Baby Bunting Group Ltd (BBN):
Retailer Baby Bunting has booked a 28 per cent profit jump for the first half as it implements its turnaround strategy and focusses on online sales. The company this morning reported net profit of $5.2 million for the half, with total sales up 17.2pc to $177.7 million. Online was the biggest largest trading unit, accounting for 11.5 per cent of total sales and an increase of 61 per cent on the prior period. For the year so far, the company reported comparable store sales growth of 8.7 per cent and says it expects earnings to be in the range of $25 million to $27m with 6 new stores to open in the second half.
Centuria Capital Ltd (CNI):
Property fund manager Centuria Capital is headed for a record year in the growth of its assets under management after increasing the pool under its control 14.3 per cent to to $5.6 billion in the 2019 first half. One of the biggest components of that increase was one of the largest property deals of last year: backed by Financial Rich Lister Paul Lederer, Centuria acquired the $645 million Hines Global REIT portfolio of four office towers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. That growth in the platform's managed funds in turn helps drive recurring revenue for Centuria, which rose to $42 million, compared with $32.1 million in the 2018 first half. Centuria's overall statutory net profit was well down, however, by 36.3 per cent to $21.4 million, in comparison with its 2018 interim result, which had been boosted by hefty one-off performance fees.
Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (DHG):
Domain has slumped to a $156.4 million first-half loss and declared a large impairment due to a drop in listings after a stumble in Sydney and Melbourne property markets. The real estate classifieds business declared a $178.8 million non-cash goodwill impairment after lower listing volumes meant that, even stripping out the one-off hit, profit for the six months to December 30 dropped 14.2 per cent. Domain - which lost $6.2 million in the last full financial year - said listing volumes had continued to fall in the first six weeks of the second half, and that the late timing of Easter would affect the autumn selling season. Total revenue for the company was $186.3 million, up 66 per cent thanks to an 8.6 per cent increase in residential revenue despite the lower market volumes. The company said this was due to the sales of premium products to agents.
Healius Ltd (HLS):
Integrated health services company Healius has downgraded its full-year guidance after posting a double-digit fall in net profit in the first half of the 2019 financial year, with earnings down significantly in its largest unit, pathology. Underlying net profit fell 10.5 per cent to $39.4 million, which stripped out $22.7 million in restructuring costs and $1 million of fair-value gains. Reported net profit was $20.7 million compared with $22.1 million a year ago. Revenue for the half year to December 31 grew 4.7 per cent to $871.6 million compared with a restated $832.7 million a year ago. Despite cutting full-year expectations, chief executive Dr Malcolm Parmenter said he remained confident the group could deliver on its transformation agenda, and the long-term drivers for healthcare remained positive.
Link Administration Holdings Ltd (LNK):
Superannuation administration company Link Group has posted a big jump in its first half profit, with the company’s strategic plan firing on all cylinders. The company posted net profit of $186.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2018, up 187 per cent on the prior corresponding period. Revenue for the period came in at $714.4m while operating EBITDA came in at $185.4m. Link’s numbers were boosted by the strong contribution from its Link Asset Servicing (LAS) unit, bought from Capita Asset Services in 2017 for $1.5 billion, and fine tuning of operations in the UK and Europe. Company managing director John McMurtie said that Link’s global perspective has delivered growth for the business. Link Group’s Board has declared an interim dividend of 8 cents per share for shareholders on record on February 25. The dividend will be 100 per cent franked and will be paid on April 9.
Medibank Private Ltd (MPL):
Medibank Private is ready to pounce on smaller rival health insurers that struggle in the new 2 per cent premium rate increase environment expected to be introduced if Labor wins the federal election due by May. Plunging investment returns swamped incremental improvement in Medibank's core health insurance business to cut the company's interim net profit by 15.4 per cent to $207.7 million in the six months ended December 31. But investors focused on the continuing turnaround in the underlying health insurance and health services businesses and marked Medibank's shares up 4 per cent to $2.87 in early trade on the ASX. Chief executive Craig Drummond sought to temper expectations for future profit increases with the prospect of Labor imposing a 2 per cent premium cap on health insurers should it win the election, while saying Medibank was well placed to exploit the new environment.
