ASX reporting season: All the latest news from listed companies releasing results today
Welcome to the first big week of reporting season on the ASX.
Companies set to present their results will do so amid fresh records highs for the S&P ASX200, a gold price that keeps resetting the bar and the start of talks at the Reserve Bank that could deliver Australian homeowners long-awaited rate relief after years of mortgage pain.
Then there’s Donald Trump, whose wave of executive orders and threats of retaliatory tariffs continue to rattle overseas markets.
No pressure then.
There were no huge surprises last week as some of the market’s biggest names started rolling out the results. Commonwealth Bank delivered a lazy $5.1 billion profit and gold miners are in rude health. But some bellwethers - including Cochlear and CSL - were a little more subdued.
Last week also saw the spectacular debut of Chemist Warehouse through the backdoor listing of Sigma Healthcare, which turned franchisees into instant millionaires.
Reporting today were Westpac, A2 Milk, Aurizon, Westpac, BlueScope Steel and Lendlease.
Key Events
Why the cost of housing has gone up
Australian builders are finishing half as many homes per hour as they were 30 years ago, prompting a top economic umpire to demand red tape be shredded to fix the housing crisis.
Construction has “consistently” under-performed the rest of the economy over that period, the Productivity Commission warned in a new report to be released Monday.
That malaise has added to costs, worsened the shortage of houses, and pushed the “Australian dream” further out of reach through surging prices.
Read more here
BlueScope profit tumbles, waits on tariff fallout
Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel has recorded a substantial drop in profits.
Net profit after tax fell from $439.3 million in the last six months of 2023 to $179.1m for the last six months of 2024.
Underlying EBIT was $308.8m for the half-year, seemingly aligned with analyst expectations but still down from $718.4m.
Chief executive Mark Vassella called it a “profitable result despite the depressed spread environment in which it was delivered, which highlights the need for business model resilience”.
The potential impact of US President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent metals tariff on the business remains to be seen. BlueScope has about 4000 staff working across its five businesses in the US.
Westpac profit down but holds out for rate relief
Westpac’s profit slipped as chief executive Anthony Miller said the high cost of living continues to bite into customers’ spending power.
Unaudited net profit for the three months ended December 31 came in at $1.7 billion, the bank reported. Hedging contributed to the bulk of the fall, with margins and profit otherwise flat.
Just months into the job, Mr Miller has taken the helm at Westpac as the Australian economy heads toward a phase of expected monetary policy easing that could curb bank margins.
Analysts are also wary about the outlook after the stock price soared more than 40 per cent over the past year.
“Cost of living pressures and high interest rates remain challenging for some customers while many businesses face cost pressures and lower demand,” Mr Miller said in the statement.
“Encouragingly, inflation has eased and we could see the Reserve Bank of Australia reduce the cash rate as early as tomorrow.”
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Originally published on The West Australian
