ASX reporting season: Woodside rockets on Middle East tensions; Coles hit by Ooshies promotion; Monadelphous

Cedar Woods is forecasting another round of double-digit profit growth after starting the new financial year with record pre-sales of $830 million.

But it warned the Federal Government’s changes to captial gains tax along with higher interest rates and war in the Middle East had cut enquiries.

The developer said more than 90 per cent of expected revenue had already been contracted.

“This materially reduces near-term sales risk and supports our target of delivering a further 15 pe rcent increase in net profit after tax,” said MD Nathan Blackburne.

“The company continues to be well positioned, supported by strong project margins, a structural shortage of housing, a diversified national portfolio, a pipeline of more than 9600 lots, homes and offices, and a strong balance sheet.”

Cedar Woods this morning reported a 36 per cent leap in net profit to an above- guidance and record $65.6m.

Revenue rose to a record $502.4m, up from $465.9m in the prior year, supported by a higher average price for lots settled.

Gross margins improved slightly to 30 per cent on “disciplined cost control and the mix of projects and stages settled”.

Cedar Woods will pay out a final fully franked dividend of 25c, up from 19c a year earlier.

“FY26 was the strongest year in Cedar Woods’ history, with record results across the key financial and operating measures of the business,” Mr Blackburne said.

“The result demonstrates the earnings leverage in the portfolio when higher settlement revenue is combined with stronger margins.”

Cedar Woods received a record 30,137 enquiries during FY26, up 25 per cent on 24,142 the previous year.

But it noted that waned “markedly” during the fourth quarter due to reduced marketing activity, fewer sales releases and factors affecting buyer sentiment, including successive interest rate rises, taxation changes and the Middle East conflict.

Its shares were up 9.4 per cent to $7.88 in late trade.

A rise in all sectors bar one has pushed the S&P/ASX200 higher in early trade.

The index was up 51.1 points by 10.30am to 9154.2.

Energy slipped into the red but the market’s other 10 sectors were all higher, led by health care, IT, utlities, banks and consumer staple stocks.

ARB Corporation was the biggest winner, gaining almost 17 per cent.

Perth-based contractor Monadelphous was the biggest laggard, shedding 13.5 per cent as investor nerves showed over a lack of growth targets for FY27.

Ingenia Communites was due to release its full-year results this morning but has delayed the report until 4.30pm.

The group is believed tobe ready to announce a $900 million-plus deal to buy out developer Peet, whcih this morning unveiled a record year.

A strong WA property market and green shoots in Victoria have driven a rise in land sales for Perth-based developer Peet, delivering record earnings and a soaring profit.

Peet — which is on the cusp of revealing a potential $900 million-plus buyout deal with Ingenia Communities — on Tuesday revealed it had sold 2996 lots during FY26, up 8 per cent on the previous year.

It said the growth was largely driven by healthy market conditions in WA and improving activity in Victoria.

Settlements remained “robust” at 2665 lots, up just one per cent and supported by strong demand across WA and Queensland.

Revenue rose 3 per cent to $450.2m with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation 54 per cent higher at $162.8m. EBITDA margins grew to 36 per cent.

Net operating profit soared 77 per cent to $103.4m.

It declared an improved final fully-franked dividend of 6.5¢ a share, taking the full-year payout to 13¢ which is up 68 percent a year earlier.

“FY26 represents another exceptional year for Peet, with record operating profit, significant earnings growth and increased returns to shareholders,” said CEDO Brett Fullarton.

“The result reflects the strength of our national portfolio, favourable conditions across several of our key markets and the disciplined execution of our strategy.

“Demand across our WA and Queensland projects remained particularly strong throughout the year, while Victoria continued to show encouraging signs of improvement contributing to increased sales activity.

“Importantly, these market conditions have enabled us to translate strong demand into higher margins, improved profitability and continued balance sheet strength.”

Elon Musk says SpaceX’s first AI satellites, powered by Nvidia chips., will initially launch in the fourth quarter of next year and hit “significant scale” in 2028.

In a post on X, SpaceX’s chief executive gave the slightly updated timeline, along with details of the data centre - in the form of a satellite - being “significantly simpler, lower cost, denser and lighter than a traditional rack”.

SpaceX pinned its blockbuster initial public offering in June on pioneering space-based data centres, a network of satellites that conduct computing in orbit as a lower-cost and more environmentally friendly alternative to land-based data centres.

The company has filed with the Federal Communications Commission for approval to launch a network of as many as one million satellites to do complex computing for artificial intelligence.

Earlier this month, SpaceX said it would exclusively use Nvidia’s technology for the AI infrastructure it plans to put in space. Musk had outlined an initial plan for SpaceX to look at different designs based on different kinds of chips but decided Nvidia’s systems were best to power it.

On the path to its public debut, SpaceX had said its orbital data centres would launch as early as 2028. Then, in the company’s debut earnings report, Musk appeared to pull that timeline forward to say “next year.”

Nvidia, which reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, also announced Musk’s company would use its Vera central processing unit - or CPU - to speed up the computing that powers Grok and its next generation of AI agents.

Bloomberg

Coles’ annual report released along with its financial results on Tuesday showed boss Leah Weckert lost $414,000 in short-term bonus due to two court losses, while other current and former executives — including former chief executive Steven Cain — also forfeited incentives totalling $1.66 million.

