Today, the All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) was trading 0.31% lower, with shares of BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP), Altium Limited (ASX:ALU) and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) moving the Australian share market.
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1. BHP Group Ltd – up 0.5%
BHP is a world-leading resources company, extracting and processing minerals (like iron ore and copper), oil and gas, and has more than 62,000 employees and contractors, primarily in Australia and the Americas. Headquartered in Melbourne, BHP has shares listed on both the ASX and London Stock Exchange (BHP Billiton Plc).
Today, Australia’s biggest mining company released its eagerly awaited first-half financial records to investors showing a 7% increase in revenue, to $US22.29 billion, and a profit of $US4.87 billion, up 29%.
BHP announced a dividend of US65 cents per share, payable in March, but cautioned investors about the impact and outlook for the Coronavirus.
“If the viral outbreak is not demonstrably well contained within the March quarter, we expect to revise our expectations for economic and commodity demand growth downwards,” BHP’s announcement read.
“China’s economy grew by 6.1 per cent in the 2019 calendar year, with now some obvious downside risk in achieving a similar outcome for the 2020 calendar year.” – BHP
2. Altium Limited – down 11%
Altium is an Australian multinational software business that was founded in 1985. Its software focuses on electronics design systems for 3D PCB design and embedded system development. Its services include Altium Designer, Altium Vault, CircuitStudio, CircuitMaker, TASKING and Octopart.
After releasing its half-year financial report to investors yesterday, after the market had closed for trading, Altium shares find themselves down 11% today. In its ASX release, Altium said the company achieved revenue growth of 19%, to $US93 million, versus the same period of 2019. At the bottom line, Altium’s profit before tax rose 23% to $32 million. In addition to paying a half-year dividend of 20 cents per share, up 25%, the technology company expects to achieve a full-year revenue result between $US205 million and $US215 million.
3. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd – down 5%
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank was formed following the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007. The bank operates primarily within the retail banking space and has a network of more than 500 branches and agencies across Australia, predominantly on the East Coast and South Australia.
Yesterday, Bendigo Bank shares went into a trading halt upon releasing its most recent financial results and announcing a $300 million capital raising. The bank announced it would raise $250 million from institutions and an additional $50 million from eligible smaller shareholders who choose to take up the offer. In an update today, Bendigo Bank said it was able to sell the $250 million block of new shares at a price of $9.34, hence today’s fall. You can read more about Bendigo Bank’s capital raising by clicking here.
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