Futures contracts for the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(ASX: XJO) index are pointing to a positive open on Thursday morning with Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB) making the news.
Here’s the key headline data:
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 75.76 US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 1.3%
Oil (WTI): $US68.12 per barrel
Gold: $US1,307 per ounce
Australian Investing News
Making news in Australia, ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX) announced a $30 million investment in a joint venture with Australian Technology Innovators, the parent of InfoTrack. ASX said: “ASX and InfoTrack see an attractive opportunity to deliver a market-leading electronic property settlement service by combining their significant experience and expertise – ASX’s in secure, electronic financial market settlements and InfoTrack’s in property settlement technology and processes. “
ASX estimates the electronic property settlements industry could generate revenue in excess of $200 million.
Meanwhile, biotechnology business Mesoblast Ltd published its quarterly report covering the nine months to 31 March 2018. For the first nine months of its current financial year, Mesoblast reported $15.6 million of revenue, up from $1.85 million in the same period last year. It reported a loss before tax of $44 million.
On Wednesday evening, Thorn Group Ltd (ASX: TGA) filed its full-year financial report showing a loss of $3.6 million down from a profit of $25 million last year. On an operating basis, Thorn said its cash profit was $14.2 million.
“The regulatory issues facing the Consumer Leasing business have largely been addressed with the ASIC settlement and the ongoing customer remediation program, and our introduction of industry leading credit assessment practices,” Thorn Group CEO Tim Luce said. “We are taking decisive action to restore the Radio Rentals receivables book to growth in the longer term, and the operational and productivity improvements over the 2019 financial year will allow us to offer greater value and a return to growth in customer installations.”
Thorn Group said it expects the future will include challenges with legacy regulatory issues and difficult trading conditions. In 2019, Thorn forecast operating cash profit after tax in the range of $7 million to $10 million.
A Free Investing eBook
The news is good. But if you like investing and want to learn more you should know it’s free to join The Rask Group’s Investor Club Newsletter and receive a free Australian investing ebook! Join today, claim your free ebook, and get ready to laugh and learn.
Click here to join The Rask Group’s Investor Club Newsletter Today
