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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Victory Square Technologies Inc. (Victory Square or Company) (CSE:VST) (OTC:VSQTF) (FWB:6F6), a company that provides investors access to a diverse portfolio of next generation technology companies in key sectors including: the Creator Economy, Digital Health, Gaming, Web 3.0, VR/AR and Green Tech, announces it has filed its consolidated condensed interim financial statements and associated managements discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021.

"Q2 2021 was another strong quarter for Victory Square in which we achieved a sixth consecutive quarter with positive net income & earnings per share, issued a share dividend, and listed GameOn (CSE:GET). In addition to closing our investment in Stardust Solar Technologies Inc. (Stardust), we closed an oversubscribed financing for Immersive, launched DiscreetCare.com and Covalent Network Corporation completed a $10,000,000 USD public sale of their CQT token, said Shafin Diamond Tejani, Chief Executive Officer of Victory Square.

Financial Highlights for the three months ending June 30, 2021:

Financial Highlights for the six months ending June 30, 2021:

*During the three months ended June 30, 2021, the company had net income from continuing operations of $1,144,572, adjusted for non-cash costs for share based payments of $519,548, and non-controlling interest for the period of $558,060, the adjusted net income of the Company was $2,222,180. Adjusted basic earnings per share was $0.02 and diluted earnings per share was $0.02.

* During the six months ended June 30, 2021, the Company had net income from continuing operations of $4,583,453, adjusted for non-cash costs for share-based payments of $2,085,606 and non-controlling interest for the period of $984,196, the adjusted net income of the Company was $7,653,255. Adjusted basic earnings per share was $0.08 and diluted earnings per share was $0.07.

The Companys consolidated financial statements for the quarter ending June 30, 2020 along with its MD&A are available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com.

Business Highlights for the three months ending June 30, 2021:

April 2021

May 2021

June 2021

Subsequent business highlights to June 30, 2021:

July 2021

August 2021

Outlook:

The Company expects to focus on the following primary goals for the next 90 - 120 days are:

Finally, Victory Square integrates a strong ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) component throughout its operations. Our portfolio highlights minority entrepreneurs, often overlooked by traditional investors, including many from developing countries. We are also dedicated to giving back to the communities in which we serve and operate. The Companys mandate is to assist organizations through its time, talent and treasure. The Company is committed to organizations that provide services in the youth, mental health, special needs, sport, tech, education, marginalized groups, First Nations, and accessibility sectors.

The company and the management team contributed approximately $500,000 in donations to: Variety The Children Charity of BC, CKNW KIDS FUND, Simon Fraser University Tech Camp, The BC Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, Covenant House Vancouver, YWCA, Coast Mental Health, The Cerebral Palsy Association of BC, Mealshare and the BC Childrens Hospital Foundation. These gifts are in conjunction with VSTs GIVING BACK pledge made by its Executive, Staff, and Board.

We are living in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution; The Tech Revolution that will undoubtedly change everything as we know it, said Shafin Diamond Tejani. Digital health, AR/VR, Cybersecurity, Gaming, Sports, Entertainment, and Web 3.0 are sectors that Victory Square has invested in. We offer investors the chance to invest in the most exciting tech trends all in one place.

Check out VictorySquare.com and sign up to VSTs official newsletter at http://www.VictorySquare.com/newsletter.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Shafin Diamond TejaniDirector and Chief Executive OfficerVictory Square Technologies Inc.www.victorysquare.com

For further information about Victory Square, please contact:

Investor RelationsContact Edge Communications GroupEmail: ir@victorysquare.comTelephone: 604 283-9166

Media RelationsContact Howard Blank, DirectorEmail: howard@victorysquare.com

ABOUT VICTORY SQUARE TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Victory Square (VST) builds, acquires and invests in promising startups, then provides the senior leadership and resources needed for fast-track growth. VSTs sweet spot is cutting-edge tech thats shaping the 4th Industrial Revolution. Our corporate portfolio consists of 20+ global companies using AI, VR/AR, and blockchain to disrupt sectors as diverse as fintech, insurance, health and gaming.

What we do differently for startups

VST isnt your ordinary investor. With real skin in the game, were committed to ensuring each company in our portfolio succeeds. Our secret sauce starts with selecting startups that have real solutions, not just ideas. We pair you with senior talent in product, engineering, customer acquisition and more. Then we let you do what you do best build, innovate and disrupt. In 24-36 months, youll scale and be ready to monetize.

What we do differently for investors

For investors, we offer early-stage access to the next unicorns before theyre unicorns. Our portfolio represents a uniquely liquid and secure way for investors to get access to the latest cutting-edge technologies. Because we focus on market-ready solutions that scale quickly, were able to provide strong and stable returns while also tapping into emerging global trends with big upsides.

