Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- ROST -27.7%, BAH -4.8%, DE -3%, AMAT -1.1%
Other news:
- FHTX -15.5% (provides update on Phase 1 study of FHD-286; FDA initiates partial clinical hold)
- BURL -11.4% (in sympathy with weak ROST earnings)
- TJX -3.7% (in sympathy with weak ROST earnings)
- ATRA -3.1% (ATRA says Bayer (BAYRY) intends to end licensing agreement for next-gen mesothelin-directed CAR T-cell therapies)
- KSS -2.3% (Macellum Issues Statement Regarding the Kohl's Board's Apparent Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Failure to Disclose Material Information Prior to 2022 Annual Meeting)
Analyst comments:
- PSTG -1.9% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities)
- HPE -1.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities)
- WIX -1% (downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley)
- FRPT -0.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- DECK +14.6%, PANW +12.3%, FL +4.8%, FLO +3.7%, AINV +3.5%, VFC +3.1%
Other news:
- CDXC +10.2% (to launch commercial joint venture in mainland China)
- NIO +8% (officially listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange)
- ALLK +6% (files for $250 mln common stock offering)
- CRWD +5.1% (in sympathy with strong PANW earnings)
- ANIK +5% (receives FDA 510(k) clearance for the X-Twist knotless fixation system expanding its sports medicine soft tissue portfolio)
- ZS +4.9% (in sympathy with strong PANW earnings)
- MAXN +3.8% (appoints Philippe Costemale as New COO)
- FTNT +3.6% (in sympathy with strong PANW earnings)
- MRTX +3.2% (submits marketing authorization application for adagrasib to the EMA; also upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim)
- LPLA +2.9% (reports activity highlights for April)
- DASH +2.9% (authorizes new $400 mln share repurchase program)
- CVLG +2.9% (names new CFO; also announces new $75 mln stock repurchase auth)
- BBIO +2.7% (Affiliate Phoenix Tissue Repair Announces Positive Results from Phase 2 Trial of PTR-01)
- SLQT +2.5% (CFO to step down)
- OKTA +2.5% (in sympathy with strong PANW earnings)
- ARNC +2.5% (to pursue the sale of its Russian operations)
- SEDG +2.3% (SEDG and Huawei agree on global patent license agreement)
- MTCH +2.3% (withdraws temporary restraining order in response to (GOOG / GOOGL) concessions)
- DVN +2% (ENLC DVN and MPLX to move forward with construction of Matterhorn Express Pipeline)
- MPLX +1.8% (ENLC DVN and MPLX to move forward with construction of Matterhorn Express Pipeline)
- MYE +1.5% (CFO to step down)
- EQH +1.3% (increases dividend)
Analyst comments:
- OLLI +6.4% (upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA Securities)
- TREX +3.1% (upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Exane BNP Paribas)
- APD +1.7% (assumed with an Outperform at Credit Suisse)
- CMA +1.3% (upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert Baird)
Early premarket gappers
- Gapping up:
- DECK +13.7%, CDXC +13.1%, RDUS +11.3%, PANW +11.2%, CRWD +5.5%, ALLK +5.3%, ZS +5.3%, FTNT +4.3%, NIO +4.1%, MAXN +3.8%, FLO +3.7%, DASH +3.6%, AINV +3.5%, LPLA +2.9%, CVLG +2.9%, DVN +2.8%, ARNC +2.5%, VFC +2.5%, OKTA +1.8%, SEDG +1.5%, MPLX +1.1%
- Gapping down:
- ROST -27.7%, FHTX -24.9%, BURL -8.3%, ATRA -3.5%, TJX -3.3%, AMAT -1.8%, EVLV -0.5%
Who said camping gear can’t be sexy?
Gorpcore just went up a notch
McDonald’s departure from Moscow marks the end of an era
Thirty-year-old predictions about Russia’s post-Soviet future now look like western hubris
Italy increases Russian crude imports despite EU embargo plan
Refinery in Sicily forced to buy more oil from Russia in unintended consequence of sanctions
Italy has increased its imports of Russian crude despite EU efforts to end ties to Russian energy in an unintended consequence of western sanctions against the Kremlin.
Russia has exported about 450,000 barrels per day of crude to Italy this month, more than four times as much as in February and the most since 2013, according to Kpler, a commodity data company. As a result, Italy is set to overtake the Netherlands as the EU’s largest import hub for seaborne Russian crude. Two-thirds of those exports are destined for Augusta, a port in Sicily near the Russian-controlled ISAB refinery.
