(Alliance News) - One of Canada's biggest gold producer said Monday it plans to list in the UK, after London lost many of its largest gold miners in recent years.
Yamana Gold said it is in advanced stages of the listing process on the London Stock Exchange and intends for common shares to be admitted to the standard segment of the Official List and to trading on the LSE's Main Market in "the next few months".
The company, already listed in the US and Canada, has a market capitalisation of USD5.1 billion according to a US Security & Exchange Commission filing.
Yamana said that in addition to its other listings on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, it believes that a listing on the LSE will bring European investors on to the company's share register. It added that is not intending to raise equity capital in conjunction with the LSE listing.
Yamana is a Canadian-based precious metals producer with significant gold and silver production, exploration properties, and land positions throughout the Americas, including Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
"This is an ideal time to be joining the London market. Yamana is in as strong a position as it has ever been, with a strong and rising cash flow profile, an outstanding portfolio of producing mines and projects, and a number of compelling opportunities to grow organically. We have the balance sheet strength to advance these opportunities while continuing to increase shareholder returns, as evidenced by the three increases to our dividend over the past 12 months," said Chair Peter Marrone.
Fresnillo currently is the only pure gold miner in the FTSE 100, though Polymetal and some other blue-chip miners have gold in their mix. London lost Randgold Resources to a takeover by Canada's Barrick Gold at the start of 2019, and Barrick then came back and bought out Acacia Mining later that year.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,251.00
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Hang Seng: up 0.1% at 25,121.30
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.1% at 22,717.48
DJIA: closed down 62.76 points, or 0.2%, at 26,671.95
S&P 500: closed up 0.3% at 3,224.73
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GBP: firm at USD1.2551 (USD1.2538)
EUR: up at USD1.1465 (USD1.1433)
Gold: firm at USD1,810.58 per ounce (USD1,810.20)
Oil (Brent): down at USD42.85 a barrel (USD43.08)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
1000 CEST EU euro area balance of payments
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House prices in Britain hit a record high this month, with the country seeing a "mini-boom", according to listings site Rightmove. The average price of property coming to market is GBP320,265 this month, up by an average of 2.4%, or GBP7,640, compared to March before the housing market was put on hold. Rightmove noted the 3.7% annual growth is the highest since December 2016. "Properties throughout Britain are finally able to come to market again, and they are doing so at a new record average asking price due to an unexpected mini-boom," Rightmove said. According to listings site Rightmove, the average asking price in England during June was GBP337,884, up 1.9% from March. The June figure represented a 2.9% annual rise.
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The UK government has signed new deals which will provide more than 90 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, according to multiple reports. BBC Radio 4's Today programme and Sky News reported the government has secured an agreement for 30 million doses of a vaccine being developed – and currently at phase two trials – by BioNTech and Pfizer. There has also been an in-principle deal done for 60 million doses of a vaccine that is being developed by France's Valneva. The figure of 90 million is in addition to the 100 million doses of vaccine that are being developed by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca, as well as another at Imperial College London which started human trials in June.
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UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is to set out further measures in response to China's imposition of a tough new national security law on Hong Kong amid growing tensions with Beijing, PA reports. The UK government looks set to follow the example of the US, Canada and Australia and suspend the UK's extradition treaty with the territory – a move that would infuriate China. In a strong signal that he is ready to go down the same route, Raab confirmed at the weekend that he had completed a review of Britain's extradition arrangements as part of the next steps. China was already smarting over the government's decision last week to exclude the tech giant Huawei from the UK's 5G network – reversing a decision in January allowing it a limited role. The Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said Beijing was still evaluating its response to the Huawei ruling. There were reports at the weekend that the the Chinese social media company TikTok had broken off talks to open a global headquarters in Britain.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BARCLAYS CUTS STANDARD LIFE ABERDEEN TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' (EQUALWEIGHT) - TARGET 240 (195) PENCE
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JEFFERIES CUTS BAT TO 'HOLD' (BUY) - PRICE TARGET 3000 (4800) PENCE
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RBC CUTS DCC TO 'SECTOR PERFORM' ('OUTPERFORM') - TARGET 7400 (6000) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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London-based pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline said it is to invest in German vaccine maker CureVac. GlaxoSmithKline and CureVac announced the signing of a strategic collaboration agreement for the development of up to five mRNA-based vaccines and monoclonal antibodies targeting infectious disease pathogens. The company explained that mRNA enables protein synthesis in the human body, carrying the genetic code required for cells to manufacture and express proteins. By using mRNA technology in vaccines and medicines, specific proteins, or antigens, can be produced by the body's own cells, enabling the human immune system to prevent or fight disease. Under the terms of the deal, Glaxo will make an equity investment in CureVac of GBP130 million, representing close to a 10% stake, an upfront cash payment of GBP104 million. The deal also contains a one-time reimbursable payment of GBP26 million for manufacturing capacity reservation, upon certification of CureVac's commercial scale manufacturing facility currently under construction in Germany. Glaxo will fund research and development activities at CureVac related to the development projects covered by the collaboration. CureVac will be responsible for the preclinical-and clinical-development through Phase 1 trials. CureVac's existing Covid-19 mRNA and rabies vaccines research programmes are not included in the collaboration.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Guarantor loans provider Amigo Holdings swung to an annual pretax loss on the costs of addressing customer complaints and named its incoming chair. Amigo said the last 12 months have been a challenging and difficult period, which is reflected in its annual results. For the financial year ended March 31, revenue was GBP294.2 million, up 9% from GBP270.7 million in financial 2019. However, Amigo swung to a pretax loss of GBP37.9 million from a profit of GBP111 million the year before. Amigo said the cost of complaints in the year increased to GBP126.8 million with a remaining balance sheet provision of GBP117.5 million as at March 31. Amigo said it will monitor the macro environment and UK government announcements when considering when to lift its temporary pause on new lending. The company added that its strategic review is ongoing, after a potential sale fell through earlier this year. In addition, Amigo said it hired former Vanquis Bank chair Jonathan Roe as a non-executive director and chair-designate.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Airbus said it has signed a more than GBP500 million contract with the UK's Ministry of Defence to build and launch the Skynet 6A military communications satellite. The deal involves developing manufacturing, assembling, integrating, testing, and ultimately launching the satellite, thereby extending and enhancing the UK's Skynet fleet. The launch is set to take place in 2025. In addition, the French aerospace firm said the contract involves "technology development programmes, new secure telemetry, tracking and command systems, launch, in-orbit testing and ground segment updates to the current Skynet 5 system."
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings
BP Marsh & Partners
Energean (re purchase of Edison E&P assets)
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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