• The ASX has closed lower by 0.9%
  • Elon Musk takes the reins at Twitter and immediately fires everyone in the room
  • Potentia’s making an aggressive play for Nitro Software. Again.

 

Aussie markets are down for the day, with a dreadful result from Materials, dragging everyone into the dirt for good measure. There’s been plenty of stuff happening all over the place, so let’s do a speed-run through and see how much we’ve learned and earned for a Friday.

 

FROM THE HEADLINES

It’s been a big day for Twitter and Elon Musk, after Captain Sperg the Spaceman took the reins at the Relentless Internet Screaming Machine.

Musk plucked a leaf from Uncle Joe Stalin’s Book of Being In Control, by rounding up Twitter  CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde and having them shot.

… apologies, it seems that “terminated immediately” can mean two things. My bad.

Elsewhere, and the world remains on Tenterhooks as YeWatch2022 continues relentlessly.

The music star, who recently renamed himself “Ye” before morphing into “The Artist Formerly Known As A Billionaire”, reportedly fronted up to the headquarters of Skecher (a shoe brand famous as the sneaker of choice for meth-riddled ravers and slightly-heavy housewives).

We assume it was to talk to them about pivoting his Yeezy shoe brand into a new deal, after Adidas told Ye “Nay” and dumped him from their designer line up.

The only problem there was that Ye forgot to tell anyone at Skechers he was coming, so he was given a frosty welcome.

Ye left the building with his head held high, and his feet held higher, after security forcibly removed him.

 

FROM THE MARKETS

Not what you’d call a Fantastic Friday, but we’ve seen a lot worse so we should just feel blessed about having a market to feel crap about at all.

The benchmark is worming its way towards a 0.9% slow-n-steady drop – a long, drawn out decline, like a least-favourite Great Uncle Ian, who (despite a number of normally fatal medical conditions and several quite meticulously planned attempts on his life, just won’t. bloody. die.

Materials is to blame. There, I said it. The diggers are down 3.25% for the day, which is simply unacceptable, so they can all expect a summons to the Headmaster’s quarters for a rather stern talking to.

InfoTech also sank, down 2.0%. They’re trying to blame excessive ping for being off-target, but we all know that’s a lie.

The best of the sectors were Utilities (+1.14%) and Real Estate (0.93%) – and the fact that I’ve just signed a new lease and had the gas and power connected is just a coincidence. I hope.

 

FROM THOSE OTHER MARKETS

Quick lap of the neighbourhood sees Shanghai down 0.83%, Hong Kong down a surprisingly high 2.32%, Japan down -0.57% and US markets still closed because it’s like midnight there or something dumb, and everyone’s asleep, so shhh.

Other stuff might have happened in other places, but we’re outta time so that’s all you’re gonna get from me… but Christian’s Weekly Wrap is a solid ‘on the bog’ read, and he’ll know more about World Affairs than I do, anyway… so go read that as well.

 

FROM THE TOP END OF TOWN

It’s not been a great day for a lot of companies sporting a $1 billion+ cap perched upon their head – there are seven of them in absolutely the performance chart that you don’t want to be on, and five of them are from materials and energy.

New Hope (ASX:NHC) copped the worst of it, shedding 10.5% as part of a broader “we’re just not feeling it” sell-down today, and crowd favourite Sayona (ASX:SYA) is down 9.2%, because it went up the other day.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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There’s been a bit of a reshuffle at the top of the small caps chart since lunchtime, but Tempo (ASX:TPP) is still riding highest despite easing somewhat from the dizzying heights of its $0.02 per share thunderbolt this morning.

At lunch TPP was up 75%, but it eased to a far more sensible 54.5% as the trading day draws to a close.

Likewise, Winsome Resources (ASX:WR1) has Lostsome Gains, stepping down from its 44% rise to rest near the +26% mark, and fellow Materials winner Cobre (ASX:CBE) had climbed around 35% since brekky but gave back a chunk of it, up 27% by day’s end.

A late bolter for the day in the small caps race is Marley Spoon (ASX:MMM), which has shot up 33.3% this afternoon on news that it’s done such a bang-up job teaching lonely single men how to not eat dinner straight from a tin, that it’s on track to deliver on full year guidance, which the courier has been instructed not to leave in the sun if you’re not home when it arrives.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the least best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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LAST ORDERS

Australian clean energy Company Pure Hydrogen Corporation (ASX:PH2) has received some news from the Tax Office, and is (obviously) happy to reveal that it’s received its R&D Tax Incentive Payments for the years ended 30 June 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

That’s clearly quite a lot of years, so the payment is a lot of dollars… 5.8 million of them, to be precise.

There’s been a bit fo back’n’forth over these payments, so PH2 is super-happy to finally have the funds in the bank – and the company says that there are still payments owing for FY 2014 and 2022, so there’s more lovely mun-muns on the way.

In “we wanna buy all of you” news day, Nitro Software (ASX:NTO) is once again in the business of fending off advances from financially amorous suitors, after rumbling rumours of a potential takeover offer turned out to be true.

A quick revision and then today’s news: on 31 August 2022, Nitro rejected the Potentia Consortium’s takeover proposal of A$1.58 cash per share

Since then, there have been spotty reports of other consortiums and companies, dressed in their Business Finest, a box of chocolates in one hand and a bouquet of folding money and wilting wilting roses in the other.

But today, Nitro’s attention was once again caught by the arresting sight of Potentia (via the Technology Growth Capital LLC) standing on the front lawn holding a boom-box over its head and cry-shouting something about “$1.80 cash per share”.

Nitro’s in a halt while it considers its options, sitting at $1.73 – but Potentia has reminded Nitro that it already controls a 19.8%, and it’s hungry for more.

 

TRADING HALTS

Mt Monger Resources (ASX: MTM) – Capital raise.

American West Metals (ASX:AW1) – Capital raise.

Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) – Capital raise.

DXN (ASX:DXN) – Update on the sale of business assets.

Pushpay Holdings (ASX:PPH) – Pushpay is prepping a material announcement. Stay tuned.

HITIQ (ASX:HIQ) – Capital raise.

Nitro Software (ASX:NTO) – Takeover offer that we already told you about.

 

Annnd that’s it from us for the week. HAve a bonza weekend and we’ll meet you back here on Monday for more Small Cappy Good Times.

 

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