This ASX internet of things (IoT) share released an ASX notice this morning. It announced that Buddy Technologies shares will be suspended from ASX quotation "until further announcements in this regard".

Shortly afterwards, the company put out another release. This one confirmed that "Christopher Hill and David McGrath of FTI Consulting were appointed joint and several Receivers and Managers… of Buddy Technologies… pursuant to security held by Partners for Growth VI, L.P ('PFG')".

Here's more of what the release said:

The effect of the appointment is that the Receivers are now in control of the Company's assets, shares in its subsidiaries, undertaking and operations…

In addition, PFG has provided BUD with a limited funding facility to allow the Group to continue to trade in the short term during the receivership period. It is the Receivers' intention to draw down against this facility as and when required and to provide those funds to the Subsidiaries so that day-to-day obligations can be met at that level.

In light of the PFG facility it is the Receivers' expectation that the Subsidiaries will continue to operate on a business-as-usual basis for the immediate future.

Buddy Technologies shares suspended from ASX as receivers appointed

So this news isn't good for shareholders. It implies the company is under financial stress, with obvious cash flow issues. Going forward, the path is unclear for Buddy Technologies. But here's what the company said would happen next:

The Receivers will shortly commence a process seeking offers for a sale or recapitalisation of the Group… It is anticipated that indicative offers will be sought from interested parties by the week commencing 2 May 2022.

So with that in mind, it looks as though Buddy Technologies will be sold, or at least put out to market. Perhaps a buyer will swoop in and take control of the company. Perhaps an investor will prop it up and the shares will be relisted. Or perhaps it will be broken up. We don't know any more at this stage. But what we do know is that Buddy Technologies shares don't look likely to rejoin the ASX boards anytime soon.

At the company's last traded share price, Buddy Technologies shares have a market capitalisation of $21.07 million. Buddy Technologies is now down 57% in 2022 so far and 85% over the past 12 months.

The post Buddy Technologies shares unfriended from ASX as receivers move in appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most are listed below. Here's why they are dropping today:

Buddy Technologies Ltd (ASX: BUD)

The Buddy Technologies share price has crashed 42% lower to 2.5 cents. This morning the embattled smart device company announced firm commitments for a placement to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors to raise $6.5 million before costs. These funds are to be raised at 2.5 cents per new share, representing a 42% discount to its last close price. The company will now seek to raise a further $10 million at the same price through an entitlement offer. Though, it is worth noting that investors can currently buy shares for the same price on-market.

Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)

The Evolution share price has fallen 6% to $4.65. Investors have been selling the gold miner's shares following the release of an update on its production in FY 2021. According to the release, Evolution's production came in at 681,000 ounces with an all-in sustaining cost of A$1,215 per ounce in FY 2021. Although this was in line with its original guidance, it fell short of the upgraded guidance given in April of 695,000 to 710,000 ounces.

Medical Developments International Ltd (ASX: MVP)

The Medical Developments International share price is down 5% to $4.16. This follows the release of an update on a balance sheet review. Following the review, the company expects to recognise a non-cash charge of $7.5 million to $8.5 million after tax in FY 2021. This relates to its respiratory business, which has been adversely impacted in FY 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the company expects to post a loss after tax of $11.7 million to $13.7 million for the year.

Whitefield Limited Fully (ASX: WHF)

The Whitefield share price is down 7% to $5.80. This follows the completion of the investment company's placement this morning. Whitefield raised $50 million via a placement to sophisticated and professional investors at $5.56 per share. This represents a discount of 10.8% to its last close price. The proceeds will be invested in a diversified portfolio of ASX listed equities, cash, or cash equivalents. This in line with its investment objectives and strategy.

The post Why Buddy, Evolution, Medical Dev International, & Whitefield are dropping appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

In morning trade, the smart device company's shares are down a massive 46% to 2.3 cents.

Why is the Buddy Technologies share price crashing lower?

Investors have been selling down the Buddy Technologies share price on Friday after it announced an equity raising, debt restructure, and trading update. And as you might have guessed from the share price reaction, it wasn't pretty.

According to the release, the company has successfully completed a bookbuild and received firm commitments for a placement to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors to raise $6.5 million before costs. These funds are to be raised at 2.5 cents per new share, representing a huge 41.9% discount to its last close price.

The company will also undertake a pro rata non-renounceable entitlement offer to existing shareholders to raise an additional $10 million before costs. Buddy Technologies is aiming to raise these funds at the same price. Though, with the Buddy Technologies share price trading below the offer price at 2.3 cents, it may not have too many takers. Particularly given its abject performance this year and uncertain outlook.

