It was a tough week for EML Payments as more fraud challenges struck. The company discovered fraudulent activity in its Sentential business on Tuesday. The company said the scheme, which involved a group of dodgy merchants in the direct debit-processing game, resulted in a loss of $7.9 million.
EML (ASX:EML) reassured investors that it was “undertaking an investigation” and “taking steps to investigate and understand the circumstances of the fraud and has commenced steps to recover any losses”. In a statement released in July, EML said the bank had “identified deficiencies in aspects of the remediation program.”
Its shares have dropped 73 per cent so far this year and last traded at 90 cents.
Tesla splits stocks
Tesla announced on Wednesday that it had completed its second stock split in two years. Earlier this year the company offered a split which shareholders voted in favor of at the August 4 Annual meeting. Under the 3-for-1 split, investors are allocated two additional shares for each share owned.
Seth Goldstein, an equity analyst, nudged Tesla’s fair value a fraction higher on Thursday, to $255 from $253.33, after a stock split took effect in late August. Goldstein’s outlook for the electric vehicle maker is little changed, however.
“We still forecast the company to deliver about 1.5 million vehicles in 2022 as production ramps back up at Shanghai and volumes start coming in for the two new factories that came online earlier in the year,” he says.
Tesla shares have dropped 26 percent so far this year and are selling for $296.07 a share.
KKR calls it quits
KKR ditches $88 a share offer for Ramsay Health Care KKR has abandoned its $88-a-share takeover offer for Ramsay Health Care. The proposal, made in April this year, was withdrawn on Friday when KKR sent a letter to Ramsay indicating that the deal was off.
The healthcare company was placed in a trading halt on Friday morning following the announcement. But in a further announcement by Ramsay (ASX:RHC) just after midday on Friday, the company revealed a separate proposal put to Ramsay by KKR.
The private equity firm suggested Ramsay shareholders would received $78.20 in cash for its Australian operations. Shareholders with less than 5000 shares can get full $88 per share in cash.
Trading had been halted before the announcement and the stock ended the day down 3.3%.
Zip reveals further losses
Australian buy now, pay later company Zip Co (ASX:ZIP) has reported its FY22 results making its share price fall 8% larger. The company reported a 48.7% spike in losses before tax, which took them to $1.1 billion for fiscal 2022, compared to $743 million the prior year.
Lead reminder services co-founder and CEO Larry Diamond had an update with the news as well. “I also want to note that we’ve already done much to deliver on initiatives to reduce cash burn, manage credit losses, and improve unit economics,” he says.
Its chief operating officer and co-founder, Peter Grey, also commented on the shift in consumer behaviour as the cost of living continued to rise due to inflation. “There have been small reductions in some of the discretionary spending categories,” he told the Australian Financial Review. "[Zip's account based] ability to service the consumers to bill, groceries, fuel and then some of those transactions have actually, volume has increased quite materially over the second half of this calendar year," he said.
Oz Minerals upbeat on the future
Copper miner Oz Minerals (ASX:OZL) on Friday revealed revenue for the first half was down on the same period last year. Revenue declined 7.8 percent, to $908.6 million from $986 million, and profit before taxes fell 52 percent.
The miner said the increase in inflation had driven concerns about recession, and led to the fall in the copper price from first quarter highs. But the company is optimistic about the future.
The long term copper price outlook is still robust given forecasted global demand for electrification and investments in emissions reduction projects,” Oz Minerals said.
The company’s stock dropped 0.76% during the day to $26 and is down 9.8% so far this year.
