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

Flight Centre will pay out a marginally higher dividend to shareholders after booking a small rise in first-half profit.

The travel agent today reported total transation value revenue of $11.7 billion for the six months to the end of December, $400 million higher than the same period a year ago.

Revenue was flat at $1.3b. Underlying profit rose from $109m to $117m but net profit slipped from $86.7m to $59.6m following a solid second-quarter recovery after a challenging first three months of the new financial year.

Flight Centre said profit was impacted by lower income from volume-based supplier payments resulting from lower-than-normal total transaction value growth early in the half and a roughly $4m investment in the rapidly growing global cruise sector.

“TTV growth also accelerated during the second 2Q – increasing by 7 per cent – after a modest 1Q increase during a period of significant airfare deflation in Australia and Asia,” it said.

“In Australia, international air ticket numbers increased circa 12 per cent during the 1H – four times the growth rate immediately before COVID (FY20 1H) – but average fares decreased 9 per cent during the 1Q and 3 per cent during the 2Q to finish the 1H down 6.5 per cent year-on-year.”

Flight Centre will pay an 11c interim dividend, up from 10c a year earlier.

Gold retreated as investors took profits after another record-breaking session overnight, with prices still supported by growing optimism over the timing of the next US Federal Reserve rate cut and increasing haven demand.

Bullion slipped by as much as 2.1 per cent, and is trading about $US60 away from Monday’s fresh all-time high of $US2956.19 an ounce.

Traders booked some profits after the latest data showed US consumer confidence fell this month by the most since August 2021 on concerns about the outlook for the broader economy. The print also added to evidence that uncertainty over the Trump administration’s policies is weighing on households.

Swap markets now price in a quarter-point cut by the Fed in July. That’s providing support for bullion prices as lower rates are positive for the precious metal, which doesn’t pay interest. Haven demand driven by ongoing uncertainty over Trump’s trade and geopolitical agendas is also supportive of bullion prices.

Lower market prices for commodities essential to defence technology industries and the global energy transition have smashed a hole through the profits of Lynas Rare Earths.

The Amanda Lacaze-led miner today reported an 85 per cent fall in net profit to just $5.9 million in the first half - down from $39.5m a year earlier.

Revenue was up 8 per cent to $254.3m.

Ms Lacaze said production of neodymium and praseodymium had increase 22 per cent to 2969 tonnes in the six-month period, along with sales volume and revenue.

But the massive slump in profit “reflected lower prices”.

“Cost of sales increased by 29 per cent, mainly due to the 23 per cent increase in NdPr sales volume and a $5m net realisable value provision against low-value inventory and work in progress on hand at the end of the period,” she said.

“Overall, Lynas saw a slight increase in the unit cost of production, as expected with the additional facilities at Mt Weld, Kalgoorlie and Malaysia coming online.”

Lynas is the biggest rare earths miner outside of China and has been looking to gain a foothold in the potentially lucrative US market.

It has funding of $US288 million ($442m) from the US Department of Defence to build the Seadrift facility in Texas, which has been touted to play a big role in breaking Chinese domination of the rare earths supply chain.

Ms Lacaze warned the rare earths market continues to be subject to complex influences.

“Conditions which may support improved market conditions include demand growth which continues in key sectors, proposed changes to the regulatory environment in China, and sustained support for supply chain development from key governments,” she said.

Woolworths has posted a slide in half-year earnings following a $240 million hit in forgone food sales as a result of a strike action by its warehouse workers late last year.

The supermarket giant on Wednesday said while group sales increased 3.7 per cent to $35.9 billion on the prior year, pre-tax earnings fell 14.2 per cent to $1.45b.

This was largely driven by a 12.8 per cent decline in Australian grocery business, which in November and December was impacted by a 17-day strike by Woolworths warehouse workers that left shelves bare across Victoria, the ACT and NSW.

But the supermarket chain swung back to profit, reporting a net profit of $739m in the 27 weeks to January 5, from a $781m loss a year ago.

“Excluding the one-off impact of industrial action and incremental supply chain commissioning and dual-running costs, Australian Food EBIT would have declined by approximately 5 per cent due to price and promotional investment and ongoing inflation in wage and other costs,” the company said.

Woolworths chief executive Amanda Bardwell said the team had worked incredibly hard to recover from the supply chain disruptions caused by industrial action.

“In Victoria, sales have not yet fully recovered but availability and customer metrics are returning to pre-disruption levels with ongoing efforts to regain customers,” she said.

Woolworths has cut its interim dividend by 17 per cent to 39c per share, reflecting lower earnings

US stocks have struggled with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touching one-month lows as a dour consumer confidence report put mounting economic uncertainties into sharp relief and prompted a selloff.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both notched their fourth consecutive sessions in the red, while the Dow ended the day modestly higher.

“This is clearly a risk-off day and a continuation of a risk-off month,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Many companies are expressing caution about the direction of consumer spending at the moment and today’s consumer confidence number bears that out.”

The mood of the consumer, who props up about 70 per cent of US GDP, has dimmed considerably in February, according to The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, which registered its steepest monthly drop since August 2021.

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