November 2022 - Nic Undergrad Review

Quick Take on Iberian Markets

According to Credit Suisse, Portugal, contrary to the eurozone, is going to escape the recession, predicted for 2023. Although it is expected for the growth to be moderated, the market has demonstrated to be resilient, and Portugal’s real GDP is forecasted to grow 6.7% in 2022 and 0.8% in 2023. The bank also highlights that 2022 will be a good year for alternative investments with hedge funds, expecting above-average profits Portugal’s budget balance has been consistent, reducing its deficit substantially in the last two years.

After the announcement of the Portuguese budget for 2023, two major issues to address are the taxation of cryptocurrencies and a further increase in IMI. One reason for the taxation is the transaction validation process of these currencies that relies on the computational power of thousands of mining machines, which requires large amounts of energy Another factor to point out is the increase in IMI in areas near high urbanistic pressure IMI is a Municipal Property Tax which is updated and must be paid annually by the owners of properties or land in Portugal This measure will have a major impact on local shops and real estate

Iberian Countries have experienced a decrease in inflation rates, being below the eurozone average (10.0%). Portugal reported an annual inflation rate of 9 9% in November, decreasing from its initial 10.1% in October. Meanwhile, Spain, for the fourth month in a row reported a decrease in inflation. In November, it was at 6 8%, down from 7 3% in October It peaked In July, at 10 7%, and has been decreasing ever since. We can also compare these values to those last year and point out that its falling can be attributed to the VAT cut on gas and electricity which eased energy inflation since in autumn 2021 energy prices rose sharply. INE, also, announced that producer prices fell again in October since it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to implement new price increases as demand has fallen and inventories have risen sharply In Portugal, even though, this decrease was not as significant, both energy and cost for non-processed food slowed slightly.

The Spanish Bank, Santander, (RED) created a fund destined to fight SIDA’s disease. The fund started to be commercialized in Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other regions where Santander Private International Banking operates. To support this cause, it will donate 15% of its management shares.

Galp concluded on 12 November its plan of repurchasing 1.71% of its shares. According to the company, its plan started on May 12 and it aimed to increase the value of its stocks in the market Therefore, all the shares repurchased will be cancelled by the end of the year. Their company policy allows them not only to distribute payments to actionists as dividends but also has additional components such as buybacks.

Spain is advancing with measures to alleviate the pressure on home loans, given the accelerated rhythm that variable interest rates, dictated by the European Central Bank, are raising. This measure will have a direct impact on poorer families; however, 3 distinctions must be made to be provided with this help. The first are groups of families, that received incomes of 25 200 per year; the second are the ones with annual incomes of 29 400, and the third one includes a broader range of individuals that want to amortize credit. Banks are not obligated to provide this help continuously if they did it at least once These measures will be implemented on the 1st of January 2023.

House prices in Portugal are breaking records in the real estate market. These overvalued properties can now be compared to prices in richer countries in the European Union This inflationary outbreak in the European real estate market allowed the European Commission to establish a benchmark: Portugal, which currently stands above 20% However, more aggravated cases, like Luxembourg, stand at a higher percentage rate of 60 Portugal’s real estate loan is co-dependent on variable interest rates, which has been aggravated due to the fast rise in the interest rates by the European Central Bank.

Is Luxury the Ultimate Financial Desire?

Fundamentals, social factors and economic indicators that supports the investor’s attractiveness for the Luxury Sector

Introduction

The definition corroborated by the Luxury Industry is inherent to various concepts that diverge from cultures and personal valuations of what a higher quality standard can be translated into. When focusing on the broader meaning of the term, adjectives connoting rarity, exclusivity, refinement, and exuberance can emerge A historical trait presented by the nuance implicated by Luxury is the superiority to the ordinary.

All of these attributes are not only restricted to the traditional categories that pop when remitted to the industry – fashion and jewellery. In fact, these are only included in a small percentage of what the Luxury sector is involved in In the eyes of most consumers, it additionally extends to experiences, namely the ones intrinsic to food and alcohol, travelling, hotels and spas, technology, and cars Accordingly to a BCG 2010 study, an approximation for the value of the global market for luxury, when considering this wider range of the categories, is 1 trillion dollars (Image 1).

