ASX reporting season: All the latest news as listed companies report their results to investors

Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey says he is surprised at how well sales have held up despite cost-of-living pressures.

The retailer’s 198 Australian franchised complexes recorded sales of $3.34 billion in the six months to December 31, up 5.5 per cent from a year ago.

That momentum has continued into the new year, with Australian sales up 2.4 per cent in January and up 7.2 per cent in the first 21 days of February.

“I thought July-December would be pretty difficult, with all this cost-of-living thing going on, and inflation and higher interest rates and all that,” Mr Harvey told AAP on Friday.

“But it wasn’t - it was actually better than I thought. And it accelerated in November, December. And then I looked at January, February sales, and I thought, it’s continuing. Retail’s not contracting to the degree I thought it might - it’s actually improving.”

Mr Harvey attributed the sales resilience to rising wages, a million more people in Australia, and the third of Australians who own their own homes mortgage-free.

“The ones that are screwed are the third of the people that rent - they’ve got no money, and they’re surviving just to pay their rent. But when you put the whole of that together, you end up with more money that’s going into the economy.”

Overall, Harvey Norman reported a first-half profit of $400.3 million, up 41.2 per cent from a year ago, although that was driven mostly by property revaluations. Excluding that impact, profit was up 2.2 per cent to $310.5 million.

Harvey Norman declared a fully franked dividend of 12 cents per share.

Even the most rusted-on MAGA supporter should now be starting to see that with tariffs applied at that rate, prices have to go up. The sentiment is spilling through to the economic readings, including a softer-than-expected consumer confidence, disappointing retail sales numbers, and a weak consumer sentiment reading.

Read more here ...

Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour has copped a double-whammy from a strike action that crippled Woolworths in the lead-up to Christmas last year and weak consumer demand for booze.

The group — which is also behind BWS and a network of pubs and hotels under the ALH banner — reported flat sales at $6.6 billion and a 15.1 per cent fall in net profit to $298 million in the 27 weeks ended January 5.

Retail sales at its 1725 bottle shops slid 1.5 per cent to $5.5b. It’s a result outgoing chief executive Steve Donohue blamed on subdued consumer spending and and an estimated $40m to $50m hit in lost sales due to the 17-day strike by Woolworths warehouse workers in Victoria and the ACT late last year.

Read more here ...

Mortgage network Australian Finance Group says its offering “has never been stronger” after a 6 per cent rise in first-half profit to $15.3 million.

“Favourable market conditions, an expanding distribution footprint, enhanced technology offerings and increased loan book size instil confidence in AFG’s upward earnings trajectory,” chief executive David Bailey said.

AFG’s revenue for the six months to December 31 rose 11 per cent to $626m.

However, the interim dividend was cut to a fully franked 3.8c a share from 4.c previously.

AFG’s 4100-strong network of brokers wrote a record $31.8 billion in home loans during the half-year, up 13 per cent, as the broking sector’s share of the mortgage market consolidated at about 75 per cent.

“With the banks’ continued outsourcing of customer acquisition and retention to the more efficient broker channel, we expect that number to continue to grow,” Mr Bailey said.

AFG shares were 3 per cent lower at $1.64 as at 10.40am.

A letter sent by Qatar Airways to Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday - just four days before he signed off on a deal for the Gulf carrier to take a 25 per cent stake in Virgin - included promises of local jobs growth.

The letter, seen by The Nightly and The West Australian, said it saw “significant” emplyment benefits in the buy-in and a closer partnership on Virgin’s ambitious plan to extend its global reach.

“We see multiple employment-related benefits from the forecast $3 billion economic uptick over the next five years to the Australian visitor economy alone,” the letter said.

“These benefits flow from a combination of a minority equity stake and an integrated alliance, including 28 new Virgin Australia services to Qatar.”

Those included: job stability by giving Virgin Australia access to scale, “which is critical to the long-term competitiveness and success of a commercial airline in Australia”; and increased demand in Virgin’s current domestic flying, created by inbound passengers connecting to its domestic services from its expanded international network.

