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

WA shipbuilder Austal has landed a new contract building a 36-metre catamaran for Australian tourism group Cruise Whitsundays.

The new work has been valued between $14m and $16m, and will be handled by Austal’s Vietnam offshoot.

Delivery of the new vessel, which will have capacity for 390 passengers and 10 crew, is expected by December 2026.

catamaran will have a capacity for 390 passengers and 10 crew - and operate scheduled resort connections

Austal chief executive Paddy Gregg said the new contract had been secured following a competitive tender process.

“This new commercial contract highlights the capability of Austal’s commercial shipyards and effective collaboration with both customers and industry partners,” he said on Tuesday.

“We’re delighted Cruise Whitsundays has selected Austal to deliver this important new vessel for their fleet.”

The vessel will service resort connections from Cruise Whitsundays’ terminal in Airlie Beach, to both Daydream and Hamilton Islands, in the Whitsundays, off the Central Queensland coast.

Woodside Energy’s half-year underlying profit has tumbled 24 per cent to $US1.25 billion ($US1.92b) even as it trimmed unit costs and delivered 548 million barrels of oil equivalent in the six months to the end of June.

Production was up 11 per cent compared to the first half the previous financial year, driving revenue 10 per cent higher to $US6.6b.

Its new Sangomar field in Senegal generate revenue of almost $US1b.

“Strong underlying performance of our assets, our robust financial performance, and a focus on disciplined capital management have enabled us to maintain our interim dividend payout ratio at the top end of the payout range,” said CEO Meg O’Neill.

The board will pay out a dividend of US53c a share.

Record iron ore and copper output has boosted BHP’s profit to $US9 billion ($13.9b), yet shareholder dividends have shrunk to their lowest amount in eight years.

BHP’s headline profit figure was healthier but cash flow dried up and net debt rose on the back of weaker commodity prices, as well as BHP spending big on new copper assets and a huge potash project in Canada.

The Big Australian recorded a 14 per cent profit rise for the 2025 financial year after making $US5.7b of write-downs during the 2024 financial year related to the suspension of WA Nickel and the ongoing legal fallout from the 2015 Samarco Dam failure in Brazil.

Underlying earnings were down 10 per cent to US$26b as revenue fell 8 per cent to $US51.3b. Free cash flow fell 55 per cent to US$5.3b and net debt jumped from US9.1b to $US12.9b.

Australian biotech giant CSL will spin off its Seqirus vaccine business into a separately listed company as part of a restructure that will see it reduce its workforce by as much as 15 per cent and cut costs by around $770 million a year.

CSL Seqirus, which makes seasonal influenza vaccines, contributed $US2.2 billion of the firm’s total revenue of $US15.6 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, the Melbourne-based company said in a statement Tuesday. Net profit rose 17 per cent to $US3b, just above analyst estimates of $US2.97b.

Seqirus will list on the Australian securities exchange by the end of this fiscal year. The spin-off will give Seqirus, which will be chaired by Gordon Naylor, “autonomy to set an independent strategic direction, including capitalizing on potential opportunities that may arise in a highly dynamic vaccines market, as well as reducing complexity, making the business more agile and efficient to manage,” CSL said.

CSL also closed 22 underperforming US plasma centres this month, and will consolidate its research and development from 11 sites into six. The restructure will unlock $US500 million in annual savings by the end of fiscal 2028, though CSL will incur one-off restructuring costs of $US700m to $US770m.

While CSL employs around 32,000 people, no firm number was put on the job cuts.

Further details on the Seqirus spinoff will be given at CSL’s capital markets day on November 4-6 in the US.

CSL also plans to buy back $750m of shares this financial year, the first step in a multi-year buyback.

Here’s what you missed on the US markets.

Wall Street’s main indexes have closed roughly flat, after struggling for direction, while investors awaited a raft of corporate earnings reports from major retailers for more signs about the state of the economy and the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole.

Walmart, Home Depot and Target, among others, are set to report results this week and are likely to indicate how trade uncertainty and inflation expectations have affected US consumers.

Investors are also closely watching the Fed’s Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference between August 21 and 23, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak.

This could offer more clarity on the economic outlook and the central bank’s policy framework.

Talks at the White House on Monday between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy failed to move the market significantly.

“It’s a quiet day, with investors getting ready for things to come,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital.

“The most important event is Powell’s speech, as we expect updated thoughts about how the Fed is viewing this economic environment where inflation is at a fairly high level while unemployment seems to have a rising trend.”

Read the full market wrap here.