Ardent Leisure Group (AAD):
The leisure group (AAD) had faced “many challenges” over the past 12 months including the tragic and deadly accident at Dreamworld in October 2016 that led to the Gold Coast theme park’s closure for six weeks. The group is also searching for a new chief executive after Simon Kelly resigned after five months in the role amid changes to the board. It was announced in June that previous boss Deborah Thomas would leave the group. Ardent had successfully sold its Goodlife Health Clubs and each of its remaining businesses had significant upside potential. The group would reinvest in its theme park business, offer new attractions and consider opportunities to develop the land at Dreamworld while also rebuilding confidence in the safety of the park, he said. At 11.05am (AEDT), shares in Ardent were 1.0 cents, or 0.6 per cent, higher at $1.765.
Baby Bunting Group (BBN):
Baby goods retailer Baby Bunting Group cut 2018 profit guidance by about 11 per cent after aggressive discounting by rivals contributed to weak same-store sales growth and margins in the year to date. Baby Bunting chief executive Matt Spencer now expects EBITDA to be in line with the $23 million earned in 2017, before employee equity incentive expenses. Comparable store sales are expected to grow around 4 per cent, compared with same-store sales of 6.9 per cent in 2017. While total sales rose 11.4 per cent, underpinned by higher transactions and units sold, samestore sales slipped 0.1 per cent and gross margins fell 1.7 per cent amid aggressive discounting and clearance activity by rivals. BB's shares plunged as much as 16 per cent on the news, but have pared those losses to be 5 per cent lower at $1.42.
Carsales.com Limited (CAR):
Carsales.com says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with SK Holdings to buy the remaining 50.1 per cent stake in South Korean joint venture Encar.com for about $244 million, before adjusting for working capital. The deal was expected to be signed next month and completed in January, it added. "This acquisition is a significant milestone in Carsales's long-term strategy to be the global leader in online auto classifieds," CEO Cameron McIntyre said. The company anticipated the deal to be neutral to adjusted earnings in fiscal 2018 and accretive in fiscal 2019 and beyond. Shares of carsales.com fell as much as 1.8 per cent in early trade, posting their biggest intra-day drop since September.
Dominos’ Pizza Enterprises Limited (DMP):
The pizza wars in Australia have seen a recent resurgence of the Pizza Hut chain and a gathering appetite from consumers for new-economy players like UberEATS and Menulog. Given Domino’s slowing growth, UBS believes it is unlikely that it will reach 10 per cent market share of the Australia and New Zealand market by 2025, with it now forecasting Domino’s to capture around an 8 per cent share of the local takeaway sector. It currently has a 5 per cent market shares. UBS said France and Germany are key to Domino’s future growth outlook given they will account for around 80 per cent of incremental European store growth to 2025 and will make up around 75 per cent of the same store base by 2018. “Domino’s ability to transfer its leading Australia/New Zealand model to Europe is a material opportunity in our view given the significant earnings potential over the next 5-10 years. We value (Domino’s) Europe at $2.8 billion using a discounted cash flow.
Lendlease Group (LLC)：
Construction and development giant Lendlease has confirmed that energy group Origin will move its Sydney head office into the Barangaroo South development by mid-next year. Origin’s national manager of workplace strategy and leasing Trudi Lindell said the consolidation of all Sydney staff would be cost effective and backed the sustainability credentials of the new tower. Elsewhere, Lendlease signed a deal with the University of Melbourne to work on the redevelopment of a former hospital site in Melbourne into an innovation precinct, with GIC as co-investor of the commercial space. Financial close is set to be reached in early 2018, with construction starting the same year.
Macquarie Group Limited (MQG):
Macquarie Group has buckled to investor pressure to internalise the management of its toll roads business Macquarie Atlas Roads. It comes after The Australian’s DataRoom flagged investor unrest at Macquarie Atlas and that its shareholders were eager to call an extraordinary general meeting in a move to dump Macquarie as a manager because of the fees paid to the bank to control the $3.7 billion fund. The company says that under Macquarie’s active management, Macquarie Atlas has grown from a market capitalisation of $278 million, to a top 100 ASX listed company with a market capitalisation of $4 billion. It also has delivered a compound annual return of roughly 37 per cent since listing nearly eight years ago.
Netwealth Group Limited (NWL):
Investment platform provider Netwealth has enjoyed a spectacular ASX debut, surging almost 40 per cent in the first hours of trade. The 17-year old, Melbourne-based business floated at midday, opening at with an opening price of $4.88. The stock,issued at $3.70 a share in the third biggest float of the calendar year, has surged to $5.30, a gain of more than 40 per cent pushing its market capitalisation to over $1 billion. The founders will own 63.6 per cent of the shares in Netwealth of the company, worth $1.2 billion on Monday morning's share surge. About 60 per cent of the IPO shares were snapped up by institutional investors, with 40 per cent going to retail investors, which included an offer to many of the company's long standing platform clients.
Perpetual Limited (PPT):
Geoff Lloyd will step down as chief executive officer of asset manager Perpetual after more than five years in the role. Lloyd will leave on June 30, 2018, the company, which is one of the country's largest fund managers with $31.4 billion of assets, said in a statement this morning. It all seems rather sudden, with no replacement, and the stock is off 1.1 per cent this morning in very early trade. "As we started to build the company strategy for the coming three to five years, I felt I wouldn't be able to commit over the long term and so now is an important time to hand over the leadership of Perpetual," Lloyd said in the statement. Like other active managers, Perpetual is facing a growing challenge from the rise of passive investing, as well as competition on fees. The firm will consider internal candidates as well as conduct an external search, Chairman Tony D'Aloisio said.
