Daily Brief Australia: Allkem Ltd, St Barbara Ltd, SenSen Networks and more

• Aussie lithium miner Allkem Ltd (AKE AU) has inked a $US10bn+ merger with Livent (LTHM US) to form the world’s fifth largest lithium producer.
• Travis Lundy tackled this “merger-of-equals” and the index implications in Allkem/Livent (AKE AU | LTHM US) Merger Of Lithium Equals Has Index Surprises. 
• The spoils of ongoing lithium demand for electric vehicle batteries will ostensibly go to the prevalent, low-cost producer. Yet Livent shareholders may question the lack of premium in the transaction. 

• A battle is brewing between Genesis Minerals (GMD AU) and Silver Lake Resources (SLR AU) for St Barbara Ltd (SBM AU)’s Leonora assets. SLR’s revised proposal addresses some Board’s concerns.
• SLR’s revised offer which shortens the completion timeline, is fully funded and higher than GMD’s offer, pressures the Board to engage to create a bidding war. 
• Irrespective of the winning bidder, SBM is attractive, and the shares offer a free option on realising value from its remaining assets and investment portfolio.    

SenSen Networks (SNS) reported its ninth consecutive quarter of year-on-year record cash receipts in Q323, with growth across all key verticals and no customer churn. The company has also introduced further measures to achieve cash flow positivity and profitability from Q423, focusing on upselling to existing customers and introducing a salary sacrifice scheme for senior staff. We moderate our revenue growth forecasts to reflect these measures but upgrade our profitability and cash forecasts as a result. The short to medium term is likely to see greater focus on the smart cities segment, where the company has established a promising international market presence and where it has considerable scope to expand its engagements in its existing customer base. This positions SenSen well to scale more profitably in the mid-term.