Ardent Leisure Group (AAD):
Theme park operator Ardent Leisure Group has delivered a lacklustre business update ahead of its half-year financial results later this month, citing a slower-than-expected recovery in attendance at Dreamworld after the death of four visitors in an accident in October 2016. Ardent (AAD), which operates Dreamworld, WhiteWater World and Skypoint, told shareholders it expects its theme park business to report a break-even EBITDA for the first half, before revaluation losses. As a result, the company expects to book a further non-cash, pre-tax valuation impairment charge of between $15 million and $25m for the first half. The company said that trading at Dreamworld continues to improve, with attendance up 41.2 per cent for the period December 10 to January 31, compared to the same period last year. Revenue was up 70.6 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA for its US-based Main Event bowling-alley business is expected to be flat for the half compared to the same period last year, due to sales underperformance from a number of its locations, in addition to the impact of Hurricane Harvey. At 2.57pm (AEDT)Friday, shares in Ardent had slipped 2.5 cents, or 1.26 per cent, to $1.96.
Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ALL):
Shares in Aristocrat Leisure have been placed in a trading halt as the poker machine supplier awaits a Federal Court decision on whether some of Aristocrat's gaming machines comply with federal legislation. "A trading halt will enable Aristocrat to consider the court's decision and provide any notification to the market that may be necessary," Aristocrat said in a statement on Friday. The trading halt will remain in place until Aristocrat makes an announcement, or the start of trading on Tuesday February 6 - whichever is earlier.
James Hardie Industries plc (JHX):
Building materials supplier James Hardie booked a nine per cent drop in third-quarter profit after the company paid down debt and recorded an increase in income tax expense. James Hardie said net operating profit for the three months to December 31 was $US79.9 million ($A111.9 million), down from $US87.9 million a year ago. Net sales for the three months to December 31 grew nine per cent to $US495.1 million driven by a higher average net sale price in its North America fibre cement segment and higher sales volumes in the international fibre cement division. Chief executive Louis Gries said the company's North America Fiber Cement division grew seven per cent in the quarter, primarily due to higher net prices and modest volume growth. Mr Gries said the international fibre cement division grew 15 per cent in the quarter on the back of strong volume growth in its Asia Pacific business. The company's earnings before interest and tax also rose by 32 per cent to $US143.9 million, compared to $US108.7 million a year ago. It forecast new construction starts between about 1.2 and 1.3 million. Full-year adjusted net operating profit is expected to be between $US260 million and $US275 million, compared to $US248.6 million in 2017.
Nextdc Ltd (NXT):
BC has lifted its price target on NextDC to $7.50, from $6.50 a share, and kept its outperform recommendation on the stock. The broker said that it ran though historical price patterns for NextDC shares versus US 10-year bond yields and versus major announcements from the company. It found that NextDC shares have little correlation to interest rates but tend to react positively to announcements for new data centres and new contracts. The analysts also noted that the firm is a growth stock with high incremental return on capital invested that's unrelated to present interest rates. Shares were up 6.8 per cent at $6.13. R
Telstra Corporation Ltd(TLS):
Telstra will take a $273 million hit in its first-half results after writing off the value of its US streaming business. The telecommunications provider on Friday said it will write down the value of video tech firm Ooyala - which it took control of in 2014 - to zero and book an impairment charge of $273 million against goodwill and other non-current assets. Telstra built its stake in Ooyala to 98 per cent between 2012 and 2016, but in 2016 was forced to writedown its investment by $246 million due to what it said at the time were changing market dynamics. Telstra on Friday said turnaround efforts since then had not been as successful as hoped. "When we announced the initial impairment 18 months ago ... we believed Ooyala remained a young and exciting company with leading offerings in intelligent video which were continuing to evolve and scale," said Telstra executive Stephen Elop, who is also chairman of Ooyala. Shares were flat at $3.64.
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (TWE):
Treasury Wine’s stock price is continuing to climb back to record levels on the back of a better-than-expected firsthalf result and continued heavy buying of its own stock under a pre-announced buyback program. TWE picked up over $20 million worth of stock yesterday and looks to be back in the market today with the stock (TWE) trading at $17.20 a share or over 26 times forecast 2019 year earnings. The $283m of earnings reported this week, up 25 per cent on year ago levels, were bought forward because of a claimed leak in the changes to its US distribution plans. The distribution revamp is significant but, to put it in context, it only affects one quarter of US states, albeit some key ones such as California and Washington where the company is going direct to retailers and Florida where it is changing distributor.