Beatriz Almeida

Attractiveness of the Luxury Industry

There is a Luxury Industry Financial Paradox The comparison made between the market cap of other sectors with the luxury one comes to display the relatively small position of the luxury sphere. In fact, the approximated 1 trillion dollars cannot compete with the 10,5 corroborated by the tech industry, for example This disparity can be materialized when looking at the 2021 revenue gap of the 100 luxury heavyweight companies and the net sales of Walmart: the first totals roughly $305 billion and the latter approximately $559 billion

So, what reason supports the high share of attention given to Luxury groups and their brands, namely from the financial community? Why the interest in this industry, even when facing, at a first sight, a market reduced significance?

The breakdown of the stated questions will be mainly supported by the financial information that was made accessible by the publicly traded companies. A characteristic one can name of Luxury segments is their mystique. In fact, that

Image 1- Luxury categories and its market value

goes beyond the fundamentals of the associated brands and is prolonged to the corporate evidence they provide to the public. The Luxury Industry is, indeed, very opaque, most fundamentally, when it comes to disclosing financial insights: many of the brands are private family-owned companies that try to maintain secretive about their performance. Even LVMH, the publicly traded French world leader group in Luxury that comprises more than 75 Maisons, cultivates mystery –their financial results are not divulged by brand but by branch.

Growth Performances and Gross Margins of Luxury Companies

LMVH, Richemont, Kering, Chow Tai Fook and Hermès were highlighted, in 2021, as the companies with the higher revenue generation in the Luxury industry. Notwithstanding, Nestlé, Procter and Gamble, PepsiCo and Unilever are denoted for the same characteristic, but relatively to the Consumable Goods sector

Image 2 represents the average revenue growth for the stated companies during 2018-2021 In fact, it is possible to observe a disparity between the Luxury and Consumable Goods sectors Remitting to the referred sample, the first had an approximate 1% average decrease in Revenues and the latter an increase of about 3,62%. This leads to the conclusion that, when considering just this indicator, the investment in Luxury companies does not corroborate a “financial dream”: it doesn’t support a strong reason for an investment to be made in this sector. This industry demonstrated to be more volatile to the pandemic effects than the Consumable Goods

One explanation can rely on the same fundamentals that followed the drag on the demand for luxury goods in the 2008 recession The pandemic was inherent to profound changes in consumer behaviour. Similarly, to the great recession, the pandemic cracked the financial security possessed by the regular consumer, increasing the awareness of the value of money. On the other hand, Covid required unexpected logistical changes: physical stores were forced to close and there was an urgent need for a quick adaptation (and subsequently poorly studied) to online commerce, which didn’t belong to many luxury companies’ sales policies “Luxury goods

companies are responding positively by focusing more on sustainability in the design and production of luxury goods, and at the same time are accelerating the adoption of digital solutions to engage with consumers and deliver luxury shopping experiences using technology ” (Deloitte) This, along with other various factors, contributed to the decline in the Luxury sector sales.

In fact, the revenue growth in the Consumable Goods Industry was roughly expected, as the pandemic demanded a restriction on indoor life where supermarket goods were crucial for survival. On the contrary, even when constrained to the niche of the wealthy, luxury goods weren’t perceived as a necessity during the social restriction (the necessity to validate a higher consumer power over the ordinary was no longer existent, as social life was removed from the equation). This is corroborated by the 8% average revenue decrease of the luxury companies’ sample for 2020-2021, which stands behind the 12% increase of the top 5 consumable goods companies for the same period.

B Arnault, LVMH’s CEO, stated: “Luxury is the only sector that can provide luxurious margins” (in Capital). The Gross Margin of a business is commonly used as a profitability figure, which is proved to be a fundamental one for financial analysts and investors Enhancing the example of LVMH, Richemont and Kering, the three biggest luxury groups, the 2021 average gross profit margin of these companies lies around 63%

This should not come as a surprise: prices practised by the Luxury sector are, by essence, discriminatory Looking at the social function supported by the industry, the explanation seems simple: demand increases when prices increase. It is possible to distinguish the luxury consumer into two segments: the snobs and the conformists For 5

Image 2- Luxury Companies’ Average Revenue Growth (2018-2021)

Source: BCG 2010

snobs, the value given to a product displays an inverse proportionality relationship with the demand established for it. As a consequence, in order to guarantee the desired exclusivity, this segment has a higher willingness to pay for higher prices. On the other hand, the conformists present a divergent behaviour. Their main aspiration, when buying from the industry, is focused on following a specific trend In this perspective, the value specified to a product increases with its popularity. As a result, and different from many other corporations, Luxury companies’ strategy objectives are focused on the price maximization of their products, instead of establishing a market share dominance

Is Luxury a Low-Risk Industry?

