Here are the headlines from the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(ASX: XJO) and Australian finance circles on Thursday morning.
But first, here are the data points:
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 74.5 US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 0.7%
Oil (WTI): $US69.41 per barrel
Gold: $US1,232 per ounce
Australian Investing News
Making finance news, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) is holding its 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) today. The Macquarie Managing Director and CEO Nicholas Moore said that the financial company’s operating groups were performing well, in line with expectations and the first quarter of FY19 is better than the first quarter of FY18, however it’s slightly down on the strong final quarter of FY18.
Mr Moore said: “Macquarie’s annuity-style businesses continued to perform well, with continued strong base and performance fees in Macquarie Asset Management (MAM).
Macquarie also confirmed that it had a group capital surplus of $3.4 billion and a bank CET1 ratio of 10.3%, which judges how much money a bank has for safety in-case of a downturn. Macquarie said that MAM had $534.1 billion in assets under management (AUM) at 30 June 2018, up 8% compared to 31 March 2018.
Residential property developer Villa World Ltd (ASX: VLW) said that delays with planning authorities in Victoria could lead to revenue being recognised in FY20 rather than FY19, however it could still be possible be FY19. It has predicted statutory net profit after tax of around $40 million for FY19.
Bigtincan Holdings Ltd (ASX: BTH) reported its quarterly report and showed that annualised recurring revenue was now $15.3 million, up 41% compared to a year ago. Quarterly cash receipts was $2.5 million, up by 66%, and $16.7 million for the last year which was an increase of 80%.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) reported that its gold production was 1% lower in FY18 compared to last year. However, in the final quarter it was 10% higher than the third quarter and copper production was 7% higher than the previous quarter.