Atlas Iron Limited (AGO):
Atlas Iron’s dire financial position has worsened as shareholders consider a $390 million all-cash takeover offer backed by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting. The junior iron ore miner suffered an operating loss of $6 million in the June quarter and cash at hand dwindled to $57 million, down from $64 million, plus $14 million in a reserve account, at the end of March. Atlas said its cash position was hit by negative operating margins on its iron ore business, payment of a $3.12 million break fee to spurned takeover suitor Mineral Resources, and the timing of shipments late in the quarter. The company’s term debt, one of the complicating factors in the takeover tussle that has raged over the past three months, stood at $85 million. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has agreed to an Atlas request to extend the deadline for it to send a target statement to shareholders. Atlas said it had requested the deadline extension, from July 17 to July 19, because an expert’s report was taking longer than expected to prepare. The Atlas share price closed in line with the Redstone offer price of 4.2¢.
Blue Sky Alternative Investments Ltd (BLA):
Blue Sky Alternative Investments has confirmed it will not pay a dividend to investors following a horror year, after finalising independent reviews of all the managed funds into which the company invests. The Brisbane-based Blue Sky (BLA) said it was yet to complete just one asset valuation — that of a US commercial property holding which is current being held at cost — that will be completed in August. BLA said its net tangible asset valuation had risen 0.7 per cent since the end of May to $1.377 per share. However, it said after reviewing the valuations of its 89 managed assets, it has taken a total $24.7 million hit to aggregate underlying net profit after tax. It was the third stage in a threepart review, which took underlying net profit after tax down a further $2.2m, after “significant” movements in its residential property developments and legacy private equity fund were taken into account. Blue Sky will release its audited full-year results in August, at which time it will host a teleconference, but it said it would not pay a dividend for the financial year. Blue Sky said it has an actual cash position at the end of June of $40m with no corporate debt, slightly better than the $32.3m forecast provided in mid-June.
MGC Pharmaceutical Ltd (MXC):
Shares in ASX-listed medical cannabis company MGC Pharma opened 16 per cent higher this morning after its European facility was awarded a manufacturing licence. In a statement to the market this morning, MGC said its European facility is now fully GMP certified – the minimum certification standard required by pharmaceutical manufacturers in Europe – and has been awarded the manufacturing licence for the production of medicinal cannabis. MGC, which is Europe based and develops cannaboid-based pharmaceuticals for Europe, North America and Australia, can now commence production under this manufacturing licence for pharmaceutical grade products, the company told the market this morning. The certifications come ahead of the company’s production and supply of the first batch of CannEpil, a drug-resistant epilepsy medication.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
A giant Rio Tinto robot has successfully delivered 28,000 tonnes of iron ore in its inaugural journey. Monitored remotely by an operations centre in Perth, the company’s (RIO) autonomous train travelled over 280 kilometres across the Pilbara on July 10, from Rio’s operations in Tom Price to the port of Cape Lambert. The journey, part of Rio Tinto’s $940 million AutoHaul programme which is on schedule to complete by the end of the year, aims to unlock safety and productivity gains for the company. Once commissioned, the network will be the world’s first heavy haul, long distance autonomous rail operation. The programme will optimise Rio’s iron ore system by providing more flexibility and reducing bottlenecks, Rio Tinto said.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Rio Tinto has told the market that the completion the sale of its stake in world’s second-biggest copper mine to Indonesia remains up in the air. Global mining giants Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto had agreed to hand over control of the Grasberg mine to Inalum, an Indonesian state-owned mining company, moving closer to resolving one of the world’s most prominent recent battles over resource wealth. But in a statement this morning, Rio said that while companies involved have committed to working towards a deal before the end of the second half of 2018, there is no certainty that the $US3.5bn ($4.73bn) sale of its stake in the operation will be completed, given the terms that remain to be agreed upon. Any final agreements will be subject to approval by the necessary government regulators and authorities, Rio Tinto said. Thursday’s agreement comes after years of tense negotiations and follows moves by governments around the world, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Tanzania, to wrest control of mines and take a bigger cut of profits. The deal also illustrates the dilemma facing large mining companies, which often sink billions of dollars into projects in far-flung places only to face unpredictable laws and yearslong battles.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Telstra is in the box seat to snare the rights to even more major sporting events by rolling out a broadcast technology its rivals Optus and Vodafone lack. It is using LTE-broadcast technology, which lets one broadcast source share high-definition quality streaming vision to potentially millions of its customers, without consuming excessive network resources. While it didn’t have rights to the World Cup, Telstra in May secured a five-year digital streaming rights deal with Football Federation Australia. Telstra’s sporting offering already includes AFL, NRL, AFLW and netball. Telstra is sub-leasing the FFA rights from Foxtel, in which it is a shareholder along with News Corp, publisher of The Australian, until 2023. Yesterday, Mike Wright, Telstra’s group managing director of networks, revealed the telco had already used the LTE broadcast technology to stream AFL matches, in a partnership with the AFL and Ericsson.
