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This $58 Limited Edition Australian Grand Prix Shiraz Is Not To Be Missed

Wine used to be for French snobs or goon-slinging teenagers, with no in-between. But over the last couple of decades, as Australia’s Shiraz put us on the map, it has become an essential part of the modern Antipode’s repertoire.

On that note: a limited edition of St Hugo wine is now available, and it’s a winner. Whether you compare it to vintages coming out of France’s Rhone region, Argentina’s steak-killing Mendoza specials or South Africa’s Stellenbosch Syrah, this limited edition 2016 St Hugo Coonawarra Shiraz is not only more impressive than your over-achieving mate’s CV, but also helps you become part of a piece of Formula One history.

How? Well, for the second year running, St Hugo has teamed up with with the Formula 1® Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2020, and to celebrate this partnership they have created this limited edition Shiraz. Available only to a select few (guests of the exclusive Formula 1 Paddock Club, diners at certain Melbourne dining institutions and online shoppers who get in quick), this 2016 St Hugo Coonawarra Shiraz is one for the ages.

Tasting notes of this vintage highlight the fresh flavours of cherry and crisp plum, offset by spicy minerals, elegant tannins, and integrated subdued barrel characters. The perfect balance. Not to mention: it’s from St Hugo, a name in the Australian fine wine industry whose Barossa Valley heritage and consistent quality means this limited edition Shiraz is one heck of a buy. At $57.99 we doubt it’ll last long.

Shop the Limited Edition 2016 St Hugo Coonawarra Shiraz $57.99

What happens to your Frequent Flyer points when an airline cancels your flight?

It is standard policy that if a flight you are booked on (that you booked with Qantas Points, say) is cancelled, your Frequent Flyer points will be reinstated.

The process is similar to a passenger who has paid with money: if their flight is cancelled, in the initial instance Qantas (or whichever airline it may be) will try to accommodate them on an alternative flight, but if not they should be offered a refund.

Crucially (and, as expected), no points will be earned on your flight if it gets cancelled. Which leads us to…

Is there any leeway or compensation in the works for people who were depending on their cancelled trips to maintain their Platinum Frequent Flyer Status?

Qantas are yet to announce what they are going to do regarding this dilemma. But stay tuned for updates.

What are other airlines around the world doing?

As reported by Financial Times, some other airlines around the world are already making life easier for their loyal customers: “Singapore Airlines is extending the time-dependent elite status it grants to its most loyal passengers by a year, emails sent to frequent flyers showed,” Financial Times reported yesterday.

“This means they will not lose their membership of the airline’s elite flying clubs, which is heavily dependent on the number of miles they fly at the front of the plane, if corporate travel bans keep them grounded.”

Meanwhile, “Cathay Pacific… has awarded people with the top three tiers of membership to its Marco Polo loyalty scheme extra reward points until April, giving them more chances of keeping their elite status, according to customer communications shared with the Financial Times.”

While it makes sense that Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines would be the first to make these sorts of concessions (as their customers have been the hardest hit), customers from less impacted airlines are still waiting to see what’s going to happen to their frequent flyer status this year.

As Financial Times reports, “Other US, European and British carriers such as Delta, Lufthansa and British Airways are yet to follow suit, which has angered some business customers who fear their membership to elite flying clubs that offer free upgrades and lounge access will expire in 2020.”

Though they don’t appear to have reached the point of anger just yet, discussions in business travel websites suggest Qantas frequent flyers are keen for some reassurance too, with one user, asking in Executive Traveller’s comments section, underneath an article entitled ‘Coronavirus: Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines extend elite status’, “Will QF do the same?”.

Others answered with comments like, “No way would Qantas do anything like this, since they will not benefit, and it will cost them,” and “Qantas would only consider something like this if they, like Cathay, had nearly 1/2 of their fleet grounded and services cancelled so, hopefully, no.”

Another said: “I’m hopeful! Yes there overall fleet isn’t affected in the same way but many of its corporate travellers are.”

Yet another claimed Qantas lent many frequent flyers a hand in maintaining their status during the GFC.

All up, no one knows how bad the coronavirus, and thus its economic impact, is going to get. In light of this, we’d say Qantas will leave itself room to adapt, rather than making any sweeping offers.

Requesting you fetch “expensive water” for their pet

“My uncle works at a very upscale restaurant on a very well-to-do and desirable vacation island in the Atlantic Ocean,” one Reddit user revealed. “One of their regular customers is a billionaire oil guy. My uncle has told me he [the rich guest] demands to have his dogs seated at the table and feeds them foie grass and expensive water.”

