BlueScope Steel Limited (BSL):
Having reconstructed BlueScope Steel to live longer and more prosperously, Paul O’Malley has been driven by the evolving ‘‘catastrophe’’ that is the national energy market to work up a plan for reform that will recover Australia’s standing as a home of supply security. BlueScope’s managing director has made a bit of an art of reducing the very complex to digestible simplicity. Reform of the energy market proves no exception to this emerging rule. Everything falls into place once you step back from the chaos and recover the priorities of the market and enforce the disciplines those fundamentals demand.
Brambles Limited (BXB):
New CEO Graham Chipchase warned US returns would never match those from Europe. Investor confidence in logistics firm Brambles has been crunched again amid fears that structural shifts caused by the rise of e-commerce giants, such as Amazon, are slowly undermining its United States pallets business. Brambles shares tumbled 10 per cent on Monday as the full extent of problems in its US business became evident and the company ditched sales and profit forecasts for the medium term.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Woolworths and Coles landlord Charter Hall Retail REIT has joined its peers in forecasting an improvement in supermarket retailing after delivering a $172 million profit driven by steady income growth and higher property valuations. The real estate trust, for which Woolworths and Wesfarmers’ Coles make up 50 per cent of rental income, saw anchor tenant moving annual turnover growth of 2.8 per cent up from 1.2 per cent in the prior corresponding period. However specialty sales growth has slipped from 4.9 per cent to 1.6 per cent, with big drops in South Australia and Western Australia down 3.9 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively. The focus was on improvements from the majors. ‘‘Our expectation is for continued improvement from Woolworths and challenging trading conditions for specialty retailers,’’ Charter Hall Retail REIT fund manager Scott Dundas said.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s bank financial planning division has seen its planner numbers jump by 11 per cent in the past year, as it attempts to move beyond past scandals and assure customers it has a refreshed and compliant culture. According to CBA figures, the number of planners under its Commonwealth Bank Financial Planning licensee – which was caught up in the scandal that has caused the bank to offer more than $20 million in compensation to affected customers – is 418, up from 465 in the previous 12 months.
G8 Education Limited (GEM):
he country’s largest private childcare provider, G8 Education, has raised $213 million from a Chinese private equity giant, distracting investors from a 9 per cent fall in annual profit to $80.3 million. The Gold Coast-based company said on Monday that CFCG Investment Partners International paid $212.8 million for about 12.5 per cent of the company, at $3.88 a share. The investment vehicle is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed China First Capital Group, which has a market value of $HK13 billion ($2.2 billion). G8 said it would use the funding to pay down a $50 million bond facility that is due in February 2018 and also to contribute to almost $200 million in settlements for childcare centres it has bought that will become due in the next two years.
WorleyParsons Limited (WOR):
WorleyParsons has revived fears of a potential equity raising among investors after the engineering group revealed it was bleeding cash and owed $230 million by key customers. The company’s shares plunged 12.8 per cent to $1.26, to close at $8.60 – their lowest since mid-November – after it delivered a $2.4 million interim net loss and said group revenues slid 35 per cent to $2.7 billion. Investors were startled by a net cash outflow of $84.8 million, given Worley-Parsons said a year ago it was aiming for a $300 million improvement in its cash position within 18 months. ‘‘The cash flow was weak this half and that was certainly disappointing,’’ Suhas Nayak, an analyst at investment group Allan Gray, said.
(Source: AIMS)
Having reconstructed BlueScope Steel to live longer and more prosperously, Paul O’Malley has been driven by the evolving ‘‘catastrophe’’ that is the national energy market to work up a plan for reform that will recover Australia’s standing as a home of supply security. BlueScope’s managing director has made a bit of an art of reducing the very complex to digestible simplicity. Reform of the energy market proves no exception to this emerging rule. Everything falls into place once you step back from the chaos and recover the priorities of the market and enforce the disciplines those fundamentals demand.
Brambles Limited (BXB):
New CEO Graham Chipchase warned US returns would never match those from Europe. Investor confidence in logistics firm Brambles has been crunched again amid fears that structural shifts caused by the rise of e-commerce giants, such as Amazon, are slowly undermining its United States pallets business. Brambles shares tumbled 10 per cent on Monday as the full extent of problems in its US business became evident and the company ditched sales and profit forecasts for the medium term.
Charter Hall Group (CHC):
Woolworths and Coles landlord Charter Hall Retail REIT has joined its peers in forecasting an improvement in supermarket retailing after delivering a $172 million profit driven by steady income growth and higher property valuations. The real estate trust, for which Woolworths and Wesfarmers’ Coles make up 50 per cent of rental income, saw anchor tenant moving annual turnover growth of 2.8 per cent up from 1.2 per cent in the prior corresponding period. However specialty sales growth has slipped from 4.9 per cent to 1.6 per cent, with big drops in South Australia and Western Australia down 3.9 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively. The focus was on improvements from the majors. ‘‘Our expectation is for continued improvement from Woolworths and challenging trading conditions for specialty retailers,’’ Charter Hall Retail REIT fund manager Scott Dundas said.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s bank financial planning division has seen its planner numbers jump by 11 per cent in the past year, as it attempts to move beyond past scandals and assure customers it has a refreshed and compliant culture. According to CBA figures, the number of planners under its Commonwealth Bank Financial Planning licensee – which was caught up in the scandal that has caused the bank to offer more than $20 million in compensation to affected customers – is 418, up from 465 in the previous 12 months.
G8 Education Limited (GEM):
he country’s largest private childcare provider, G8 Education, has raised $213 million from a Chinese private equity giant, distracting investors from a 9 per cent fall in annual profit to $80.3 million. The Gold Coast-based company said on Monday that CFCG Investment Partners International paid $212.8 million for about 12.5 per cent of the company, at $3.88 a share. The investment vehicle is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed China First Capital Group, which has a market value of $HK13 billion ($2.2 billion). G8 said it would use the funding to pay down a $50 million bond facility that is due in February 2018 and also to contribute to almost $200 million in settlements for childcare centres it has bought that will become due in the next two years.
WorleyParsons Limited (WOR):
WorleyParsons has revived fears of a potential equity raising among investors after the engineering group revealed it was bleeding cash and owed $230 million by key customers. The company’s shares plunged 12.8 per cent to $1.26, to close at $8.60 – their lowest since mid-November – after it delivered a $2.4 million interim net loss and said group revenues slid 35 per cent to $2.7 billion. Investors were startled by a net cash outflow of $84.8 million, given Worley-Parsons said a year ago it was aiming for a $300 million improvement in its cash position within 18 months. ‘‘The cash flow was weak this half and that was certainly disappointing,’’ Suhas Nayak, an analyst at investment group Allan Gray, said.
(Source: AIMS)
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