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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Stock Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarius Plat. | AQP | London | Ordinary Share |
| Price Change | Price Change % | Share Price | Last Trade
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | 0.00% | 13.50 | 01:00:00 |
| Open Price | Low Price | High Price | Close Price | Previous Close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.50 |
| Top Posts |
|---|
Posted at 09/7/2015 12:23 by m_n_tomlinson Why would anyone put their hard earned here, knowing the hedgies could wipe out another 50% in a trice and on a whim? The manipulators rule here, not the investors. |
Posted at 27/5/2015 16:04 by m_n_tomlinson Well today is the lowest it's ever been and not one single investor in profit. At least it has managed to achieve and accomplished that if anything.. |
Posted at 03/12/2014 14:58 by abryer The unresolved issue of the indigestion law in Zimbabwe not helping either. Will AQP get payment for the 51% handed over to black investors or are they as mugabe has threatened going to just take the it |
Posted at 01/5/2014 10:26 by abryer I'm having to tail swallow my rights because they are held in an ISA. Waiting for AQPN bid to hit 8.75 ( very unlikely) so I do not loose out.I would expect the share price to rise after 9th May, the deadline to give the corporate instruction. Private investors shafted again :( |
Posted at 22/4/2014 09:15 by buywell2 it will run out quicker than many think due to the myriad of problems now in SA it pays to do a bit of research methinks Hectorp 10 Apr'14 - 18:42 - 6052 of 6079 0 0 Still doing business in hell. Probably a good short. But, PLAT and PAL could be in for a rally this year. 22 APR 2014 - 7:56AM Platinum and palladium fall Platinum and palladium fall on the New York Mercantile Exchange after moves to end the South Africa workers strike. Source AAP UPDATED 10 HOURS AGO Platinum and palladium prices have posted the steepest losses in months after companies that mine the metals took a step toward ending a worker strike in South Africa. Platinum for July delivery, the most active contract, on Monday fell two per cent, the biggest one-day percentage loss since the strike began on January 23. The contract ended down $US28 at $US1,400.70 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest price in nearly a month. Palladium for June delivery fell 3.6 per cent, its steepest drop since June 26, and settled at a one-week low of $US777.80 an ounce. Monday was the first day traders could react to the decision by the three biggest platinum producers in South Africa to offer larger pay increases with the aim of ending the 12-week strike. Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum Holdings and Lonmin PLC made the announcement Friday, when the metals markets in London and New York were closed. "The price fall reflects thoughts of supply coming back on line," said Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist with Archer Financial Services, Inc, a futures brokerage in Chicago. But those supplies will take time to reach the market, Klopfenstein said. It can take weeks or even months for a platinum mine to ramp up to full production after a long break. "Anyone who thinks supply is going to come on strong again is making a mistake. Platinum is overshooting the news," he said. About 80,000 workers are on strike in South Africa, which accounts for about 80 per cent of the world's platinum supply and roughly a third of the world's palladium, because the two metals are often found and mined together. While the affected mines have been able to produce the metals by processing ore that was mined before the strike, the ore stockpiles are running low. Friday's offer marked a sign of progress in the negotiations to end the strike. The market's reaction assumes the union will accept the deal, said Bart Melek, senior commodities strategist with TD Securities in Toronto. It also fails to account for the impact of the protracted production halt on expected mine supply, he said. Before the strike, demand for platinum and palladium was already expected to exceed the metal produced by mines and by recycling. Platinum and palladium are mainly used in car-exhaust filters, and demand for the metals has been buoyed by a rebound in global auto sales, Melek said. The strike has reduced production, and now the shortages will be more pronounced. Melek forecasts platinum supply to lag behind demand by one million troy ounces this year, while palladium supply will fall short by 1.6 million troy ounces. Union leaders are due to resume talks with mining company representatives on Tuesday. The head of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, Jeffrey Mphahlele, told The Wall Street Journal that the latest offer falls short of the original demand for a basic monthly wage of 12,000 South African rand ($A1,225.55). "It's not an improved offer," Mphahlele said. "It's like a rubber band. You can stretch it, but when you let go, it returns to the same shape," he said. Some investors expect the rally in platinum and palladium to resume. The price of palladium is up 8.3 per cent this year and platinum has gained 2.1 per cent. "Over time, the market will respond to the supply and demand dynamics that have shifted as a result of these strikes," said Steven Allen, managing member with the $30 million Greenbriar Partners LP, a hedge fund active in commodities in Chicago. Allen said he has been buying an industrial form of platinum, known as sponge, from trading houses as he anticipates a shortage of the metal will drive up platinum prices. "When there's actually a shortage of material, there's going to be a premium placed on the sponge, because that's what the commercial end-users want," Allen said. Sponge is platinum in the form of grains of metal that look like dust. This can easily be applied to car-exhaust filters during the manufacturing process. For palladium, the metal