A busy news day for the ASX on Monday, with Woodside, AusNet, APA, Nick Scali, Huon Aquaculture and Smartgroup all making key announcements to the market. Here are the details.
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Woodside Petroleum seems to have seen the light and now wants to join the great green hydrogen rush.
The company revealed yesterday that it is considering a $1 billion hydrogen plant in WA with construction to start in 2024 subject to a final investment decision.
Woodside has been talking a lot about green hydrogen and getting into the rush and yesterday’s statement confirmed the interested had hardened up.
The phased development at full capacity would be one of the largest of its kind in the world and produce up to 1500 tonnes of hydrogen a day in the form of ammonia and liquid hydrogen.
The announcement follows announcements earlier this month from Fortescue metals chair, Andrew Forrest that his company’s Future business division would build a plant to make electrolysers in Gladstone, would work with Incitec Pivot on a green ammonia business in Brisbane and has pledged support for the NSW government’s green hydrogen plans.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said on Monday Woodside would fully fund the construction and operation of the project.
Earlier this month Mr McGowan said the WA government would help Fortescue Future Industries or Mr Forrest establish a green hydrogen business in that state. He made that comment after the Queensland deals were announced.
Yesterday, Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said H2Perth’s hydrogen and ammonia would be zero emissions for both Woodside and its customers.
“The land being leased from the State Government in the Kwinana and Rockingham areas is ideally located close to existing gas, power, water and port infrastructure, as well as a skilled local residential workforce,” Ms O’Neill said.
The announcement of land being made available to Woodside comes less than two months before Woodside plans to give the go-ahead for its carbon-rich $US12 billion Scarborough LNG project off the state’s northwest coast.
The announcement was liked by the market with the shares up 3.7% to $24.13 because of the repeated use of the phrase ‘green hydrogen’.
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AusNet and APA have downed weapons long enough to grant each other due diligence on a bid that would see the two infrastructure players merge to form a $17 billion giant.
That’s if the Canadian group Brookfield doesn’t get to win the hand of AusNet after it finished its due diligence on its $9.6 billion – $2.50 a share – offer for the company.
APA is offering $1.82 cash and 0.0878 APA stapled securities per AusNet share.
“AusNet is continuing to provide Brookfield with due diligence access and continuing to engage with Brookfield on its indicative, non-binding and conditional proposal of $2.50 cash per AusNet share,” AusNet said yesterday.
“The AusNet Board is committed to continuing to act in the best interests of all shareholders by facilitating competitive tension and working towards securing a binding proposal for shareholders to consider.”
“The AusNet Board notes that there is no certainty that either Brookfield or APA will submit a binding proposal.”
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Meanwhile Brazilian meat giant JBS has been cleared to takeover Tasmanian salmon farmer Huon Aquaculture after the bid got the green light from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
The approval means JBS can now move to make the half a billion dollar offer formal.
Huon notified told the ASX on Monday that FIRB had raised no concerns with the takeover, which is priced at $3.85 a share and has the backing of Huon’s founders and majority shareholders, the Bender family.
“The FIRB decision is another important step in securing the future of Huon, our 800-plus employees and the hundreds of Tasmanian businesses that work with our company,” Huon chairman Neil Kearney said in a statement.
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Furniture retailer Nick Scali says trading has picked up noticeably since NSW re-opened from its pandemic lockdown earlier this month.
CEO Anthony Scali told the AGM yesterday “October trading has been buoyant since the re-opening of New South Wales on October 11th and we expect the same to occur in Victoria when it opens.
He said the company’s new orders written since the financial year started “will only convert to revenue in the second half of FY 22.”
He said new orders placed in the quarter were down on a year ago because 55% 55 per cent of the company’s total store network was shut due to various lockdowns.
“Online sale orders grew in all states and was exceptionally strong in those states that were in lockdown,” Mr Scali told the meeting.
“Whilst we have a strong order bank, it is difficult to forecast sales revenue and profitability for the second quarter given the continued supply chain disruptions we are experiencing,” he said.
“These include the Vietnam lockdown, shipping delays, container availability and port congestion.”
Shares dipped just on 1% to $14.47.
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And finally, after a spate of successful takeover bids, the $1.4 billion offer for listed salary packager Smartgroup has fallen over after US private equity group TPG and its partners cut their offer price.
“The Consortium has informed Smartgroup that it does not intend to proceed with the Proposal to acquire Smartgroup at $10.35 per share. Accordingly, discussions with the Consortium in relation to the Proposal have now ceased and the exclusivity provisions under the Confidentiality Deed between the Consortium and Smartgroup have terminated,” it says.
Smartgroup says the consortium has expressed its interest to proceed with a revised proposal at a reduced offer price of $9.25 per share in cash, which would represent a 17.7% premium to the closing share price on 28 September 2021.
The original offer was pitched at a 32% premium to Smartgroup’s share price at the time which was trading below $7.90.
The stock closed on Friday at $9.34 but they tumbled more than 15% in the first 10 minutes of trading to $7.89.
The lowered offer price came after the TPG-led consortium completed the four weeks of due diligence they had secured last month.
“The company’s focus continues to be the delivery of sustained earnings and dividend growth for Smartgroup shareholders. The company is currently on track to deliver CY21 financial performance in line with consensus expectations.”
