ASX live updates: All the latest news from company reporting season on the Australian market

The S&P/ASX200 is off to a lacklustre start, adding just 5.7 points in the first 30 minutes of trade this morning following a poor end to the week in the US on Friday.

The index was sitting at 8943.7, up just 0.06 per cent.

BlueScope Steel’s full-year underlying profit has plunged 51 per cent, as a surplus of global steel capacity continued to weigh on prices and higher costs ate into margins.

Underlying profit was $420.8 million, while revenue slipped 4.4 per cent, the company said today. BlueScope sees underlying earnings before interest and taxes for the first half at between $550m and $620m.

“We are seeing signs of recovery in Australian construction and improving spreads in the US,” the company said in a statement Monday. “Our focus remains on the levers we control - cost, capital and capability - while positioning the business for longer-term growth,” it added.

BlueScope operates the Port Kembla steelworks in NSW. Most of BlueScope’s revenue comes from its plants in the US and Australia. It’s currently leading an international consortium to bid for the beleaguered Whyalla steelworks in South Australia, which would cement its position as Australia’s largest steelmaker.

BlueScope’s results were in line with recent US peer results which shows the uncertainty of industry conditions amid tariff concerns.

BlueScope will pay a full-year dividend of 30c a share.

A2 Milk Co. has agreed to buy a New Zealand infant formula plant as it targets more growth in China.

The company will purchase Yashili New Zealand Dairy’s factory at Pokeno, south of Auckland, for $NZ282 million ($257m). It plans to invest about $NZ100m to increase capacity at the plant, which already holds licences to sell formula in China.

The transaction provides direct ownership of a plant that already makes some a2 products, and an alternative to reliance on manufacturing agreements with Synlait Milk, which will continue. A2 is separately selling its 75 per cent stake in Mataura Valley Milk for $NZ100m and subject to completion of both deals it intends to pay a $NZ300m special dividend.

“The transactions enable the company to build a better, higher growth, lower risk, end-to-end business and deliver substantial benefits to shareholders,” said chief executive David Bortolussi.

A2 today reported a 21 per cent increase in net income to $NZ202.9m for the year ended June 30, slightly ahead of analysts’ average estimates. Revenue climbed 14 per cent to a record $NZ1.9 billion and the company declared a second-half dividend of 11.5c a share.

The company increased its share of the Chinese infant formula market by growing sales even as the overall market reduced, and is now the second-largest seller of English-label product in that market, it said.

While the overall Chinese market shrank, the decline was a third of the pace of the previous year amid signs of increased newborns, a2 said. That puts the company on track to achieve $NZ2b sales of in the 2027 full year, it said.

The company forecasts high single-digit percent increase in revenue in the 2026 full year, which will generate net income “similar” to the $NZ203m it reported today.

Bloomberg

National Australia Bank’s third-quarter profit was flat as lending to businesses offset growth in expenses.

Unaudited cash earnings came in at $1.8 billion in the three months to June 30, the bank reported today. It now expects operating expenses growth of about 4.5 per cent, which includes fixing a payrolls problem.

“We remain optimistic about the outlook and are well placed to manage NAB for the long term,” chief executive Andrew Irvine said.

Earnings season for Australian lenders has underscored bright spots in loan growth at Westpac, while some analysts said larger rival Commonwealth Bank of Australia now faces a margin squeeze and increasing credit costs in 2026.

The Australian economy is contending with an expected further decrease to benchmark lending rates just as many households struggle with higher energy and other living costs.

Bloomberg

The blue-chip Dow Jones ended higher on Friday after hitting an intraday record high, as UnitedHealth’s shares jumped after Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake, but other Wall Street indexes slipped as mixed data clouded the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy move.

A meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was also on the radar, with markets hoping it could pave the way for a resolution to the Ukraine conflict and determine the outlook for crude prices.

The two leaders held a meeting in Alaska on Friday.

UnitedHealth Group rose almost 12 per cent, its biggest single-day percentage rise since March 2020, after Warren Buffett’s company revealed a new investment in the health insurer, while Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management also turned more bullish on the company.

Rising costs in the broader healthcare sector and about a 40 per cent slump in UnitedHealth’s shares this year have left the Dow lagging its Wall Street peers on the road to record highs.

Read the full market wrap here.