Debt restructure

The company has also entered into formal binding arrangements with Eastfield to settle all amounts owing in respect to a line of credit facility and historical accounts payables which totalled ~US$5.6 million. This will be through the payment of US$2.75 million to Eastfield and debt forgiveness of US$3 million.

In addition, Buddy Technologies has restructured its existing US$10 million term debt facility with PFG. This includes through the issue of almost 24 million shares at an issue price of 2.5 cents per share, further diluting shareholders. Buddy has also agreed to make a pre-payment of US$2.5 million of amounts owing to PFG under the PFG Loan Facility, which will reduce the company's monthly principal payments.

Operational update

Buddy Technologies continues to struggle due to the semiconductor shortage. However, one positive is that Nanchang Innotech Homesmart has commenced production of LIFX Switches, with the first smart lights to be manufactured in September 2021 in time to contribute to 2021 holiday season supply.

It also notes that it has been receiving approximately weekly shipments of inventory to warehouses in respect to manufacturing orders placed at end of 2020/early 2021. Given the parts shortages, it expects the last of this inventory to be delivered by the end of August 2021.

The post Why the Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) share price is crashing 46% lower today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Why is the Buddy share price on watch?

The internet of things (IoT) and cloud-based solutions provider updated on the market after trade closed last night on its March 2021 quarterly results.

Buddy has identified a reporting error in its internal management reports and accounts for the March sales data. That error was the incorrect inclusion of intercompany accounts, which would usually be cancelled out in internal accounting.

As a result of the error, Buddy's management accounts for March had incorrectly included intercompany accounts, which inflated the quarterly revenue figures. That means the Buddy Technologies share price is one to watch as it retracts several statements.

Those include the following:

• March is on track to be the company's highest revenue month ever, revenue expected to be more than double 2020's best month and expected to be substantially EBITDA positive;
• March 2021 is expected to be the highest revenue month ever for LIFX;
• Quarterly revenues are expected to exceed the combined holiday revenue for November and December 2020; and
• Accordingly, March is also expected to deliver the highest monthly (positive) EBITDA in the company's history.

The Buddy Technologies share price could be under pressure in early trade following the announcement. Buddy this morning revised its quarterly customer revenue to A$5.0 million.

Financial guidance update

It wasn't just the intercompany accounting error that makes the Buddy share price worth watching today.

While in a trading halt last week, Buddy was informed by a Chinese manufacturer that an entire production run's allocation of a "critical semiconductor component" for its smart lights had been sold to a third party without its knowledge. Given the high demand for the product and now lack of availability, Buddy's manufacturing activities have ceased until further notice. 

That means all previous guidance for second-half revenue and earnings have been withdrawn. The board noted that these two issues have "created challenges" for Buddy as it looks to manage its supply chain and turnaround internal processes.

Foolish takeaway

The Buddy share price is one to watch after today after the double whammy announcement. Both the accounting error and supply chain error could have investors selling down shares in early trade.

The post What's with the Buddy (ASX:BUD) share price today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Looking at the last twelve months, however, Buddy shares have delivered gains of over 90%. Based on the current share price, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $170 million and has around 2.9 billion shares outstanding.

Here we take a closer look at what's been happening with the Buddy share price over the past couple of months but first, a snapshot of the company. 

What does Buddy do?

Buddy Technologies was established in 2006 and develops cloud-based technologies designed to help customers' work and living spaces operate smarter. It does this by offering a range of internet-of-things (IOT) connected devices.

Buddy is a leading provider of smart, Wi-Fi enabled lighting solutions which the company offers under its LIFX brand. The products are distributed to over 100 countries worldwide and, according to Buddy, are already used in over one million homes.

The company also provides a range of monitoring and analytics platforms designed to help commercial and industrial customers improve the energy efficiency of their operations.

Buddy share price dips amongst legal woes

The Buddy share price took a 10% hit back in November after the company advised it was facing legal action from CST Capital. CST Capital had brought the proceedings against Buddy after an equity financing agreement between the two companies turned sour. Buddy maintains that the claim brought against it by CST Capital was misconceived and it does not believe any damages are owed.

In Buddy's latest update regarding the dispute released on 15 December 2020, the company advised that the proceedings are ongoing. However, Buddy was also pleased to report that the default judgement has now been set aside pending future direction.

The next hearing will occur on 25 February 2021 in the District Court of Western Australia.

