The 16th Amendment to the German Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance entered into effect on October 28, 2020, the third step in the German governments efforts to tighten its foreign direct investment review regime in 2020.

Earlier this year, Germany took action in aggravating its foreign direct investment (FDI) screening regime. First, the German government amended the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance (Auenwirtschaftsverordnung (AWV) in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by defining certain infectious diseaserelated businesses as critical infrastructures. Second, the German legislator updated the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act (Auenwirtschaftsgesetz (AWG)), incorporating in particular a consummation prohibition and a gun-jumping regime subject to criminal fines for acquisitions of certain particularly security-relevant businesses, and aligning the AWG with the EU FDI Screening Regulation, which became effective as of 11 October 2020.

The 16th Amendment to the AWV is mostly limited to making the necessary technical changes aligning the government ordinance, i.e., the AWV, with the law, i.e., the AWG. Other than expected and announced previously by the German government, the amendment does not expand the catalogue of critical infrastructures subject to FDI screening, leaving out, in particular, artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, biotechnology, and quantum technology.

These categories were left out of the ordinance in this round not due to changes in policy, but rather due to timing constraints the government faced from the necessary alignment with the EU FDI Screening Regulation, which became effective on October 11, 2020, and the consultation with public stakeholders on the introduction of these categories required under German law. Thus, it can still be expected that these sectors will be included in the next update of the AWV in 2021 once the relevant stakeholders have been consulted.

Once these sectors are included in the catalogue of critical infrastructures of the AWV, acquisitions of at least 10% of the shares or assets of a German-domiciled entity operating in these sectors by a non-EEA investor would be subject to a mandatory filing obligation. We will continue to monitor developments in this respect.

[View source.]

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Germany Further Aligns Foreign Direct Investment Screening Regime with EU Regulation - JD Supra

If youre going to buybitcoin BTCUSD, -2.06%, for heavens sake do it in your individual retirement account.

Im not saying you should or shouldnt buythe digital virtual currency, which is booming once again. Im just saying, if you do decide to buy it, as an investment or a trade, do it in your IRA or some other tax-sheltered account. (A growing number of these let you ownbitcoin).

That way you can ride the latest mania, maybe make a quick profitand not have to pay any tax when you cash out.

The IRS treatsbitcoinas property, meaning any gains you make outside of a sheltered account will count as ordinary income.

Bitcoinhas risen 70% since the start of October and is nearly at record highs. Its more than doubled in price in a year. Ah yes, the boom times are back. Thebitcoinfanatics are reappearing after their three year hibernation. Cryptocurrency experts will soon be cropping up on cable TV, if they arent already.

Traders riding this high risk bandwagon are making out like banditsfor now, anyway.

And then theres Thanksgiving.

It was Thanksgiving three years ago that sent the cryptocurrency mania into orbit. Relatives whod made money frombitcoinpassed on the news to other relatives over the turkey, and explained whatbitcoinwas and how it worked. The other relatives went home and joined in. Bingo.

Bitcointripled in about a month.

Could it happen again this time around? Sure. Why not? Nobody knows.

You could make a quick profit. There again, you could make a quick loss.

But if you want to play and keep down your risks, just play with the houses money.

Its an old Wall Street traders trick, explained to me by an investment analyst years ago early in the dot-com bubble.

Start by buying, say, $1,000 worth ofbitcoin(or $100, or $100,000, or whatever suits your budget). If it rises, and you start to show a profit, buy a bit more. Each time it rises, and your profit grows, buy a bit moreand a bit more

But do not buy if it starts falling. And cash out if it falls to a trigger point you set in advance, such as 20% from the peak price. Be willing to take a loss and walk away.

Ride the train while it keeps going. Just remember to get off before it hurtles over the cliff.

The disastrous end of the last crypto bubble was signaled quite clearly in advance: A front-page article in the New York Times Style section cheering on the bubble, entitled, Everyone Is Getting Hilariously Rich And Youre Not.

That was the peak of the market.Bitcointhen plunged 80%. Other cryptocurrencies collapsed even more.

You can set your watch by these things.

Bitcoinhas been around for over a decade now. Technologists and fanboys say that the software and design behind it is quite brilliant.

But of course that has nothing to do with investing.

Bitcoinis a largely useless asset. I am still waiting for a singlebitcoinfan or expert to explain to me whatbitcoinsare really useful for, other than money laundering. I already have my pick of other, legal currencies and gold. Its quick and easy these days to transfer money online.

