance company’s FY22 half-year results. Uncover the latest Insurance Australia Group details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL)	$3.18	4.95%
Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG)	$4.74	4.18%
Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO)	$122.36	2.86%
ALS Ltd (ASX: ALQ)	$12.30	2.67%
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG)	$22.83	2.47%
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)	$20.83	1.46%
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)	$48.86	1.20%
Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL)	$3.18	0.95%
Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA)	$7.12	0.85%
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)	$22.78	0.71%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check-in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Friday
• Why IAG, Rio Tinto, Unibail, and Westpac shares are pushing higher
• Here’s why the IAG (ASX:IAG) share price is charging 4% higher today
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: IAG upgrades guidance, Magellan sinks again
• IAG (ASX:IAG) share price on watch amid earnings miss but guidance upgrade

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. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Insurance Australia Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited and Westpac Banking Corporation. 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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Global investment bank Goldman Sachs is now predicting that there could be as many as seven interest rates in 2022. What could this mean for the (ASX) share market?

Interest rate prediction

Goldman Sachs now thinks that the US Federal Reserve is going to need to increase the interest rate even faster, according to reporting by Bloomberg. It was previously thinking that there would be five interest rate hikes.

Why the big change?

The inflation picture continues to change rapidly. The US consumer price index report for January came out, showing a 7.5% annual increase. It isn’t been this strong for four decades. Inflation is widespread in numerous areas like food, energy, household furnishings and health insurance.

Is a 0.50% hike coming next month?

There has been a lot of talk about how much the US Federal Reserve is going to increase interest rates this year. An increasingly important question is – should the Fed increase the rate by 0.50% as its first move?

Goldman Sachs doesn’t think so. Instead, the investment bank’s economists believe that the Federal Reserve is going increase the rate in seven meetings in a row.

There is lots of inflation and wage growth, with more expected. But from what Goldman Sachs has seen, policymakers seem to be indicating that steady moves will be the most likely choice:

Most Fed officials who have commented have opposed a 50 basis points hike in March. We therefore think that the more likely path is a longer series of 25 basis points hikes instead.

Whatever happens, the (ASX) share market could be in for a bumpy ride in 2022.

However, there are still other economists and prominent financial people, such as the former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, that think interest rates could jump 0.50% in March.

Why do interest rates matter so much?

Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) has a very relevant quote from Warren Buffett at the 1994 Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting, where he said about interest rates:

The value of every business, the value of a farm, the value of an apartment house, the value of any economic asset, is 100% sensitive to interest rates because all you are doing in investing is transferring some money to somebody now in exchange for what you expect the stream of money to be, to come in over a period of time, and the higher interest rates are the less that present value is going to be. So every business by its nature…its intrinsic valuation is 100% sensitive to interest rates.

Time will tell what this means for the (ASX) share market. And indeed most assets.

The post Are there going to be SEVEN interest rate hikes in 2022? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Should Telstra (ASX:TLS) really ‘be worried’ about its major competitor’s new asset?
• Oh Dear…This ASX share just shocked the market with delisting news, and then crashed 60%
• The Macquarie (ASX:MQG) share price has ‘run hard’: What’s next?
• Healthy income… Is CSL (ASX:CSL) still an ASX 200 dividend growth share?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison owns Magellan Financial Group. 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 Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price finished in the red today despite no news from the company.

The company’s share price finished at $4.02 today, a 0.74% fall. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped 0.98% today.

Let’s take a look at what might be going on at this ASX200 telco.

Competitor news

Telstra may not have released any major news today, but its major competitor certainly did. Optus announced it had appointed former premier NSW Gladys Berejiklian to its executive team. Berejiklian served as Premier of NSW from January 2017 to October 2021.

Telstra “would be quaking in their boots”, Macquarie Telecom executive Luke Clifton said in comments reported in the Financial Review.

Clearly, Telstra has had the lion’s share of the NSW state government telecoms expenditure. And she is going to be able to open some serious doors in NSW government for Optus.

Meanwhile, the current NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet also chipped in with praise for his former colleague and some words for Telstra.

Not only is she a strong leader but she achieves great outcomes and her professionalism and her diligence will service her very well.

If you’ve got an issue with Optus’ reception and you’ve got Glad’s number, you can give her a call…

I think Telstra will be worried.

However, Telstra has reported plenty of positive news of its own lately. Early this week, the company share price climbed amid news of a $100 million Internet of Things deal.

Last week, the company reported to the market details of an investment of $1.6 billion in ‘nation-building’ projects.

As my Foolish colleague James reported yesterday, Morgans recently rated Telstra as a “buy” with a price target of $4.56.

Berejiklian also served as transport minister and treasurer before becoming Premier of NSW. In her role as transport minister, she had responsibility for infrastructure including telecommunications.

Commenting on her new role, Berejiklian said:

I am excited and proud to join an organisation that impacts the lives of millions of Australians every day and prides itself in providing outstanding customer service.

Telstra share price snap shot

The Telstra share price has gained nearly 24% over the past year but it has fallen 4% this year to date. It has fallen 0.74% since last Friday’s close, while it has dropped nearly 3% in the past month.