Manufacturing agreement to grow scale

In Buddy's most recent announcement released 13 January, the company advised it had executed a new manufacturing agreement with Nanchang Innotech Homesmart Co. Ltd. (Innotech).

According to Buddy, Innotech is a "world class manufacturer of consumer electronics, specialising in smart home products and in particular, smart lighting". It operates two manufacturing sites spanning over 45,000 square meters and has a production capacity of 4.2 million pieces per month. 

Buddy had advised the new partnership will increase both its manufacturing scale and product range while also reducing some of the overall costs involved with producing its LIFX products.

Orders have already been received that will be fulfilled via the new agreement with delivery expected to occur mid-2021.

It seems news of the agreement has been well received by the market. Since the announcement, the Buddy share price has marched up from 4.7 cents on 13 January to today's current position of nearly 6 cents (at the time of writing).

The post What has the Buddy (ASX:BUD) share price been up to lately? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Why were Buddy shares suspended?

Shares in Buddy Technologies entered a trading halt on 28 October 2020 before being suspended on 30 October 2020. Buddy Technologies requested a voluntary suspension of trading in its securities prior to the announcement of legal proceedings concerning an equity financing agreement. An announcement was released today about the legal dispute.

What is the legal claim?

According to Buddy Technologies, it previously entered into an equity financing agreement with CST Capital which was terminated prior to being drawn upon. CST Capital later brought legal action against Buddy Technologies with a notice of the action sent to Buddy's registered office, however, due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Buddy Technologies did not receive the notice. As Buddy Technologies did not defend the claim made by CST Capital, the court issued a default notice in favour of CST Capital which required Buddy to pay unspecified damages.

Buddy Technologies stated that its legal team was now working to have the judgement set aside and to defend the claim. According to Buddy Technologies, the claim by CST Capital is misconceived and it does not believe that any damages are owed. 

According to Buddy, its business has continued as normal with existing financing partnerships unaffected by the legal issue outstanding. 

About the Buddy share price

Buddy Technologies provides internet of things (IoT) solutions to its clients. It has been listed on the ASX since 2015. 

Earlier in November, Buddy Technologies announced that the final maturity date on the debt associated with its acquisition of LIFX in 2019 had been extended from 30 October 2020 to 31 December 2020.

In the quarter to 30 September 2020, Buddy Technologies had revenue from customers of $7.7 million, up 43% on the prior quarter. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were $32,000 in the September quarter, the company's first quarter of positive EBITDA. Cash on hand at 30 September 2020 was $2.6 million. 

The Buddy share price is up 800% since its 52-week low of 0.6 cents and is up 35% since the beginning of the year. The Buddy share price is up 170% since this time last year.

The post Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) share price down 10% as suspension lifted appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Meanwhile the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is sliding, down 0.3%.

Today's gains see Buddy's share price up 53% year-to-date. Shares have now rebounded 510% from 16 March, following a 67% drop during the wider COVID market rout.

What does Buddy Technologies do?

Founded in 2006, Buddy provides cloud-based technology to make its customers' work and living spaces smarter via Buddy's IoT (internet of things) connected devices.

Buddy trades under the LIFX brand and is a leading provider of smart lighting solutions. The company's Wi-Fi enabled lights are currently used in nearly 1 million homes and sold in over 100 countries.

The company's platforms include Buddy Cloud, allowing access to storage and data from any environment, and Buddy Ohm. Buddy Ohm is intended to improve operations, savings and sustainability by providing real time building operational data.

What's behind the Buddy share price climb?

This morning Buddy Technologies announced that its LIFX Clean light has passed United States efficacy testing. The tests were conducted by US firm, Q Laboratories, an FDA registered testing facility that specialises in disinfectant efficacy testing.

LIFX Clean is the world's first antibacterial and germicidal smart light. The results exceeded managements expectations, showing the installing the lights in ceiling fixtures will "have a material kill rate on bacteria at kitchen of bathroom counter height".

The tests revealed a kill rate of 75% of the tested organisms at a distance of 122 centimetres.

Regulatory compliance has now been passed for Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The US, Australian and New Zealand markets are slated for launch in December this year.

Addressing the results, Buddy Technologies CEO, David McLauchlan said:

When we launched LIFX Clean, we pitched the product as being ideal for near-field surface and surrounding air disinfection. As our expanded testing has shown, we now have a demonstrable use case of LIFX Clean in ceiling lights cleaning typical height surfaces. This is expected to open up entirely new sales opportunities and provide appealing point of sale messaging to our major retail partners.