Some suggestbitcoincould provide cheap banking services for the poor and unbanked around the world.Goat herders in Turkmenistan will keep their money in cryptocurrencies and manage it on their smartphones.

I will believe it when I see it.

I asked a crypto fanboy the other day what the legal utility ofbitcoinwas. Attestation, he replied. I asked him to explain what he meant, and he sent me a link to an online dictionary.

Attestation: A proof of concept. OK. Big deal. Why would that make it valuable?

Admittedly, cryptocurrencies are excellent for laundering money. If I was in the business of selling illegal drugs, evading taxes, supporting terrorists, or blackmailing local authorities and hospitals with computer viruses, I would love this stuff.

Meanwhile, remember thebitcoinmarket is effectively a Ponzi scheme. Old investors can get paid out only with money from new investors.No, its not the same with stocks and bonds. Bitcoinsgenerate no earnings of their own. They pay no coupons or dividends.

So you may buybitcoinat $18,000 hoping to sell it to someone else at, say, $20,000. Why would that person buy it from you? Theyd be hoping to sell it to someone else for, say, $25,000. And why would that person pay $25,000? Theyd be hoping

You get the picture.

Bitcoin, and the blockchain technology behind it, is apparently fabulous technology. But so what? Without a compelling application its just a very clever bit of tech, like the old joke about the inventor who comes up with an ingenious kitchen appliance that can scramble an egg inside the shell. Yes, its brilliant. But why do I want it?

If I werent writing aboutbitcoin, Id probably be trading it. Never let a bubble go to waste. So maybe you can make money (real money, measured in U.S. dollars or the equivalent). Its high risk. But good luck.

Just remember: Save yourself taxes and headaches by doing it in a tax-sheltered account, like an IRA. Oh, and watch out for the end of the track.

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Why the only place you should invest in bitcoin is in your IRA - MarketWatch

(Bloomberg) -- Some of the worlds biggest investors say its time to position portfolios for an end to the pandemic. That doesnt mean they agree on how best to do it.

One of JP Morgan Asset Management Inc.s recommendations is to buy beaten-down shares of travel companies, airlines and hotels. Fidelity International Ltd.s multi-asset team is increasing holdings in regions such as Europe that are badly hit by the virus, betting theyll get better. Franklin Templeton contends its still too early to move away from places like Asia that have better handled the crisis.

Even as all three firms look beyond surging cases and renewed lockdowns to the prospect of a vaccinated population achieving herd immunity sometime over the next two years, their at times divergent views on how to invest underscore the high stakes for money managers during what could be a pivotal moment for markets. Progress on Covid-19 vaccines this month has already triggered wild shifts in relative performance among industries, countries and stock-market investment styles.

Equity-sector rotation could dominate investor discussion in coming months, said Tai Hui, the chief Asia market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management. We think investors can look to diversify their allocations to take advantage of potential good news on vaccine development.

Vaccinations in the U.S. will hopefully start in less than three weeks, Moncef Slaoui, the head of the federal governments program to accelerate a vaccine, said on CNN on Nov. 22. That came after Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE, and Moderna Inc., said their virus shots are 95% effective. A vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc prevented a majority of people from getting the disease.

Vaccine Breakthroughs Put Covid Protection Within Reach

An index of global stocks has risen more than 4% since Nov. 9, the day Pfizer first indicated that its vaccine was more than 90% effective. The equity rally is extending even as investors consider hurdles such as ultra-low temperature storage and distribution for some vaccines. U.S. stocks hit fresh peaks on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing above 30,000 for the first time. Global shares are poised for the best month ever while Asian equities are on track for best gains since 2009 this month.

Story continues

For Salman Ahmed, the London-based head of macro and strategic asset allocation at Fidelity International, its time to become positive on Europe. The firms multi-asset team has turned bullish on the region and thats a major shift, he said. Asia, according to Ahmed, has maximized the market benefits it can get from containing the virus.

Countries which are under a lot of pressure because of the virus stand to gain the most from a credible vaccine, he said. And Europe comes under that category because the virus has been pretty bad.

The shift is already afoot. A measure of European equities is up more than 7% since Nov. 9.

But not everyone is buying into such a rotation. For Stephen Dover, the head of equities at Franklin Templeton, there are still months at a minimum before any vaccine can be widely implemented, and that means Asian stocks are still the place to be.