“When he takes humans to eat my uncle has never seen him with the same woman twice, and often it’s a table of women.”

On a more positive note, the user adds, “If he really liked the meal he will go through the restaurant and, in front of everyone, peel off crisp 100s from a giant roll of money in his pocket and tip every service person whether they helped or not.”

Asking if it’s BYO… bed

“I work at a luxury property in California,” another user recounted, “and we had the co-founder of a large payment processing company stay with us a while back. He only liked to sleep on his own bed, so when he woke up that morning, he paid a team to load his bed into a truck and have it delivered to our property.”

Making you waste champagne

A third user said: “There‘s a thing in Stockholm‘s rich kid district called ‘vaska’. Basically, you order an expensive bottle of champagne, pay for it and watch how the waiter wastes all of it by pouring it down the drain (some places let you do it yourself).”

“Sadly, it’s an established thing in these kinda circles,” the user claims. “Like, it‘s on the menu cards and all that. Honestly the dumbest way of flexing I‘ve ever witnessed.”

Enlisting your services as a PI

“I am a cocktail server at the huge pool of a 4 star hotel. A woman said in a mono-tone voice and without any eye-contact ‘I lost my sunscreen. Find it.'”

Classy.

Asking you for trouble…

“I interviewed at a large hotel attached to a casino,” recounts a further hospitality worker. “While I was being shown around the front desk, a woman walked up, said nothing, and got room keys after being greeted by the front desk agent. She immediately turned and walked away. Then the manager who was interviewing turned to me and said, ‘That’s Mrs. Richladypants. You never ask her for her name, her ID, or god forbid a credit card. She stays here comped once or twice a week because her husband spends so much in the casino. If you upset her she will yell at you and then hand the person working next to you a $100 bill just to spite you.'”

Asking you a favour.. which ends up in your benefit

“I operated a premium chain… in Canada,” yet another Reddit user, who claimed to have managed a high end restaurant revealed. “One day this Indian gentleman started coming in, at first by himself. On the first day he spent $200 on wine and tipped $1000. The next day he did the same again. When we saw him the third time I had servers fighting over him.”

“One evening he got drunk on wine and Brad the busboy made the mistake complementing his watch. Mr. S. takes off his Tag and gives it to Brad. The next morning Mr. S comes back to get his car and asks if Brad is there, I say yes and go get him, Brad knows what’s up and is removing the watch as he walks over to Mr. S. Mr. S says, ‘Brad I’m really sorry I got drunk last night and gave you my watch.’ Brad is chuckling as he is removing the watch and says ‘it’s no problem’ and he was just holding the watch until Mr. S returned.

“The next thing Mr. S. said, I could not believe: ‘Brad you don’t understand, I’m sorry because it was very rude of me to give you a used gift.’ And at that moment Mr. S pulled out a box with a brand new Tag Heuer inside and handed it to Brad.”

Biotron

Among the local biotechs — and we use the term loosely — there’s been no lack of endeavour in linking their efforts to the virus.

But to be fair, in some cases investors did it for them.

Take Biotron (ASX:BIT), which was an obvious subject of attention given the company is focused on developing antiviral drugs for HIV and hepatitis.

Biotron also has a program for pan respiratory viruses and mentioned “corona” in a June 2019 presentation. Some punters latched on to the fact that it wasn’t referring to a 1970s Toyota or Mexican beer and the Hot Copper pundits were off and running.

Biotron CEO Dr Michelle Miller has been more circumspect.

Yes, she says, the company has some “good advanced compounds” to work on, but the reality is that there’s nothing that would be ready to fight the current outbreak.

Dr Miller says while the company’s work on pan respiratory viruses continues, there’s not much to add at this stage.

Uscom

Uscom (ASX:UCM) shares went on a run after the company reported increased orders for its haemodynamic monitoring devices in China.

Uscom stands for Ultra-Sonic Cardiac Output Monitors.

The Uscom 1A device is a non-invasive diagnostic that monitors cardiovascular functions, using Doppler ultrasound to detect abnormalities.

Chinese health authorities have recommended Uscom 1A as a monitoring device for severe coronavirus cases, while international guidelines also suggest using the device for paediatric sepsis.

Uscom reported that in the first five weeks of 2019, Chinese sales orders rose 124 per cent, from 17 units to 38 units.