For perspective, the ASX 200 has returned about 5% over the past year.

Telstra has a market capitalisation of about $47.2 billion based on the current share price.

The post Should Telstra (ASX:TLS) really ‘be worried’ about its major competitor’s new asset? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Telstra (ASX:TLS) targets government’s deep cyber-crime pockets
• Broker names 2 ASX dividend shares to buy
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares this Wednesday
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• ‘Exciting time’: Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price climbs amid $100 million IoT deal

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Telstra Corporation 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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Zebit Inc (ASX: ZBT) has formally applied to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to be removed from the official listing of companies on the ASX. It has in effect requested a voluntary delisting.

The Delisting will be put forward for shareholder approval at a general meeting that’s set to be held on 16 March 2022.

The company broke the news in an announcement today, sending its shares hard to the floor and finishing more than 55% down on the day at 8.6 cents.

Why is Zebit delisting from the ASX?

Zebit believes delisting will be in the best interest of the company for a number of reasons. These are primarily centred around the lack of liquidity in the trading of its securities, as well as administrative costs in maintaining the listing.

Essentially, “the costs and administrative burden of remaining listed on ASX outweigh any benefits associated with remaining listed”, it says.

Zebit is listed on the ASX in the first place as a chess depositary interest (CDI), an instrument that allows foreign companies to raise capital and list on the exchange and trade on the secondary markets. Its shares are listed on a 1:1 ratio, meaning one CDI is equivalent to one Zebit share.

However, trading in these CDIs has been thin over the last few years, leading the company to conduct a re-evaluation of its capital structure.

Zebit had 1,375 CDI holders at the beginning of February, and of this amount, approximately 46.47% or 639 CDI holders had small positions of A$500 or less.

“The Company’s low liquidity levels have resulted in limited trading opportunities for securityholders seeking to exit their positions and for new ones to acquire CDIs”, Zebit said. “It is not anticipated that trading levels/liquidity will improve in the near future”.

Not only that, but Zebit reckons it could put the costs assigned to maintaining its listing to better use in other alternatives. It estimates the delisting will save around US$140,000 per month in the next year, annualised to US$1.68 million per year.

“Legal, accounting, insurance, and other expenses incurred in satisfying ASX filing, reporting, and compliance requirements have proven burdensome for the Company in recent times, given its limited cash reserves”, the company said in regards to its listing costs.

But Zebit also reckons it will have a difficult time in raising new capital from Australian investors in FY22 – and the company needs to raise capital, non-negotiable. It is doubtful that investors are willing to commit more of their hard earned capital via public equity offerings.

Finally, the board reckons that investors are unfairly punishing the stock, leading it to “question whether the market is fairly valuing the company”.

“Since the company’s IPO debut, the board has observed ongoing fluctuations in the quoted price of the company’s CDIs and noted that the value attributed to a CDI has been largely independent of news flows, even when positive news has been released.

“The Board believes that being an unlisted Company would allow a more objective and independent appraisal of valuation to take place, without concern for any illiquid public market”.

What does this mean for Zebit shareholders?

Good question. One might assume the company would commit to repurchasing its own stock, or at least arranging a third party buyer off-market.

But it appears the ASX granting Zebit its voluntary surrender is contingent on a few outcomes, notwithstanding a full process for shareholders to unload their holdings.

Zebit must show compliance to a “statement to the effect that if security holders wish to sell their securities on ASX, they will need to do so before the company is removed from the Official List”.

However, “if they do not, details of the processes that will exist after the company is removed from the Official List to allow a security holder to dispose of their holding and how they can access those processes”.

The full consequences of being removed from the Official List will be detailed in full during the planned notice meeting later this month.

Very importantly for Zebit shareholders, is that its CDIs will no longer be publicly quoted or traded on the ASX, and “it will be more difficult for a securityholder to dispose of their securities”, the company says.

Investors will only be able to “sell the converted, underlying shares in off-market private transactions requiring securityholders to identify and agree the terms of sale”.

After the suspension date that’s planned on 19 April, investors “wishing to trade their securities will be entitled to transfer their securities off-market to a willing third party purchaser in accordance with the Company’s By-laws”.

Naturally, investors are running for the hills in fear of being the one left catching the falling knife, or at least being left with un-tradable, illiquid stock.

The board also acknowledged it will surely face backlash from stakeholders given the timing of its decision, but offered some assurance and said:

In addition to a right to participate in, and vote at, the meeting, shareholders have the right to assert various claims against Zebit and its directors under US federal law as well as under Delaware state law being, including for breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, self-dealing and a variety of acts.

The Delisting is subject to securityholder approval (as a special resolution at the general meeting proposed to be held on 16 March 2022. Further details relating to the Delisting, including potential advantages and disadvantages for securityholders, will be included in the notice of meeting which will be dispatched to securityholders shortly. All securityholders will be entitled to vote on the resolution.

The anticipated delisting date is 22 April 2022, following a notice of meeting on 21 February and the special meeting on 16 March. If all goes ahead, everything should be wrapped up by 27 April.

The post Oh Dear…This ASX share just shocked the market with delisting news, and then crashed 60% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow 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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