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The Sparc Technologies Ltd (ASX: SPN) share price is soaring higher for the second day in a row after the company announced its plan to enter the ‘ultra-green‘ hydrogen space.

At the time of writing, the Sparc share price is $1.29, 25.24% higher than it was at the end of yesterday’s session.

It also represents a 44% gain on the company’s closing price last Friday. After Friday’s close, the Sparc share price was halted until Wednesday’s announcement.

Additionally, more than 1.5 million shares in Sparc Technologies have been traded today. That’s on top of roughly 2.7 million that swapped hands yesterday.

For context, over the last 4 weeks, an average day has seen 262,007 Sparc shares sent to new homes.

So, what’s the news that’s likely driving the Sparc Technologies share price higher for another session on the ASX? Let’s take a look.

Sparc Technologies to create ultra-green hydrogen tech

Yesterday, Sparc announced it has partnered with the University of Adelaide to create technology capable of producing hydrogen using photocatalysis and solar radiation.

It will employ solar radiation — sunlight — and an artificial photosynthesis process to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The resulting hydrogen could then be used as an energy source.

To put it simply, the technology will create hydrogen without an electrolyser.

Currently, green hydrogen is that which is split from water using electrolysis powered by renewable electricity. Sparc’s hydrogen will be deemed ‘ultra’ green as it won’t use any electricity at all.

So far, the process proposed by Sparc and the University of Adelaide is theoretical. However, the university and its partners have been researching its potential and submitted a provisional patent for the technology in April 2021. Additionally, a prototype has been found to be effective.

Under the partnership, a joint venture named Sparc Hydrogen will be created. Sparc Technologies will hold 72% of Sparc Hydrogen at its conclusion.

The joint venture will walk away with 100% of the intellectual property and patents created by the University of Adelaide.

Sparc Technologies will be focusing on developing graphene coatings to be used in conjunction with the photocatalysts.

Sparc Technologies share price snapshot

Today’s gains included, the Sparc Technologies share price is 303% higher than it was at the start of 2021.

It has also gained 268% since this time last year.

The post Sparc Technologies (ASX:SPN) share price leaps another 25%. Here’s why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Sparc Technologies (ASX:SPN) joins the green hydrogen boom, up 15%

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. 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 Laybuy Holdings Ltd (ASX: LBY) share price is lifting this afternoon. It is currently up 2.04% to 50 cents, having leapt to 52 cents soon after market open.

Laybuy’s share price is gaining ground after the company released its quarterly activities and earnings report this morning.

Here we dissect the highlights from the buy now, pay later (BNPL) services provider’s second quarter for FY22.

Laybuy share price gains on record Q2 revenue and income

• Laybuy remains on track to reach the NZ$1 billion gross merchandise value (GMV) target for FY22.
• GMV reached a record NZ$206 million for Q2, a 62% year-on-year (YoY) increase when annualised.
• United Kingdom GMV almost doubled YoY in Q2, representing an annualised 93% increase from the year prior.
• Record income for the quarter of NZ$10.8 million, a 49% YoY increase.
• Net transaction margin (NTM) reached 1.9%, down from 2.3% last quarter but up from 1.8% YoY annualised.
• Active customers reached 889,000, up 57% YoY.
• Active merchants reached 11,700, up 86% YoY.

What happened in Q2 for Laybuy?

It was a record quarter for the BNPL provider on several fronts, which looks to have boosted the Laybuy share price today.

GMV came in at an all-time high of NZ$206 million, which annualises to NZ$825 million.

This growth was underscored by contributions from the company’s UK operations, where it recorded a 332% increase in active merchants and 90% increase in active customers from the last quarter.

Perhaps some of this momentum can be attributed to the release of its Laybuy App Exclusives in the the UK in August. Already, it has 80,000 transactions running through the platform.

Laybuy also launched its “Tap to Pay in-store solution” in the UK, adding 900-plus stores as launch partners.

As such, the group’s overall active customers grew by 321,000, or 57%, YoY to reach approximately 890,000 this quarter.

