Materials

The European Commission has restated its serious concerns about the planned graphic paper Joint Venture between UPM and Sappi, sending the parties a Letter of Facts that they are now analyzing and responding to. UPM said it disagrees with the Commission's preliminary assessment and will keep engaging with the review, arguing the Joint Venture would support the long-term competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of the European graphic paper industry. To address the Commission's concerns, the parties plan to submit proposals for specific remedies, but not divestments, given the rationale of the transaction. The review comes as the Commission updates its competition policy approach, reflected in draft revised Merger Guidelines published on April 30, 2026, and as European graphic paper demand has more than halved over the past two decades due to digitalization. UPM and Sappi announced the planned Joint Venture in 2025 and signed the definitive agreement in May 2026; most jurisdictions, including China, South Africa and the U.S., have already approved it, and the European Commission's final decision is expected by year-end or shortly thereafter, with the Joint Venture becoming operational upon closing.

Phichem announced on September 30 that its board of directors had received a notification letter from the controlling shareholder Phichem Holdings and its concert party Zhang Yanxia. As of the disclosure date, the two had cumulatively reduced their holdings in the company by 5,680,075 shares and decided to terminate this share reduction plan ahead of schedule. Shares not yet sold under the plan will no longer be reduced within the remaining period. Based on the average reduction price disclosed in the announcement, the shareholders cashed out approximately 200 million yuan in total from this reduction. The company had pre-disclosed the reduction plan on June 10, 2026. Phichem Holdings and Zhang Yanxia originally planned to reduce their combined holdings by no more than 5,669,464 shares within three months starting 15 trading days after the pre-disclosure announcement, through block trades or centralized bidding, representing no more than 1.00 percent of total share capital. Because the registration of shares vested under the first归属 period of the 2025 restricted stock incentive plan was completed in June 2026, total share capital increased from 566,946,450 shares to 570,033,250 shares, and the planned reduction amount was correspondingly adjusted to no more than 5,700,332 shares, with the proportion of total share capital unchanged. On the same day, the board also received a notification letter from Phichem Holdings and its concert parties Zhang Justin Jicheng, Zhang Alan Jian, Zhang Yanxia, and Xia Shifeng stating that their equity change had reached 1 percent. From May 20, 2025 to September 29, 2026, the combined shareholding ratio of the above shareholders decreased from 22.00 percent to 20.79 percent. Phichem is mainly engaged in the research, development, production, and sales of electronic chemical materials. Its 2026 semi-annual report showed that during the reporting period it achieved total operating revenue of 1.722 billion yuan, up 17.79 percent year on year; net profit attributable to the parent company was 267 million yuan, up 23.20 percent year on year; non-GAAP net profit was 260 million yuan, up 47.19 percent year on year; and net cash flow from operating activities was 478 million yuan, up 101.81 percent year on year.

Endeavour Silver has reported a mechanical problem with the primary ball mill at its Guanacevi Mine, with the unit expected to remain offline for roughly three weeks while repairs proceed. Processing capacity is temporarily reduced, with the regrind circuit running at about 600 tonnes per day against ordinary throughput of roughly 1,100 tonnes per day, though mining activity on site continues. The disruption has weighed on the shares, which are down 20.45% over the past 30 days and 7.83% over the past week, even as the 1-year total shareholder return stands at 13.95% and the 3-year total shareholder return is approximately three times the initial value. Endeavour Silver last closed at CA$12.25, while the most followed narrative anchors on a fair value of CA$19.30 using an 8.1% discount rate, a gap that frames the stock as 37% undervalued. That bullish case rests on the Terronera mine nearing commercial production, optimization of recoveries on track, and potential expansion of the Kolpa mine to 2,500 tonnes per day in 2026, but it also leans heavily on Terronera ramping smoothly and on Guanacevi avoiding further mechanical setbacks. A contrasting view comes from the current P/E, with Endeavour Silver trading on 38.7x earnings versus a Canadian Metals and Mining average of 15.5x and an estimated fair ratio of 18.9x.

Guangda Special Materials held its 2026 semi-annual earnings briefing online on September 30, responding to questions about artificial intelligence applications, the employee stock ownership plan, product expansion, and raw material price fluctuations. The company's 2026 semi-annual report shows operating revenue of 2.323 billion yuan, down 8.36 percent year on year; net profit attributable to the parent company of 12.34 million yuan, down 93.33 percent; non-GAAP net profit attributable to the parent company of 11.32 million yuan, down 93.67 percent; net operating cash flow of negative 231 million yuan; and a main business gross margin of 13.37 percent, down 7.31 percentage points from the same period last year, mainly affected by reduced new installed capacity in the downstream wind power industry. Regarding the progress of the employee stock ownership plan that investors are concerned about, the company responded that within six months after approval by the shareholders' meeting, the management committee of the employee stock ownership plan will complete the purchase of underlying shares through methods such as buying the company's A-shares on the secondary market, and the company will complete the position building gradually during the building period based on market conditions. On artificial intelligence, the company said the relevant applications are still in the evaluation and testing stage, have not formed large-scale applications, and have no material impact on company performance. In terms of product expansion, the company has passed the international aerospace quality management system certification AS9100D, and its production technology for high-purity superalloy electroslag ingots has been applied in fields such as aircraft engines and gas turbines. Homogeneous fine-grained superalloy forgings have been supplied in batches to aircraft engines, rocket engines, and gas turbines. The aerospace superalloy UNS N07041 has achieved batch supply, and the company has carried out cooperation with relevant customers in the aerospace field and achieved batch supply.

Freeport reported third-quarter 2026 consolidated copper production of approximately 830 million pounds, in line with expectations, with slightly better international results offsetting slightly lower U.S. output. Consolidated gold production of approximately 230 thousand ounces also approximated expectations, but timing changes at PT Freeport Indonesia deferred roughly 60 thousand ounces of refined gold from the third quarter into the fourth quarter. As a result, Freeport expects third-quarter consolidated copper sales to approximate its July 2026 estimate of 750 million pounds, while gold sales are expected to approximate 100 thousand ounces, below the July estimate. Consolidated unit net cash costs are now expected to come in about 5% above the July 2026 estimate of $2.00 per pound of copper, mainly on lower by-product credits from the deferred gold sales, and the company estimates its third-quarter consolidated average realized price will exceed $6.50 per pound of copper. At the Grasberg minerals district, mill throughput averaged approximately 140,000 metric tons of ore per day, about 67% of normalized rates prior to the September 2025 incident, and PTFI's smelter in Eastern Java re-commenced operations in late August 2026, with Freeport still targeting 80% of capacity in mid-2027 and near full capacity by year-end 2027.

United Paper Public Company Limited, or UTP, announced through the Stock Exchange of Thailand that, due to flooding in Prachin Buri province, where the company's production plant is located, the company has found it necessary to temporarily suspend the receipt and delivery of raw materials and its production processes. The company is closely monitoring the situation and has added supplementary measures to address and prevent potential impacts, and will report further progress in due course.

United Paper Public Company Limited, or UTP, announced that it has temporarily suspended the receipt and delivery of raw materials and its production processes due to the impact of flooding in Prachin Buri province, where the company's production plant is located. Managing Director Watchara Chinsetthawong said the company has been closely monitoring the situation and has added supplementary measures for remediation and prevention, and will report further progress in due course.