The Federal Court in September found Coles, as well as rival Woolworths, did not comply with its obligation to keep accurate employment records — including rosters, overtime and other entitlements owed under the retail award — of salaried workers.

More recently in May, Coles was found to have misled shoppers with illusory discounts on grocery staples like yoghurt, butter and toothpaste.

“This reduction considers the period during which the individuals held these roles but does not relate to any specific conduct by the executives in connection with either matter,” Coles chair of People and Culture Committee Richard Freudenstein said in his letter to shareholders.

“Rather, it reflects Coles’ belief that as executive leadership team members, they have accountability for their business area and remuneration outcomes should reflect both negative and positive extraordinary events.”

Mining maintenance firm Mader Group delivered a 15 per cent rise in net profit and is targeting the same growth rate in the years ahead.

Mader’s bottom line for the 2026 financial year rose to $65.4 million from revenue of $1 billion, which was also a 15 per cent increase on the previous year.

“I’m proud to announce that we have surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, marking the successful delivery of the five-year strategic plan established by the board in 2021,” Mader chief executive Justin Nuich said.

“During this time, Mader has transformed into a leading global provider of specialist technical services across multiple industries and geographies.”

Mader is targeting a boost in revenue in FY2027 of “at least” 13 per cent to $1.13b and a net profit jump of “at least 11 per cent” to $72.5m.

Mader said the outlook was aligned with its “new strategic plan which targets medium to long-term growth of circa 15 per cent per annum”.

Childcare giant G8 Education has booked a half-year loss after occupancy rates continued to fall, partly blamed on affordability pressures rather than shocking charges against a former staffer.

Statutory net loss for the six months to June 30 was $38.8 million, compared to a $22.5m reported net profit for the same period in calendar 2025.

The bottom line was hit by a $47.1m net impairment expense, associated with the suspension of operations at 40 centres around Australia in April after child sex abuse charges were laid against the former staffer, who had worked at four of their businesses.

At the time, the client exodus was partly blamed on the scandal.

Chief executive Pejman Okhovat said the impairment also related to other portfolio optimisation activities, and decisive actions taken to strengthen the business included restructuring the support office in June.

“These initiatives are expected to deliver at least $10m in annual cost savings,” he told a conference call on Tuesday.

Occupancy levels fell 7.5 per cent as enquiry levels also decreased, which the company said was experienced across the sector.

“The first half of 2026 continued to be impacted by challenging sector conditions, with affordability pressures, lower birth rates, supply growth affecting demand across the sector,” Mr Okhovat said.

A booming resources sector and Australia’s energy transition are expected to keep the work rolling in for contractor Monadelphous.

The company this morning reported record full-year revenue of $2.98 billion, up 31.5 per cent the previous year.

Its engineering division did the heavy lifting, with revenue up 48.5 per cent to $1.37b thanks to “significant” activity in the iron ore sector.

Maintenance and industrial services brought in $1.61b, up 20 per cent off the back of high levels of turnaround activity and project work in the energy sector, along with increased levels of maintenance activity with iron ore customers.

Net profit was up just over 50 per cent to $127.3 million as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation leapt more than 40 per cent to $226m.

MD Zoran Bebic said Monadelphous’ committed work levels remained high, with more than $680m in new contracts secured since the beginning of the new financial year, and a robust pipeline of new opportunities.

“The long-term outlook for the resources and energy sector remains strong.,” Mr Bebic said.

”Investment is expected in both new resource projects and existing operations, with multiple gas construction projects and sustained demand for maintenance services presenting opportunities in the energy sector.

“Increasing demand, coupled with Australia’s energy transition, is driving long-term investment in energy generation, storage, and transmission infrastructure, with Monadelphous well positioned to capitalise on these opportunities by leveraging its broadening services capability.”

Monadelphous will pay out a final dividend of 59c a share, taking the full-year payout to $1.08.

The company ended the year with a cash balance of $293.6m.

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Coles has conceded rival Woolworths’ wildly popular Ooshies collectibles promotion kept a lid on growth as it entered the new financial year.

The grocer said it had carried sales momentum from the last three months of FY26 into the first few weeks of the new year.

“Sales momentum was well ahead of 4Q FY26, with a temporary moderation during a competitor’s collectibles campaign in late July and early August,” it said.

“Following the end of the collectibles campaign, sales recovered quickly back to levels consistent with 4Q FY26.”

Coles this morning reported a 3.7 per cent rise in grocery sales for FY26 to $41.5 billion. Excludind tobacco, sales were up 5.1 per cent.

But flagging sales across its struggling liquor division - with a 3.3 per cent fall to $3.55b for the full year - helped to rein in group-wide growth at 2.8 per cent to $45.58b.

Net profit rose one per cent to $1.09b.

CEO Leah Weckert said the result was pleasing “given the challenging operating environment, including continued cost-ofliving pressures, geopolitical uncertainty and greater regulatory complexity”.

“Despite these pressures, we strengthened our competitive position, gaining market share in supermarkets and building momentum across our digital business, and we enter FY27 with good momentum and a strong balance sheet,” she said.

“We are now investing in the next phase of growth, including through an accelerated store opening and renewal program, coupled with a clear strategy to improve the performance of our liquor business which will ensure Coles can maintain its growth trajectory.”

Coles will pay out a final fully franked dividend of 37c, taking full-year payout to 78c - 13 per cent higher than a year earlier.