has received an added boost from the conflict in Ukraine. Traders are concerned that the US and Europe will impose sanctions against Russia that will affect palladium supplies. Russia accounts for 42 per cent of global palladium production. "Even the perceived threat of having 50,000 Russian troops on the Ukrainian border is enough to keep the palladium price elevated," said Claudio Oliveira, head of trading with hedge fund Castlestone Management LLC based in Jersey City, New Jersey. The firm manages about $US70 million in assets, including a fund that buys platinum and palladium. Gold prices also moved lower on Monday, with futures closing at the lowest level in more than two weeks as some investors worried that progress in diplomatic talks between Russia and the West would erode demand for the haven asset. Gold for June delivery fell $US5.40, or 0.4 per cent, to settle at $US1,288.50 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the Nymex. |
Posted at 15/4/2014 11:11 by abryer Hopefully some guru can help. If an investor does not have enough cash to buy qualifying shares what are the options? Is there a delay between record date and funding the new shares, basically can you sell old shares to fund the new ones. Obviously doing nothing is not an option. |
Posted at 08/4/2014 15:04 by m_n_tomlinson Is there any point to this investing lark, except to create black holes, mug investors and hand over their capital and cash to shorters and traders? |
Posted at 30/10/2013 12:11 by robseaton [...]The Age of Aquarius? By Trends and Targets | Sun, 27th October 2013 - 13:27 Aquarius Plat. (LSE:AQP) is a share which features in our Master List. This is a collection of over 100 shares for which subscribers require constant updates. Recently, it also featured in our mailbox which tends to suggest a few folk out there 'in the wild' might also be interested. As a result, it becomes an obvious nomination for this weeks published report . I've given two charts against this. The upper one dates back to the age of the dinosaurs and shows something a little scary. During the first part of 2013, Aquarius share price reacted to a trend dating back to May 2008. Until May, the market decided the share was NOT going to be allowed the experience of 'breaking out' and the share price slavishly was walked down the BLUE LINE until the point where it had to be allowed to experience a party with an extravagant breakout dance. Alas, the lower chart illustrates just how extravagant the party really was. The price was allowed to rise by just four pence... This does not send out a good signal to investors, many of whom will be trapped from the heights of 2008 and seeking to 'Average Down' in the hope of this story having a happy ending. We do have some good news. Prior to the price breaking through BLUE, we'd an absolute bottom target of 40p. The share had exceeded that target and we lacked any number below such a level. However, with a miracle movement, the price exceeded the BLUE line which our favourite logic means we must ignore everything which went before. The share can now go up in value. Except it hasn't, really. Instead, it has floundered and is currently regarded as heading to a bottom of 40.5p. As the lower chart shows, this number is not particularly terrifying as it's above the 'abandon hope' Amber Level. So, where's the good news amongst all this misery? The BLACK line illustrates a pretty deliberate series of price movements during Sept/Oct and tells us someone, somewhere, still cares deeply about AQP's share price. As a result, movements above this level would prove to be significant. For such a miracle, the share price need only exceed 49.5p and this will place the price in a zone where growth to an initial 56.5p becomes possible. While this is still not terribly impressive, it would allow the share price to exceed the high since breakout WHICH IS A BIG DEAL and this allows me to dream of further growth to 65p and beyond. Needless to say, the really important number in AQP's future is at 75p. In the event of the share price closing above such a point, selling to take profit may prove a silly error for the longer term as serious growth becomes possible. Finally, the danger numbers. In the event of the price managing to CLOSE below 40.5p, we're looking at reversal to 30p or so. With ultimate bottom of 14p! Which is not good and probably ridiculous for a share which was trading above 8 quid recently? By Alistair Strang, Trends and Targets Ltd |
Posted at 23/5/2013 11:32 by serge gnabry May 22, 2013The Dire State of the Platinum-Palladium Miners David Franklin (dfranklin@sprott.co Sprott Asset Management LP During the third week of May each year, representatives of the platinum industry gather in London, for an event that has become known as 'Platinum Week'. Platinum Week centers on an industry dinner sponsored by the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM) which marks the anniversary of the inauguration of the London Platinum Quotation (the forerunner of the present London Fixings) in 1973. This event is attended by platinum group metals (PGM) producers, refiners, fabricators and traders. The first major event of the week is the publication of Johnson Matthey's annual review of supply and demand for the PGM markets. According to Johnson Matthey, the platinum market was in deficit by 375,000 ounces in 2012, close to their forecast made last November. The palladium market was also undersupplied but by a much larger margin of more than 1 million ounces. For platinum and palladium, this was a reversal of the position a year earlier when both were in surplus. Gross demand for these metals continues to recover from the slump in 2008. Overall, gross demand for platinum fell by only 50,000 ounces year-over-year to 8.045 million ounces, a stronger performance than might have been expected. The automotive market has been a major focus of attention and we believe that many observers will be surprised that demand from this sector