This was well supported by active merchants on Laybuy’s books growing by 86% over the year. In fact, Laybuy added almost 2,000 additional merchants in Q2, including the likes of Amazon, eBay, The Fragrance Shop and InMotion.

From these impressive growth numbers, Laybuy exceeded 900,000 active customers and 12,000 active merchants in Q2. More than 3,000 of these were in the UK alone.

It also beefed up its liquidity and working capital by opening a new debt facility of 30 million British pounds.

In Australia and New Zealand, the company also extended its debt facility limit to NZ$30 million to “support ANZ loan book growth to 80% (previously 75%)”.

All of this momentum carried over to Laybuy’s profit and loss, where it recognised record income of NZ$10.8 million.

Again this growth was underlined by the company’s UK operations, however Australian income was also up 30%.

What did management say?

Speaking on the update likely driving the Laybuy share price today, managing director Gary Rohloff said:

Laybuy is delivering exceptionally strong growth as we continue to successfully implement our business strategy. We are continuing to experience robust GMV growth, up nearly 62% across all markets. In particular, we are seeing good growth in the UK, where our quarterly GMV has nearly doubled when compared to the same quarter last year.

We expect to see continued growth in the UK following the rollout of Laybuy App Exclusives (the Affiliate Marketing Network) last month. Initially launching with 160 brands, the Laybuy App Exclusives can enable payment by Laybuy at more than 5,000 of the UK’s largest brands.

What’s next for Laybuy?

The company is adamant that given its recent performance, it remains “on track to achieve $1 billion GMV in FY22”.

The release also notes the UK continues to be Laybuy’s “key growth market, with a large retail market estimated at 403 billion British pounds in 2020”.

That’s 2.2 times that of Australia, it notes, with BNPL still in its infancy. Laybuy also reckons the UK market has the “highest penetration of online sales, with 28% of retail spending being online in 2020”.

The company also continues to work alongside HM Treasury in the UK to establish am appropriate BNPL framework to govern the sector.

Annualising its Q2 revenue, the company stated this equates to NZ$285 million in GMV. This would be a 62% YoY increase if it continues along the same trajectory.

Laybuy share price snapshot

The Laybuy share price has been hit hard by the pandemic, having lost 67% in the past 12 months and 62% this year to date. It is also down by almost 10% over the last week.

The post Laybuy (ASX:LBY) share price gains after record quarter appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Laybuy (ASX:LBY) share price surges 14% on record quarterly
• These were the best performing ASX BNPL shares in September

The author Zach Bristow has no positions 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) is having a pretty poor showing on the ASX boards so far this Thursday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by 0.48% to 7,413 points. One ASX 200 share that’s faring far worse though is the miner Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO). Rio shares are currently down by more than double the index today, having lost a nasty 1.34% at $92.88 a share.

The collapse in the Rio Tinto share price over the past few months has been startling to watch. It was only back in early August that Rio was pushing on its new all-time high of $137.33. Its valuation is now down by roughly a third from that level today. It’s also down almost 30% over the past 3 months.

So what’s gone so wrong for Rio? Are investors so quick to forget that this company just paid out the largest dividend in its rather long history? Rio shares still have a whopping trailing dividend yield of 9.72%, after all…

Falling iron ore batters Rio Tinto share price

Well, we don’t have to look much further than the iron ore price to understand Rio’s woes over the past 3 months. Although Rio is still a relatively diversified miner compared to other players like Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), it still received more than 75% of its underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) over 2020 from iron ore alone.

So Rio’s profitability is very much tied to the fortunes of iron ore. And lo and behold, the price of iron ore has fallen off a cliff over the past 3 months. According to BusinessInsider, iron ore was fetching a record high close to US$220 a tonne back in late July. But as it stands today, iron ore is asking a far more muted US$122 a tonne. In other words, it’s close to half of what it was just 3 months ago.

Cheaper iron ore means less cash in the bank for Rio, and by extension, lower dividends for shareholders. Yes, Rio has been paying out record dividends over the past year, but investors know that the company will struggle to keep those up with this decline in iron ore pricing, at least at the record levels we have recently seen.

