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

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.

Woodside is the latest energy major to report surging profits in the wake of the global oil crisis fuelled by the US war with Iran in the Middle East.

The company has also announced a structured review of the business as it prepares to bring new projects online, including Scarborough, saying it has set a target of stripping $US350 million of cost savings out of the business from 2028.

The Perth-headquatered oil and gas giant this morning reported net profit soared 27 per cent in the first half of the year, up from $US1.32 billion a year ago to $US1.67b.

Operating revenue leapt 13 per cent to $US7.45b after average realised prices for a barrel of oil equivalent rose 20 per cent compared to the same period a year ago to $US74.

The huge surge in both revenue and profit came despite production slipping 13 per cent to 86.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Woodside will pay out a fully franked interim dividend of US57c a share, up from the previous year’s US53c.

CEO Liz Westcott said the company delivered a resilient first half performance, remaining a secure and reliable supplier to customers throughout a period of global volatility.

“We once again delivered strong production, cash flow and shareholder returns, while continuing to execute the next phase of growth.”

Australian fuel refinery and retailer Ampol yesterday posted a near five-fold increase in profit, up to $857.2m in the half year.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have ended lower, pulled down by technology stocks as investors weighed fresh US economic pressure against Iran and braced for a week that includes Nvidia earnings and a closely watched inflation report.

US President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Monday a possible expansion of sanctions on countries doing business with Iran as part of what it billed as an “economic D-Day,” but stopped short of actually imposing penalties.

Chip stocks sold off, dragging the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index lower.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivered one of the starkest warnings yet from a Republican to the AI industry, saying data centre companies “dug their own grave” and deserve the backlash they’re facing after failing to win community support, Axios reported on Sunday.

This month, Abbott ordered a pause on approvals of new data centre projects through the state’s grid interconnection process, citing concerns that a surge in electricity demand could threaten reliability at a time when opposition to the projects is growing.

“The bigger worry we have is the hawkish rhetoric we’re starting to hear from politicians on AI and data centres,” said Ohsung Kwon, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo.

“We’ve been highlighting that as a big risk heading into the midterms.”

Read the full overnight report here ..

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