grew from 3.185 million ounces in 2011 to 3.24 million ounces last year. In Europe, auto catalyst demand fell from 1.505 million ounces to 1.33 million ounces as the car industry continued to slow. The surprise growth in demand comes from the Chinese jewelry market, where demand grew strongly to 1.95 million ounces. According to Mitsui, in net terms Chinese jewelry demand was larger than gross automotive demand for platinum in Europe for only the second year ever. The launch of a platinum ETF in South Africa is also positive for demand this year. The ABSA fund has already purchased 283,000 ounces of platinum as of the 17th of May. Overall we view the demand statistics from 2012 as very bullish for platinum and palladium in 2013. While demand is expected to remain solid for 2013, the bull case for the PGM story is on the supply side. As we analyze the state of the miners, their situation is getting progressively worse, even more so than we expected. Investors in platinum stocks have dumped their shares in a panic over the last six weeks, fearing that the platinum sector is in terminal decline. Since April the sector has fallen by 20%, bringing the cumulative decline for the year to 30%. What has caused this exodus? The results coming in from the PGM miners have been awful. Take Impala Platinum, the world's second-biggest producer of the metal, which said that more of its shafts are producing at a loss as prices decline and costs rise. "These units are being monitored on a continuous basis to determine their ongoing viability." According to 'Implats', average extraction costs increased 23% to 15,957 rand ($1,766) an ounce for the nine months through March from a year earlier.1 This implies that at today's platinum price, Implats is losing close to $300 per ounce produced. For a longer-term view of the industry, we were intrigued by an article by David Holland and Brian Kantor entitled: "Thinking in the same old way will not rescue the platinum industry". The analysis highlights why we have had such a negative view on the miners. For this study the authors aggregated the historical financial statements of the five largest South African platinum miners (Anglo American Platinum, Impala, Lonmin, Northam and Royal Bafokeng) and calculated the inflation-adjusted cash flow return on operating assets ("CFROI"), which is the real measure of return on capital for the industry. The glory days for platinum mining were between the years 1999 to 2002 and provided the first wave of extraordinary fortune for platinum miners. The real return on capital exceeded 20%, making it one of the most profitable industries in the world at that time (the average CFROI for global industrial and service companies is 6%). The second wave of fortune occurred during the global commodities "super cycle" from 2006 to 2008. Again, platinum mining became one of the most profitable businesses in the world. The good times ended abruptly at the end of 2008, when platinum miners saw their real return on capital drop to 1% - much less than their cost of capital. In 2012, the CFROI in the platinum sector of South Africa's economy was a miserable -0.6%, the lowest return on capital since 1992. Suffice to say, platinum miners are not producing sufficient returns to satisfy shareholders, or to support their operations. This has resulted in unavoidable cost-cutting, lay-offs and scaling back of capital expenditure plans. And what does the future hold? The authors took analysts' expectations for this year and next and estimated the real return on capital at a value destructive level of 0% for this year and a depressed 3.4% until 2017. There is no hint of a return to superior profitability in the share prices of platinum miners. In a nutshell, South Africa's platinum miners are destroying value and are expected to continue to do so. They are in a dire state.2 Adding to this 'perfect storm' for platinum miners are the wage negotiations with the largest union of mineworkers. The South Africa National Union of Mineworkers in two weeks' time will present a demand for a wage increase of "no less than 10%" and up to 60% for its industry members to take effect from July, union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said Monday.3 Given the financial state of the largest platinum miners these new demands will be difficult, if not impossible to meet. This aggressive stance has rattled mining investors after wildcat strikes last year at platinum and gold mines killed 50 people and cost billions in lost output. Investors are not sticking around to find out what happens next with the miners and are taking positions in the metal itself, which we believe will be rewarding in the long term. As reported by Bloomberg, holdings of all platinum ETFs have increased by 30% since the beginning of this year and palladium holdings have increased by 16%. Both are healthy increases over a short period of time, highlighting investors' preference for the metal over the miners. Given the data and opinions provided at Platinum Week, we continue to believe in a bright future for these two precious metals. |
