The All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) was trading 0.33% lower on Thursday before midday, with Afterpay Ltd (ASX:APT), A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) and AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) moving the Australian share market.
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1. Afterpay Touch – report
Today, Australia’s largest Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) provider reported its 2020 half-year results showing a 96% increase in total income to $220 million and a loss of $35.8 million.
The company said its top-line growth was driven by a rise in sales being processed through the Afterpay payment ecosystem, which helped it collect more fees from retailers.
Total merchant sales rose from $2.3 billion to $4.8 billion while the number of active customers increased 134% from 3.1 million to 7.3 million. As at 31 December 2019, Afterpay had some 3.6 million users in the US market, meaning it looks likely to become Afterpay’s largest market by total number of users (if it hasn’t already).
2. A2 Milk Company – outlook positive but cautious
The a2 Milk Company is one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest infant formula producers and the leader in a2-only protein based dairy products.
This morning the formulas and milk business released its half-year report covering the six-month period to 31 December 2019. Total a2 sales came in at $804.95 million, up $194 million. The company noted the strong growth in its infant formulas, which accounted for $659 million during the period (82% of all sales).
In China, a key marketplace for A2’s products, Chinese-labelled infant nutrition products continued to grow with a 100% year-over-year increase. Outside of this arena, A2’s milk business experienced growth of 28.7%. That includes the results from the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Keep reading.
3. AP Eagers – transformation underway
A.P. Eagers is Australia’s oldest listed automotive retail group, it has been going for over a century. It recently acquired Automotive Holdings Group (AHG).
In an ASX update today, AP Eagers said it has sold the AHG Refrigerated Logistics division to private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners for $100 million on a debt and cash free basis.
The sale will reduce AP EAgers’ net debt profile by around $95 million but also resulted in an impairment charge in its financial accounts, which were released today.
In its report to the market this morning, AP Eagers said it achieved an underlying operating profit of 31.5 cents per share, compared to 36.5 cents per share last year. A final dividend of 22.5 cents per share, fully franked, was declared, in-line with last year.
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