Republican and Democratic lawmakers are pushing for police reform, and while there is some agreement, there is also some division. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib talks with reporter Kristina Peterson about the challenges they face to meet in the middle. Photo: Sarah Silbiger/CNP via ZUMA Wire
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Jun.22 — Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey signaled a major shift in the central bank’s strategy for removing emergency stimulus, stressing the need to reduce the institution’s balance sheet before hiking interest rates.
Writing for Bloomberg Opinion, Bailey said such a plan would give officials more firepower in future crises. David Goodman reports on “Bloomberg Markets: European Open.”
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Jun.22 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton was surprised and dismayed by the political battle that quickly erupted over his pending nomination to be the top federal prosecutor in New York, said people familiar with the matter. Derek Wallbank reports on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe.”
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Jun.22 — Hong Kong’s autonomy will be top of the agenda when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel hold video conferences today with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping. Maria Tadeo reports on “Bloomberg Markets: European Open.”
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Jun.22 — National Australia Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan discusses how the coronavirus outbreak is affecting global businesses and the banking industry, and the business implications of the rising tensions between China and Australia. He speaks at the Bloomberg Invest Global Summit. (Excerpts)
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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) essentially finished flat today, it rose 0.03% to 5,945 points.
The Victorian COVID-19 outbreak is causing angst for some parts of the share market on fears that the infection resurgence could cause a delay for an opening of state borders. There was one particular industry that saw a selloff:
The share price of Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) fell by 8% today.
Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) saw its share price fall by 5%.
The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price dropped by 4%.
Infrastructure business Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) suffered a 1.6% share price drop.
The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price fell 4.1%.
New Zealand travel shares also suffered today. The Auckland International Airport Limited (ASX: AIA) share price dropped 1.9%, the Air New Zealand Limited (ASX: AIZ) share price fell 3.2% and the Serko Ltd (ASX: SKO) share price fell 3.2%.
Challenger is looking to raise capital from the market.
The institutional part of the capital raising will amount to $270 million. The second part is a non-underwritten share purchase plan (SPP) which is looking to raise up to $30 million.
The placement will be conducted at a fixed price of $4.89 per new share, which represents an 8.1% discount to the last traded price of $5.32.
The placement will mean 55 million new shares will be issued. This is approximately 9% of Challenger’s existing shares on issue.
According to reporting by the Australian Financial Review, the $270 million placement was covered by institutional investors by early afternoon.
The ASX 200 business said that investment grade fixed income asset risk premiums have widened significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic market sell-off. The annuity company thinks that there is a significant opportunity to generate pre-tax return on equity (ROE) returns of more than 20% on the capital backing the investments. The capital will be progressively deployed and expected to be ROE accretive once fully deployed.
The equity raise will strengthen Challenger Life’s capital position during this period of market uncertainty, with $300 million to be used as common equity tier 1 (CET1) regulatory capital.
The ASX 200 toll road business announced an update today.
It announced a distribution of 16 cents per stapled security for the half-year to 30 June 2020. This brings the total FY20 distribution to 47 cents per stapled security. The FY21 distribution will be in line with free cash, excluding capital releases.
There has been a progressive traffic recovery in line with easing government restrictions. Australian markets are improving “significantly” from the peak impacts in April. The rate of recovery differs across different markets with the removal of restrictions.
GWA Express Lanes traffic is recovering slower, reflecting the government restrictions in the Greater Washington Area.
In the week of 7 June 2020, total Transurban traffic was down 23% compared to the prior corresponding period. In the week of 14 June 2020, total Transurban traffic was down 21%. There has been a clear and steady recovery of traffic since Easter.
Metcash has reported its result for the full year to 30 April 2020.
The ASX 200 business saw its share price rise 1% in reaction to this news.
Total revenue increased by 2.9% to $13 billion. Including charge through sales, there was 2% growth to $14.9 billion.
The food division delivered sales growth. It achieved growth even if the positive uplift in sales due to COVID-19 in March and April is excluded. This is the first time supermarkets wholesale sales (excluding tobacco) reported underlying sales growth since FY12.
The liquor division delivered its seventh consecutive years of sales growth despite closures.
The hardware segment returned to positive sales growth in the second half of FY20 with strong DIY sales.
Group underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), before AASB16, was $324.2 million. Excluding the impact of the loss of the Drakes supply and a lower contribution from lease resolutions, this was an improvement of around $12 million on last year.
The statutory loss after tax, after AASB16, of $56.8 million includes the impairment to goodwill and other assets of $242.4 million.
The Metcash board has decided to pay a final dividend of 6.5 cents per share, which brings the total dividend to 12.5 cents per share.
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
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Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Serko Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Transurban Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Serko Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
The post ASX 200 finishes flat, ASX travel shares drop appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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Last week was another up and down week for ASX 200 shares as investors weighed up the possibility of a renewed coronavirus wave against government stimulus measures.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) climbed 1.6% to 5,942.60 points as the recent bull run continued to push share valuations higher.
While many tech and consumer staple companies surged in value, ASX 200 travel and media shares were hit hard.
Last week I had Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL), Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) and Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) shares on my watchlist.
The Scentre share price slumped 3.5% last week while Newcrest and Woodside shares climbed 2.4% and 2.8% higher, respectively.
Below are the 3 ASX 200 companies on my watchlist for this week as we prepare for what could be another good Aussie share market week.
One of the top shares that I’m watching this week is Transurban Group (ASX: TCL).
The Transurban share price climbed 3.1% higher last week to close at $15.16 per share. That means the Aussie infrastructure group’s shares have now surged 51.0% higher since 19 March.
I think Transurban could be a dark horse ahead of the August earnings season. The nature of COVID-19 could mean more people on toll roads rather than public transport in 2020 and 2021.
That would be good news for the ASX 200 infrastructure group’s earnings and its share price this year.
I always like to look at the previous week’s biggest movers as well. That means Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) is on my watchlist for this week after landing in the winner’s column last week.
The Afterpay share price surged 13.2% higher last week and continues to hit new record highs. Afterpay’s market cap has now rocketed to $15.7 billion and could be heading even higher.
Strong stimulus measures have propped up the Aussie economy in 2020. Particularly in Afterpay’s core demographics of young people, stimulus measures could mean more spending in discretionary sectors like retail.
If bad debts remain low then Afterpay could increase its sales both in Australia and abroad in 2020. That could accelerate the ASX 200 buy now, pay later group’s share price growth heading into next year.
My final ASX 200 share to watch this week is Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL).
The Southern Cross share price jumped 2.6% higher on Friday to close the week the same as it started at $0.20 per share.
The Aussie media group has been one of the most volatile ASX shares since mid-February.
While I don’t know which way the Southern Cross share price is headed this week but it could be a good gauge of where investors think the media sector is headed in 2020.
We hear it over and over from investors, “I wish I had bought Altium or Afterpay when they were first recommended by The Motley Fool. I’d be sitting on a gold mine!” And it’s true.
And while Altium and Afterpay have had a good run, we think these 5 other stocks are screaming buys. And you can buy them now for less than $5 a share!
*Extreme Opportunities returns as of June 5th 2020
More reading
Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO and Transurban Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Scentre Group. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
The post Afterpay and 2 more ASX 200 shares to watch this week appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.
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