ASX reporting season: All the latest news from companies releasing financial results to the market today

The ASX200 has tread water through the day, trading in a narrow range that will see the index end in the red - down 0.3 per cent to 9046.6.

Seven of the 11 sectors will close in the red, with IT stcoks hammered more than 3 per cent lower. Real estate, banking and consumer discretionary stocks were also sold off.

Australians have officially gone backwards over the past year, as a boost in wages was not enough to meet the rising cost-of-living.

Fresh figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday show quarterly wages were up 0.8 per cent and are now up 3.2 per cent for the year.

But despite the pay bump, on average workers are going backwards as yearly wage rises did not match the yearly inflation rate of 3.8 per cent over the same period.

Prior to Wednesday’s official figures, markets were predicting wage growth of 0.8 per cent for the quarter or 3.2 per cent over the year.

Quarterly wages growth has been steady at 0.8 per cent since Q3 2025, broadly consistent with little change in labour market slack over that period.

Engineers responsible for Qantas fleet operations have unanimously voted to seek a protected action ballot after more than a year of negotiations failed to deliver a pay offer.

Professionals Australia represents about 150 engineers, mostly based at Mascot in Sydney.

The union;s NSW director Justine McCarthy said the engineers had endured a pay freeze during COVID followed by below-inflation wage increases, leaving them significantly behind.

“These are highly skilled professional engineers undertaking critical work that keeps the Qantas fleet operating safely and efficiently,” she said.

“They have been negotiating with Qantas for more than a year, but the company has still failed to put forward a reasonable wage offer that recognises their skills, responsibilities and the value they provide to the business.”

“Our members accepted a pay freeze during COVID and have received below-inflation increases ever since. They have gone backwards in real terms while their workloads, responsibilities and productivity have continued to grow.”

Ms McCarthy said the proposed protected action ballot includes a range of potential industrial action, including stop-work action ranging from one hour to seven days, bans on work across specific projects and bans affecting critical engineering authorisations and sign-offs required for fleet operations.

Australian beachwear retailer City Beach has been ordered to pay a $14 million fine imposed against it for selling Croc accessories that contained deadly button batteries, after the company failed to get the penalty thrown out in court.

The Federal Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal against the “excessive” fine after City Beach was penalised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for selling non-compliant button battery products in December last year.

The banned products, which were marketed or intended for children, included toys, digital notepads, key rings and Croc shoes Jibbitz accessories.

The consumer watchdog warned the button batteries were dangerous and posed a significant risk to young children if swallowed or inserted.

Three children have died as a result of swallowing such button batteries in Australia alone.

ACCC Commissioner Luke Woodward said the Federal Court confirmed a significant penalty was appropriate to deter City Beach and other traders from failing to comply with the mandatory button battery standards.

A judge found between June 2022 and October 2024, City Beach sold more than 60 products containing button batteries on more than 54,000 occasions

The court found the retailer did not comply with the button battery safety and/or information standards, and imposed a penalty of $14m in December last year.

City Beach admitted this conduct breached the Australian Consumer Law.

The Full Court said there was a heightened need to deter corporations from ever selling products that were very dangerous and contravened safety standards and ruled the $14m penalty still applied.

People who have a healthy sleeping pattern in middle age tend to keep working for longer, a study suggests.

Meanwhile, sleeping for lengthy periods of nine hours or more, or being disturbed regularly, were linked to leaving the workforce up to nine months earlier.

To explore if good quality sleep may lead to longer careers, researchers in Finland looked at data from people aged 50 up to the age of 68.

They analysed two studies: one which included more than 70,000 public sector staff from 2000 to 2016, and another of 6071 working age adults in Finland from 1998 to 2013.

Data on sleep was collected after people turned 50, and was categorised as either short (under seven hours), mid-range (seven to eight and a half hours) and long (nine or more hours).

Disturbances included problems falling or staying asleep and waking too early.

People who reported no disturbances had a working life expectancy of 13 years five months.

This was compared with 13 years among those moderately disturbed two to four nights a week, and 12 years 10 months among people whose sleep was disturbed almost every night.

The longest working life expectancy - almost 14 years - was among professional women who reported no sleep disturbances.

The shortest - almost 12.5 years - was among men with severe sleep disturbances.

Elsewhere, public sector workers who slept from under seven to eight and a half hours had a working life expectancy of 13 years two months, while those who slept for more than nine hours were expected to work 12 years five months.

Researchers also found a difference in working life expectancy between professional workers with higher levels of education and those in routine jobs with lower levels of education.

Among 50-year-old public sector workers, the longest life expectancy was around 13 years seven months among men and women in professional roles and short sleep lengths.

The shorted was six years five months, among men in routine jobs with low levels of education who slept for more than nine hours a night.

Researchers said the findings, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, suggest healthy sleep may help people keep working as they age.

“To promote older adults’ participation in working life, supporting sleep of recommended length and good quality may be required,” they added.

Australia’s biggest lottery operator has recorded a slump in annual earnings after its popular Powerball and Oz Lotto jackpots didn’t get the attention from punters it hoped for.

It was the first time in five years the Powerball jackpot failed to hit $100 million, The Lottery Corporation chief executive Wayne Pickup said.

And there was no Oz Lotto jackpot of $50 million or more for the first time in nine years.