So this is probably the primary driver behind Rio’s steep falls over the past 3 months. When you’re a miner, you usually have to ride or die on the price you can command for your chosen commodity. This can cut both ways, as it indeed has over 2021 so far.

At the current Rio Tinto share price, this ASX 200 miner has a market capitalisation of $34.94 billion.

The post Here’s why the Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) share price is down 29% in the last 3 months 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. 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 LiveTiles Ltd (ASX: LVT) share price is finding momentum on Thursday. Shares in the software company are trading with a shade of green following the release of its first-quarter numbers for FY2022.

While shares have retraced to 12.5 cents, up 4.2%, earlier they were as high as 13 cents apiece. Although the move is in the positive direction, the LiveTiles share price is still 59% below its 52-week high.

LiveTiles share price rallies on record cash receipts

• Cash receipts growth of 22% year on year to a record $14.6 million
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased 13% to $64.5 million
• Average ARR per customer up 23% year on year to $62,900
• Net operating cash outflow of $1.1 million, representing an improvement of 58% on previous quarter
• Trailing 12 months of cash receipts grew by 22% year on year to $54.4 million
• Finished the quarter with a cash position of $20.9 million

What happened during the first quarter?

Giving the LiveTiles share price something to be green about, the company demonstrated further growth during the first quarter of FY22.

Given that the company is in the loss-making stage of its life, top-line growth is particularly important. Thankfully, LiveTiles followed through with an extra 13% boost to its ARR in Q1, taking it to $64.5 million.

Likewise, cash receipts (which is the revenue recognised during the quarter) increased 21% to $14.6 million. This was likely a product of larger revenues per customer, as well as more customers being signed to its digital solutions.

Speaking of which, a number of notable additions to its customer list were made during the quarter. This included a United States investment manager, a United Kingdom city council, a global chocolatier based in Europe, and a German aeronautics manufacturer, to name a few.

In terms of operations, the company rolled out a major project with a Catholic school. This entailed 10,000 users across the network using LiveTiles intranet. In addition, LiveTiles Reach (a communication app) was successfully deployed to a large Australian Hospitality business.

The increase in revenue from customers also floated to the bottom line. While LiveTiles posted a net operating outflow, it was reduced from $2.5 million in Q1 FY21 to $1.1 million. This could be acting as another positive catalyst for the LiveTiles share price today.

What did management have to say?

Commenting on the record quarter, LiveTiles co-founder and CEO Karl Redenbach said:

Having focussed on a disciplined approach to the implementation of our strategic review, it is pleasing to see a continued improvement in both underlying and top-line growth. Our ARR continues to grow every quarter and has now risen to $64.5m, up +13% to the pcp.

Our ongoing focus on disciplined cash management is continuing with a 56% improvement in operating cashflows in the quarter when compared to Sep-20; and supported by a record-equalling cash receipts quarter of $14.6m

Looking forward, the company is focused on implementing recommendations from its recent review. Meanwhile, in terms of finances — management says it’s in a good position — with a focus on cash generation being front of mind.

Finally, there are more than 500 qualified leads for the company to pursue after a recent event. The “Let’s Connect” event, with noteworthy author Simon Sinek, attracted over 4,300 attendees.

The LiveTiles share price is down 54% in the last 12 months.

The post LiveTiles (ASX:LVT) share price leaps 8% on record quarter 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 LIVETILES FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended LIVETILES 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 JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) share price is marching higher in early afternoon trade, currently up 2.7% trading at $48.16 per share.

The electronics retailer is gaining even as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) drops, down 0.2% at the time of writing.

Below we look at the company’s latest quarterly sales update and a few takeaways from the annual general meeting (AGM).

What sales update was provided for the first quarter?

The JB Hi-Fi share price is gaining today after the company reported continued strength in customer demand, helping drive sales growth over a 2-year period.

Sales over the first quarter of the 2022 financial year (Q1 FY22) did vary and face disruptions due to COVID-19 restrictions across different states.