At the time of writing, the Buddy share price is sitting at 6.1 cents per share.

The post What's pushing the Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) share price up today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Buddy's consumer business trades under the LIFX brand and is a provider of smart lighting solutions. The company has a wide portfolio of Wi-Fi enabled lights that are used in nearly 1 million homes and sold in more than 100 countries.

What happened today?

After a brief trading halt this morning, the Buddy share price soared as it announced that US giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) had purchased large quantities of its LIFX white smart lights for its Amazon Prime Day. The massive two-day global shopping event is happening in Australia today and tomorrow.

Amazon is launching Prime Day bundle deals that will offer the light free with the purchase of select Alexa devices. This includes the Amazon Echo Dot which has historically been one of the highest selling products across all of Prime Day. The bundle is expected to boost Buddy light sales significantly. The 2019 Prime Day event saw more than 175 million items sold, eclipsing the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined.

In a later announcement today, Buddy advised that Amazon had ordered approximately 1 million LIFX smart lights to support its Prime Day and holiday sales events.

What now for the Buddy share price

Bundling of Buddy LIFX lights with Amazon products offers a huge market opportunity for the light company. Its product will now be marketed to millions of Prime members worldwide. Furthermore, the company has confidence that it will see record sales over the duration of this sales event. The Buddy share price is currently sitting at 68 cents having risen 73% so far this year.

The post Why the Buddy (ASX:BUD) share price is up today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Smashing orders

It seems not long ago that I was writing about the last time Buddy announced record smart light orders. Sure enough, less than 3 weeks ago, the Buddy share price soared 19% as they hit light orders of $4.3 million. Nonetheless, that record has been swiftly eclipsed as the company announced orders of $10.5 million for its smart lights.

The record number of orders are aimed to help meet 4th calendar quarter holiday demand in Europe and North America. They exclude the LIFX Clean and LIFX Switch, with both expected to be ordered separately and subsequently. The Buddy share price exploded as the LIFX clean was announced in late August. 

Buddy CEO David McLauchlan described 2020 as "a remarkable year of disruption and dislocation, none more so than for our Melbourne-based team who have admirably kept up an amazing level of productivity and good spirits despite the COVID-19 curfews and lockdown in place there. Their efforts, and the patience and support of our shareholders, is being rewarded with orders flowing in, and the company now having more lights currently in the process of being manufactured and shipped, than at any other time in the company's history."

What does Buddy do?

Founded in 2006, Buddy Technologies provides cloud-based technology that aims to make its customers' work and living spaces smarter, via IoT connected devices.

Buddy's consumer business trades under the LIFX brand and is a provider of smart lighting solutions. The company has a wide portfolio of Wi-Fi enabled lights that are used in nearly 1 million homes and sold in more than 100 countries.

Where to now for the Buddy share price

The Buddy share price has been driven by good news in recent months capped off by its impressive results in late August. The light manufacturer's share price is now up a huge 105% for the year.

The post Why the Buddy (ASX:BUD) share price is lighting up appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What did Buddy announce?

Earlier today Buddy Technologies announced the launch of a new antibacterial light product. The company informed the market that its world-first smart light, LIFX Clean, has successfully passed efficacy and safety testing.

LIFX Clean is a fully functional white and colour lighting that uses germicidal antibacterial light to disinfect surfaces and surrounding air. The company noted that LIFX Clean is an extension of its multi-patented LIFX A19/A60 1200 lumen smart light platform. According to Buddy, this LIFX Clean is designed to emit visible light at a germicidal wavelength of 405 nano metres.

Buddy said the LIFX Clean product had passed efficacy testing conducted by the Department of Chemisty at Australia's Swinburne University of Technology. In addition, the company noted that LIFX Clean was in the queue to be tested for efficacy against COVID-19.

Buddy's management highlighted the innovative nature in developing LIFX Clean and said it expected the product to meet enormous demand. The company said LIFX Clean was developed and ready for market launch as an antibacterial product in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the EU. However, the company noted that the US market was subject to different regulatory requirements.

What does Buddy Technologies do?

Buddy Technologies is an Australian-based company that operates in both commercial and consumer sectors. The company's commercial business focuses on helping customers leverage digital technologies for energy monitoring and reporting.

Buddy's consumer business trades under the LIFX brand and is a provider of smart lighting solutions. The company has a wide portfolio of Wi-Fi enabled lights that are used in nearly 1 million homes and sold in more than 100 countries.

Should you invest?