Uscom chief Professor Rob Phillips says the company is “well positioned” with the virus, but notes that Uscom is not a coronavirus story as such: fatalities from cardiovascular pulmonary failure result from conditions such as pneumonia.

Happily for Uscom, the outbreak comes as the company hones-in on the Chinese market with a new direct sales model.

Genetic Signatures

The molecular diagnostics house has a suite of approved tests that cover gastro-enteric strains, flavivirus/alphavirus, sexually-transmitted diseases and … drum roll … respiratory pathogens.

Genetic Signatures’ (ASX:GSS) Easyscreen tests cover ‘pan coronaviruses’, which until now has not been able to distinguish COVID-19 from, say, SARS.

But that’s all changed, with the company introducing a supplementary test that does just that. Management is fast-tracking a validation program “to obtain the data required for international regulatory approvals as rapidly as possible”.

However, Genetic Signatures can’t be accused of beating up its prospects: management says while the bug presents “significant opportunities, the outcome of the emerging pandemic is uncertain”.

Micro-X

While the early-stage coronavirus is detected by a blood test, chest x-rays are then used to gauge the severity of the illness and assess fluid in the lungs.

Micro-X (ASX:MX1) is all about developing lightweight and portable x-ray machines for medical applications, as well as other purposes such as defence and airports.

The company’s first product, Carestream DRX Revolution Nano is approved in the US and Europe.

In mid-February the company said it had procured orders for $780,000 of machines from governments of two Asian countries, in response to the coronavirus threat. This week, another $1m of orders, all marked ‘for urgent delivery’, flooded in.

“While these are terrible circumstances with the coronavirus spreading so quickly, we are pleased that our equipment will soon be able to assist medical teams with their responses in affected countries,” Micro-X CEO Peter Rowland says.

Sanitisers or soap?

Why waste a crisis? No fewer than four ASX stocks are capitalising on demand for hand and surface sanitisers to halt the bug in the first place.

“Antimicrobial solutions” house Zoono Group (ASX:ZNO) proclaims that its impressively-monikered Z-71 Microbe Shield, as used in its hand sanitisers, kills COVID-19 99.99 percent of the time.

Zoono is selling into China via a tie up with Eagle Health (ASX:EHH), which manufactures and distributes product into 26 provinces.

Aeris Environmental (ASX:AEI) goes one step better, claiming its Aeris Active product kills influenza and noroviruses in 99.999 percent of cases.

For those remaining 0.001 percent, bad luck — and don’t buy a lottery ticket.

Interestingly, that announcement did not refer specifically to the coronavirus. But earlier, Aeris announced the Singapore National Environment Agency had listed Aeris Active as one of the “general disinfectants” effective against the virus.

Meanwhile, fruit juice maker Food Revolution Group (ASX:FOD) has turned from filling its bottles with squeezed oranges to stuffing them with alcohol-based hand sanitiser under the Sanicare brand.

Who would have thought? The swift repositioning results from a 1,260sqm upgrade at the company’s plant at Mill Park in outer Melbourne, which enables all sorts of gels, powders, oils and cosmetics to be bottled.

Mainstream sanitiser products such as Dettol and Lysol (made by multinational Reckitt and Benckiser) are flying off the shelves.

But is a good scrub with soap and water just as effective? Australian National University microbiologist Professor Peter Collignon opines there’s little difference between hand washing and the alcohol-based sanitisers.

“One is just more convenient than the other and contains alcohol,” he says. “You can put it in your pocket and don’t have to be near a sink or basin to use it.”

The quest for a ‘cure’

So … who’s actually tackling the disease? Offshore, there’s a conga line of developers having a crack at a vaccine.

In Israel, scientists at the Galilee Research Institute claim to be on the cusp of finalising a product that is capable of getting regulatory assent within 90 days.

That’s what you call fast-track approval.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the same team of scientists has been developing a prophylactic against infectious bronchitis virus, which affects poultry.

The effectiveness of the vaccine has been proven in pre-clinical trials carried out at the country’s Veterinary Institute.

In the US, Gilead Sciences plans to recruit 1,000 patients with coronavirus for a clinical trial to test its experimental anti-viral drug remdesivir (as used to tackle Ebola virus).

With the backing of the World Health Organisation, the drug is also being trialed in China.

Maryland-based, Nasdaq-listed Novavax says it is cloning the coronavirus to develop a vaccine, in the same way it developed one for MERS in 2013.

