Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Bega Cheese Ltd (BGA):
Bega Cheese has also increased the farmgate milk price, as Synlait did this morning. Shares are up 0.3 per cent to $5.04 in early afternoon trading. Bega-Tatura's opening milk price is up 13 per cent to $6.60 per kilogram of milk solids, plus farmers are eligible for a Victorian irrigation supplement of 20 cents plus a 3-year supply premium, taking the total to $6.97 per kgMS. Bega has introduced a 9/3 payment system, where it pays farmers 50c more per kilogram of milk solids for milk produced outside the spring months of September, October, November. "It has been very pleasing to see an improvement in the market and strong competition for milk," chief executive Paul van Heerwaarden says in a letter sent to suppliers this morning.
Blackmores Limited (BKL):
Vitamin maker Blackmores has told a shareholder briefing this morning that it’s eyeing “modest” revenue growth for the fullyear as it flagged a lower second half performance compared to the first half. The company said it was continuing to focus on reducing excess stock in channels to China. Blackmores also told shareholders that it was targeting $60 million in savings over three years, the implementation of which would result in some one-off costs in the fourth quarter.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA):
Commonwealth Bank’s Matt Comyn will use his first major speech since becoming chief executive to promise the lender will be “listening and hearing more” as it tries to rebuild customer trust following a series of damaging scandals. Mr Comyn, who took charge in April 2018 amid the fallout of the bank’s money- laundering scandal, will tell a lunch event in Sydney that his tenure to date has confirmed the only way to earn trust is to deserve it. Commonwealth Bank’s provisioning for customer remediation and responding to the royal commission passed $2 billion in the third quarter after Australia’s largest bank set aside another $714 million. With the whole industry trying to repair its tattered reputation after the financial services royal commission heard instances of misconduct, CBA is also removing or helping customers to avoid some fees, which it says will save them $415 million this year.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (DMP):
Fast food giant Domino's Pizza's shares have slumped to an almost four-year low over fears that slowing growth in sales and store rollouts will see it deliver lower than expected profits over the next two years. Morgan Stanley analyst Thomas Kierath on Tuesday cut his price target for the ASX-listed company's shares from $50 to $41 on Tuesday, and sliced his recommendation to investors from over-weight to equal weight. Mr Keirath said that after 10 years of strong double digit growth, Domino's Australian and New Zealand business was slowing.
GetSwift Ltd (GSW):
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) suspended Getswift from trading on Tuesday after its shares rocketed 20 per cent on high turnover. Earlier Tuesday morning, a press release announced that Getswift had scored a new customer in Kuwait: The Kout Food Group, which operates the local franchises for Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Burger King. A spokeswoman for the Exchange confirmed is suspended trading. "ASX observed some unusual trading and share price movement in GetSwift Limited shares following this morning's open," she said. GetSwift's shares went from a low of $0.16 at the close of yesterday's session to a high of $0.195 today, she added.
Invion Ltd (IVX):
Junior cancer drug developer Invion is enjoying a bump on the local market after announcing some early test results show its lead product has potential to treat blood and metastatic cancers. The company said its research partner, the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, had completed initial animal models to examine the uptake, localisation and clearance from tumour tissue of Invion’s target treatment, IVX-P02. Andrew Stephens, group head of the ovarian cancer biomarkers research group at the Hudson Institute, said a highlight of the animal testing was the demonstrated uptake of IVX-P02 in circulating tumour cells. News of the early study has boosted Invtion’s stock on the Australian market, with it sitting just over 35 per cent higher at 1.9c.
Macquarie Media Ltd (MRN):
In a very Sydney-media specific story, Macquarie Media has re-signed Alan Jones, paving the way for a potential sale of the network. Macquarie Media feels Mr Jones' contract is important enough to tell the stock market about the two year contract from 1 July 2019 to 1 July 2021. Chairman Russell Tate said he was "very pleased that Jones would continue to be an integral part of the Macquarie on-air team for at least another two years". "With Alan's current ratings share of the Sydney radio audience amongst the highest it has ever been, his dominance shows no sign of slowing down. All of us at Macquarie are delighted that we will continue along for the ride with one of the Australian media's most outstanding performers".
Nearmap Ltd (NEA):
"We believe Nearmap is well positioned to facilitate a variety of companies to increase their operating efficiency, safety and profitability by utilising Nearmap's technology in the US and incrementally in new countries and regions over time, " Ross Barrows writes in a note to clients released yesterday. "Nearmap's software as a service (SaaS) business model is highly scalable, with its 'Capture Once, Sell to Many' facilitiating considerable operating leverage. As an example, the $1.8 million Nearmap spend on image capture in Australia in first half of 2018-19 generated $27.5 million in customer receipts, resulting in a 'Capture Costs to Cash Receipts' ratio of more than 15 times." "Our proprietary analysis of Nearmap's individual flights (by frequency, location and unique capture) gives us confidence in their rapid rollout." Nearmap is up 6.7 per cent to $3.66, just below a high of $3.83 reached two weeks ago.
Synlait Milk Ltd (SM1):
Synlait's opening forecast base milk price for the upcoming 2019-20 season has increased to NZD$7 ($6.62) per kilogram of milk solid (kgMS), and it has increased its base milk price for the 2018-19 season from NDZ$6.25 ($5.91) to NZD$6.40 ($6.05) kgMS "due to recovering dairy commodity prices since our last update in January 2019," chief executive Leon Clement tells the market. "We have seen steady improvements in prices since the start of December, recovering a lot of the ground lost earlier in the season." "We think that [NZD$7 price] is realistic in the light of the current slowdown in world supply and strong demand from our key markets," Mr Clement says. "But as always, these forecasts are based on the best information available to us and we are recommending that our farmers remain cautious in the face of geopolitical and economic uncertainties. We will continue to assess movements to ensure our dairy farmers are kept up to date".
Thc Global Group Ltd (THC):
ASX-listed medical cannabis company THC Global has faced “extraordinary delays” in receiving its manufacturing licences for two facilities in Queensland, its chairman says. But chief executive Ken Charteris’ recent communications with the Office of Drug Control has been “highly positive,” chairman Steven Xu said. The company now expects the permits will be granted in the near term, Mr Xu told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting at the law offices of Baker McKenzie in Sydney on Tuesday. The permits are for the company’s pharmaceutical plant extraction and refinement plant in Southport, Queensland, that it bought last year from LEO Pharma, and its growing research and development site in southeastern Queensland. “Receipt of these manufacturing licences will complete the THC Global’s vertical integration strategy - allowing for true ‘Farm to Pharma’ cannabis production by THC Global within Australia,” Mr Xu said.
Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd (VAH):
Virgin Australia has a new non-executive director on board after Chinese conglomerate HNA Group opted for a change in representative. Virgin Australia said Zhang Kui had resigned with immediate effect and that its fourth largest shareholder was now represented by senior HNA executive Hou Wei. Mr Hou has served in a number of executive roles at HNA and its affiliates since 2006, including Hong Kong Airlines, CapitalAirlines, and Hainan Airlines. HNA owns 19.9 per cent of Virgin Australia, slightly less than fellow Chinese firm Nanshan Capital Holdings, Singapore Airlines and EAG Investment Holding.
(Source: AIMS)
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