Origin Energy Ltd (ORG):
Origin Energy will pay $58 million to purchase a Melbourne-based company that buys energy in bulk for apartment blocks. Origin is buying OC Energy for an upfront payment of $33 million plus $25 million in deferred payments, it said on Friday. The acquisition will add 55,000 customers to Origin, mostly in New South Wales and Victoria. Completion of the deal is targeted for this quarter. Origin shares were up 6 cents, or 0.81 per cent, to $7.50, shortly after the open at 1019 AEDT on Friday.
Rural Funds Group (REF):
Australia's most successful rural property trust, Rural Funds Group, has beefed up its cattle portfolio after buying one of Victoria's largest cattle stations, Cobungra, at the foot of Mount Hotham, for $35 million. The purchase of the 6486-hectare renowned alpine beef property and more than 24,000 hectares of adjacent grazing licences, lifts the value of RFF's cattle stations to more than $250 million and the total value of its portfolio including water entitlements to well over $800 million. The vendor was financier and Wagyu industry figure Mark Suhr, who has owned Cobungra since 2001, with Nick Myer from Elders and Shane McIntyre from CBRE the appointed agents.
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC):
Whitehaven Coal says it will pay a special dividend to shareholders after higher prices for the coal it sells across Asia drove a 19 per cent rise in half-year net profit. The mining company reported a profit of $305.8 million for the six months through December, up from $256.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Directors declared an interim dividend of 15 cents a share, up from 13 cents a year ago. On top of that, Whitehaven said it would pay a special dividend worth 5 cents per share. Whitehaven's shares closed at $4.79 on Thursday, up 5.46 per cent over the past 12 months.
(Source: AIMS)
Retailer Baby Bunting has booked a 28 per cent profit jump for the first half as it implements its turnaround strategy and focusses on online sales. The company this morning reported net profit of $5.2 million for the half, with total sales up 17.2pc to $177.7 million. Online was the biggest largest trading unit, accounting for 11.5 per cent of total sales and an increase of 61 per cent on the prior period. For the year so far, the company reported comparable store sales growth of 8.7 per cent and says it expects earnings to be in the range of $25 million to $27m with 6 new stores to open in the second half.
Centuria Capital Ltd (CNI):
Property fund manager Centuria Capital is headed for a record year in the growth of its assets under management after increasing the pool under its control 14.3 per cent to to $5.6 billion in the 2019 first half. One of the biggest components of that increase was one of the largest property deals of last year: backed by Financial Rich Lister Paul Lederer, Centuria acquired the $645 million Hines Global REIT portfolio of four office towers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. That growth in the platform's managed funds in turn helps drive recurring revenue for Centuria, which rose to $42 million, compared with $32.1 million in the 2018 first half. Centuria's overall statutory net profit was well down, however, by 36.3 per cent to $21.4 million, in comparison with its 2018 interim result, which had been boosted by hefty one-off performance fees.
Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (DHG):
Domain has slumped to a $156.4 million first-half loss and declared a large impairment due to a drop in listings after a stumble in Sydney and Melbourne property markets. The real estate classifieds business declared a $178.8 million non-cash goodwill impairment after lower listing volumes meant that, even stripping out the one-off hit, profit for the six months to December 30 dropped 14.2 per cent. Domain - which lost $6.2 million in the last full financial year - said listing volumes had continued to fall in the first six weeks of the second half, and that the late timing of Easter would affect the autumn selling season. Total revenue for the company was $186.3 million, up 66 per cent thanks to an 8.6 per cent increase in residential revenue despite the lower market volumes. The company said this was due to the sales of premium products to agents.
