Results: Caltex, UGL, Fantastic Furniture
Caltex Australia Ltd has more than doubled its full year dividend after a solid net profit for the year to December 31, sending the shares to a new 52 week high during trading yesterday.
Read MoreCaltex Australia Ltd has more than doubled its full year dividend after a solid net profit for the year to December 31, sending the shares to a new 52 week high during trading yesterday.
Read MoreThe proposed purchase by West Australian Newspaper Holdings of Seven Media Group in a $4.1 billion deal will expand Kerry Stokes’ hold on the Australian media (and especially in Western Australia) and give him the capacity to do more deals.
Read MoreBluescope Steel shares were sold down yesterday after the company produced what many investors said was a disappointing interim report and outlook.
Read MoreTravel group, Flight Centre expects its sold first half growth rate will run out of puff in the next few months of the 2011 financial year.
Read MoreWall Street’s bull run continues unabated.
Read MoreIn Australia, the December half earnings reporting season climaxes this week.
Read MoreInvestors will be looking for Fortescue Metals Group shares to come out of a trading halt this morning with the company telling the market if it is going to appeal a Federal Court Full Bench decision that supported an appeal from the corporate regulator against a lower court decision that had rejected ASIC’s claims that the iron-ore producer misled the market in 2004.
Read MoreSilver stood out on Friday with a run up to new 31 year highs.
Read MoreThe coming week will see earnings and capital spending data released in Australia, a speech by Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens, his first for 2010 and the second estimate of US 4th quarter economic growth.
Read MoreAmerica’s Standard and Poor’s Index is up 27% in five months and has doubled in the last two years (from a low in early March, 2009 of 666.79).
Read MoreIs it time to be worried about the market’s current phase?
Read MoreQantas posted a more than four-fold increase in first-half net profit in the December half, revealed plans to add more planes to its fleet and revamp its schedule to try and defend itself against a revitalised Virgin Blue, and once again forgot shareholders.
Read MoreAMP and its prospective takeover target, AXA Asia Pacific, make a fine couple.
Read MoreThe Coles Group purchase, criticised four years ago by some analysts, continues to pay off for Wesfarmers and its shareholders.
Read MoreBHP Billiton shares fell yesterday because some shareholders were unhappy at the news of the sharply higher interim profit, higher dividend and a new, higher share buyback.
Read MoreExcepting sugar and bananas, Australia’s major winter and summer crops seem to have fared better than first thought from the floods in Queensland in late 2010 and last month and in Victoria in January.
Read MoreSo what’s BHP Billiton’s outlook on the world economy and commodity markets.
Read MoreCSL has again seen profits hit by the strong Australian dollar, yesterday forecasting a 10% fall in full year earnings based on current exchange rates.
Read MoreOnce again we have an example of the two speed earnings with BHP Billiton’s record profit and The Reject Shop’s fall and revelation that it could be facing financial strains because of the Queensland floods.
Read MoreFoster’s divorce is on its way with shareholders to vote on the separation of beer and wine in late April.
Read MoreWe had some news and movement yesterday in the two big financial services deals afoot in Australia: the proposed takeover of the ASX by the Singapore Stock Exchange and the proposed takeover of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings by the AMP.
Read MoreEven though Brambles Ltd lifted sales and earnings in the 6 month to December 31, and is paying a slightly higher interim dividend, the market couldn’t make its mind up about the worth of the result.
Read MoreWestpac has gone against the trend in reporting a fall in first quarter cash earnings, unlike the NAB and the Commonwealth last week.
Read MoreChina will go on tightening monetary policy, despite a small rise in the inflation rate in the year to January to an annual rate of 4.9%.
Read MoreAs expected Japan’s economy contracted in the 4th quarter of last year, but it was an outcome that should be ignored.
Read MoreBendigo and Adelaide Bank has produced a solid 16% rise in cash earnings for the six month to December 31 and lifted interim dividend 2c a share to 30c as a result.
Read MoreWe had another good example of the two speed nature of the current reporting season yesterday with emerging nickel miner, Western Areas confirming that it enjoyed a sharp rise in profits in the December 31 period, and medium women’s wear retailer, Specialty Fashion Group revealing a 37% drop.
Read MoreLeighton Holdings, Australia’s biggest contractor, has cut its interim dividend after reporting a 25% slide in half year profits and revealing a 6% reduction in its full year earnings estimate.
Read MoreBad weather and the continued drag of the unwanted insurance business in Britain have combined to hurt Insurance Australia Group’s interim profit more than the impact of Australia’s spate of floods in late 2010.
Read MoreThe second last full week of interim profit reports this week and we are going to see a repeat of the two speed (maybe three speed) reporters.
Read MoreCommodity prices ended mixed on Friday after the Mubarak resignation.
Read MoreUS stocks closed out their second straight week of gains on Friday with a rally sparked after President Hosni Mubarak resigned.
Read MoreReports from two leading companies on Friday nicely illustrated the current ‘two speed’ earnings/sales performance for the six to 12 months to December.
Read MoreAnother big week for Australian earnings (see above story).
Read MoreAustralia’s jobs boom continued in January, but the floods in Queensland make it hard to work out the real strength of employment in the month.
Read MoreThe high iron and coal prices might be great for the likes of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto (see above for Rio’s big 2010 result), but they are starting to reshape the steel industry, and the big suppliers had better take notice.
Read MoreQuestion, what do a worsening drought in China, the latest Chinese interest rate rise and the inflation figures for January have in common?
Read MoreTelstra, Australia’s largest Telco, has reported a 36% fall in first-half profit, maintained its high 14c a share and done a deal to get the NBN underway and the cash rolling in from Canberra.
Read MoreNo wonder Rio Tinto shares perked up 30c right at the end of trading yesterday at around 4 pm.
Read MoreThe market must be back to normal, or close to it.
Read More