(Source: AIMS)
Atlas Iron’s dire financial position has worsened as shareholders consider a $390 million all-cash takeover offer backed by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting. The junior iron ore miner suffered an operating loss of $6 million in the June quarter and cash at hand dwindled to $57 million, down from $64 million, plus $14 million in a reserve account, at the end of March. Atlas said its cash position was hit by negative operating margins on its iron ore business, payment of a $3.12 million break fee to spurned takeover suitor Mineral Resources, and the timing of shipments late in the quarter. The company’s term debt, one of the complicating factors in the takeover tussle that has raged over the past three months, stood at $85 million. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has agreed to an Atlas request to extend the deadline for it to send a target statement to shareholders. Atlas said it had requested the deadline extension, from July 17 to July 19, because an expert’s report was taking longer than expected to prepare. The Atlas share price closed in line with the Redstone offer price of 4.2¢.
Blue Sky Alternative Investments Ltd (BLA):
Blue Sky Alternative Investments has confirmed it will not pay a dividend to investors following a horror year, after finalising independent reviews of all the managed funds into which the company invests. The Brisbane-based Blue Sky (BLA) said it was yet to complete just one asset valuation — that of a US commercial property holding which is current being held at cost — that will be completed in August. BLA said its net tangible asset valuation had risen 0.7 per cent since the end of May to $1.377 per share. However, it said after reviewing the valuations of its 89 managed assets, it has taken a total $24.7 million hit to aggregate underlying net profit after tax. It was the third stage in a threepart review, which took underlying net profit after tax down a further $2.2m, after “significant” movements in its residential property developments and legacy private equity fund were taken into account. Blue Sky will release its audited full-year results in August, at which time it will host a teleconference, but it said it would not pay a dividend for the financial year. Blue Sky said it has an actual cash position at the end of June of $40m with no corporate debt, slightly better than the $32.3m forecast provided in mid-June.
MGC Pharmaceutical Ltd (MXC):
Shares in ASX-listed medical cannabis company MGC Pharma opened 16 per cent higher this morning after its European facility was awarded a manufacturing licence. In a statement to the market this morning, MGC said its European facility is now fully GMP certified – the minimum certification standard required by pharmaceutical manufacturers in Europe – and has been awarded the manufacturing licence for the production of medicinal cannabis. MGC, which is Europe based and develops cannaboid-based pharmaceuticals for Europe, North America and Australia, can now commence production under this manufacturing licence for pharmaceutical grade products, the company told the market this morning. The certifications come ahead of the company’s production and supply of the first batch of CannEpil, a drug-resistant epilepsy medication.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
A giant Rio Tinto robot has successfully delivered 28,000 tonnes of iron ore in its inaugural journey. Monitored remotely by an operations centre in Perth, the company’s (RIO) autonomous train travelled over 280 kilometres across the Pilbara on July 10, from Rio’s operations in Tom Price to the port of Cape Lambert. The journey, part of Rio Tinto’s $940 million AutoHaul programme which is on schedule to complete by the end of the year, aims to unlock safety and productivity gains for the company. Once commissioned, the network will be the world’s first heavy haul, long distance autonomous rail operation. The programme will optimise Rio’s iron ore system by providing more flexibility and reducing bottlenecks, Rio Tinto said.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Rio Tinto has told the market that the completion the sale of its stake in world’s second-biggest copper mine to Indonesia remains up in the air. Global mining giants Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto had agreed to hand over control of the Grasberg mine to Inalum, an Indonesian state-owned mining company, moving closer to resolving one of the world’s most prominent recent battles over resource wealth. But in a statement this morning, Rio said that while companies involved have committed to working towards a deal before the end of the second half of 2018, there is no certainty that the $US3.5bn ($4.73bn) sale of its stake in the operation will be completed, given the terms that remain to be agreed upon. Any final agreements will be subject to approval by the necessary government regulators and authorities, Rio Tinto said. Thursday’s agreement comes after years of tense negotiations and follows moves by governments around the world, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Tanzania, to wrest control of mines and take a bigger cut of profits. The deal also illustrates the dilemma facing large mining companies, which often sink billions of dollars into projects in far-flung places only to face unpredictable laws and yearslong battles.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Telstra is in the box seat to snare the rights to even more major sporting events by rolling out a broadcast technology its rivals Optus and Vodafone lack. It is using LTE-broadcast technology, which lets one broadcast source share high-definition quality streaming vision to potentially millions of its customers, without consuming excessive network resources. While it didn’t have rights to the World Cup, Telstra in May secured a five-year digital streaming rights deal with Football Federation Australia. Telstra’s sporting offering already includes AFL, NRL, AFLW and netball. Telstra is sub-leasing the FFA rights from Foxtel, in which it is a shareholder along with News Corp, publisher of The Australian, until 2023. Yesterday, Mike Wright, Telstra’s group managing director of networks, revealed the telco had already used the LTE broadcast technology to stream AFL matches, in a partnership with the AFL and Ericsson.
(Source: AIMS)
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