ASX reporting season: All the latest news as listed companies report their results to investors

An advocacy group has fired back at claims cash will no longer be a viable option in the near future.

Speaking at a parliamentary grilling in Canberra RBA governor Michele Bullock says cash won’t be around much longer.

“At the moment, we’re trying to solve the short-term issue, to make sure the cash is available … that people can use it, that people can access it,” she said.

“But we’ve got to think that cash is going to be around probably for another 10 years, and we’ve got to find a way of moving to a new system that means that distribution of cash can be undertaken and viable.”

Cash Welcome founder Jason Bryce said there was little evidence Aussies were using less cash.

“If Michelle Bullock thinks cash will disappear in Australia within 10 years, the RBA needs to provide some evidence to back up those big words,” he said.

“This a negative market signal and a clear sign that policy makers have not yet come to the conclusion that cash needs to stay in circulation.”

Mr Bryce said despite the government making a commitment to legislated cash from January 1, 2026, there are still real threats to the legal tender.

Ms Bullock said the crux of the problem is with the cost of distributing cash rising at the same time as less people wanting to access it.

However, she didn’t believe asking consumers to pay to use cash would “go down well”.

Commonwealth Bank was forced to pause its implementation of a $3 withdrawal fee for customers attempting to access cash from a branch in December. Bendigo Bank also copped criticism for implementing a similar $2.50 fee.

While banks would most likely have to absorb the costs of transporting and holding cash, Ms Bullock said the Reserve Bank was also reviewing the interest it paid to banks for providing cash in the community.

Mr Bryce said the gap in logic from the RBA is that there is no viable alternative payment system to banknotes that’s private, instant-settlement, reliable and trusted.

“Clearly there is no replacement payment method likely to be developed in the foreseeable future that enjoys the vast support and trust of Australians,” he said.

“If Ms Bullock and banks keep saying cash is in demise, their policy solutions for the cash in transit will be band-aids, not real long-term solutions.”

Cash Converters has lifted interim profit 21 per cent to $12.1 million, despite a reduced loan book and flat revenue.

The pawn store and consumer loan business attributed the earnings jump to better retail profits and its focus on lower-cost, longer-term loans.

Cash Converters’ so-called payday loans now comprise a reduced 18 per cent of its loan book, which declined 7 per cent to $274.4m.

Revenue was flat at $192.1m.

“We continue to transition our loan book away from small and vehicle loans, focused on growing our core loans and lowering our loss rates,” chief executive Sam Budeselik said.

The group has nearly 670 stores in 15 countries, notably Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Cash Converters shares were flat at 26 cents as at 9.50am.

One of Australia’s most prominent law firms is embroiled in scandal after a “rogue email” was reportedly sent to the entire company.

The message, which both The Australian and The Australian Financial Review reported as being critical of senior executives at Slater and Gordon in addition to detailing the remuneration of its entire workforce, purported to be from the firm’s interim chief people officer, Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen.

Ruiz-Matthyssen’s name was listed as the owner of the Gmail account which sent the message, but chief executive Dina Tutungi said on Sunday she did not send the email, which has been reported to Victoria Police and cybersecurity experts from outside the company.

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Behind the vaulted arches of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, above the haggling and the crush, a quieter trade unfolds.

In dimly lit corridors, men slip in and out of back rooms, clutching bundles of dollars. Amid the shadows, a trader says that he deals in millions daily, mostly swapped for stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to other assets, usually the greenback.

Stablecoins are typically backed by cash or government bonds and run on public blockchains. Unlike bitcoin, the ur-cryptocurrency, their price barely fluctuates: tether, the biggest (whose issuer bears the same name), fetches a flat $1, within a few hundredths of a cent.

They are mostly used to trade other cryptocurrencies, providing a stable bridge between wobblier digital assets.

According to Chainalysis, a data firm, trading, payments and transfers in stablecoins hit $US27.6 trillion ($43.3trn) last year, or two-fifths of all value settled on public blockchains, up from a fifth in 2020.

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The local share market has been struggling to keep its head above water, with losses by the bourse’s biggest tech company and its major miners balanced by a bounce-back by the big banks.