At the time of writing, the Buddy share price is trading more than 33% higher at 9.2 cents for the day. The company's shares have been sold down slightly after hitting an intra-day high of 9.3 cents earlier. Overall, the Buddy share price has performed strongly for 2020 and is up more than 158% for the year.

The post The Buddy share price is up 33% higher today. Here's why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Today's gains follow on a series of strong trading days that have seen the Buddy share price rocket 70% higher in August. Year to date, Buddy's share price is up 30%. Though shareholders who bought as recently as 23 July would be sitting on gains of 420%.

What does Buddy Technologies do?

Founded in 2006, Buddy Technologies provides cloud-based technology that aims to make its customers' work and living spaces smarter, via IoT (internet of things) connected devices.

Buddy is a leading provider of smart lighting solutions. The company's Wi-Fi-enabled lights are currently used in nearly 1 million homes and sold in over 100 countries.

The company's platforms include Buddy Cloud, allowing access to storage and data from any environment and Buddy Ohm. Buddy Ohm is intended to improve operations, savings and sustainability by providing real time building operational data.

What did Buddy's letter to shareholders say today?

In his letter to shareholders, chief executive officer David McLauchlan announced that July had just marked the company's first earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) positive month in 2020. Consolidated revenue came in at $4.9 million. That was up 90% from June and 80% from July 2019.

McLauchlan noted that government subsidies related to COVID-19 were down 66% from June. That means that July's unaudited customer revenue was up 138% from June and 72% from July 2019.

The company's total current assets also increased 18% over the previous month, to $10.7 million. That includes cash holding of $1.9 million.

Looking ahead, McLauchlan cautioned investors to set appropriate short-term expectations, noting investors "should not necessarily expect linear or 'straight line' results from here on out. This month's results were strong in large part because of significant deliveries of LIFX White lights."

But McLauchlan assured that the remainder of the year still holds a lot of promise for the company, with record orders of LIFX White lights received last week portending a strong October. He said demand across the board remains high.

The post Buddy share price leaps 18% following letter to shareholders appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What Buddy does

Buddy helps customers of any size 'make every space smarter'. It does this through two core businesses including its commercial and consumer businesses. Buddy empowers its customers to fully leverage digital technologies and their impact in a strategic and sustainable way.

Buddy trades under the LIFX brand and has established a leading market position as a provider of smart lighting solutions. The company's suite of Wi-Fi enabled lights are currently used in nearly one million homes, viewed as second only to lighting giant, Philips. LIFX products are sold in over 100 countries worldwide, directly and via distribution. The company has sales partnerships with leading retailers and eCommerce platforms including Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) among others.

Record orders

The Buddy share price has soared today following the company's announcement it has received record purchase orders of US$3.1 million. These orders now eclipse the previous largest orders by 33% in terms of unit volumes.

The orders are intended to meet Black Friday/Cyber Monday demand, with devices built under the orders to be shipped to North America for sale in the United States and Canada. Buddy also noted that it is unusual to receive orders this early. Although this may be explained, given the size of these orders and the irregularities in global supply chains, by COVID-19. As a result, some retailers are being more proactive in advance ordering than might otherwise be the case.

What now for the Buddy share price?

The Buddy share price has been moving strongly higher since late March. From these lows the company is now up 330%. Buddy shareholders will be hoping that the company can build on this record order and keep growing moving forward.

The post Buddy share price soars 19% on record orders appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares in the IoT solutions group jumped a further 7.7% today to 2.8 cents and is up 180% from a week ago.

Management provided a number of updates during the period, including the launch of sales of its low-cost smart light LIFX White on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE: BBY).

Improving earnings loss

The company also reported strong June sales results as shops in the US started to reopen from the COVID-19 shutdown, including  Best Buy's more than 1,000 stores across the country.

"Consolidated revenue for Buddy was A$2.5 million – up 39% from May (A$1.8 million) and up 4%from June 2019 (A$2.2 million), underscoring that demand for the Company's products remains strong even while the pandemic continues to be prominent in several territories," said Buddy's chief executive David McLauchlan.

However, $600,000 of the total came from government subsidies relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was also still stuck in a loss of $266,000.

Best quarter yet

But management was quick to point out that the June quarter's negative EBITDA is still its best one yet despite the period traditionally being a "slow period" for sales.

"Both topline revenue and EBITDA were down on internal management forecasts due to the slightly delayed shipment of the first order of the Company's new LIFX White product," added Mr McLauchlan.

"This product, which was expected to partially ship by 30 June, instead did so in the first week of July."