The concrete assessment of the riskiness inherent to the luxury sector cannot be done through the single usage of one indicator or merely by the analysis made of one single fund Common knowledge makes it simple to understand risk is subject to externalities and, therefore, its verification is not straightforward. Nevertheless, the discussion provided below relies on generality, namely intending to provide a good picture of the scenario existent in the industry.

It is crucial to denote that financial risk impacts the firm’s profitability and its capacity to excite the markets The average beta for the top 3 ETFs with a focus on the luxury market - Amundi S&P Global Luxury UCITS ETF, the SPDR MSCI Europe Consumer Discretionary UCITS ETF, and the Emles Luxury Goods ETF has a value of, approximately, 0,87. This is translated into the specific characteristic of these funds to dampen the market swings: these have lower volatility when compared to the market and, therefore, present a low investment risk

The referred sample comes to display, in a generalized manner, the low risk intrinsic to the luxury industry, as demonstrated by the below beta In fact, one cannot contrary the fluctuations of sales of this sector that occur in accordance with the GDP evolution. Nevertheless, this is not accentuated, in comparison with other industries.

When taking into consideration a more specific picture, one can think of the Hermès example: the Maison was able to post a 15% increase in sales right in the middle of the 2009 crisis. Furthermore, singular luxury companies’ betas also prove what

was already stated: LVMH, Pernod-Richard and L’Oréal all present a beta lower than one (0,95; 0,68; 0,76; respectively). Nevertheless, when comparing these values, once again, with the heavyweights’ Consumable Goods companies, such as Coca-Cola and Walmart, with a respective unlevered beta of 0,57 and 0,51, the luxury sector doesn’t seem to stand out

Conclusion

In conclusion, there isn’t just one single factor implied in the justification for the attractiveness of the financial community to the luxury sector. In other words, there isn’t a specific feature inherent to the sector that endorses its partially outstanding operational performance. Luxury groups are inherent to multiple valuations, one offsetting the others The attainment of exceptional performances by some of the biggest luxury companies, makes this industry, in collective terms, be perceived as a massive cash generator, which, therefore, can support one explanation for the sector's attractiveness.

Furthermore, the fact that the top 3 companies in this sector are groups representing many high-end brands isn’t coincidental For example, the justification for LVMH's outstanding results relies on the disproportional weight of Louis Vuitton's profitable contribution, as it can counterbalance poor results attained by other brands integrating the group portfolio. The same can be observed for Richemont and Kering. All of what was stated comes to demonstrate that, the right strategy is one of the biggest contributors to success in the financial field of this industry. Another important factor to take into consideration and that may affect the investment decision o is the huge potential growth the luxury sector has to explore in emerging markets where aspirations to compete for status have just been released

Business Deep Dive: Paloalto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The core product is a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security. The company serves over 70,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including 85 of the Fortune 100 It is home to the Unit 42 threat research team and hosts the Ignite cybersecurity conference.

Markets

Palo Alto Networks is listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker (PANW)

Founded in 2005 by Nir Zuk, a former engineer from Check Point and NetScreen Technologies, the company was the principal developer of the first stateful inspection firewall and the first intrusion prevention system. In 2007, the company produced and shipped its first product, an enterprise firewall. In 2011, Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm, began listing Palo Alto Networks as a leader on its enterprise firewall. In 2019, they were named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant (series of market research reports published by IT consulting firm Gartner) for Network Firewalls for the 8th year in a row. The company debuted on the NYSE on July 20, 2012, raising $260 million with its initial public offering, which was the 4th-largest tech IPO of 2012 It remained on the NYSE until October 2021 when the company transferred its listing to Nasdaq.

