Royal Helium, Air Liquide, Carnival: Competence in Gas!

Royal Helium - The cards are being reshuffled

When we think of gas today, the focus falls on the barbecue's camping bottle or the inexpensive gas heater in the house. If a balloon passes by, it certainly has something to do with hot air or even helium. Helium is a scarce noble gas on our earth. It is used more and more in high technology, the technical cleaning processes, or the cooling rocket boosters.

Canada's Royal Helium Ltd. is focused on exploring and developing a major helium production project in southern Saskatchewan. The land package secured has over 400,000 hectares of prospective land, while the infrastructure could not be better. In this constellation, Royal is one of the largest and most promising helium producers in North America.

Royal's projects, located near highways, roads, cities, and, most importantly, existing oil and gas infrastructure, have been methodically evaluated for helium potential for over two years by helium experts, professional geologists, and Engineers.

CAD 5 million is still available from the last financing in December, which can now be used for further development in 2021. The market expects excellent results here, as the share price has already increased by 200% in just 4 weeks. Sometimes things happen faster than you think.

Last week, the distribution of 4.8 million incentive options from the employee option plan was announced. The subscription price is CAD 0.44 with a term of 5 years. An efficient action to retain skilled personnel in the emerging Company for the long term. Royal Helium currently has a capitalization of only CAD 46 million at a price of CAD 0.73 per share. Our expectation from December has come true; the Helium balloon is already taking off strongly.

Air Liquide - A benchmark in gas

A global leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and healthcare, Air Liquide has approximately 67,000 employees in 80 countries and serves more than 3.7 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide's scientific territory and have been at the heart of the Company's activities since its foundation in 1902.

Worldwide, only the Linde Group can compete in this gas league. Air Liquide's declared goal is to remain a leader in its industry, even after Linde and Praxair's merger. The Company has taken several steps toward its long-term goal of becoming a sustainable Group. The Company's customer-centric transformation strategy aims to achieve profitable, regular and responsible growth over the long term. It is based on operational excellence, selective investments, open innovation, and a network organization that the Group is implementing worldwide in its digitalization strategy.

Air Liquide's sales amounted to EUR 22 billion in 2019 and will remain little changed in 2020. Solutions that protect life and the environment accounted for more than 40% of sales. Chart-wise, the stock at EUR 134 is not far from its all-time high of EUR 142. Air Liquide is a clear benchmark in the gas market.

Carnival - The future of cruises

Covid-19 is to the cruise expert Carnival PLC what the eruption of Mount Vesuvius was to ancient Pompeii. Covid-19 reduced the balance sheet of the indebted Company to rubble. The Group was ultimately able to survive in 2020 only through 2 large capital increases and government aid for the German subsidiary AIDA.

Carnival believes in a future for its business model from 2021 and probably in medium-term herd immunity. Carnival Cruise Line's new ship, the 'Carnival Celebration,' is scheduled to enter service in November 2022. With the traditional steel cut, the cruise group wants to make a statement at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. The 'Mardi Gras' sister ship is the first fleet member to be equipped with environmentally friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will work.

From a rational point of view, there are far more cruise ships on the world's oceans than would be required in a future with a focus on distancing. We believe that 30-40% of the existing capacity will be decommissioned from today's perspective. At around EUR 15, Carnival shares are only 50% above lows, but a whopping 75% below their 2017 high.

Whether the speculation with Carnival and other cruise companies will work out probably depends on the mass vaccinations' duration and their success against ever newer virus mutations. Only when this question has been resolved should it again be a matter of "Full speed ahead!