Daily FNArena News - Australia

Xero was reluctant to provide guidance for FY21 in its results briefing, which has amplified concerns regarding new customer growth in the wake of the pandemic.

Increasing stress on small businesses has made customer acquisition and subscriber growth difficult for software designer Altium, and achieving FY20 revenue targets now appears unlikely.

Amid a deteriorating economic environment and with high collective provisioning, the final dividend outlook for Commonwealth Bank is unclear.

CSR has shown only a modest impact from the pandemic and housing downturn so far, but caution is urged as the outlook is far from clear.

Amcor has upgraded earnings growth guidance, a rare occurrence in the current environment, and the stock’s dividend yield remains a key feature.

FNArena’s Monitor keeps track of corporate earnings result releases, including broker views, ratings and target price changes and beat/miss assessments.

Incitec Pivot remains a slave to the usual suspects – cropping conditions, explosives demand and pricing. A capital raising has alleviated some concerns for the balance sheet.

Scentre Group has decided to forgo a first half distribution to protect the balance sheet, and is waiting for stores to re-open before entering rent relief discussions with tenants.

Asset realisations are likely to be more difficult for Macquarie Group in the year ahead, along with heightened impairments, but brokers find many reasons why the wide-ranging investment business will prevail once again.

Orica has reduced the first-half dividend pay-out ratio to 40%, amid the pandemic uncertainty, although brokers assess the second half should reflect a return to better conditions.