Posted at 22/5/2013 15:59 by serge gnabry Platinum and Palladium: A Fundamental ShiftJeff Clark, Senior Precious Metals Analyst Platinum is a precious metal, as is palladium, though to a lesser degree. However, like silver, both are also industrial metals. Unlike silver, it's their industrial use that is the primary price driver for both platinum and palladium and that use is undergoing a fundamental shift. The largest source of demand for platinum and palladium is the automotive industry, for use in autocatalysts. In turn, the fortunes of the auto industry are sensitive to the health of the world's major economies. We've been bearish on platinum-group metals for years, primarily because we weren't convinced a healthy much less roaring world economy could be sustained when so many governments continue spending beyond their means. We reconsidered the market last year, when strikes in South Africa home to 75% of global platinum production and 95% of known reserves threatened supplies. But as we wrote last December, the strikes ended without great impact on long-term supply. Since then, however, the fundamentals of this market have changed. Others may disagree with our economic outlook, which is still bearish, but it's due to supply issues not demand that our interest is now drawn to these metals, and particularly to palladium. Here's a look at global supply against auto-industry demand for both metals. Approximately 55% of platinum and the bulk of palladium supply was used in catalytic systems last year. The shrinking supply that's under way with both metals is obvious, and palladium is approaching a supply/demand crunch. Here's what's going on... Platinum The fall in platinum supply has been so great that it moved from a surplus in 2011 to a deficit in 2012, with Johnson Matthey estimating that deficit to hit 400,000 ounces, the highest level since 2003. Why the shift? Labor strife and power outages. The mining industry in South Africa is, frankly, a mess. Labor strikes continue to haunt the platinum mining companies. The largest mining union in South Africa, AMCU, recently refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement on worker compensation, and CNBC is predicting a massive strike. Amplats, the world's largest platinum producer, is threatening to cut 14,000 jobs and mothball two operating mines due to various issues. Meanwhile, power outages, a longstanding problem, continue unresolved; they have already forced the closure of some mines and are widely expected to cause further cuts in production. As a result, supply from mining is expected to decline another 10% this year. Recycling. This important source of supply is falling in reaction to lower metals prices. It is estimated that recycling fell by 11% in 2012. Emission systems. Demand for platinum in autocatalysts dropped by 1% in 2012, mostly due to lower vehicle production in Europe and lower market share of diesel engines. However, emission-system demand from Japan and India is expected to increase, and diesel-emission controls recently introduced in Beijing will also support industrial demand for both metals. Auto sales in China rose a whopping 19.5% in the first two months of the year and are 6.5% higher in the US than a year ago. Jewelry. Worldwide demand for platinum jewelry rose last year, with strong demand coming from China and growth in India, and is mainly the consequence of lower prices. Jewelry accounts for 30% of total platinum demand. Investment. Although it represents just 6% of total demand for the metal, investor demand nonetheless grew 6.5% last year, adding to pressure on supplies. Given these factors primarily the first one a supply deficit stretching into 2014 seems almost certain. Until South Africa can resolve its labor and power issues, pressure on platinum supply will remain, producing a favorable environment for rising prices. Palladium Palladium, platinum's "little brother," also faces a market imbalance. In 2012, the deficit totaled 915,000 ounces, the highest level since 2001. Supply. Russia is the second-largest producer of palladium, and some analysts report that rumors of its stockpile being close to depletion are true. Recycling is also falling, and production disruptions in South Africa the largest producer of palladium are the same as outlined for platinum. Overall supply of the metal is falling. Demand. Autocatalytic demand rose by 7% in 2012, as palladium can be easily substituted for platinum in emission-control systems for gas-powered motors (but not diesel-powered ones), such as are favored in China and India. In fact, several experts we consulted were more bullish on palladium than platinum due to this "substitution factor" and China just mandated catalytic systems for all cars in the country. Palladium investment demand was positive last year, though palladium jewelry has yet to gain traction in China, one of the world's biggest jewelry markets. Total jewelry demand for palladium was 11% lower in 2012. However, we expect a greater shift to palladium in the expanding Asian automotive market, which in turn will boost palladium prices. The fundamental drivers of the palladium market are similar to those for platinum, which makes the palladium market an equally attractive investment. If this all weren't bad enough, most companies' production costs are now above current platinum and palladium prices. This can only be solved one way: higher metals prices. Bottom Line The supply disruptions in South Africa combined with secondary factors have led to deficits in both metals that won't be erased overnight. Such imbalances, together with mainstream expectations of global economic growth, create a favorable environment for PGM price appreciation. This much seems like a safe bet. There is, however, a great deal of speculative upside in the not-inconceivable case of South Africa going off the rails in a major way. Massive not marginal supply disruptions in the world's main source of both metals would send their prices through the roof. You get this speculative potential "for free" when you bet on the more conservative projections that call for rising prices regardless. While we wait for our gold positions to rebound, an investment in platinum and palladium could be very profitable. How to invest? You can learn which company is our #1 pick for this space with a risk-free trial subscription to BIG GOLD. Note: our longer-term outlook remains in place: most G7 economies are not fundamentally sound and continue to print money. Gold is still our priority asset class, so we don't recommend that investors replace their gold holdings with platinum and palladium investment vehicles. This PGM trend is simply an addition to and diversification of our current investment strategy. Share or Comment on "Platinum and Palladium: A Fundamental Shift" by Jeff Clark |
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