Markets
Europe
The FTSE-100 finished yesterday's session 0.10% lower at 7,282.45, whilst the FTSE AIM All-Share index was down 0.14% at 1,043.14. In continental Europe, the CAC-40 finished 0.01% lower at 5,343.93 whilst the DAX was down 0.29% at 12,490.73.
Wall Street
Last night in New York, the Dow Jones fell 299.24 points, or 1.16%, overnight to end the day at 25,410.03. The S&P 500 finished 35.32 points lower at 2,744.28 and Nasdaq dropped 91.11 points to 7,330.35.
Asia
In Asia this morning, the Nikkei 225 was 1.04% lower at 22,157.41 and the Hang Seng was down 1.36% at 30,842.22. The Shanghai Composite was recently down 0.7% at 3,269.1.
Oil
At around 6:00am, WTI crude was 0.56% lower at $62.66 per barrel and Brent crude was down 0.6% at $66.23 per barrel.
Headlines
'China's Netflix' to list on US stock market
Chinese video streaming service iQiyi - often called China's Netflix - has filed to be listed on the US stock market. Owned by online giant Baidu, it plans to raise $1.5bn (£1.1bn) through an initial public offering on the Nasdaq. iQiYi had more than 50 million subscribers by the end of 2017 and an average of more than 420 million mobile users per month, according to Reuters. But while revenues have risen in recent years, iQiyi has never posted a profit since it launched in 2010. In China, it competes with fellow streaming platforms Youku Tudou, which is owned by Alibaba, and Tencent Video. In April 2017, iQiyi signed a licensing agreement with Netflix to steam some of the US provider's original content including Stranger Things and Black Mirror.
Source: BBC News
Company news
Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) 6.40p – Speculative Buy
Savannah Resources announced that it has appointed internationally recognised engineering firm, Hatch to conduct a Scoping Study for the potential mine development of the Mina do Barroso lithium project in Portugal. The Scoping Study will investigate the potential development of a mine and concentration plant based on the Grandao, Reservatorio and NOA spodumene deposits with results expected towards the end of Q2 2018. The current combined JORC (2012) compliant mineral resource estimate stands at 9.1Mt grading 1.03% Li2O for 94,100t of contained lithium oxide for the Reservatorio, Grandao and NOA deposits. In addition to this, Savannah has an initial exploration target of 8-12Mt grading 1.0% to 1.2% Li2O for the three deposits. Within the Mina do Barroso mining licence there are at least eight known lithium-bearing pegmatites.
Our view: We are encouraged with the appointment of Hatch for the Scoping Study given its highly technical team and lithium, more specifically spodumene, experience with design and construction of both concentrators and downstream processing. We look forward to results of the Scoping Study at the end of Q2 2018, which should, assuming positive results, trigger the launch of a Definitive Feasibility Study later in the year. In the meantime, we maintain a Speculative Buy rating on the stock.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Savannah Resources Plc
Solo Oil (LON:SOL) 3.85p – Speculative Buy
Solo has raised £2m at 3.5p. It will use £650k (plus £350k of new Solo shares) to increase its 10% stake in Horse Hill Developments Ltd by 5%. Solo’s 15% interest in Horse Hill Developments will equate to a 9.75% interest in Horse Hill licences PEDL137 and PEDL246 (55 square miles). The balance of the fundraise will be for working capital and potentially new high value, low entry cost investments. Note that the Horse Hill discovery, which flowed at 1688 bopd, is due to be long-term tested in 2Q18. Results depending, it could be developed as soon as 2019.
Our view: By increasing its stake in Horse Hill by 50% Solo will have a more meaningful interest in Horse Hill’s economics and upcoming newsflow. Solo’s assessment of Horse Hill is that the conventional Portland sandstone reservoir is lower risk and underpins the valuation, while the Kimmeridge limestone (which actually produced more than the Portland) offers substantial upside potential. Solo investors can now look forward with extra interest to the 150 day Horse Hill production test, due to start early 2Q.
Beaufort Securities acts as corporate broker to Solo Oil PLC
Latest Video
On Monday, 26th February 2018 David Archer, Chief Executive of Savannah Resources answered questions posed by private investors at the Beaufort offices. Click here to see the interview.