(Source: AIMS)
Theme park operator Ardent Leisure Group has delivered a lacklustre business update ahead of its half-year financial results later this month, citing a slower-than-expected recovery in attendance at Dreamworld after the death of four visitors in an accident in October 2016. Ardent (AAD), which operates Dreamworld, WhiteWater World and Skypoint, told shareholders it expects its theme park business to report a break-even EBITDA for the first half, before revaluation losses. As a result, the company expects to book a further non-cash, pre-tax valuation impairment charge of between $15 million and $25m for the first half. The company said that trading at Dreamworld continues to improve, with attendance up 41.2 per cent for the period December 10 to January 31, compared to the same period last year. Revenue was up 70.6 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA for its US-based Main Event bowling-alley business is expected to be flat for the half compared to the same period last year, due to sales underperformance from a number of its locations, in addition to the impact of Hurricane Harvey. At 2.57pm (AEDT)Friday, shares in Ardent had slipped 2.5 cents, or 1.26 per cent, to $1.96.
Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ALL):
Shares in Aristocrat Leisure have been placed in a trading halt as the poker machine supplier awaits a Federal Court decision on whether some of Aristocrat's gaming machines comply with federal legislation. "A trading halt will enable Aristocrat to consider the court's decision and provide any notification to the market that may be necessary," Aristocrat said in a statement on Friday. The trading halt will remain in place until Aristocrat makes an announcement, or the start of trading on Tuesday February 6 - whichever is earlier.
James Hardie Industries plc (JHX):
Building materials supplier James Hardie booked a nine per cent drop in third-quarter profit after the company paid down debt and recorded an increase in income tax expense. James Hardie said net operating profit for the three months to December 31 was $US79.9 million ($A111.9 million), down from $US87.9 million a year ago. Net sales for the three months to December 31 grew nine per cent to $US495.1 million driven by a higher average net sale price in its North America fibre cement segment and higher sales volumes in the international fibre cement division. Chief executive Louis Gries said the company's North America Fiber Cement division grew seven per cent in the quarter, primarily due to higher net prices and modest volume growth. Mr Gries said the international fibre cement division grew 15 per cent in the quarter on the back of strong volume growth in its Asia Pacific business. The company's earnings before interest and tax also rose by 32 per cent to $US143.9 million, compared to $US108.7 million a year ago. It forecast new construction starts between about 1.2 and 1.3 million. Full-year adjusted net operating profit is expected to be between $US260 million and $US275 million, compared to $US248.6 million in 2017.
Nextdc Ltd (NXT):
BC has lifted its price target on NextDC to $7.50, from $6.50 a share, and kept its outperform recommendation on the stock. The broker said that it ran though historical price patterns for NextDC shares versus US 10-year bond yields and versus major announcements from the company. It found that NextDC shares have little correlation to interest rates but tend to react positively to announcements for new data centres and new contracts. The analysts also noted that the firm is a growth stock with high incremental return on capital invested that's unrelated to present interest rates. Shares were up 6.8 per cent at $6.13. R
Telstra Corporation Ltd(TLS):
Telstra will take a $273 million hit in its first-half results after writing off the value of its US streaming business. The telecommunications provider on Friday said it will write down the value of video tech firm Ooyala - which it took control of in 2014 - to zero and book an impairment charge of $273 million against goodwill and other non-current assets. Telstra built its stake in Ooyala to 98 per cent between 2012 and 2016, but in 2016 was forced to writedown its investment by $246 million due to what it said at the time were changing market dynamics. Telstra on Friday said turnaround efforts since then had not been as successful as hoped. "When we announced the initial impairment 18 months ago ... we believed Ooyala remained a young and exciting company with leading offerings in intelligent video which were continuing to evolve and scale," said Telstra executive Stephen Elop, who is also chairman of Ooyala. Shares were flat at $3.64.
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (TWE):
Treasury Wine’s stock price is continuing to climb back to record levels on the back of a better-than-expected firsthalf result and continued heavy buying of its own stock under a pre-announced buyback program. TWE picked up over $20 million worth of stock yesterday and looks to be back in the market today with the stock (TWE) trading at $17.20 a share or over 26 times forecast 2019 year earnings. The $283m of earnings reported this week, up 25 per cent on year ago levels, were bought forward because of a claimed leak in the changes to its US distribution plans. The distribution revamp is significant but, to put it in context, it only affects one quarter of US states, albeit some key ones such as California and Washington where the company is going direct to retailers and Florida where it is changing distributor.
(Source: AIMS)
Latest comments