VST is a publicly-traded company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, and listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (VST), Frankfurt Exchange (6F6) and the OTCQX (VSQTF).

For more information, please visit http://www.victorysquare.com.

ABOUT THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (CSE)

The Canadian Securities Exchange, or CSE, is operated by CNSX Markets Inc. Recognized as a stock exchange in 2004, the CSE began operations in 2003 to provide a modern and efficient alternative for companies looking to access the Canadian public capital markets."

This news release is qualified in its entirety by its interim financial statements and associated MD&A for the period ended June 30, 2021, copies of which are available on the Companys profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. In the case of any conflict between this news release and the financial statements and MD&A, the information provided in the financial statements and MD&A shall prevail. Investors are referred to the entirety of the financial statements and MD&A.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the outlook of the business of Victory Square and its portfolio companies, including, without limitation, statements relating to future performance, execution of business strategy, future growth, business prospects and opportunities of Victory Square and its related subsidiaries and portfolio companies and other factors beyond our control. Such forward-looking statements may, without limitation, be preceded by, followed by, or include words such as believes, expects, anticipates, estimates, intends, plans, continues, project, potential, possible, contemplate, seek, goal, outlook or similar expressions, or may employ such future or conditional verbs as may, might, will, could, should or would, or may otherwise be indicated as forward-looking statements by grammatical construction, phrasing or context. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this news release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of Victory Square. Although Victory Square believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because Victory Square can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Although Victory Square believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statements has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Victory Squares control, including, but not limited to, the risk factors discussed in the continuous disclosure materials of the Victory Square which are available under the Victory Squares profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as of the date hereof. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. The statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Victory Square disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof.

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Victory Square Technologies Reports Record 6th Consecutive - GlobeNewswire

Europe Union is taking the U.S. off its "safe travel" list.

American travelers in Europe may soon face additional Covid-related restrictions such as quarantines and testing requirements. The European Union has already begun the procedure to remove the United States and five other countries from its safe travel list, reports Reuters.

Travelers from countries on the safe list can visit E.U. countries without quarantining by showing only a recent negative test result, while travelers from other countries are discouraged from visiting for non-essential reasons. However as the safe list is non-binding, American travelers would not automatically be barred from entry to E.U. countries. The last word will come from each individual E.U. country, which has the authority to impose their own restrictions. In other words, its going to be a messy patchwork of different rules and regulations across the continent.

The change to the so-called safe list could become official as soon as Monday. The other countries on the chopping block include Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

The E.U.s safe list includes countries outside the 27-member block that are considered safe amid the Coronavirus pandemic due to the low rates of infections. The list is updated periodically based on the latest coronavirus developments in each country.

The threshold for being on the safe travel list is having fewer than 75 new Covid-19 cases daily per 100,000 inhabitants over the previous 14 days. Currently the United States has an infection rate roughly seven times above that threshold.

The picture looked rosier for the U.S. when it was added to the list of safe countries in mid-June. At that time, the vaccination rollout was well underway in the United States, and the number of new daily Covid cases was declining. But now, as the delta variant of the coronavirus continues to sweep across America, Covid levels are back to what they were in January.

In early August, when the infection rate in the U.S. was half as high as it is currently but still well over the safe travel threshold the bloc discussed curbing U.S. travelers, but decided to keep the status quo.

Last Thursday, the E.U. member countries again debated whether to reimpose limits on U.S. tourists. This time around, European nations reportedly concluded that the U.S. is not able to remain on the list.

Excerpt from:
European Union To Remove The U.S. From Its Safe Travel List - Forbes

During a meeting scheduled to be held today between the EU ambassadors, the Slovenian representatives are set to propose the reintroduction of the entry ban on American travellers, due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in this country in recent weeks.

The US has marked a number of 507 new positive cases with COVID-19 per 100,000 people during the last 14 days, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) data indicates, which means that now its infection rates are beyond the rates one country should stay under in order for its citizens to be eligible to enter the EU for non-essential purposes.

Following this turn of events, the country is automatically considered a high-risk area, like all other countries with infection rates of between 480 to 959 positive cases for 100,000 inhabitants during 14 days, as SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

According to ECDC data, the continent of America has reported 80,477,464 positive cases for the 14 days week notice, with the United States experiencing the highest number of infections 36,681,559, Brazil (20,364,099), Argentina (5,088,271), Colombia (4,870,922) and Mexico (3,108,438).