Vaccine Endgame

Asia may benefit by being able to fully function economically while the West waits for full vaccinations, he said in an interview earlier this month.

Money managers also differ on when the vaccines will lead to a return to normal economies. For Dover, for example, thats most likely to happen in the second half of 2021. But Ross Cameron of Australian money manager Northcape Capital in Tokyo assesses that more than half the worlds population still wont be vaccinated by the end of 2023.

Our sense is markets are way too optimistic on the speed of a global vaccine rollout, Cameron said. It will take a lot of time and dollars.

Cameron said glove makers -- which hes been investing in for more than a decade -- are likely to be a big beneficiary of the virus shots.

Administering the vaccine will itself result in a spike in glove demand to protect the health professionals involved, he said. Glove demand is likely to remain elevated for at least the next two years.

Malaysias Top Glove Corp., the worlds biggest rubber-glove producer, has already more than quadrupled this year, despite slumping Tuesday after its workers caught the virus, forcing authorities to temporarily shutter 28 of its factories.

India, Indonesia

Vaccines working successfully will also benefit stock markets in India and Indonesia, according to Fidelitys Ahmed. India has the worlds second-highest virus caseload while Indonesia has recorded the most infections in Southeast Asia. While Indias benchmark equity gauge has posted a gain in 2020, the Jakarta Composite Index has lost more than 9%.

Evan McCulloch, director of equity research for Franklin Equity Group and the lead portfolio manager of the Franklin Biotechnology Discovery Fund, sums up how the fund managers, despite differences in their strategies, are generally looking beyond new waves of the virus and the return to lockdowns in many countries.

We are long-term investors, he said. We are looking through the rising case numbers and continued economic weakness towards a reopening of the economy enabled by the vaccine.

(Updates market performance in sixth paragraph)

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Global Investing Giants Are Making Their Post-Covid Stock Bets - Yahoo Finance

As investors look to shore up their portfolios for the new year, one of the enduring themes to consider is the ever-growing popularity of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. ETF investors can keep riding that wave into with funds like the SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF (EFIV).

EFIV seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of an index that provides exposure to securities that meet certain sustainability criteria (criteria related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors) while maintaining similar overall industry group weights as the S&P 500 Index.

In seeking to track the performance of the S&P 500 ESG Index (the index), the fund employs a sampling strategy, which means that it is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the index. Overall, EFIV gives investors:

For the cost-conscious investor, getting exposure to ESG wont come at a high premium with EFIV. Access to the funds only requires a net expense ratio of 0.10%.

The pandemic may have put a stranglehold on the capital markets, especially back in March, but the ESG space was able to mute the effects of the downturn. As such, ESG has been one of the few bright spots in 2020 and should continue shining through to 2021.

Alex Dunnin describes the coronavirus pandemic as a grand real-time experiment on the effectiveness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, said a Financial Review article. And so far, investment managers who put their funds into companies which follow environmental, social and governance principles have outperformed non-ESG funds as sharemarkets were hit by the impact of the global pandemic, says Dunnin, executive director of research & compliance at finance sector research house Rainmaker.

The EGS sector has passed that test with flying colours, because as we go through this massive shake-up and turmoil, it turns out ESG is a pretty good investment solution for bad times as well as good, says Dunnin.

For more news and information, visitthe ESG Channel.

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ETFs with Heart...and Returns: ESG Investing into 2021 - ETF Trends

Whether it's due to fear of increased coronavirus lockdowns or concern about political volatility in Washington shaking the markets, some investors have increasingly been turning to safe-haven investments like gold. Others have focused on copper stocks as interest in infrastructure projects in the U.S. and China has increased.

With so many choices, what's a metals-minded investors to do? Here are three stocks worth considering: Pretium Resources (NYSE:PVG), Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD), and Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO).

Image source: Getty Images.

While the price of gold has skyrocketed 24% year to date, shares of Pretium Resources have only inched about 5% higher as of this writing as investors have feared that COVID-19 could hurt the operations at Brucejack in British Columbia, Canada, the company's sole mineral-producing asset. Pretium's stock currently trades at about 7.4 times operating cash flow.

Since the company only began to generate positive cash flow in 2017, it's impossible to compare its current valuation to a five year-average multiple. But it's worth noting that the stock trades at a discount to its 10.2 valuation for 2019.

Image source: Getty Images.