For the quarter ending 30 September, JB Hi Fi Australia saw a 7.5% decline in sales growth compared to Q1 FY21. However, the company noted sales growth was up 17.3% from Q1 FY20.

It was a similar story for the group’s The Good Guys’ sales growth. That was down 5.6% from FY21 and up 23.6% from FY20.

Management commentary

Commenting on the results, JB Hi-Fi Group CEO Terry Smart said:

While the start to this year has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and in some states extended periods of store closures, we have demonstrated our ability to adapt and respond to continue to meet the strong demand from our customers.

The combination of our passionate and knowledgeable team members, and our multichannel offer, including our quality store locations and our established online offerings, gives us confidence as we enter the important Christmas trading period.

The JB Hi-Fi share price might also be getting a boost today from the AGM presentation, where Smart highlighted a 12.6% year-on-year increase in total sales in FY21, to $8.9 billion up from $7.9 billion in FY20.

Net profit after tax (NPAT) also leapt 67.4% higher, from $302 million in FY20 to $506 million in FY21.

And earnings per share (EPS) of 441 cents represented a 67.5% increase from the 263 cents per share posted in FY20.

JB Hi-Fi share price snapshot

The JB Hi-Fi share price has struggled this year, down 3.3% so far in 2021. That compares to a gain of 11% posted by the ASX 200.

Over the past month, JB Hi-Fi shares have gained 8.7%.

The post Why is the JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) share price gaining today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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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Today isn’t a good day on the ASX for the Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price. The coal miner’s stock is tumbling on Thursday, alongside the price of Chinese thermal coal.

At the time of writing, the Whitehaven share price is $2.62, 7.24% lower than its previous close.

Let’s take a look at what might be weighing on the coal miner’s stock today.

Whitehaven share price falls alongside Chinese coal futures

The Whitehaven share price is slipping today amid reports Chinese thermal coal futures plummeted 10% on Wednesday and another 13% in night trade.

The country’s coal futures have now reportedly fallen 47.8% since 19 October.

There are a number of happenings that have potentially weighed on the price of coal in China.

Firstly, according to reporting by Reuters, China’s National Development and Reform Commission is cracking down on unlicensed coal storage sites. The commission believes removing unapproved storage locations will make it harder for illegal traders to hoard the commodity.

The Global Times reports the increased scrutiny has seen traders desperate to sell and minimise their losses amid the market slump.

Additionally, coal pricing in China is facing scrutiny by the commission which is planning to intervene. The commission reportedly believes pricing data is being falsified by energy index providers.

Another report by Reuters states Chinese coal traders are being left in the dark as data that helps them price the commodity is being fabricated or hidden from the public.

All in all, coal prices in China are cooling, putting pressure on the S&P/ASX 200 Index‘s (ASX: XJO) largest pure play coal miner. The Whitehaven share price is now around 19% lower than it was this time last month.

The dip comes after the company announced it expects record-high coal prices will see it boasting “significant cash generation” soon. Whitehaven likely plans to use such cash to help realise its goal of being debt-free by early next year.

The post The Whitehaven (ASX:WHC) share price is down 7% today. What’s going on? 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. 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 A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price is having a better day on Thursday.

In afternoon trade, the infant formula company’s shares are edging 0.5% higher to $6.06.

This follows another selloff on Wednesday which saw the A2 Milk share price plunge 12%.

Is the A2 Milk share price selloff a buying opportunity?

One leading broker that has held firm with its positive view on the A2 Milk share price is Bell Potter.

This morning the broker retained its buy rating and $7.70 price target on the company’s shares.

Based on the current A2 Milk share price, this implies potential upside of almost 28% over the next 12 months.

What did the broker say about A2 Milk’s update?

Bell Potter notes that there were a number of takeaways from the company’s investor update.

One of those was the company’s medium term target of growing its revenue to NZ$2 billion in the next ~5 years.

It commented: “A2M has a medium term risk adjusted revenue target of ~NZ$2.0Bn with EBITDA margins in the teens and scope to lift to low-mid 20’s subject to mix and market share gains. Major drivers of this growth are: (1) a 50% recovery of the FY20-21 fall in English label IMF sales; (2) a ~NZ$400m uplift in China label sales from MBS expansion and higher sell through rates in mature stores; and (3) China nutritionals product portfolio and regional expansion.”