Healius Ltd (HLS):
Integrated health services company Healius has downgraded its full-year guidance after posting a double-digit fall in net profit in the first half of the 2019 financial year, with earnings down significantly in its largest unit, pathology. Underlying net profit fell 10.5 per cent to $39.4 million, which stripped out $22.7 million in restructuring costs and $1 million of fair-value gains. Reported net profit was $20.7 million compared with $22.1 million a year ago. Revenue for the half year to December 31 grew 4.7 per cent to $871.6 million compared with a restated $832.7 million a year ago. Despite cutting full-year expectations, chief executive Dr Malcolm Parmenter said he remained confident the group could deliver on its transformation agenda, and the long-term drivers for healthcare remained positive.
Link Administration Holdings Ltd (LNK):
Superannuation administration company Link Group has posted a big jump in its first half profit, with the company’s strategic plan firing on all cylinders. The company posted net profit of $186.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2018, up 187 per cent on the prior corresponding period. Revenue for the period came in at $714.4m while operating EBITDA came in at $185.4m. Link’s numbers were boosted by the strong contribution from its Link Asset Servicing (LAS) unit, bought from Capita Asset Services in 2017 for $1.5 billion, and fine tuning of operations in the UK and Europe. Company managing director John McMurtie said that Link’s global perspective has delivered growth for the business. Link Group’s Board has declared an interim dividend of 8 cents per share for shareholders on record on February 25. The dividend will be 100 per cent franked and will be paid on April 9.
Medibank Private Ltd (MPL):
Medibank Private is ready to pounce on smaller rival health insurers that struggle in the new 2 per cent premium rate increase environment expected to be introduced if Labor wins the federal election due by May. Plunging investment returns swamped incremental improvement in Medibank's core health insurance business to cut the company's interim net profit by 15.4 per cent to $207.7 million in the six months ended December 31. But investors focused on the continuing turnaround in the underlying health insurance and health services businesses and marked Medibank's shares up 4 per cent to $2.87 in early trade on the ASX. Chief executive Craig Drummond sought to temper expectations for future profit increases with the prospect of Labor imposing a 2 per cent premium cap on health insurers should it win the election, while saying Medibank was well placed to exploit the new environment.
Origin Energy Ltd (ORG):
Origin Energy will pay $58 million to purchase a Melbourne-based company that buys energy in bulk for apartment blocks. Origin is buying OC Energy for an upfront payment of $33 million plus $25 million in deferred payments, it said on Friday. The acquisition will add 55,000 customers to Origin, mostly in New South Wales and Victoria. Completion of the deal is targeted for this quarter. Origin shares were up 6 cents, or 0.81 per cent, to $7.50, shortly after the open at 1019 AEDT on Friday.
Rural Funds Group (REF):
Australia's most successful rural property trust, Rural Funds Group, has beefed up its cattle portfolio after buying one of Victoria's largest cattle stations, Cobungra, at the foot of Mount Hotham, for $35 million. The purchase of the 6486-hectare renowned alpine beef property and more than 24,000 hectares of adjacent grazing licences, lifts the value of RFF's cattle stations to more than $250 million and the total value of its portfolio including water entitlements to well over $800 million. The vendor was financier and Wagyu industry figure Mark Suhr, who has owned Cobungra since 2001, with Nick Myer from Elders and Shane McIntyre from CBRE the appointed agents.
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC):
Whitehaven Coal says it will pay a special dividend to shareholders after higher prices for the coal it sells across Asia drove a 19 per cent rise in half-year net profit. The mining company reported a profit of $305.8 million for the six months through December, up from $256.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Directors declared an interim dividend of 15 cents a share, up from 13 cents a year ago. On top of that, Whitehaven said it would pay a special dividend worth 5 cents per share. Whitehaven's shares closed at $4.79 on Thursday, up 5.46 per cent over the past 12 months.
(Source: AIMS)
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