At lunchtime on Monday the S&P/ASX200 index down 7.4 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 8,288.8, while the all ordinaries was down 29.1 points, or 0.034 per cent, to 8,541.8.

The ASX200 had been down by as much as 79.9 points, or 0.9 per cent, in early trading but by midday it was hovering in and out of positive territory.

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Pipeline company APA Group is expanding its gas network to ship 24 per cent more gas from northern Australia to the east coast to counter a looming shortage that has Victoria considering “disastrous” LNG imports.

APA will spend an initial $71 million on the five-year expansion to enhance the grid in the short term and start early-stage works on three later stages that will add significantly more transport and storage capacity from 2028.

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Shares in jewellery chain Lovisa have sunk more than 6 per cent despite reporting a surge in revenue for the first half to $405.9 million - up 8.8 per cent from a year earlier.

Profit was also higher - up 6.5 per cent to $56.9m as gross margins grew to 82.4 per cent.

It keep its interim dividend flat at 50c a share.

Comparable store sales were flat at 0.1 per cent as it opened another 57 stores in the six months to the end of December, taking its global netowrk to 943, including 180 in Australia. It also has 209 in the US and 88 in France, along with a portfolio that stretches across Europe and South-East Asia.

“Lovisa has once again been able to deliver solid sales and profit growth, with the highlight another outstanding gross margin performance, and the store rollout accelerating in Q2,” said chief executive Victor Herrero.

Spending on its digital marketing and events execution, inflationary pressures and increased mix of stores in higher cost markets meant a higher cost of doing business for the period.

Lovisa’s shares were off 5 per cent to $27.84 at 11.55am AEST.

Online retailer Kogan has declared a 7c-a-share dividend and will resume a share buyback program after growing statutory net profit 19 per cent in the first half to $10.3 million.

Group revenue was up 9.9 per cent to $272.7m.

“Having returned the company to profitability in FY24, I’m pleased to report today that we have built on that momentum and returned the business to strong sales growth in 1HFY25,” said founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan.

“This was achieved through disciplined execution, operational efficiencies, and strategic initiatives that we expect will continue to drive sustainable growth into the future.

“As our customers continue to navigate the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, we are committed to easing the burden by offering market-leading prices on the most in-demand products and essential services.”

Group active customers grew 9.4 per cent year-on-year to 3,002,000 while Kogan.com active customers grew 15.7 per cent to 2,345,000.

Kogan has also reported a solid start to the second half, with sales up 24.9 per cent year on year to $80.4m, despite a 6 per cent decline at its Mighty Ape subsidiary in New Zealand.

Profit at service station chain Ampol has nosedived after earnings derived from its oil refining business tanked in 2024.

It reported statutory net profit for the full year fell 78 per cent to $122.5 million - down from $549.1m the previous financial year.

CEO Matt Halliday said the financial year was one of challenging global refining and commodity markets that impacted both its Lytton refinery in Queensland and trading and shipping operations.

“While these conditions were compounded by operational disruptions at Lytton, we took advantage of the softer conditions to complete necessary repairs,” he said.

“This has enabled us to start 2025 with the refinery resuming normal operations and to defer the major FCCU4 maintenance shutdown into 2026.

“Our retail businesses were the highlight with convenience retail growing earnings again this year, while Z Energy delivered another resilient performance, both against the backdrop of economic environments where higher interest rates and inflation increased cost of living pressures on consumers.

The board declared a final ordinary dividend of 5c a share, fully franked, taking the full- year ordinary dividends to 65c a share.

Ampol said its convenience retail business started the year solidly, albeit in a rising fuel price environment.

“Green shoots of improved trading conditions are evident in New Zealand as the benefits of the rate cutting cycle take effect,” it said.

Mining services contractor Perenti has seen its revenue for the final six months of 2024 rise 6 per cent to $1.7 billion, but net profit shrunk 13 per cent to $56.3 million.

Perenti said profit for the latter half of 2023 was higher due to a “$29 million non-cash gain” from the acquisition of drilling business DDH1.

Net cash flow swung from a $55.2m inflow to a $207m outflow after Perenti repaid US debt and saw operational cash inflow fall.