The slump in global markets in the June quarter, as well as in Australia, has cut the number of takeovers, global and local floats and dropped sharemarket trading, so Computershare, the major share registry business was bound to be hurt.
It was second half trading revenues and profits fell, leaving the company to forecast a slide in earnings for 2011, news that sent the shares falling 12% in market trading yesterday.
The drop came after the company warned that earnings could fall as much as 10% in the current financial year.
The results were issued well before market trading open at 10am, so the sell-off was waiting.
They opened down 12% at $8.70 and bounced around that level for most of the day to end off 10.6%, or $1.06, at $8.94, the lowest for 18 months.
The company said its basic earnings per share rose 15% to 53.05c in the 12 months to June 30, from 46.02c in 2009.
But that was forgotten with this warning:
"In the absence of a pick-up in transactional opportunities or a material acquisition, we believe that matching the FY10 EPS result will be difficult," the company said.
Computershare said net profit for the year to June 30 was $294.8 million, up 15.3% from $255.7 million in 2009.
Computershare described its 2009/10 result as "strong" with a "robust first half".
"The financial year was largely a tale of two halves," the company said.
"The second half saw business volumes not sustaining the heights achieved during the first half."
The results of the CBA were similar (see accompanying story).
"The second half saw business volumes not sustaining the heights achieved during the first half, as the levels of corporate action activity witnessed in HK, India, and Australia early in the financial year slowed and, as anticipated, the strong USA Mutual Fund proxy contribution of 1H10 did not recur," Computershare directors told the market.
"Similarly, the exceptional H110 volumes from KCC did not continue in the second half as the number of Chapter 11 filings fell."
But, "in a difficult environment, FY10 was an excellent achievement.
"Looking to the future, it is not clear when transactional activity will return to more typical levels.
"Revenue lines that we expect to be particularly affected during FY11 include corporate actions, mutual fund proxy solicitation, bankruptcy administration and trading."
Computershare said its eps guidance assumed that equity, interest rate and foreign exchange markets remain broadly consistent with current levels for the rest of the financial year.
PS:
The Computershare earnings downgrade for 2011 could be a timely warning for investors in ASX Ltd to watch out for.
Computershare’s revenue model is linked to the level of market activity here and in offshore markets.
The ASX’s model depends upon local markets which haven’t been strong. Worth watching.