Palo Alto Networks' growth over its 17 years history comes from the firm's innovation as well as from strategic acquisitions, including a definitive agreement to acquire Cider Security this year, a Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel-based provider of application security and software supply chain security solutions, BridgeCrew in February 2021, Expanse Inc. in November 2020, Crypsis Group in August 2020, and many others In the last 5 years, the company has gone from 47,96 a share to 169,99 with over $51,39B in Market Capitalization. Currently, the 52-week range stands at 140,07 USD for the low and 213,63 for the high

Rafael Mora Afonso Costa

Price Performance

Source: Blomberg

Industry Overview

In this business deep dive, we will be analyzing Palo Alto Networks, which is part of the cybersecurity industry, being one of its biggest players

The increasing number of cyber threats due to the increase in e-commerce platforms, cloud storage of high value information, either by governments or companies, and even in our quotidian is, undoubtedly, a major risk to our society.

As technology developments take place it is expected that cyber threats will rise since the devices and methods used will be far more efficient. To detect, mitigate and minimize the risk of cyber threats organizations require advanced and disruptive cyber security solutions

This industry is mainly composed by three branches, hardware, software, and services, being the last one the most significant to the industry market size.

Key players in this market are implementing core technologies such as machine learning, the internet of things (IoT), cloud, and big data in their business security units. They are further adopting an IoT and machine learning signatureless security system. This adoption would help the players to understand uncertain activities and trials and identify and detect uncertain threats.

With the rising growth in IoT markets, IoT solutions are gaining popularity across various information security applications Consequently, the adoption of advanced technologies in internet security is considered one of the rapidly emerging market trends Moreover, big data and cloud technology support enterprises in learning and exploring potential risks.

Another trend that aids the market’s growth is the increased option of cloud computing

Growth

The global cyber security market size was valued at USD 184.93 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 12 0% from 2022 to 2030

Organizations adopting a hybrid working scheme, following the trend caused by the pandemic, generate huge opportunities for this industry. Companies have an urgent need to prevent data breaches, which were a significant problem in recent years, causing, among other problems, loss of revenue and brand reputation. It is expected

that in 2021 the average cost of data breaches has increased by 10% over 2020

Due to the political environment, we are presented at this moment, with the war in Ukraine we could see a rise in cyber threats to acquire military advantage As the war keeps extending itself, cyber-attacks have been performed by Russia so they can interfere with the Ukrainian government's planning and strategies. Although this is not a new way of acting in a war as it has already been done by the USA, Israel and China, among others, it is reaching higher proportions and could also be a vast opportunity for this industry.

Business Model

The company is formed by two main segments, Subscription and Support, and Product. Subscription and Support revenue comprises a major proportion of the company’s revenue, having contributed 76% to total Revenues that amounted to 1400 million dollars in Q3 2022. This revenue derives from sales of subscriptions which provide access to the latest antivirus, intrusion prevention, web filtering, malware prevention and data loss prevention to the clients.

When customers acquire the services, they also purchase support to be granted ongoing security updates and repairs, among other problem solutions There is also a range of professional services offered by Palo Alto which include risk management and digital forensic services

As new subscriptions are introduced, existing subscriptions are renewed along with support contracts, therefore more revenue is expected to be generated, both by new and already existing clients.

Substantially, all company’s revenue is generated by sales through channel partners, including distributors and resellers. Product revenue is derived primarily from sales of appliances This mainly accounts for the sales of the company’s Firewall system, which also provides a consistent set of capabilities across the entire network security product line

Additionally, product revenue also comes from revenue generated from software licenses of the VM-Series and Panorama, which include a broad set of built-in networking and security features and functionalities. Product revenue is recognized at the time of hardware shipment or when the delivery of the software license takes place.

Both segments’ revenues have increased on a YoY basis, 34 3% for Subscription and Support, and 24 5% for Product

Peer Analysis

The industry for enterprise security products is intensely competitive and is expected the competition to increase in the future from established competitors and new market entrants Their main competitors fall into five categories: Large companies that incorporate security features in their products, such as Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”), or those that have acquired, or may acquire, large network and endpoint security vendors and have the technical and financial resources to bring competitive solutions to the market; independent security vendors, such as Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (“Check Point”), Fortinet, Inc (“Fortinet”), and Zscaler, Inc (“Zscaler”), that offer a mix of network and endpoint security products; startups and singlevertical vendors that offer independent or emerging solutions across various areas of security; public cloud vendors and startups that offer solutions for cloud security (private, public and hybrid cloud) and large and small companies, such as Crowdstrike, Inc. (“Crowdstrike”), that offer solutions for security operations and endpoint security.

