ASX rebounds; Coles and Qantas buoyed by earnings
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The news: The Australian market finished higher after a flurry of upbeat earnings announcements.
Market heavyweights Coles, Qantas and Medibank all gained strongly after releasing their half-year results, but steep profit declines saw fund manager Perpetual and education services provider IDP Education move the other way.
The ASX 200 rose 0.33% to end at 8,268.2, with eight out of 11 sectors finishing in red.
ASX 200 gains:
- Eagers Automotive (19.9%) — Reported record full-year revenue and outlined a strong growth outlook despite a drop in statutory profit.
- Medibank (10%) — Raised its interim dividend after solid earnings growth from its core segments and said it will return $160 million to customers as part of its Covid pandemic give-back program.
ASX 200 declines:
- Perpetual (-9.2%) — First-half net profit dropped 65%, dragged down by a $25.5 million impairment on its asset management business and one-off costs related to its terminated divestment to private equity group KKR.
- IDP Education (-7.6%) — Saw a 39% fall in first-half net profit, as immigration and visa policy changes in key markets led to lower numbers of international students.
Earnings news:
- Coles (3.5%) — Declared its highest dividend in five years and reported half-year results largely in line with expectations.
- Qantas (5.6%) — Lifted first-half profit by 6.2% on the back of strong demand across its segments and unveiled its first dividend since 2019.
- Neuren Pharmaceuticals (8.9%) — Expects annual royalties of $56.2 million for 2024 after US net sales of its Rett syndrome drug Daybue neared the top end of guidance.
- Ramsay Health Care (6.8%) — Announced plans to sell its Europe business after swinging to a first-half net loss due to impairments in the UK and one-off costs.
- Atlas Arteria (2.8%) — Recorded a 7.4% rise in full-year net profit, as toll increases and higher traffic growth boosted revenue.
- ARN Media (-2.4%) — Reported a 30% earnings lift for 2024 and flagged a transformation program aimed at stripping $40 million in costs out of the business over the next three years.
- Southern Cross Media (-2.3%) — Posted a 5.5% first-half profit bump and announced the completion of its TV divestment, after it struck a deal with ADH Holdings to offload a string of regional licences
Deals news:
- PM Capital (-4.5%) — Confirmed that it has tabled proposals to acquire two Platinum Asset Management (-0.8%) funds, Platinum Capital (4.9%) and Platinum Asia Investments (3.8%), through a scheme of arrangement.
- Karoon Energy (4.7%) — Agreed to buy floating production, storage and offloading facility Baúna Cidade de Itajaí from Brazil's Altera & Ocyan in a $182 million deal. The oil and gas explorer also reported a 39% drop in full-year net profit, weighed down by lower production at its Baúna project.
- Pointsbet (0.9%) — Rejected a counteroffer from rival Bluebet (-2.7%), in favour of a lower bid by Japan's Mixi, saying the proposal was unfunded and lacked details of potential synergies.
The Australian dollar is buying 62.89 US cents.
What’s ahead: Companies due to report on Friday include casino operator Star Entertainment, telco firm TPG Telecom, white goods retailer Harvey Norman, app maker Life360 and property settlements company Pexa Group.
