Another big day of big ASX names posting half yearly reports.
We probably won’t see anything as good as NVIDIA’s overnight report here in the little land down under, however.
Saxo Head of Equity Strategy Peter Garnry called its overnight Q4 report “insane.” He means it in a good way.
One day, we could be that fashionable.
Let’s take a look at what we’ve got.
Rio Tinto: recap
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) released its 2023 annual report results post-market yesterday and, like BHP, posted earnings in the multi-year-record-lows.
Expect analysts (and fundies) to spin this into good news, even though it isn’t. It missed expectations.
The company also announced a big flashy renewables deal right before the result came out, which is telling, in my view.
- Underlying EPS: USD725c vs USD824c pcp (-12 per cent)
- Dividend per share: USD435c vs USD492c pcp (-12 per cent)
Pilbara Minerals
Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) is, unsurprisingly, a victim of its own success. Or, a victim of the lithium commodity cycle.
You decide which angle you want to run with. The commentary made me raise an eyebrow, though, they are still pretty cashed up.
- Revenue: $757M vs $2.18B pcp (-65 per cent)
- Realised price: US$1,645/t vs US$4,993/t pcp (-67 per cent)
- Cash margin from operations: $536M vs $1.82B pcp (-71 per cent)
- Commentary: “Although pricing has reduced significantly from the prior year record highs, the Company finds itself in a position of strength.”
Qantas
First half profits are falling at Qantas (ASX:QAN) quicker than Boeing is losing doors on its flights. Those two events are so completely unrelated I may be hearing from our lawyer, but, I can’t think of a better zinger.
On the whole, not great, not terrible. Actually, no, wait – the company sees capital expenditure rising in FY25. And the airliner keeps saying it’s “investing in the customer,” so you know they’re worried.
- Underlying profit before tax: $1.25B (-13 per cent vs pcp)
- Statutory profit after tax: $869M (-13 per cent vs pcp)
- Statutory earnings per share: 52c (-4 per cent vs pcp)
- Commentary: “There’s a lot of work happening to lift our service levels and the early signs are really positive.”
Medibank
Former hack scandalee Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) has posted impressive gains – no other way to put it. Though, note that Medibank Health revenue is tanking.
- Health insurance revenue: $3.919B vs $3.482B pcp (+12.5 per cent)
- Medibank Health revenue: $78M vs $92M pcp (-15.9 per cent)
- Revenue: $3.997B vs $3.575B pcp (+11.8 per cent)
- Profit after tax: $343M vs $168.9M pcp (+103 per cent)
Bega Cheese
Fairly boring news delivered to us across the weald from the local Cheese Kings Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA).
Check out the jump in profit, though, the company didn’t issue historical context in its headline metrics, which means we’re obviously coming off a low base. (You can also tell that by looking at the percentage change.)
- Revenue: $1.72B (+3.2 per cent vs pcp)
- Profits: $26.5M (+263 per cent vs pcp)
- Interim dividend: $4.00 (unchanged vs pcp)
- Commentary: “[A reduction in net debt] was partially offset by an increase in working capital arising from an increase in trade receivables with higher sales leading into December and Branded price increases, as well as investments in capital infrastructure.”