The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(^AXJO) is expected to open higher today, the USA’s S&P 500 Index (.INX) went up 0.19% on Wednesday.
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 71.68US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 0.20%
Oil (WTI): $US56.92 per barrel
Gold: $US1,340 per ounce
ASX Sharemarket News
In ASX sharemarket news, retail giant Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) has released its half-year report to investors.
Wesfarmers reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $4.54 billion, which includes $3.06 billion of gains on demergers and disposals of some of its former businesses. Wesfarmers’ normal profit from continuing operations was 10.4% higher to $1.08 billion.
Bunnings EBIT increased by 7.9% to $932 million (click here to learn what EBIT means), Kmart & Target EBIT fell 3.8% to $383 million and Officeworks EBIT grew 11.8% to $76 million.
Wesfarmers declared a $1 per share normal dividend and $1 per share special dividend.
Wesfarmers Managing Director Rob Scott commented on the dividend, “The capital management activity distributes to shareholders the profits realised on asset disposals and takes into account Wesfarmers’ available franking credits, strong balance sheet, robust credit metrics and cash flow generation while preserving balance sheet capacity to take advantage of value-accretive growth opportunities, if and when they arise.”
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Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) has reported its full year 2018 result to the market this morning.
The airport operator said that it welcomed 44.4 million passengers during 2018, which was 2.5% higher than 2017. The EBITDA grew by 7.2% to $1.28 billion (click here to learn what EBITDA means) and the distribution was 8.7% higher at 37.5 cents per security.
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said: “Sydney Airport today announced a record result for the full year 2018, underpinned by another year of strong passenger numbers, excellent performance across our non-aeronautical businesses, efficient capital investment and tightly controlled costs.”
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Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) has also reported its half year result.
The large airline said statutory profit before tax was down $105 million to $735 million, and underlying profit before tax declined $179 million to $780 million. These profit figures were achieved despite the fuel cost being $2 billion, which was up $416 million.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said: “Higher oil prices were a significant headwind and we moved quickly to recover as much of the cost as we could. That’s easier to achieve in the domestic market than on longer international routes, where fuel is a much bigger factor”.
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