Performance Analysis

Income Statement

More recently, for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 and 2022, total revenue was $1 6 billion and $1 2 billion, respectively, representing year-over-year growth of 25 3% The growth reflects the increased adoption of their portfolio, which consists of products, subscriptions, and support The company went from an increasing $2,274bn in 2018 to $5,502bn in the 2022 fiscal year representing a 4year CAGR of nearly 25% A big part of the growth can be explained by the world moving from onpremises IT to the cloud and the market for cloud security is growing rapidly According to MRA, the cloud security industry is expected to grow at a 24.4% compound annual rate to $123.3 billion in 2032 from $13 9 billion in 2022 Most of its revenue comes from subscriptions and support, representing nearly 75% of the revenues in 2022

Additionally, subscription and support is the area that presented higher growth in revenues, with a 4year 31,3% CAGR, compared with 11,6% of product revenues. Additionally, in the last year subscription and support had an increase of 32% and products 21,7% In what relates to the cost of revenues, subscription is the one that had higher costs growth, with an increase of 35,7%, while products had a 13,7% CAGR.

Respectively to operating expenses, sales and marketing is the one with higher expenditure, representing 54,1% of the expenses in 2022 followed by 36% from Research and Development (R&D) and 10% from General and Administrative Although marketing and sales have the higher expense, R&D expense is the one that is growing more, and it has primarily to do with personnel costs largely because of the increase in headcount This has to do with the technology in the company portfolio which is especially complex and needs to effectively identify and respond to new and increasingly sophisticated methods of attack while minimizing the impact on network performance. Additionally, some of their features and related enhancements may require them to develop new hardware architectures that involve complex, expensive, and time-consuming research and development processes Although they have been growing their revenues, other than fiscal 2012, the company has incurred losses in all fiscal years since inception As a result, Palo Alto Networks had an accumulated deficit of $1 6 billion as of October 31, 2022.

Balance Sheet

Palo Alto's Balance Sheet has been growing over the years. The company has been expanding at an impressive pace consistently over the past few years, driven by growth in cybersecurity spending,

the company's impressive market share, and its acquisition-based growth strategy

The firm uses a high level of financial leverage, and for that reason is important to keep looking at the debt level which is currently at $12bn. With respect to liquidity, we’ve seen a decrease in the current ratio to 0,7 in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year, posing a risk to the company’s ability to cover its short-term obligations The cash ratio showcases again the possible weakness to cover

short-term liabilities and has been decreasing from 0,37 in 2021 and 1,1 in 2020 but is currently, still above some of its competitors such as Cisco Inc. with a 0,14 cash ratio and Fortinet’s 0,17 cash ratio

Cash Flows

Statement of Cash Flows

Palo Alto Networks operating activities generated $20 million in the last quarter; a positive result compared with a $103,6 million loss in the same period of 2021 This result comes after another year with a negative net income with 2022 finishing with less than $267 million, 2021 finishing with a negative net income of $498 million and 2020 with a negative $231,8 million In the last year, the company disclosed $1984,7 million in cash inflows from operations, a cash outflow of $933,4 million from investing activities with most of the outflow coming from a $2271,7 million purchase of investments, and a cash outflow of $806,6 million from financing activities

Valuation and Outlook

Palo Alto Networks released its earnings for the first quarter of 2023 and beat analyst estimates by 20,37% with the stock currently trading at $169,99.

For Palo Alto, the consensus sales estimate of $1.65 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +25.2%. Furthermore, the $6 89 billion and $8 35 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +25.2% and +21.2%, respectively. To manage any future growth effectively, the company must

Investing Financing

continue to improve and expand their information technology in order to keep a competitive advantage In addition, the firm will need to have the ability to manage headcount, capital, and processes in an efficient manner in pursuance of controlling their expenses which have been shown to have a big impact on Palo Alto’s financials, in particular, operating income and consequently net income As part of the company’s strategy, Palo Alto Networks makes investments in complementary companies, products and technologies, having acquired Cider Securities this year There are reports that the company might be looking forward to acquiring other startups in the future, expanding its portfolio.

It is important to look closely at factors such as the increase in interest rates by the Central Banks that will have an impact on the company’s current debt and securities and China’s policies that will impact the production and shipment from their partner Flex, responsible for manufacturing their hardware product lines.