Does Buddy have enough cash?

Total cash on hand fell 11% on the prior month to $2.5 million at the end of June. Buddy managed to restructure its US$6 million inventory finance loan into a purchase order financing facility.

This will enable the company to use the facility to fund the $3.8 million initial order of LIFX White smart lights.

"The Company can report no change to its other working capital facility, provided by ScottishPacific," said Mr McLauchlan.

"This remains a A$20 million facility, where advances are made against trade receivables, and will continue to be used as the Company's trade receivables permit."

European rollout

Buddy also announced that it's rolling out its new point of sale ("POS") LIFX units in Europe with 15 locations currently on sale at Germany's do-it-yourself ("DIY") retailer, Bauhaus.

It claimed that its LIFX smart lights have displaced major lighting rival Osram in the process and the new POS units will gradually roll out to retail partners in France, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

The post Why the Buddy Technologies share price more than doubled in a week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four shares that have climbed more than most today are listed below. Here's why they have started the week on a high:

The Bubs Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB) share price has risen 4% to 76.5 cents after the goat milk infant formula and baby food company announced its entry into the post-infant nutrition market with the launch of several new products. According to the release, the company has launched an innovative range of eight toddler snacks certified organic by Australian Certified Organic. These snacks will be ranged in Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) supermarkets nationally from May 2019.

The Buddy Platform Ltd (ASX: BUD) share price has rocketed 23% higher to 7.5 cents after the Internet of Things company provided an update on its debt financing and LIFX acquisition. According to the release, the company has entered into a term sheet with the LIFX majority seller to defer a portion of the cash consideration due to them in order to meet the requirement that the acquisition complete on or before March 29.

The Fluence Corporation Ltd (ASX: FLC) share price has pushed 3% higher to 37.5 cents after announcing the commercial launch of its SUBRE submerged membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) solution. SUBRE is available in two configurations: as a retrofit upgrade and as a new greenfield plant. Management advised that it has already received orders for SUBRE from its Jamaican partner Engineering and Technology Associates, Inc.

The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price has climbed almost 4% to $6.73 after low grade iron ore prices surged to multi-year highs on Friday. According to Metal Bulletin, the price of 58% fines rose 1.5% to US$70.38 a tonne. This rally appears to have been caused by a decline in steel prices last week, leading to increased demand for the cheaper 58% fines from steel producers in order to support margins.

The post Why Bubs, Buddy Platform, Fluence, & Fortescue shares stormed higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they have tumbled lower:

The Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) share price is down almost 2.5% to $1.47 after the pharmacy operator and distributor released its half-year results. According to the release, the company saw its statutory net profit after tax decline 14.4% to $24.9 million on flat revenue of $2 billion. The company has blamed the poor performance on suppressed retail conditions. I would suggest investors stay clear of the company's shares as I'm not convinced conditions will improve in the near term.

The Buddy Platform Ltd (ASX: BUD) share price has continued its decline and is down 4% to 12 cents. The internet of things company's shares fell sharply on Wednesday after it revealed that its reseller agreement with Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) never materialised. Late last year Buddy advised that it was finalising negotiations with Telstra for it to become the primary sales channel for the Buddy Ohm product in Australia. Investors appear concerned that it took over five months for this "finalising" to occur, only to end up being scrapped.

The Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) share price is down 3% to $10.82 after the annuities company provided its latest assets under management (AUM) update. Although Challenger's AUM grew by 3% quarter-on-quarter to $78.5 billion in the March quarter, the company also reported a 13% decline in total life sales of $1.1 billion compared to the prior corresponding period. Yesterday I thought Challenger was starting to look attractive again after a sizeable decline, however I'm reconsidering this view in light of today's update.

The Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT) share price has dropped almost 3.5% to $6.81 after the data centre operator advised that Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (ASX: AJD) has initiated legal proceedings against it in relation to a dispute over access rights to three centres. NEXTDC intends to defend the claims.

The post Why these 4 ASX shares have tumbled lower today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The company's share price skyrocketed from around 5 cents in February last year to hit 40 cents in November, gaining about 700 per cent in 10 months.

Back in May David McLauchlan, Buddy's CEO, boasted of his company's success to Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ).

He told the Australian Financial Review that orders for the company's Buddy Ohm system had been booming.

"It's gone absolutely nuts in terms of the volume of interest," Mr McLauchlan told Fairfax Media.

The Buddy Ohm product monitors the consumption of resources in buildings and tracks the use of electricity, gas and water.