Although investors' concerns have stifled the stock's rise this year, Pretium seems poised to deliver on its 2020 guidance. After producing roughly 259,000 gold ounces in the first three quarters of the year, management is targeting production of about 86,000 ounces in Q4, positioning the company to achieve 2020 guidance of 325,000 to 365,000 ounces, comparable to the gold production of 354,000 ounces it achieved in 2019. That would certainly be a positive considering the challenges which COVID-19 have brought, but it would mean little if it came at an exorbitant cost.

This doesn't appear to be the case, though. Through the first three quarters of 2020, Pretium reported all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $971 per gold ounce, and it's confident that it will ultimately achieve its 2020 AISC forecast of $960 to $1,120. For some context, Eldorado Gold and Equinox Gold, two peers based on market cap, forecast 2020 AISC per gold ounce of $900 and $1,000, respectively.

Similarly, Pretium has maintained its free cash flow (FCF) outlook for 2020. After generating FCF of $191 million in the first nine months of 2020, the company is confident that it will achieve its full-year FCF forecast: $205 million to $275 million. Should the company achieve the midpoint of its guidance, it would represent an impressive 30% gain over the $184 million that it reported in FCF for 2019.

For investors seeking exposure to mining stocks but who wish to mitigate the risk associated with investment in an individual mining company, Royal Gold, which, has ties to numerous mining companies, represents an excellent option. Unlike mining companies, Royal Gold is a royalty and streaming company.

Developing mining projects is capital-intensive, so mining companies don't always choose to pursue that course alone. Oftentimes, they turn to royalty and streaming companies, which provide up-front capital for the development of projects in exchange for the right to purchase the mined metal at a pre-set price or to receive a percentage of mineral production. By doing this, Royal Gold avoids the associated risks of developing individual projects while gaining the opportunity to prosper from their success.

Image source: Getty Images.

Investing in Royal Gold mitigates the risk of investing in a single company and offers diversity beyond one metal. While gold accounted for 79% of the company's 2020 revenue (its fiscal year ends in June), silver and copper each contributed 9% to the company's top line.

To address the strength of Royal Gold's portfolio and allay concerns over the pandemic, CEO William Heissenbuttel said on the company's fourth-quarter conference call in August: "In addition to a portfolio of 187 assets, 41 of which produced revenue of almost $500 million, our cash overhead remained low, representing about 4% of revenue. It is this combination of revenue diversification and high cash margins that should allow us to withstand the potential uncertainty of future COVID-19 impacts."

Royal Gold achieved annual records for revenue, operating cash flow, and net income in its fiscal 2020 despite the challenges of COVID-19.

Smashing analysts' estimate of $0.86 in first-quarter earnings per share, Royal Gold reported EPS of $1.63 in early November. Nonetheless, the stock is still on the discount rack. Whereas its five-year average operating cash flow multiple is 22.2, shares now trade with that multiple at 19.9.

If you're uninterested in precious metals, consider Southern Copper, a leading global copper producer. Over the past few months, the price of copper has been steadily gaining after plummeting in the spring, and on Nov. 20, it traded at its highest point over the past two years as demand grows in China.

In addition, news of COVID-19 vaccines and the promise of a return to normal that that sparks and messaging from President-elect Joe Biden supporting infrastructure projects have also spurred demand. And with shares of Southern Copper trading at 19.7 times operating cash flow, a bargain considering the five-year average multiple of 20.3, investors can pick up the stock at a discount.

Dividend investors may also be attracted to Southern Copper. The company announced in late October a dividend raise from $0.40 to $0.50 per share, putting the stock's forward dividend yield at 3.5%. Although this applied to shareholders of record as of Nov. 11, the recovering price of copper suggests that the company may report a strong fourth quarter, leaving it well positioned to maintain the $0.50 payout. And it has generated FCF of $1.7 billion over the past 12 months, more than the $1.2 billion that it generated in 2019.

Besides the Tia Maria project, located in Peru, which is estimated to achieve annual copper production of 120,000 metric tons when it commences operations, Southern Copper has a variety of other projects in its pipeline, including El Arco in Mexico and Los Chancas in Peru.

With some analysts forecasting gold to trade as high as $2,300 per ounce in 2021, Pretium Resources and Royal Gold are especially interesting at the moment. But even if gold maintains its current level, both stocks are still lustrous opportunities. Meanwhile, Southern Copper presents investors interested in base metals with an equally compelling option given how well it's been doing and the potential for increased demand.