(Source: AIMS)
The leisure group (AAD) had faced “many challenges” over the past 12 months including the tragic and deadly accident at Dreamworld in October 2016 that led to the Gold Coast theme park’s closure for six weeks. The group is also searching for a new chief executive after Simon Kelly resigned after five months in the role amid changes to the board. It was announced in June that previous boss Deborah Thomas would leave the group. Ardent had successfully sold its Goodlife Health Clubs and each of its remaining businesses had significant upside potential. The group would reinvest in its theme park business, offer new attractions and consider opportunities to develop the land at Dreamworld while also rebuilding confidence in the safety of the park, he said. At 11.05am (AEDT), shares in Ardent were 1.0 cents, or 0.6 per cent, higher at $1.765.
Baby Bunting Group (BBN):
Baby goods retailer Baby Bunting Group cut 2018 profit guidance by about 11 per cent after aggressive discounting by rivals contributed to weak same-store sales growth and margins in the year to date. Baby Bunting chief executive Matt Spencer now expects EBITDA to be in line with the $23 million earned in 2017, before employee equity incentive expenses. Comparable store sales are expected to grow around 4 per cent, compared with same-store sales of 6.9 per cent in 2017. While total sales rose 11.4 per cent, underpinned by higher transactions and units sold, samestore sales slipped 0.1 per cent and gross margins fell 1.7 per cent amid aggressive discounting and clearance activity by rivals. BB's shares plunged as much as 16 per cent on the news, but have pared those losses to be 5 per cent lower at $1.42.
Carsales.com Limited (CAR):
Carsales.com says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with SK Holdings to buy the remaining 50.1 per cent stake in South Korean joint venture Encar.com for about $244 million, before adjusting for working capital. The deal was expected to be signed next month and completed in January, it added. "This acquisition is a significant milestone in Carsales's long-term strategy to be the global leader in online auto classifieds," CEO Cameron McIntyre said. The company anticipated the deal to be neutral to adjusted earnings in fiscal 2018 and accretive in fiscal 2019 and beyond. Shares of carsales.com fell as much as 1.8 per cent in early trade, posting their biggest intra-day drop since September.
Dominos’ Pizza Enterprises Limited (DMP):
The pizza wars in Australia have seen a recent resurgence of the Pizza Hut chain and a gathering appetite from consumers for new-economy players like UberEATS and Menulog. Given Domino’s slowing growth, UBS believes it is unlikely that it will reach 10 per cent market share of the Australia and New Zealand market by 2025, with it now forecasting Domino’s to capture around an 8 per cent share of the local takeaway sector. It currently has a 5 per cent market shares. UBS said France and Germany are key to Domino’s future growth outlook given they will account for around 80 per cent of incremental European store growth to 2025 and will make up around 75 per cent of the same store base by 2018. “Domino’s ability to transfer its leading Australia/New Zealand model to Europe is a material opportunity in our view given the significant earnings potential over the next 5-10 years. We value (Domino’s) Europe at $2.8 billion using a discounted cash flow.
Lendlease Group (LLC)：
Construction and development giant Lendlease has confirmed that energy group Origin will move its Sydney head office into the Barangaroo South development by mid-next year. Origin’s national manager of workplace strategy and leasing Trudi Lindell said the consolidation of all Sydney staff would be cost effective and backed the sustainability credentials of the new tower. Elsewhere, Lendlease signed a deal with the University of Melbourne to work on the redevelopment of a former hospital site in Melbourne into an innovation precinct, with GIC as co-investor of the commercial space. Financial close is set to be reached in early 2018, with construction starting the same year.
Macquarie Group Limited (MQG):
Macquarie Group has buckled to investor pressure to internalise the management of its toll roads business Macquarie Atlas Roads. It comes after The Australian’s DataRoom flagged investor unrest at Macquarie Atlas and that its shareholders were eager to call an extraordinary general meeting in a move to dump Macquarie as a manager because of the fees paid to the bank to control the $3.7 billion fund. The company says that under Macquarie’s active management, Macquarie Atlas has grown from a market capitalisation of $278 million, to a top 100 ASX listed company with a market capitalisation of $4 billion. It also has delivered a compound annual return of roughly 37 per cent since listing nearly eight years ago.
Netwealth Group Limited (NWL):
Investment platform provider Netwealth has enjoyed a spectacular ASX debut, surging almost 40 per cent in the first hours of trade. The 17-year old, Melbourne-based business floated at midday, opening at with an opening price of $4.88. The stock,issued at $3.70 a share in the third biggest float of the calendar year, has surged to $5.30, a gain of more than 40 per cent pushing its market capitalisation to over $1 billion. The founders will own 63.6 per cent of the shares in Netwealth of the company, worth $1.2 billion on Monday morning's share surge. About 60 per cent of the IPO shares were snapped up by institutional investors, with 40 per cent going to retail investors, which included an offer to many of the company's long standing platform clients.
Perpetual Limited (PPT):
Geoff Lloyd will step down as chief executive officer of asset manager Perpetual after more than five years in the role. Lloyd will leave on June 30, 2018, the company, which is one of the country's largest fund managers with $31.4 billion of assets, said in a statement this morning. It all seems rather sudden, with no replacement, and the stock is off 1.1 per cent this morning in very early trade. "As we started to build the company strategy for the coming three to five years, I felt I wouldn't be able to commit over the long term and so now is an important time to hand over the leadership of Perpetual," Lloyd said in the statement. Like other active managers, Perpetual is facing a growing challenge from the rise of passive investing, as well as competition on fees. The firm will consider internal candidates as well as conduct an external search, Chairman Tony D'Aloisio said.
(Source: AIMS)
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