All in all, a good future is foreseeable for Palo Alto Networks and the cybersecurity market where the company operates. The firm continues to grow its revenues at an impressive rate, and management's focus on profitability has yielded stunning results transmitting some confidence in Palo Alto Network’s ability to continue to grow its business.

Source: Paloalto Networks

Source: Paloalto Networks

NIC-UD Fund: Monthly Performance

Outstanding month for the markets sketching a recovery amid signs of an upcoming recession.

Global Markets

Believing there is a path to a “softish landing” in which labour markets cool but the economy does not enter a recession, Jerome Powell signalled Fed will slow the pace of rate rises at the December meeting. As a result, US stocks record the first back-to-back monthly gains since 2021 followed by a sharp rally on the last day of November, with the S&P bringing gains this month to 5.8%. Albeit, US 10-2 Year Treasury Yield Spread has hit, this month, the highest level since Oct 5, 1981 - when interest rates were in double digits - maintaining an inverted yield curve.

In China, Covid restrictions were lifted in Guangzhou and Chongqing after waves of protests against the zero-Covid policy and strictly prolonged lockdowns, amid the worst outbreak since the pandemic erupted Lights of hope spark with respect to the reopening of the Chinese economy, which industrial idleness brought severe challenges

Current Positions

to companies worldwide. Markets have reacted positively to the news, while the price of Brent oil surged 2.3% to $85.01, reversing a monthly downward trend, closing November at $86.74.

Inflation in the Eurozone has fallen for the first time in 17 months reaching 10%, coming below the expected and relieving the pressure from the European Central Bank to maintain the interest rate hiking pace in order to fight price increases A drop in energy price growth to 34.9%, down from 41.5% in October, outweighed a slight rise in food, alcohol and tobacco Core inflation remained stable at 5% though

Regarding the November Manufacturing PMI, it registered 49%, down 1.2% from October, representing the first contraction in the manufacturing sector since May 2020.

In November, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3 7%, in the US

Regarding Capital Allocation, we had some changes in our portfolio adding Alphabet and Johnson & Johnson to our fund, having also liquidated our position in Nextera Energy. The two top performer assets were Meta and Blackline, rising 24 05% and 24 20% respectively, rebounding from the previous month Enterprise Products Partners and British American Tobacco drew on losses, declining 3 30% Despite the good month for stocks, Disney stayed out of the trend, shrinking 7.67%, the worst performer.

Positions Weight on Total Equity

Benchmark Analysis

NIC-UD Share Price (Inception Cumulative Returns)

Monthly Performance

November was an outstanding month for the stock market overall, with all benchmarks displaying strong positive returns, sketching a recovery from past months of underperformance.

The best-performer NYSE FANG+ Index, rising 32.55% had its growth boosted by rate-sensitive tech giants trying to reverse the big losses suffered since the beginning of the year. News on the slowdown in the pace of interest rate hikes had a meaningful impact on the valuation of these companies, decreasing their WACC given the perspective of lower interest rates and quasitamed inflation

The second best performance was the EURO STOXX 50 Index growing 15.85%, marking the seventh week of gains Gains in real estate and retailers drove prices up.

Finally, our fund ended November with an increase in the share price of 9.72%, outperforming the S&P500, MSCI World Index, and PSI 20 but underperforming the remaining ones

Corporate News

The fact that big technology companies are cutting their fixed costs to avoid a bigger trouble believing a recession is upcoming is not new Meta (former Facebook), said in the beginning of the month it would lay off 11,000 employees, representing the most significant job cuts in its history. The main reasons behind that are the challenges to its core business it is facing, along with the uncertainty and costly bet on pivoting to the metaverse.

Sibanye Stillwater has approved a $616M Keliber lithium project in Finland, seeking a foothold in the European battery metals market. The first phase is the construction of the Kokkola refinery, which is expected to produce approximately 15K tons/year of bettery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The Keliber project currently has open pit and underground ore reserves of 12.7mn metric tons grading a 0.92% lithium hydroxide, with significant exploration potential remaining.

Berkshire Hathaway added another technology group to its industrial conglomerate´ s sprawling portfolio, buying $4bn stake in chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), representing 60mn US-listed shares of TSMC. It is now Berkshire´ s 10th biggest US stock holding. It has now become the biggest stockholder of TSMC, with a stake of 1.1%.