The refinery, which is owned by Moscow-based company Lukoil, used to secure a variety of supplies worldwide thanks to credit lines from European banks. Although Lukoil is not under sanctions, lenders have stopped providing financing after the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, forcing the refinery to rely solely on supplies from its parent company, according to government officials, bankers and union leaders with knowledge of the shipments.
“It’s paradoxical, the EU wanted to penalise Russian energy imports but here it’s actually been incentivised by the sanctions,” said Alessandro Tripoli, secretary-general of the FEMCA CISL union for the Syracuse and Ragusa provinces in Sicily.
“Only 30 per cent of ISAB’s crude was Russian before the sanctions, now it’s 100 per cent because Italian banks blocked the refinery’s credit lines so Lukoil has become its only supplier.”
The growing crude shipments to Russian-owned refineries in the EU come as the bloc is working on ways to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels and underline the complexity of implementing an embargo on Russian oil imports, as Brussels has urged.
ISAB processes up to 22 per cent of Italy’s crude and exports to dozens of countries. Founded in 1972, it was acquired in 2008 by Litasco, a Switzerland-based entity controlled by Lukoil.
Russian crude exports have also jumped to the port of Trieste, close to Italy’s north-eastern border with Slovenia. The port is connected via the Transalpine pipeline to two refineries in Germany that are part-owned by Rosneft, another Russian energy company.
The surge in crude shipments comes as Italian prime minister Mario Draghi has made it a priority to reduce the country’s dependence on Russian gas in a big foreign policy shift. He wants the EU to implement an embargo on imports of Russian oil, but Hungary has so far said it will not accept such a ban.
ISAB is one of the local area’s largest employers and workers’ unions and local politicians warn that a Russian oil embargo would cause the immediate shutdown of the refinery and severely damage the local economy. It includes other large petrochemical plants and many smaller companies that are part of their supply chains.
“Should an EU embargo enter into force, they will have no crude oil to refine any more and will be forced to close down,” said Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at Bruegel, a think-tank. “In this case, given the effects on energy security and jobs, governments might need to temporarily nationalise these assets.”
Officials in Rome said the government wanted to avoid the refinery’s shutdown in case of an escalation of economic sanctions against Russia and is studying the viable options under domestic and international law. Officials at the Ministry of Economic Development said nationalisation was not at present on the table.
ISAB declined to comment. Lukoil and Rosneft Deutschland did not respond to a comment request.
Most oil enters Europe via the sea on tankers but crude oil supplies also come through the Druzhba pipeline from central Russia to refineries in Belarus, Poland, Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Some Kazakh oil is also exported from Russian ports but Viktor Katona, of Kpler, said these deliveries were routine and steady.
Flows along the Druzhba pipeline to Germany in May to date are below 300,000 b/d, according to data from OilX, an energy analytics group, but seaborne exports to Germany have plummeted to zero, meaning Italy is poised to become the continent’s largest importer of Russian crude.
M&C Saatchi agrees £310mn takeover by Next Fifteen
Deal comes after UK ad agency rejects lower offer from largest shareholder
M&C Saatchi has agreed a £310mn takeover by Next Fifteen, days after the advertising group rejected a lower “hostile” offer from the investment vehicle of its largest shareholder Vin Murria.
The move from Next Fifteen, a larger communications and marketing company, follows months of wrangling over M&C’s future after the takeover attempt by Murria, a serial tech entrepreneur who owns a 12.5 per cent stake in the company.
M&C, a UK ad agency founded by the Saatchi brothers and known for its ties to the Conservative party, this week rejected Murria’s sweetened offer of £254mn through AdvancedAdvT, also known as ADV.
Gareth Davis, M&C’s chair, described the offer by the deputy chair Murria as “derisory”.
M&C’s independent directors on Friday instead gave their unanimous support for a higher £310mn cash and shares offer from Next Fifteen, a listed communications group with a market value of around £1.2bn.
Tim Dyson, chief executive of Next Fifteen, said it would bring together “two highly complementary businesses”.
“Bringing M&C Saatchi into the Next Fifteen group provides us with a step change in our scale and global reach,” he said.
Davis expressed his support for “this alternative, more attractive offer which we are confident is in the best interest of M&C”.
He said the independent directors “consider Next Fifteen’s offer to be far superior to the offer announced earlier this week by ADV, and a clear repudiation of ADV’s response statement that it strongly disagreed its bid undervalued M&C Saatchi”.
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