Here are the news headlines from the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(ASX: XJO) and Australian finance circles on Thursday morning.
First, here are the data points:
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 70.98 US cents
Dow Jones (DJI) : up 0.2%
Oil (WTI): $US76.23 per barrel
Gold: $US1,202 per ounce
Australian Finance News
In sharemarket news, following on from its trading halt on Wednesday, Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group (ASX: SCP) announced the successful completion of its institutional capital raising (click here to learn what capital raising means).
In its public filing, SCA Property Group said it sold 113 million shares at $2.32 to raise $262.4 million. “As announced on 3 October 2018, proceeds from the Placement will be used to partly fund the acquisition of a portfolio of ten convenience-based shopping centres in Australia (the “Acquisition”) for a combined purchase price of $573 million,” SCA Property Group’s announcement read.
Also making headlines, Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ) released its 2018 financial results. BOQ said its cash profit fell 2% year over year, while its loan impairment expense fell to $41 million.
“BOQ has transformed into a resilient, multi-channel business that is geographically diverse and serves a broader range of customers. This is a result of the clear and consistent strategy we have been implementing,” BOQ’s CEO Jon Sutton said.
BOQ also revealed it will pay a final fully franked dividend of 38 cents per share, in-line with last year (click here to learn what franking credits are).
Read more: BOQ’s Report
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG), the global investment management company, announced its total funds under management (FUM) as at September 28th, 2018. The Sydney-based Magellan reported total FUM of $74.5 billion, down slightly from $74.6 million at the end of August. Magellan said it had net outflows of $86 million.
In the software space, Class Ltd (ASX: CL1) reported its quarterly shareholder update showing total accounts of 172,452, up by 3,039.
CEO Kevin Bungard noted that AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) continued to migrate its clients off of the Class platform. “Excluding AMP, our retention rate remains strong at 99.6%,” Class’ announcement read.
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