Bell Potter also notes that the company is continuing to try and make things work in the US market. Though, it doesn’t appear supportive of this.

The broker said: “Volumes up in Australia and down in the US. At face value we see the continued commitment to remain in the US a negative. The strategy has been augmented a number of times since entry and to date has failed to generate any semblance of a pathway to profitability. We would have expected a move to licence the brand (like in NZ) and remove a ~NZ$30m EBITDA loss would be received positively.”

Staying buy rated

Nevertheless, Bell Potter saw enough in the update to remain positive on the A2 Milk share price.

It concluded: “There is no change to our Buy rating. The key to A2M is how much English label sales recover in 2H22e-1H23e and the extent to which A2M can expand its MBS distribution touchpoints. If A2M can deliver on just these two aspects of its strategy, then we would see a pathway to ~NZ$1.7-1.9Bn revenue and ~NZ$300-350m EBITDA business, with upside if it can back integrate processing into MVM and reduce US losses.”

The post Is the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price a buy after the selloff? 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 A2 Milk. 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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Just a few months after Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his business was going to bet big on the “metaverse” (a virtual world where real people can play and work together), Facebook is readying some extra transparency on this business segment. And for good reason. Facebook Reality Labs (or FRL, the augmented and virtual reality unit that’s building the metaverse) is receiving massive amounts of cash to develop new hardware and software technology, and could already be quite large today. Here’s what you need to know.

Building the foundation of the metaverse

Starting in the fourth quarter of 2021 (which the company will report in January 2022), Facebook will add a new line item for FRL results and disclose the massive investments the company is making. This will separate Facebook’s virtual reality operations from the advertising empire, which will now be called “Family of Apps” and include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services. But what exactly is Facebook Reality Labs?  

The Oculus augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) business is the core of FRL. It includes hardware like Oculus Rift, designed to be used with a VR-ready PC; Oculus Quest, a stand-alone unit that delivers virtual worlds without the need for a separate computer; and mobile AR/VR headsets designed for use with a smartphone, like the now-discontinued Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus.  

Facebook is only beginning to put the foundation into place for the metaverse. Besides the development of better hardware and VR headsets, it will also need to build software, expand on its commerce platform, make new social tools, and of course construct new infrastructure like data centers to support it all. 

On the third-quarter earnings call, Zuckerberg said that this will be a “business story” later this decade, but for now, the team is focused on building the right products before assessing the financials. Management stated these FRL investments will reduce Facebook’s operating profit by about $10 billion this year. To put that figure in perspective, it’s just over half of Facebook’s total expected capital expenditures on property and equipment in 2021. This investment will also increase in size in each of the next few years. Given the massive scale of the price tag, it will be nice to see some extra numbers to assess the metaverse’s progress.  

Zuckerberg and company said FRL won’t be profitable anytime soon. Nevertheless, they think the metaverse will become the successor to the mobile internet one day. Therefore, they are focused on getting the right products in place to get people and businesses introduced to the whole idea. Facebook thinks it can get 1 billion people using VR by the end of the decade, at which time it could generate many billions of dollars in annual revenue. 

How big is this Facebook metaverse right now?

Facebook has presumably been reporting the progress of FRL in non-advertising “other revenue” up to this point, but included in that catch-all segment are other things like commerce marketplace and digital payments income (remember, Facebook has aspirations in the cryptocurrency world, too). 

Nevertheless, “other revenue” does offer an opaque glimpse into what FRL is already accomplishing. When FRL the stand-alone line item makes its debut in Q4 2021, management said to expect revenue to be down year over year because of the strong launch of the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset last October. But if non-ad other revenue is any indicator, Facebook’s AR/VR is already generating some big numbers. 

Quarter	Facebook “Other Revenue”	YoY Change
Q4 2020	$885 million	156%
Q1 2021	$732 million	146%
Q2 2021	$497 million	36%
Q3 2021	$734 million	195%

Data source: Facebook. YoY = year-over-year.