The US also accounts for the largest number of deaths in the American continent, reporting 621,636 deaths from the beginning of the pandemic up until August 15*, followed by Brazil (569,058), Mexico (248,652), Peru (197,487) and Colombia (123,580).

The EU ended its travel ban for non-essential reasons imposed on several third countries such as Albania, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Serbia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, including here the United States. Since June, fully vaccinated American travellers have been exempted from testing and quarantine requirements when entering the majority of European countries.

The decision of lifting entry restrictions for Americans followed Ursula von der Leyens statements, who is the head of the EU Commission, that Americans should be able to travel to Europe since they are being vaccinated with the same authorised manufacturer shots as Europeans are.

The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines. This will enable free movement and travel to the European Union, Von der Leyen said back in April.

While EU officials and companies urge the US to ease travel rules, the same has kept a strict travel ban on Europeans for more than 500 days now, despite many European countries having a lower infection rate than the US currently does. For the most recent 14-day period, the representatives for the European countries have reported 61,095,909 positive cases with the virus, almost 20 million less than the US.

The World Health Organisation data updated in the last 24 hours reveals that 1,146 people have died in the US due to Coronavirus implications and 227,282 people tested positive for the virus. The country, which counts more than 328 million inhabitants, has suffered 625,046 deaths since the pandemic started, and 37,816,239 people were infected with the virus.

*NOTE: A previous version of this article said The US also accounts for the largest number of deaths in the American continent, reporting 621,636 deaths since August 15. In order to avoid any misunderstandings, we have updated it to clarify that in fact, this number of cases was reported from the beginning of the pandemic up until August 15.

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EU Discussing Today the Reintroduction of Travel Ban on Americans as US Infection Rates Surge - SchengenVisaInfo.com - SchengenVisaInfo.com

The European Union's proposed carbon pricing rules could hit a major snag in the form of China and the U.S., but one expert predicts it will still possible to convince the economic superpowers to get onboard using a series of cautious steps.

The EU said in July that it wants to impose a carbon border adjustment mechanism also referred to as CBAM. The measure, if approved, will force EU businesses to pay a carbon levy for goods they import from outside the bloc. In essence, it aims to incentivize other places with less stringent emissions rules to reduce their carbon footprints or else risk losing some business.

The problem is that some nations might not want to go down that route; or at least not as fast as the EU, which is aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emission by 55% from 1990 levels by the end of 2030. China, India, South Africa and Brazil said in April they had "grave concern" regarding the EU's intentions for a carbon tax, calling it "discriminatory."

Tim Gore, member of the Institute for European Environmental Policy, a think tank, told CNBC in July that the CBAM "has very big implications, of course, for countries which are exporting into the EU market."

As such, he said the EU will have "to invest in serious dialogue" with those countries to bring them on board. He said one of the ways to achieve this is "to make sure the revenues that will be generated are returned to those countries to support their low carbon transition." He said this would be particularly useful for poorer countries, that are looking to increase their cash positions.

But China is not necessarily in this category and nor is the United States, which has also raised eyebrows over the EU's plan. John Kerry, the U.S.' top climate envoy, said earlier this year he had concerns about the proposal and that it should be used only has a "last resort," suggesting that other steps could be taken to reduce global emissions.

Gore, from the Institute for European Environmental Policy, believes that competition to be the world's leading economy will be the solution to any conflict with the EU's climate plans.

"Both those economies [the U.S. and China] know as well that the EU here is making a serious down payment on advancing into this new low carbon economy. So irrespective of the international climate negotiations, those governments will be looking at their own economies and saying where is the competitive edge in the next 10 to 20 years," Gore said via Zoom, while adding that Beijing and Washington will want to make sure they will not be left behind in the race to carbon neutrality.

As long as industrial installations outside the EU are not subject to similarly ambitious measures, these efforts can lose their effect.

Paolo Gentiloni

European Commissioner

A Brussels-based think tank, Bruegel, also said in a blogpost last month that the EU should ensure that international talks over its carbon tax plan happen at the World Trade Organization. This approach would likely reduce future trade disputes in this space.

Either way, the EU seems intent in pursing this policy.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, decided to put forward the CBAM proposal despite the concerns raised by some international partners. The institution believes the policy is essential to prevent "carbon leakage" the idea that companies operating in Europe would shift their production to places with less restrictive emissions policies.

A detail of the pilot carbon dioxide (CO2) capture plant is pictured at Amager Bakke waste incinerator in Copenhagen on June 24, 2021. - The goal is to be able to capture 500,000 tonnes of CO2 from Amager Bakke's emissions by 2025.

