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Market falls flat, Telstra (ASX:TLS) affirms dividend, AMP (ASX:AMP) offer pulled

The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) fell 0.1% on Thursday as reporting stepped up another level.

The IT sector fell 2.1% giving up recent gains, whilst Woolworths (ASX:WOW) fell 0.9% sending the consumer staples sector lower as the rotation into more cyclical sectors continued.

AMP (ASX:AMP) was a major detractor, falling 11.0%, after reporting that asset manager Ares Capital has abandoned their $1.85 bid for the company.

According to management, they remain interested in the AMP Capital business but likely see too much work in fixing the wealth management division.

The CEO has committed to a cultural transformation and remains focused on costs, but this wasn’t enough to offset the 32.6% fall in profit to $295 million.

Wealth management and financial advice delivered a $110 million profit, down 43.6%, with net cash outflows of $8.3 billion a further acceleration.

The AMP North platform gained $3.7 billion whilst AMP Capital remains the core profit driver, delivering $139 million in profit for the year.

Unfortunately, the dividend remains on hold and with the takeover now all but off the cards, the turnaround is likely to take longer than expected.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX:URW) took the extraordinary step of cancelling all dividends until 2023 as they focus on repaying debt, shares fell just 3.9% on the news.

Telstra (ASX:TLS) split nears, Vita Group (ASX:VTH) smashed, Magellan (ASX:MGF) and Transurban (ASX:TCL) profits fall

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX:TLS) delivered for investors, confirming their 16 cent per year dividend, sending the share price 2.5% higher.

The dividend came despite reporting a 9.7% fall in revenue to $10.98 billion and a 2.2% fall in net profit to $1.13 billion.

CEO Andy Penn highlighted the path to the underlying growth beyond the NBN, and after several years, investors seem to be coming around.

He has delivered a further $201 million in cost reductions, including a reduction in staff numbers, and is now targeting annual earnings of $7.5 to $8.5 billion.

Revenue guidance was slightly reduced but the structural separation appears to be on track. Some experts are now suggesting that the company’s telecommunications towers could be worth as much as $5 billion given the huge demand for digital infrastructure.

Vita Group (ASX:VTG) which runs a number of franchised Telstra stores fell 27.6% after the company announced they would take back control of stores.

Magellan reported a 3% increase in profit for the half year to $202.3 million, assets under management increased to $100.9 billion despite a 70% fall in performance fee receipts to $12.4 million as the flagship funds struggled in 2020; shares fell 3.9%.

Toll road operator Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) fell just 0.7% despite reporting a 476% fall in profit to a $419 million first half loss, revenue also fell 21.9% and despite the positive outlook as traffic conditions return to normal, a recovery seems to be already priced in.

US markets muddling along, flat open for the ASX, Astra Zeneca (LON:AZN) reports sales growth

US markets finished generally positive, the S&P500 up 0.1% was able to overcome a weakening of the financial sector, whilst the Nasdaq continued to power ahead, up 0.4%, breaking three days of losses.

Jobless claims fell slightly for the week giving further hopes to the market but also sending the 10-year bond yield to 1.15%.

The company reported sales growth of 12% to US$7 billion for the final quarter sending annual sales up 10% to US$25.8 billion.

Management highlighted the step-change that had occurred for the business in 2020, and despite COVID-19 effectively being a profit-less product it evidenced the ability to quickly evolve and turnaround new products.

Dating app Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL) joined the list of loss-making IPO’s, jumping 63% on listing overnight. Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) is set to report earnings after close.