Next Week At A Glance – 18-22 Aug 2025

This story features COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA, and other companies. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: CBA

The company is included in ASX20, ASX50, ASX100, ASX200, ASX300 and ALL-ORDS

A brief look at important company events and economic data releases next week.

For a more comprehensive preview of next week’s events, please refer to “The Monday Report”, published each Monday morning. For all economic data release dates, ex-div dates and times and other relevant information, please refer to the FNArena Calendar.

The week that was in Australian Finance

-The ASX200 reached a new all-time high this week at 8852.2, with the RBA cutting the cash rate (as expected) by -25bps, which was enough to buoy sentiment. The ASX200 is up almost 1% for the last week.

-The July jobs report on Thursday, aligned with consensus and the RBA’s view on employment

-The market is pricing in a -25bps RBA rate cut in November and another -25bps cut in February, with the pricing little changed post the jobs report release.

-August earnings have been rolling on with some major hits and misses. For all the details see FNArena’s corporate results monitor (https://fnarena.com/index.php/reporting_season/). With 39 stocks (only) in the monitor thus far, 20.5% have beaten, 48.7% are in line, and 30.8% have missed, with ten upgrades and nine downgrades.

-Big misses and share price reactions came from CommBank ((CBA)), AGL Energy ((AGL)), Computershare ((CPU)), QBE Insurance ((QBE)), and Amcor ((AMC)) to name a few. In the beats corner: Westpac ((WBC)) and growth stocks Life360 ((360)), Temple & Webster ((TPW)), and Pro Medicus ((PME)). Much more of that to come next week!

-Despite Nasdaq reaching a new all-time high, selling continued in InfoTech stocks, with the sector coming in as the loser on the week, down -1.52%, but then again, the sector gain is over 26% over the last year.

-Rotation into Materials continued, up 2.76%, bringing the one-month performance to almost 7.5%. Staples rose 2.48%, healthcare up 1.9% or 5.1% for the last month, utilities up 2.88%, and real estate adding 1.15%.

-US markets survived the July CPI and PPI prints, with the S&P500 and Nasdaq back at new highs ahead of the much-debated and watched meeting in Alaska between Presidents Trump and Putin.

-FNArena will be flooding the zone with analyst updates daily on earnings over the next two weeks, which barring offshore shocks are likely to set the tone for the Australian market. One thing to be sure for readers and investors is share price volatility will likely remain.

The team at FNArena wishes everyone a great weekend!

Corporate news in the week that was:

-Aurizon Holdings ((AZJ)) is discussing the sale of up to 49% of its QLD rail tracks to generate up to $4bn in funds.

-Pacific Equity Partners is finalising the acquisition of a majority stake in Spark New Zealand’s ((SPK))’s $550m data centres platform.

-Sushi Hub is seeking a $1bn valuation as its 200th store is opened with a strategic push into NZ and the US markets.

-Liontown Resources ((LTR)) is reported as having raised as much as $316m from an institutional and share purchase plan which were oversubscribed.

-French dairy company Lactalis is the leading bidder for Fonterra’s ((FSF)) Australian food business.

-Santos ((STO)) has extended the exclusivity period for the $30bn takeover from the XRG consortium.

-Tuas ((TUA)) was placed in a trading halt ahead of for a $416m placement and share purchase plan to acquire 100% of M1.

-Eagers Automotive ((APE)) has teamed up with Mitsubishi to pursue automotive and mobility growth.

-Pexa Group ((PXA)) has started a review of is Digital Strategy business and cuts earnings guidance.

-DigiCo Infrastructure REIT’s ((DGT)) SYD1 has achieved the top government hosting certification.

 -WH Soul Pattinson ((SOL)) sold $140m in Tuas ((TUA)) shares after the M1 takeover announcement.

-Star Entertainment Group ((SGR)) has reached agreement with its HK based partners to sell -50% of Queens Wharf Casino.

-Pacific Equity Partners added $200m in margin loans to Chief Executive, Scott Didier, who owns 17.9% of Johns Lyng ((JLG)).

-Tyro Payments ((TYR)) was placed in a trading halt after ASX query.

-CommBank ((CBA)) has teamed up with OpenAi to counter financial scams and improve its service offering.

-AGL Energy ((AGL)) is considering the sale of its wind projects to help fund the -$3bn capex for transition.

-Humm Group ((HUM)) founder finds backer for $286m takeover bid.

-WiseTech Global ((WTC)) is facing ACCC scrutiny over its takeover of e2open with concerns from customers registering concerns the company will be too dominant.

-Avita Medical ((AVH)) raised $32m from domestic institutional shareholders at $1.32 per share, a discount to last close of -11.1%.

-Ampol ((ALD)) is acquiring EG Australia service station portfolio for -$1.1bn, adding 500 sites and generating synergies of $65m-$80m annually. 

-South32 ((S32)) is set to book an impairment of -$568m on Mozal as power supply uncertainty remains.

-Lake Resources ((LKE)) is raising $10m at 3.6c per share, a discount of -14.3% to the last close.

-ASIC is suing Mercer over unreported investigations, delays and misleading reports.

Next week’s Corporate Calendar

Available at https://fnarena.com/index.php/financial-news/calendar/ (just a wee bit too large to include!)

For a calendar of earnings result releases and a summary of earnings results to date, refer to FNArena’s Corporate Results Monitor (https://www.fnarena.com/index.php/reporting_season/)

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