Clearly, a lot of people have already given Facebook’s AR/VR products a spin, including businesses that are using the platform for things like employee training and efficiency gains. But Facebook is on a roll here and thinks the metaverse will be far larger than it is now in a decade. Be ready for some added clarity on what’s going on at Facebook Reality Labs when the company reports on the final quarter of 2021. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Facebook will finally start reporting financial results for its virtual reality business appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Nicholas Rossolillo and his clients own shares of Facebook. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Facebook. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Facebook. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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The West African Resources Ltd (ASX: WAF) share price has come out of a trading halt to record heavy falls today. This follows the gold resource company’s update in regards to its recent share placement.

During afternoon trade, West African Resources shares are down a sizeable 7.89% to $1.285 apiece.

What’s dragging West African Resources shares lower?

Investors are scrambling to sell West African Resources shares as the company prepares to dilute existing shareholder value.

According to its release, West African Resources advised it has received strong support to raise $126 million through a share placement.

The offer was presented to both institutional and sophisticated investors at an issue price of $1.25 per share. This equates to roughly 101 million new ordinary shares being added to the company’s registry.

The shares will be a part of the first tranche of the placement, falling under the company’s listing rule 7.1. This allows up to 15% of West African Resources shares to be issued without shareholder approval.

The second tranche of shares involves the issuance of $140,000 of new shares to the company’s directors. However, this will be subject to shareholder approval at a General Meeting sometime around mid-December 2021.

The funds collected from the placement will be used for a variety of objectives, primarily funding the Taurus principal repayment. In addition, the company will also allocate some money towards the Kiaka payment and the final cash payment of the Toega acquisition. The remaining funds will be distributed across exploration programs and general working capital.

Furthermore, the company will offer a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to retail investors to raise an additional $10 million. The SPP will be offered at the same price as the placement. The closing date of the SPP is on 22 November 2021.

About the West African Resources share price

In 2021, West African Resources shares have moved mostly in circles before accelerating on an upwards trajectory since late September. The company’s share price is up by more than 20% over the last 11 months.

West African Resources has a market capitalisation of roughly $1.15 billion, with almost 884 million shares on its books.

The post Why is the West African Resources (ASX:WAF) share price sliding 7% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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 Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA) share price is falling on Thursday after the company released its second-quarter results for FY22.

At the time of writing, the Champion Iron share price is down 6.32% to $4.22.

Second-quarter highlights

Champion Iron achieved revenues of $331.0 million and $876.4 million for the three and six-month periods ended 30 September. By comparison, it achieved $311.0 million and $555.6 million for the same periods in 2020.

The company achieved a marginally higher earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of $200 million for the three-month period compared to $199 million a year ago.

Similarly, net income came in at $114.6 million compared to $112.2 million in 2Q21.

During the quarter, the company produced 2.089 million wet metric tonnes (wmt) of high-grade 66.3% iron ore concentrate compared to 2.269 million wmt for the same period in 2020.

Champion Iron achieved an average gross realised price of US$174.6 per tonne, up 42.8% year-on-year.

Growth projects making significant progress

Champion Iron completed several critical construction items during the quarter, enabling the company to evaluate a potential accelerated completion schedule for its Bloom Lake Phase II expansion project, currently expected by mid-2022.

The Phase II project aims to double Bloom Lake’s nameplate capacity to 15 million tonnes per annum of 66.2% Fe iron ore concentrate.

Why is the Champion Iron share price plunging?

At its peak year-to-date return, the Champion Iron share price was up almost 65% to $7.86 thanks to surging iron ore prices.

The opposite is now taking place with iron ore prices tanking from May’s all-time highs of approximately US$230 a tonne to US$120 a tonne.

The quarterly update flagged the weak pricing environment, saying its realised selling price was “impacted by sales provisionally priced using forward prices at quarter end, which were at a significant discount compared to the P65 index average for the period”.

The post Here’s why the Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) share price is sliding 6% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun 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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