Qatar also claimed at least 40 jobs would be created at the four airports where it will add daily services - Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

A secondment for 20 Virgin pilots and 40 cabin crew to Doha as Virgin transtion to dry leasing - using its own crew and planes to run the service itself - will create 60 jobs in Australia to backfill the position once the secondment starts, Qatar said.

Read more here ...

Bhagwan Marine shares have lose early ground, despite the WA-based marine services group posting record interim revenue and profit.

Bhagwan, which listed last August, said revenue for the first-half was up 41 per cent to $154.4m, while net profit doubled to $8.8m.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 27 per cent to a record $26.6m, but the margin on the profit declined to 17.2 per cent from 19.2 per cent previously.

Shares in the tightly held Bhagwan were off 4.5c, or 7 per cent, as at 7.45am.

“We continue to progress expansion into new growth sectors, strengthening our offshore wind capabilities and positioning for increased defence, maintenance and large vessel opportunities,” chief executive and co-founder Loui Kannikoski said.

The Kannikoski family — Loui, wife Kerren and mother Matilda — own more than 40 per cent of the Geraldton-founded Bhagwan after an initial public offer in mid-2024 that raised $80m at 63c a share.

Embattled Star Entertainment has shocked investors with a pause in trade ahead of the release of its half-year financial report, with a repeated warning that without a white knight it may not be able to continue as a going concern beyond Friday.

The casino operator — which runs casinos in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast — has for months been desperately searching for a funding lifeline to stay afloat as it battles a liquidity crisis.

Star was due to release its six months accounts to the end of December this morning but instead entered a trading halt just before the Australian Securities Exchange opened.

Read more here ...

White goods retailer Harvey Norman has lifted its half-year profit, led by its flagship Australian division.

The Gerry Harvey-chaired company also opened its flagship store in Britain during the December half, which it said came with signifant cost that contributed to a loss of $6.64 million.

Harvey Norman reported an interim profit of $279.39m, up from $200.01m recorded a year ago.

Revenue from its stores across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia rose to $4.83 billion, up from $4.64b last year.

The Australian arm division reported pre-tax profit grew $37.21m to $180.28m.

The company lifted its interim dividend from 10c to 12c per share.

“Our strong balance sheet, low gearing ratio and substantial cash reserves provides the flexibility and capacity to seize opportunities as they arise and secure additional liquidity when needed,” Mr Harvey said.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission continues to take a blowtorch to scam websites, shutting them down at a rate of 130 a week.

In its half-yearly update, the regulator reported that it had removed 2460 investment scam websites and online advertisements, bringing the total number of blocked sites to more than 10,000 since mid-2023.

Among these were 7227 fake investment platforms, 1564 phishing scams, and 1257 scam sites targeting cryptocurrency investors.

Read more here ...

Coles may have taken advantage of strike action that crippled Woolworths in the run-up to Christmas last year but it was a different story for Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour Group.

The group - which also owns BWS and hundreds of pubs and hotels across the country - reported flat sales and a big fall in net profit, with a 17-day strike by Woolies warehouse workers in Victoria and the ACT last year costing it between $40 million and $50m in lost sales in the first half.

But once the strike action ended, Dan Murphyʼs achieved a record sales result for the week before Christmas and BWS recorded its best-ever sales performance for the week before New Yearʼs Eve.

Endeavour said it was also hit by subdued consumer spending as the threat of higher-for-longer interest rates forced many to further tighten their belts in the first quarter.

The group today reported a fall in retail sales of 1.5 per cet compared to the same period a year ago to $5.5 billion. Hotel sales grew by 3.3 per cent to $1.1b with sales momentum increasing throughout the half.

Overall group sales fell 0.7 per cent to $6.6b.

Earnings before interest and tax were down 10 per cent to $595m and net profi tumbled 15 per cent to $298m in what CEO Steve Donohue said came amid “challenging macro economic conditions”.

The board declared an interim dividend of 12.5c a share.

Endeavour said sales growth for the first seven weeks of calendar 2025 were weak for retail at just 0.8 but 4.7 per cent better for its hotels.

It said retail sales so far this half have been impacted by ongoing effects of supply chain disruption but it expected market conditions to improve as inflation moderates.