Novavax is looking at several vaccine candidates for animals and hopes to find one for human testing by the end of May.

“Our previous experience working with other coronaviruses, including both MERS and SARS, allowed us to mobilise quickly,” Novavax CEO Stanley Eck said.

Fellow Nasdaq minnow Moderna has shipped an experimental vaccine to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for testing.

Backed by billionaire hedge fund founder Jim Simons, Long Island-based private outfit Codagenix expects to have a vaccine ready for animal testing in four to six weeks, with one suitable for testing about six weeks later.

The Codagenix know-how is based on recoding the genomes of viruses to render them harmless. The technique is not exactly unknown, as it’s been used to eradicate polio and small pox.

And who can forget Australia’s very own Relenza anti-influenza Biota, which became Alpharetta Georgia’s Nabi, changed its name to Aviragen and then was subsumed as a sub-division of San Francisco’s Vaxart, popping its head above the parapet to also claim an anti-viral program for COVID-19.

Stem cell therapy to the rescue?

The South China Morning Post reports that a 65-year-old woman on her COVID-19 deathbed walked out of China’s Kunming Hospital after being given a stiff shot of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

Two trials are also underway to test the therapy against pneumonia, at a Beijing Military Hospital and Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (yep, in the coronavirus capital).

Could the excitement rub-off on our ASX-listed plays Mesoblast (ASX:MSB), Cynata Therapeutics (ASX:CYP), Orthocell (ASX:OCC) and Regeneus (ASX:RGS)?

Cynata’s Dr Ross Macdonald says the reports look authentic; and he believes that MSCs could be an effective adjunct in managing patients with serious issues pertaining to COVID-19.

“This is not because MSCs are inherently anti-viral or can act as a vaccine, but more because they have shown benefit in major pathologies associated with infection,” he says.

Cynata, we stress, has not mentioned coronavirus in its dispatches and nor has any of the other non-China MSC plays — or not yet anyway.

But still, what decent CEO would not give his company a plug?

“The clear advantage of (Cynata’s) Cymerus technology (is) the ability to make large quantities of consistent, robust MSCs without having to find gazillions of donors,” Dr Macdonald says.

Not everyone’s a winner

Your columnist stresses that the coronavirus influence on the sector is not all positive, with some biotechs likely to be affected by supply or other disruptions.

In mid-February, Cochlear (ASX:COH) quickly stepped off the mark by announcing its earnings for the 2019-20 year were likely to come in at $270-290m, compared with the previously guided $290-300m.

The reason is that hospitals in China and Hong Kong have delayed cochlear implant procedures to avoid the risk of infection.

The aforementioned Uscom notes that with labs “preoccupied” with the virus, short-term revenues are less predictable. In other words, the coronavirus is a distraction as well as an opportunity.

IDT Australia’s (ASX:IDT) Dr David Sparling told Biotech Daily that his company had no direct supply chain exposure to China at all, and was doubtful that even the company’s gowns and protective gear had much to do with the Middle Kingdom.

Dr Boreham’s diagnosis:

Editor’s note: Dr. Tim Boreham, who wrote this article for Stockhead, is one of Australia’s best-known small cap analysts and business journalists.

If you throw enough money and resources at tackling a disease you will get a result, right?

Er, not quite: “cures” for well-researched ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and an array of cancers remain elusive.

But when you’ve got an ailment that is crippling the global economy, the imperative to find a solution is somewhat more intensive.

Our best guess is that like SARS and MERS, COVID-19 will hang around for years to come, but the ill-effects will be made more tolerable with an effective vaccine and/or improved immunity over time.

In other words, it will become just another disease in the pantheon of maladies blighting humanity.

In the race for a cure, Gilead’s Remdesivir looks interesting, given it has been used before.

As for the opportunists in the sanitiser game, the surge in demand means tangible revenue gains — and good on them.

But let’s be clear: they’re hardly breaking new ground technology-wise and their gains will only be short term as other suppliers enter the market.

As for a cure, or lack of one, we suggest that investors hedge their bets with an exposure to the funeral stocks Invocare (ASX:IVC) and Propel Funeral Partners (ASX:PFP).

After all, they’re the last people to let you down.

Stockhead covers emerging ASX companies and investment opportunities. Get daily stock updates at Stockhead.

Read Next

What happens to your Frequent Flyer points when an airline cancels your flight?

Is there any leeway or compensation in the works for people who were depending on their cancelled trips to maintain their Platinum Frequent Flyer Status?

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