“Financial year 2026 was a rarely soft year for big jackpots - a one-in-45-year outcome,” said Mr Pickup, who has been in the job for nine months.

“As you know, the math tells you jackpot runs even out over time.

“The momentum in pricing, base game participation and digital share matters more to the long-term trajectory than what happens in any single period.”

The Lottery Corp made a net profit of $284.6 million in 2025/26, down 22 per cent from the prior year.

Revenue fell 2.7 per cent to $3.6 billion, after the absence of those large jackpots impacted revenue by about $350 million.

But some of that impact was offset by price increases after Lottery Corp raised the cost of a Powerball game to $1.40, from $1.20, which was its second increase in three years.

Still, fewer large jackpots translated to lower retail and digital platform lotteries turnover, corresponding to a three per cent fall to $6.5 billion.

Lottery Corp had 8.3 million active lottery customers in 2025/26.

Full-year profit at Temple & Webster has nosedived, even after it reported a new revenue record.

The online furniture and homewears retailer pinned the blame on promotional activity to keep sales growing against tough market conditions.

It reported a 10.6 per cent jump in revenue in the year to June 30 of $664.6 million, compared to the previous year’s $600.7m.

But net profit dropped from $11.3m to $4.3m.

The retailer said the plunge was due to the timing of how certain expenses were recognised for tax purposes, noting pre-tax profit was only down 20 per cent to $11.8m.

“The reduction in profit before tax reflects increased investment in price and promotion to drive revenue growth against a challenging macroeconomic and consumer environment,” it said.

“This was partially offset by the successful implementation of a margin optimisation program through March 2026, resulting in a material increase in run-rate unit economics and overall profitability in the last quarter of FY26.”

Revenue per active customer of $494 for FY26 was up 8 per cent compared to a year earlier, driven by an increase in average order values through the second half.

Repeat customers now represent 62 per cent of total orders, up from 59 per cent in FY25.

But Temple and Webster faces more headwinds with “variable market conditions. Sales so far this financial year are down 13 per cent - though it noted it was cycling 28 per cent growth at the start of FY26.

“With improving unit economics and continued balance sheet strength, we are well positioned for growth and remain focused on our goal of becoming the largest retailer in our category in Australia,” it said.

The Australian share market opened lower this morning, down 0.3 per cent after the first 45 minutes of trade to 9046.8 points.

Six of the S&P/ASX200’s 11 sectors were in the green, led by a 2 per cent rsie in health care stocks. Energy stocks and consumer staples were also slightly higher.

IT, banking and mining stocks led the losses.

Among the best performers were property giants Stockland (up 15.4 per cent), and Mirvac (up 7.8 per cent), Fletcher Building (up 5.6 per cent), SRG Global (up 4.6 per cent) and Deterra Royalties (up 4.4 per cent).

Breville Group was down 4.3 per cent despite reporting record sales.

Santos will pay investors an US11.6c-a-share interim dividend despite a fall in net profit to $US355 million for the first half - down 19 per cent from $US439m a year earlier.

Revenue for the six months was up 2 per cent to $US2.62 billion.

The results were a miss from analyst estimates as higher global energy prices because of the war in the Middle East failed to offset commissioning delays at two key projects.

First-half production of 45.6 million barrels of oil equivalent was up 3 per cent on the prior corresponding period.

Free cash flow from operations of $US378m was impacted by commissioning and cargo timing effects that Santos said it expected to unwind in the second half.

The company said the results reflected a period of transition for the company as the Pikka joint venture project in Alaska commenced production.

CEO Kevin Gallagher said Santos was entering the second half from a stronger operating position.

“The first half marked an important step forward for Santos. We brought the Pikka project online safely and continued to progress Barossa through commissioning towards steady-state production, while the base business continued to perform strongly,” he said.

“Pikka achieved first oil in May, moved to continuous production in June and we lifted our first crude oil cargo last week.”

Santos last month lowered its full-year production forecast after startup issues at Barossa and Pikka oil field in Alaska, which have both since shipped their first cargoes.

Boosting production will be key, as the company seeks to benefit from higher oil and gas prices driven by the war in Iran.

Brent crude averaged about $US87 a barrel from January through June, compared with around $US71 in the same period in 2025. Prices remain volatile as the conflict, now in its sixth month, shows no sign of stopping.

Evolution Mining will pay out a bumper final dividend after booking a record-breaking year for the miner - and the gold price.

Record statutory profit of $1.48 billion was 59 per cent higher that a year ago, while record underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $3.17b was up 44 per cent.

The surge came from a 40 per cent rise in the average realised price of gold throughout the year of $6023 an ounce, up from $4300 a year earlier.

Copper prices also imporved 25 per cent to $18,051.

“The record financial performance is on the back of safe, consistent and reliable operational delivery, complemented by our disciplined approach to cost and capital management,” said MD Lawrie Conway.

“Our high-margin business is generating significant cash flow with a record Group cash flow of nearly $1.4b.”

Thanks to a new payout ratio targeting 60 per cent, Evolution will hand shareholders a record final fully franked dividend of 21c a share. The full-year dividend of 41c a share is also a record.

Evolution was holding $1.35b cash at June 30, with debt of $1.33b and no repayments due until FY29.

The miner is targeting FY27 gold production of between 660,000 and 730,000oz and copper prodcution of between 63,000 and 70,000 tonnes.