ASX updates: All the latest news from company reporting season on the Australian market
We’re digging deeper into the last big week of reporting season - and today we have Fortescue ready to step on stage.
We all know the Andrew Forrest-controlled miner can dig up and ship a truck-load of iron ore. But what about its much hyped (but yet yet-to-be-realised) green hydrogen ambitions?
Are investors sit of constant setbacks getting closer to calling time on Twiggy’s clean energy dreams and demand the company rein in the spending?
That’s already happened to some degree but it’s still costing the mine a hefty sum as it aims to shift away from its bread and butter and bring to the world a clean source of fuel. Scalability has been the issue, as has Donald Trump.
Then there’s green iron. Fortescue is ready to hit the start button on a hydrogen-powered green metal plant at its Christmas Creek hub. But some, including BHP’s Tim Day, say getting the costs of smelting iron ore using lower emissions fuels to compete with traditional blast furnaces is at least 10 years away.
Also reporting today are Coles, G8 Education and Kelsian.
Stay with us for live updates on everything you need to know throughout the day.
Key Events
AusPost halts many US services due to tariff rules
Australia’s postal service will stop sending many items to the US until further notice, due to recent changes to import tariffs and customs rules.
Australia Post announced the temporary ban on Tuesday, saying it was effective immediately.
The government-owned entity’s decision is in response to recent significant changes made by the US government to customs and import tariff rules for parcels sent to America.
Those changes include the US suspending the “De Minimis” exemption for inbound goods valued below $US800 (about $1200) and requiring the pre-payment of tariffs prior to items arriving.
The temporary suspension will impact business contracts, MyPost business and retail customers sending goods through the postal network to the US.
Gifts under $US100 (about $150), letters and documents are unaffected.
Australia Post is not the only postal operator to pause operations to the US.
Read the full story here.
Coles profit slips, warns of illegal tobacco trade
Coles has started the new financial year with a bang, with sales up 4.9 per cent in the first eight weeks.
But the grocer said the result had been partially offset by a further decline in tobacco following the impact of new tobacco legislation and growth in the illicit market.
Its reported noted a 30 per cent decline in tobacco sales, representing less than 3 per cent of total supermarket sales - down from their peak of more than 8 per cent in FY19.
Excluding tobacco, sales were up 7 per cent.
Like Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour Group yesterday, Coles has reported flat sales for its retail liquor division, noting “the market remains subdued” as drinkers favour more out-of-home experiences.
Coles today reported full-year revenue of $44.35 billion for FY25, up 1.8 per cent from a year earlier. Supermarket sales rose 4.3 per cent on a normalise dbasis - account for an extra week of trade in FY24. That offsetting weaker sales in liquor,
That delivered a profit of $1.08b, down 3.5 per cent but up 2.4 per cent on a normalised basis.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up 6.8 per cent to $2.22b.
It will pay out a final fully franked dividend of 32c a share.
CEO Leah Weckert said value, quality and availability remained important to its customers.
Coles’ ‘other’ revenue segment, which includes a product supply arrangement with service station operator Viva Energy, saw sales drop a normalised 15.2 per cent, which it pinned on declining tobacco sales.
Fortescue profit slides on weaker iron ore prices
The Andrew Forrest-chaired iron ore miner has revealed a 41 per cent lower profit for the 2025 financial year of $US3.4 billion ($5.25b).
It comes as the average price fetched for a tonne of iron ore fell by 18 per cent for the 12 months, from $US103.01 to $US84.79 on record shipments of 198.4 million tonnes.
As a result, revenue was down 15 per cent to $US15.5b
Production costs, however, inched lower by one per cent. Total free cashflow was also lower, by 50 per cent to $US2.6b.
The board declared a fully franked finaldividend of 60c a share, taking the payout for the year to $1.10.
“We’ve delivered another strong set of results – record shipments, disciplined cost performance, solid earnings and a continued focus on safety,” iron ore chief executive Dino Otranto said.
While you were sleeping ...
Here’s what happened on the US markets overnight.
Wall Street stocks ended lower as investors parsed the outlook for US interest rates and looked ahead to AI chipmaker Nvidia’s quarterly earnings this week, while digesting a rally late last week that lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high close.
On Friday, stocks jumped after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted at the Jackson Hole Symposium that an interest-rate cut could be considered at the central bank’s September meeting, citing recent labour market weakness.
“The market has a Jackson Hole hangover,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Investors are taking a little bit of a breather.”
The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index - the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge - is due to be released on Friday, while official nonfarm payrolls data is expected next week.
The reports will be crucial, especially after Powell said a rate cut was not certain.
“The focus right now is the labour market,” said Brian Klimke, investment director at Cetera Investment Management.
“We have the job market that’s rolling over a little bit and the economy is weakening, so the Fed needs to act sooner than later and they’re seeing it too.”
Read the full market wrap-up here.
Originally published on The West Australian