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Looking to Invest in Mining Stocks? These 3 Could Be Great Buys. - The Motley Fool

A soldier from the Royal Anglian Regiment.

Leon Neal | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON The U.K. has announced the biggest program of investment in British defense since the end of the Cold War.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday told the House of Commons, Britain's lower house of Parliament, that the government will spend an additional 16.5 billion ($21.8 billion) on defense over the next four years. The current budget of the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence is almost 41.5 billion.

"I have taken this decision in the teeth of the pandemic because the defence of the realm must come first," the prime minister said ahead of the announcement, in a statement on Wednesday evening.

"The international situation is more perilous and more intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War and Britain must be true to our history and stand alongside our allies. To achieve this we need to upgrade our capabilities across the board."

Johnson said this was a chance "to end the era of retreat" and bolster the U.K.'s global influence.

The government said it expected the increased spending, which will go toward investing "in cutting-edge technology," positioning the U.K. "as a global leader in domains such as cyber and space and addressing weaknesses in our defence arsenal that cannot be allowed to continue."

The money will see further investment in military research and development, as well as new areas of defense. Johnson will announce the creation of a new agency dedicated to Artificial Intelligence, a new "National Cyber Force" to protect people from online harm and a new "'Space Command', capable of launching our first rocket in 2022," the government added.

The extra defense spending could create 10,000 extra jobs annually, according to the government. The announcement is on top of a pledge made by the ruling Conservative Party ahead of the 2019 election "to exceed the NATO target of spending 2 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) on defence and increase the budget by at least 0.5 percent above inflation every year of the new Parliament."

Extra spending would "cement the U.K.'s position as the largest defence spender in Europe and the second largest in NATO," it said.

The announcement comes after the Ministry of Defense has pressed for increased investment in recent years. Defense Minister Ben Wallace called the announcement "excellent news for (the Ministry of) Defence, and provides us with the financial certainty we need to modernise, plan for the future and adapt to the threats we face." The extra investment would also secure U.K. jobs and livelihoods, he added.

The government noted Wednesday that the threat from the U.K.'s adversaries has been "evolving since the Cold War" but did not outline who those adversaries are.

"Our traditional defence and deterrence capabilities remain vital, and our Armed Forces work every day to prevent terror reaching the U.K.'s shores. But our enemies are also operating in increasingly sophisticated ways, including in cyberspace, to further their own interests."

Read more here:
UK announces biggest military investment in 30 years - CNBC

By Scholarship Media | November 2, 2020 4:35 pm

Investing requires a large field of knowledge. In order to lock in big profit gains year after year, you have to stay ahead of the curve and always on the lookout for the next breakaway opportunity. Research from sources like WealthRocket is a great way to boost your knowledge in cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and real estate holdings, on top of reading about companies listed on the stock market. In order to beat the market, you need to understand it. Conducting your own analysis of companies, indices, and commodities is essential to long term success, regardless of whether you are seeking the bread and butter approach or want to diversify and add in alternative investment opportunities to your overall investment profile.

Understanding what you stand to gain on any investment opportunity should be your first port of call. Running the numbers on your expected return on investment (ROI) as well as any loss you may incur as the result of a bad call, must be a top priority for anyone risking their capital. A simple calculation of buy versus sell price will suffice to start, however thinking about the time required to arrive at that sale is also important. A 5% growth over the course of a week is certainly more fruitful than one that takes a year to mature.

A TIE ratio, or times interest earned ratio is a calculation of a companys intake over expenses. Many early investors dont understand the value of this metric, asking what is a times interest earned ratio? and often dismissing the answer as a tertiary data point.

The truth is, businesses typically run on a combination of short and long term debt that finances expansion upfront and is then paid back over time to lenders, investors, or the business itself. Times interest earned is therefore a representation of a companys liquidity at any given time, suggesting the ability to pay back debt even if a hypothetical shortage of business leaves the company unable to operate and generate any income. TIE ratio figures into a companys long term viability and demonstrates whether a company can take on additional debt, or has been swamped by their total interest and debts. Due diligence with any company should always include looking at the TIE Ratio.