IDA GULDBAEK ARENTSEN | AFP | Getty Images

"As long as industrial installations outside the EU are not subject to similarly ambitious measures, these efforts can lose their effect," the EU's economic commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said in July about the need to impose the CBAM.

As a result, the 27 EU member states and the European Parliament are assessing the proposal. But this legislative process could take up to two years to be fully implemented into law.

"We are already too late in moving on climate change. We can see this summer,extreme weather events all around the world," Bob Ward, from the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy in London told CNBC last week.

He added that "this is going to continue to get worse for at least the next three decades till we get to net zero as a world."

"We need an orderly but accelerated transition towards net zero emissions," he said.

More:
How Europe could get China and the U.S. on its side with new carbon tax - CNBC

Several states from the European Union, including neighboring Poland, Estonia, and Lithuania, have accused Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko of illegally sending migrants into the E.U. The group claims that Lukashenko is acting in retaliation to the blocs sanctions over the disputed Belarusian presidential election of 2020, making migrants his political tools and risking the creation of broad anti-migrant sentiment in the E.U.

During a news conference last Tuesday, German chancellor Angela Merkel accused Lukashenko of using refugees . . . from Iraq, in a hybrid way to undermine security. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (R.F.E./R.L.), a U.S. government-funded international radio organization broadcasting from information-restricted countries, also reports that Lukashenko vowed to send drugs and migrants into [the EU] after the bloc imposed . . . sanctions [over a forced flight diversion to Minsk] to arrest an opposition blogger.

This problematic approach to sanctions only worsens the existing crisis. Using migrants as a political tool risks creating greater far-right sentiment in the E.U. and invites pushback from migrants that are unwillingly being used for political purposes. Also, many of the migrants are truly in need and do not want to be involved in the political standoff between Belarus and the E.U.

Belaruss greater role in the flow of migrants into the E.U. has seen far many more migrants crossing into European countries this year than in 2020. In Lithuania, for instance, Reuters reports that 4,124 people, many from Iraq, crossed into the country illegally in 2021. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda signed a decree on August 13th calling for an army deployment to counter illegal crossings at the border, R.F.E./R.L. says. Poland has seen similar numbers and taken similar measures, deploying more than 900 troops to its border with Belarus as of last Wednesday.

The E.U. is concerned that the surge might signal a repeat of the 2015-16 migration crisis. During those years, Reuters writes, the arrival of more than a million people from the Middle East stretched security and welfare systems and fueled support for far-right groups. Without directly mentioning the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, interior ministers from the E.U. said there was a need to strengthen the entire external border of the E.U. to prevent illegal crossings in the future. This hardline approach leaves migrants who will be in danger if they return home with few alternatives.

E.U. leadership should not be quick to enact strict border measures. Rather, it should analyze solutions to alleviate the large number of migrants on the Polish and Baltic state borders.

One such solution may be establishing migrant admission quotas across the bloc. Ylva Johansson, who oversees migration and asylum manners in the E.U.s executive Commission, called on member states on Wednesday to ramp up admission quotas for Afghans in need of protection, particularly for women and girls. European Parliament president David Sassoli has also proposed that the European Commission should take charge of equally relocating Afghan refugees following the Taliban takeover of their country.

While an admission quota solution is unlikely to resolve the surge of migrants, it would alleviate the situation in the eastern part of the bloc. Those migrants who arrive to Poland or Lithuania could then go to other E.U. countries, which may put less strain on Polish and Lithuanian institutions. However, countries like Poland and Hungary are opposed to such plans. These countries are unlikely to approve if the E.U. proposes an admission quota solution.

Regardless of where in the E.U. migrants end up, E.U. officials and institutions must ensure those people access to basic resources (including food, water, and a place to sleep), healthy conditions in shelters, and a transparent process for asylum seekers.

E.U. leadership should also refrain from hardline rhetoric that may encourage far right groups. Much of the blocs attitude to migrants is influenced by officials comments, which can welcome new arrivals or fuel opposition. Earlier this week, Polish deputy prime minister Piotr Gliski said his country defended itself against the wave of refugees in 2015 and now it will also defend itself. Far-right groups are quick to seize on these comments to continue anti-migrant sentiment around the block. E.U. officials messages should be used to reach solutions, rather than creating new problems.

Open dialogue with E.U. leadership is more likely to produce an agreeable outcome for both migrants and European countries. E.U. officials must not rely only on hardline approaches, but instead collaborate as a bloc to overcome logistical issues with admission quotas, process asylum applications, and create solutions to ensure that migrants can seek asylum.

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At-Risk Migrants: Political Tools In The European Union - The Organization for World Peace