Next Week At A Glance -17-21 Feb 2025

This story features TEMPLE & WEBSTER GROUP LIMITED, and other companies. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: TPW

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 an intraday all-time high this week, surpassing the previous high in late January.

-Earnings season has definitely hit investors with some beats and misses. Standouts included Temple and Webster ((TPW)), Computershare ((CPU)) and the ASX ((ASX)) with CommBank ((CBA)) confirming just why it is Australia’s premier banking stock, if a tad on the higher end of historical valuation.

-Healthcare stocks skipped a beat with CSL ((CSL)) impacted by weaker flu vaccine volumes for Seqirus in the US while Pro Medicus ((PME)), which had rallied strongly into the result, caught a brief bout of selling with an ever-so-slight miss, despite an eye-watering 72% margin.

-Gold stocks Evolution Mining ((EVN)), Northern Star Resources ((NST)) and Bellevue Gold ((BGL)) shone brightly as the gold price boosted results with a weak AUD.

-Trump tariffs remain an overhang, and it seems the Administration is still processing the structures. Australia appears to be in the line of fire this time around.

-Next week the RBA meets and a Reuters Poll found 40 out of 43 economists expect a -25bps cash rate cut to 4.1%, with three economists on Hold. Stephen Koukoulas observed the RBA is making a decision prior to the release of the 4Q wage price index on Wednesday and January’s unemployment rate on Thursday.

-The earnings report deluge commences next week until the end of February, and to stay up to date on the Beats, Misses and In-Line updates and commentary, refer to the daily updated Corporate Results Monitor https://fnarena.com/index.php/reporting_season/

Have a great weekend from the FNArena Team

Corporate news in the week that was:

-Ainsworth Gaming Technology ((AGI)) in takeover discussions with its largest shareholder, Austria’s Novomatic

-Regis Resources ((RRL)) hires Greenhill for $2Bbn Ravenswood gold mine bid

-Star Entertainment’s ((SGR)) Hong Kong investors have offered to take over the embattled casino group’s new Queen’s Wharf complex in Brisbane

-New allegations have emerged against WiseTech Global ((WTC)) founder Richard White

-Oxford Properties has joined Charter Hall ((CHC)) and Scape in bidding for $3bn aged care and retirement village operator Aveo

-Ingenia Communities Group ((INA)) and Lifestyle Communities ((LIC)) deny merger talks

-Senate has passed the Labor government’s $13.7bn hydrogen and minerals tax breaks

-French President Emmanuel Macron announced EUR109bn AI investment ahead of Paris AI summit

-AFR reports KKR is set to revise its $2.2bn bid for Perpetual after the deal was hindered by a significant tax bill

-Retail Food Group ((RFG)) is shutting down Michel’s Patisserie, converting stores to other brands like Gloria Jean’s and Donut King

-Macquarie Group ((MQG)) exits Net-Zero Banking Alliance

-Major banks will halt regional closures until 2027 under Albanese government pressure

-Banks agreed to higher costs for Australia Post banking services to avoid a government-imposed regional levy

-ANZ Bank ((ANZ)) has agreed to join a banking venture run by Australia Post that aims to mitigate branch closures across the country. Macquarie and HSBC will begin negotiations to also join

-Endeavour Group ((EDV)), Mineral Resources ((MIN)), Mirvac Group ((MGR)), Orica ((ORI)), Ramsay Health Care ((RHC)) and Seek ((SEK)) to be removed from MSCI Global Standard Index per February 28

-NZ’s Mercury NZ will also be removed from that index while Contact Energy ((CEN)) will be added

-Telstra ((TLS)) is exploring a potential sale of its $200m data centre business

-Reverse take-over of Sigma Healthcare ((SIG)) by Chemist Warehouse has completed

-South32 ((S32)) has federal approval to extend Worsley Alumina mine

-Iress ((IRE)) sparks stockbroker revolt over surprise price hikes for ASX upgrade

-Healius ((HLS)) and Australian Clinical Labs ((ACL)) revive $2bn merger talks

-Domain Holdings Australia ((DHG)) has reportedly been shopped to private equity firms, but none have shown interest

-Treasury Wine Estates ((TWE)) has canceled the sale of its cheaper brands portfolio due to low offers

Corporate Calendar

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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