In order to take advantage of the best alternative investments available to you, its important to internalize these lessons that the market can teach and then apply them to a new set of investment vehicles. Identifying long term viability is crucial in stock picking, but its also a major factor in choosing alternative investment opportunities that make sense for wealth growth as well. A TIE ratio may not help when considering gold versus platinum or two similar real estate properties. But the ability of either asset class to continue increasing in value, based upon a standardized set of principles remains the same in any market.

Searching for highly fluid commodities like vintage wine, high dollar fine art, or real estate properties that can generate long term growth or even passive income (with rental properties) follows the logic of returns. You must work with the data available in order to identify fast movers that you can leverage to create a quick buck, and other investments that you can hold for the long term to underpin a decades-long history of success. Investments are all about building retirement wealth, so a mixture of fast growth and long term holdings that mature alongside your career is the best way to achieve this financial freedom that we all seek as we grow older.

Stick to your principles and always do your research in order to find viable companies and commodities that can withstand short term volatility and create lasting growth.

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College 101: Understanding Investment Terms and Alternative Investment Options - Daily Cardinal

Weitzman has operations across Texas' major markets.

Dallas-based retail real estate firm Weitzman is expanding its investment property operations.

The regional real estate firm has hired Tim Baker as its new executive vice president and managing director of acquisitions.

Baker, previously an officer with Pittsburgh-based grocery retailer Giant Eagle, will be charged with retail and commercial real estate acquisitions statewide. He also worked with grocer Albertsons, Safeway and Walmart on deal sourcing, property acquisitions, asset management and disposition.

We have developed a substantial group of investors looking to place capital in retail real estate with us, and we are also in dialogue with several institutional groups, Weitzman president and CEO Marshall Mills said in a statement. We continue to target two main buckets of deals: grocery-anchored centers and well-located, shadow-anchored neighborhood strip centers.

Baker will collaborate with Ryan Stempf, Weitzmans chief investment relations officer.

Founded in 1989, Weitzman has a team of about 250 commercial property professionals working in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

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Weitzman hires key executive to grow its investment property operations - The Dallas Morning News

George Bye, CEO of Bye Aerospace, and Seunghyuk Cha, Chairman of Aerospace9, agreed to a purchase agreement for 300 aircraft.

Aerospace9, an information and technology company based in South Korea, has agreed to purchase 300 of Bye Aerospaces all-electric aircraft, according to a Nov. 2 press release. The agreement marks an important opportunity in the Asia Pacific market, George Bye, CEO of Bye Aerospace, told Avionics International.

When you look at the macroeconomic growth of the world, you cannot ignore how important our friends in Asia are, Bye said. When you look at the overall opportunity, the Asia market is gigantic, maybe not today, but it's becoming that tomorrow and soon thereafter.

Bye Aerospace, a Colorado-based aircraft manufacturer, is currently in the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) certification process for its all-electric trainer eFlyer, which comes in two and four-seat options. Bye said he expects this process and production to start in the third quarter of 2022. The original date of 2021 was pushed back because of COVID-19.

Aerospace9 will be purchasing a total of 150 eFlyer 2s, the two-seat variation, 148 eFlyer 4s, the four-seat variation, and two Envoys, which is Bye Aerospaces soon to be announced 9-seat variation, according to the release. It will also have the opportunity to acquire 100 additional aircraft.

This investment is not just a purchase contract, it is a very meaningful contract that creates an amazing opportunity for Asia, Chairman Seunghyuk Cha of Aerospace 9, said in a press statement. Our company has a very important responsibility in the aviation industry as a new strategic partner of Bye Aerospace.

Bye Aerospaces prototypes, fixed-wing all-electric aircraft produced under Part 23 Amendment 64, were initially rolled out four years ago. They use lithium-ion battery cells for power lasting between three to five hours depending on the aircraft configuration. The eFlyer is a trainer aircraft, which negates the need for longer flight times, Bye said.

The cell goes into a module, which provides thermal management mechanical protection and safety systems and those battery packs, there are two strings that have battery packs completely redundant one to the other, that provide the energy for the battery management system, Bye explains. It's basically a computer that monitors the health and the state of charge and so forth and those electrons feed the electric energy into the controller inverter and electric motor, and that system is designed for a three-hour flight time on the two-seat eFlyer 2.

Once Bye Aerospace receives FAA type certification, it expects to subsequently achieve certification from South Korea's civil aviation authority.