"What we've built is a Fitbit for buildings," Mr McLauchlan was quoted stating in the AFR.

And it appeared the 'Fitbit for buildings' was a hit.

"We have underestimated the demand. We've gone back and redone all our numbers," Mr McLauchlan said.

Buddy Platform stated in October last year that it had signed contracts worth more than $52 million for the first quarter of financial year (FY) 2018.

Last month the company stated that it had signed contracts in the second quarter that management forecast to hit $69.3 million in revenue, a 33% increase on the previous quarter's result.

However, it seemed those potentially fruitful contracts were not bringing in the cash quite as fast as many had hoped.

Buddy Platform stated that cash receipts from customers for the second quarter of FY 2018 totalled $418,000 compared to $407,000 reported for the prior quarter, an increase of 3%.

As such, while the value of contracts signed had jumped by 33% the amount of cash coming in was up by just 3%.

But, with the company announcing in November that a deal with Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), in which the telco was to become a primary supplier of its Buddy Ohm product, it appeared investors were more concerned with the company's future prospects than its current financial standing.

Indeed, with significant increases in projected revenue and seemingly big deals on the cards, Buddy's prospects were looking good.

So, with business looking so good, why did CEO Dave McLauchlan start selling millions of dollars' worth of Buddy Platform shares in numerous transactions in January?

And he wasn't alone, with other Buddy Platform directors Alexander Gounares, Richard Borenstein and John van Ruth offloading stock in the company in January.

Was it just a coincidence or did they know something they weren't sharing with the market?

There's a lot of questions concerning Buddy Platforms' activities and the company has been suspended from trading as the ASX seeks answers.

Perhaps soon we will know more.

Until then, I'll say again that while such uncertainties linger around Buddy Platform, I would steer clear of the company.

The post What happened to Buddy Platform Ltd? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Three shares that are currently in trading halts are listed below. Here's why they are out of action:

Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: BOT)

As I speculated would be the case on Monday, this morning the dermatology company's shares were placed in a trading halt pending an announcement regarding a capital raising. According to the AFR, Bell Potter is in the market on behalf of Botanix and is seeking to place 109.1 million new shares at 11 cents each in order to raise $12 million. Although this is 21% discount to the last close price, it appears to have been a necessary move in order to take its promising BTX 1503 acne treatment through its phase 2 trial.

Buddy Platform Ltd (ASX: BUD)

This Internet of Things company's shares have been halted pending a response to an ASX aware query. Buddy Platform's shares have been quite volatile over the last week and ended up finishing January 26% lower than where they started it. While I think Buddy Platform has a lot of potential due to its Buddy Ohm product, its revenues thus far are not living up to expectations or its lofty valuation. Yesterday the company reported quarterly cash receipts of just $418,000.

Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX: SEA)

This energy company's shares are in a trading halt pending an announcement regarding a potential corporate transaction and associated capital raising. According to the AFR, Paul Singer's Elliott Management is believed to have held talks with the company over a significant funding deal that could support the acquisition of US shale assets. There is speculation that these assets could include the U.S. shale assets that BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) is believed to be looking to offload. An announcement is due tomorrow and will be one to watch out for.

The post Why these ASX shares are in trading halts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Buddy Platform Ltd (ASX: BUD)

Buddy Platform Ltd made a recovery on Tuesday, gaining about 7.5 per cent with the company's shares now going for about 21.5 cents.

The Buddy share price is still down on the 40 cents it was going for in November but the company's shareholders have enjoyed returns exceeding 300 per cent over the past year.

The company provides a device called Buddy Ohm that monitors the consumption of resources in buildings which tracks the use of electricity, gas and water.

In financial year (FY) 2017, Buddy Platform reported a loss of almost $17 million, an improvement on FY 2016's loss of more than $26 million.

And the company's directors, including Alexander Gounares, David Mclauchlan, Richard Borenstein and John van Ruth, have together this month sold millions of shares in the company.

Is the writing on the wall?

Electro Optic Systems Hldg Ltd (ASX: EOS)

Electro Optic Systems Hldg Ltd has gone into a trading halt as the company announced a "significant defence export" and plans to raise capital.

Electro Optic Systems, with a market value of about $200 million, announced it had been awarded a contract worth $410 million to supply "significant quantities" of its new R-400S-Mk2 remote weapons systems to an overseas customer.

The company, which specialises in technology for weapon systems and the space industry, has seen its share price rise by more than 50 per cent over the past year.

Electro Optic shares are expected to resume trading next week.

