Christmas has come early for the bank’s shareholders with the decision to slightly increase the 2024 dividend – despite a single-digit decline in the net profit and cash earnings.
Beating the market benchmark is never easy, with 72 per cent of Australian actively managed global equity general funds trailing the S&P World Index in the six months to June 30, 2024. Domestic equity funds performed slightly better, albeit against a significantly lower bar set by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
ASX closes 0.1% higher, EML jumps 32%
ASX mixed but positive, EML jumps a third, Kogan smashed
It was another mixed day for the local market with the S&P/ASX200 (ASX: XJO) ultimately finishing just 0.1 per cent higher.
The headline concealed an extremely varied market with the technology sector gaining 2.4 per cent after a 30 per cent spike in EML Payments (ASX: EML) but the financial sector continued to underperform, falling 0.9 per cent.
Shares in Kogan (ASX: KGN) continued their torrid run, falling another 4.3 per cent despite flagging a target of $3 billion in annual sales revenue by 2026.
Management saw a second strike against their remuneration report, but the greatest concerns remain around the ‘right sizing’ of their excess inventory and a commitment to ‘invest’ in marketing, which will hit margins.
EML Payments, which provides prepaid cards in Australia, gained an incredible 31.7 per cent, all but offsetting recent losses after the Central Bank of Ireland all but cleared the company to continue their domestic lending operations.
The government had previously restricted them from taking on any new clients potentially crimping revenue growth.
In other news, National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) received clearance for the acquisition of Citibank’s personal savings and credit card division.
Fisher & Paykel deliver, Adairs big buy
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare (ASX: FPH) rallied another 4.6 per cent during the session continuing recent strength as the ventilator and respiratory product manufacturer delivered a stronger than expected update.
The rally came despite a 1 per cent fall in revenue and 2 per cent drop in profit, as 2020’s strong comparables feed through.
Investors were buoyed by the decision to invest another NZ$700 million into their manufacturing facilities over the next five years to deal with continued strong demand from the impacts of long COVID.
Furniture retailer Adairs (ASX: ADH) is the latest in the boom bust retailer sector to leverage their strong position into an acquisition.
The group will purchase Focus on Furniture for $80 million, to be funded via a capital raising.
The company reported $150 million in revenue in the prior year and management expect it to offer exposure to a further $250 million over the next five years through their 23 stores.
Optimism appears to be returning to the corporate sector, with a 2.2 per cent fall in capital investment in September offset by an expected 8.7 per cent jump in 2021 and beyond.