When we get a type certificate in America there's, generally speaking, a collaborative agreement between the FAA and South Korea, where there's a paperwork process of acknowledgment of this level of rigor of achieving a type certificate under the FAA, in our case 14 CFR 23 Amendment 64 rules, Bye said. And that paperwork process pulls the FAA type certificate into the Civil Aviation Authority of Korea and they achieve an airworthiness certificate level of acceptance in Korea.

Including the Aerospace9 agreement, Bye Aerospace now has future purchase agreements for 711 total aircraft.

In July Bye Aerospace announced a $10 million investment by a venture capital fund which allowed it to begin work on the first production-conforming prototype of its eFlyer 2 aircraft. The SUBARU-SBI Innovation Fund also invested in the company in 2018.

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Bye Aerospace Gets Investment from South Korean Aerospace9 - Aviation Today

After another quarter of year-over-year revenue declines, it might be hard to get too excited about Visa (NYSE:V) (or its peer Mastercard, for that matter). Both are suffering from significantly lower transaction volume this year. Nevertheless, the trend toward cashless payments is making steady progress all around the world. And Visa, with its massive globe-spanning digital transaction business, is one of the best bets on an eventual economic recovery. While fintech outfits like PayPaland Square may look like the best starting places for a war-on-cash portfolio, don't ignore Visa's growing capabilities in financial technology and best-in-class profit margins.

Image source: Getty Images.

A lot of travel plans -- of both the business and leisure variety -- have been eliminated this year, but Visa has replaced much of the activity with e-commerce transactions. Nevertheless, cross-border money movement between countries is hurting, and while digital cash is still in motion, not as much of it is flowing through Visa's system as prior to the pandemic.

That was on display during the fourth quarter of Visa's fiscal 2020 (the three months ended Sept. 30, 2020). Payments volume returned to growth and rose 4% year over year, but cross-border transaction volume was down 29%. As a result, Q4 revenue fell 17% from the year prior to $5.1 billion, and net income fell 29% to $2.1 billion.

Nevertheless, it was a good sign that payment volume is back on the rise, and management indicated it has been busy renewing deals with existing customers and inking deals with new ones. And in Visa's "value-added services," which include data security and other related tech, revenue grew 15% during Q4 and 18% during the whole of 2020. All told, while things haven't been great for Visa since the emergence of COVID-19, it hasn't been an unmitigated disaster, either.

Metric

12 Months Ended Sept. 30, 2020

12 Months Ended Sept. 30, 2019

Change

Revenue

$21.8 billion

$23.0 billion

(5%)

Net income

$10.9 billion

$12.1 billion

(10%)

Adjusted earnings per share

$5.04

$5.40

(7%)

Data source: Visa.

The way the world makes purchases is rapidly shifting, and though Visa's year has been less than stellar, it is nonetheless well-positioned to benefit moving forward. New digital payments platforms like PayPal's Venmo have been flying high, but Visa recently secured a deal to power the Venmo credit card, and it's powering other features on the app. Similar initiatives have been launched with other high-growth peers, like Southeast Asia's Shopee e-commerce platform owned by red-hot Sea Limited. Other digital wallets around the globe are turning to Visa as a trusted partner as well.

And Visa continues to grow its exposure to these next-gen tech companies. It recently announced the acquisition of YellowPepper, a small software platform used as a universal adapter to connect and scale digital payment capabilities. It is worth noting that the previous purchase of fintech Plaid back in January is under review by the U.S. Department of Justice as a potential antitrust issue given Visa's already dominant operation, but regardless of the results of the investigation, Visa remains in pole position as a digital payment ecosystem leader.

How is Visa able to pull it all off? It's all about profit margins. Thanks to its virtual duopoly with peer Mastercard and the massive global scale of its tollbooth-like business (Visa earns a fee every time a transaction takes place on its network), even in a tough stretch like 2020, Visa generated a net profit margin of 50%. Talk about an enviable operating model. That gives Visa a constant stream of cash that it can continue to invest for further growth as the war on cash picks up in earnest amid the pandemic.

It also explains the steep premium Visa stock trades for -- 38 times trailing 12-month earnings per share as of Monday's close. Because digital payments remain a long-term secular growth trend, the high price tag will look a lot more reasonable once Visa inevitably returns to growth mode.

Simply put, recovering economic activity and digital payments will keep this ship afloat for a long time. Visa is a solid place to start building a war-on-cash investment basket.

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Should You Start Your War-on-Cash Investment Basket With Visa? - Motley Fool