 4DS Memory Ltd (ASX: 4DS)

The 4DS Memory Ltd share price shed 10.6 per cent on Tuesday as the company released its quarterly report.

Despite the recent slump 4DS shares, currently trading for about 4.6 cents, have gained about 180 per cent over the past year.

The company, with a market value of around $80 million, has research facilities in Silicon Valley where it develops resistive random access memory and plans to "address the massive memory demands of tomorrow".

4DS Memory's operating costs for the quarter came in at $683,000, with the bulk of that figure going to research and development, according to the company.

The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of about $4.35 million.

If you're looking for more opportunities in the tech sector, you may want to read this…

The post 3 tech shares I'm giving a miss appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Three which caught my eye are listed below. Here's why they have stormed higher:

The ApplyDirect Limited (ASX: AD1) share price has climbed 9% to 12 cents after announcing a collaboration with Google. According to the release, the recruitment technology company will participate in Google's Cloud Job Discovery beta program. The program is part of the Google for Jobs initiative, powering smarter job searches and recommendations to make the right jobs for the right job seekers easier to discover. The integration to Google Cloud Job Discovery is expected to go-live within three months according to management. While it may be too soon to invest, I think it could be worth keeping an eye on ApplyDirect to see how this initiative impacts its business.

The Battery Minerals Ltd (ASX: BAT) share price has jumped 8% to 10.5 cents after the graphite-development company released its quarterly update. Management advised that it has made significant progress in the December quarter towards bringing its Montepuez Graphite Project in Mozambique into development. According to the release, commissioning and ramp up are on target for December 2018 and March 2019 quarters, respectively. Having just raised $20 million earlier this month, I think Battery Minerals is well funded moving forward. Furthermore, with three binding offtake agreements already signed, Battery Minerals could be a resources share to watch over the coming 12 months. Just as long as its assay results confirm that the company is sitting on a lucrative mineral resource.

The Buddy Platform Ltd (ASX: BUD) share price is 6% higher at 21.2 cents. This morning the Internet of Things company announced that it has reached an agreement with Ingram Micro to distribute its Buddy Ohm product line worldwide. I can't say I'm surprised to see its shares climb higher on the news, after all, Ingram Micro is the world's largest distributor of technology products and supply chain services with a turnover of more than US$43 billion. This complements the recently announced agreements with Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR) to distribute the product in Australia and with Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) to be a reseller of it. Investors will now have to wait and see if the demand is there for the device known as the Fitbit for buildings. I'm not ready to invest in Buddy Platform, but I'll be watching on with interest from the sidelines.

The post Why these small-cap shares stormed higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

So far that has been the case with Buddy Platform Ltd (ASX: BUD).

Buddy Platform provides a device called Buddy Ohm that monitors the consumption of resources in buildings which tracks the use of electricity, gas and water.

The technology is designed to allow users to better monitor their use of such resources in order to promote smarter consumption habits.

Some investors appear to have expressed enthusiasm for Buddy Platform as its share price has gained more than 250 per cent in a year.

But will it last?

Over the past few months Buddy's share price has been sinking, going from 40 cents in November to its current price of 22.5 cents, representing a decrease of more than 40 per cent.

And it could keep heading down.

In financial year (FY) 2017, Buddy Platform reported a loss of almost $17 million, an improvement on FY 2016's loss of more than $26 million.

While the company increased its revenue from about $43,000 for FY 2016 to around $1.05 million for FY 2017 it also increased its advertising and marketing expenses by almost $1 million, which presumably helped the company realise its gain in revenue, although at a seemingly high price to pay.

On the subject of high prices, the company's "employee benefits expenses" more than doubled in 2017, going from about $2.02 million in FY 2016 to around $4.4 million in FY 2017.

On top of that, Buddy Platform forked out about $7.4 million in share based payments for FY 2017, although that was significantly below FY 2016's figure which exceeded $11 million.

Additionally, Buddy Platform ended FY 2017 with a negative operating cash flow of about $8.6 million, but only had $6.1 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Buddy Platform stated it has signed customer contracts representing minimum future revenue commitments exceeding $22 million.

Perhaps the company can turn things around.

But until it's clear the money is coming in, I would steer clear of Buddy Platform.

If you're looking for tech companies in stronger financial positions than Buddy Platform then I would suggest taking a closer look at Altium Ltd (ASX: ALU) or Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT).

Or, if you're looking for something which may represent greater growth prospects, you can check this out…

The post Why I won't buy Buddy Platform Ltd at this share price appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.