The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) edged 0.25% higher last week, with the ASX miners’ strong performance offsetting falls in other sectors.

Higher commodity prices saw miners lead last week’s gains, with iron ore prices seeing a sustained rise since the start of the month as Chinese production resumes. 

While the mining sector was enjoying gains, these 5 ASX shares didn’t fare so well, coming in as the biggest fallers last week.

Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)

Corporate Travel Management led the fallers last week dropping 11.8% to $10.53. The company provides travel solutions spanning corporate, events, leisure, loyalty, and wholesale. Understandably, it has been hit hard by coronavirus travel restrictions. 

When the crisis hit, Corporate Travel Management embarked on a comprehensive cost reduction program. The cost base has been reduced to $10–$12 million a month, down from $27–$27 million a month. This has been achieved through a combination of retrenchment, temporary stand downs, government initiatives such as JobKeeper, the elimination of non-essential expenditure, and reduced capex. 

Corporate Travel benefits from its business model in which a high proportion of costs are variable. With a small physical footprint, the business saves on rent, with about 70% of its costs being people-related. This enabled a swift resizing of the business. The travel agent is one of the few that has not yet raised capital to shore up liquidity. 

Domestic travel restrictions are likely to ease prior to international restrictions. This will benefit Corporate Travel, which is leveraged to the domestic market – about 60% of its total transaction volumes are domestic in nature. Domestic activity is highly profitable for Corporate Travel, particularly in Australia/New Zealand and Europe. 

Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF)

Shares in Challenger fell 10.9% last week to finish the week at $4.24. Challenger shares remain down 59% from their February high as the financial services company continued to feel the effects of the market sell-off in March. 

Total assets under management decreased 8% to $79 billion in the March quarter, with performance reflecting the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on investment markets and consumer activity. Annuity sales declined during the period reflecting ongoing advisor disruption and the impacts of the pandemic. 

The challenges faced by financial advisors in the wake of the Royal Commission have been exacerbated by the pandemic, impacting the ability to onboard new customers and effectively engage existing customers. This confluence of disruptive events is expected to continue to impact sales in the near term, and it is unclear what the impact on 4th quarter sales will be.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW)

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield shares dropped 10.4% last week to close the week at $3.79. The shopping centre operator has suffered due lockdowns in Europe, which have impacted its properties in the region. 

Lengthened lockdowns mean conventions and exhibitions remain on hold, and foot traffic at shopping centres is down. Unibail’s convention and exhibition business in France has been affected, alongside retail activity in parts of Europe. 

COVID-19 had a limited effect on the group’s March quarter turnover as rents are paid quarterly in advance in most of Europe and monthly in the US. The impact of the epidemic will be felt in the current quarter although at this stage it is too early to reliably estimate its extent. 

Through to 29 February, Unibail’s tenant sales were up 2.8%, consisting of 3.3% in Europe and 1.6% in the US. Unibail’s turnover for the first 3 months of the year was up 1.8%, largely due to property development and project management revenues. This was partially offset by disposals completed in 2019 and mandated cancellation of major events in March. 

Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN) 

Jumbo Interactive shares closed last week down 9.8% at $11.86. Prior to last week, Jumbo Interactive shares had climbed 18% during May, so last week’s result may have been a result of profit taking. 

Jumbo Interactive is a digital lottery retailer with over 2 million customer accounts. Its flagship service, Oz Lotteries, processes over $150 million in lottery ticket sales per annum. There hasn’t been a lot of news out of Jumbo Interactive of late. Interruptions from COVID-19 have been relatively minor thanks to the virtual nature of online lottery sales. 

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, almost 74% of Australian lottery tickets were sold via retail channels. With the push to working, spending, and learning online during the crisis, Jumbo Interactive is well placed for an increase in lottery demand. 

Trading performance for FY20 includes forecast total transaction values of $335 to $341 million. Revenue is predicted to be $68.5–$69.9 million, up from $65.2 million in FY19. Profit is estimated to be in the range of $24.4–$25.3 million, down from $26.4 million last year. 

Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL)

Shares in Incitec Pivot fell 9.6% last week to finish the week at $1.98. The fertiliser company announced a $600 million equity raising last Monday with shares issued at $2. The company also decided not to pay an interim dividend for the half year. 

Incitec Pivot said the raising was “pre-emptive” and aimed at increasing resilience in the current environment. Funds will be used to repay drawn balances of syndicated facilities. The fertiliser producer reported a 54% increase in profits in 1HFY20, which came in at $65 million. Demand for fertiliser is currently strong following good rainfall across eastern Australia. 

CEO Jeanne Johns said, “although COVID-19 has not had a significant impact on our business operations to date, global economic uncertainty is likely to impact customer demand and heighten the risk to recovery in commodity prices.”

Nonetheless, Incitec Pivot says the long-term demand fundamentals of the mining and agricultural sectors remain compelling. 

More reading

• Is the Mirvac share price about to soar?
• ASX 200 up 1.35%: Gold miners and Fortescue rocket higher, big four banks tumble
• Meet the ASX 200 company that just posted a 90% surge in profit
• These 5 ASX shares were last week’s biggest gainers
• 3 ASX 200 shares to watch this week

Kate O’Brien has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Jumbo Interactive Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Challenger Limited and Corporate Travel Management Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Jumbo Interactive Limited. 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 The 5 ASX shares that were last week’s biggest fallers appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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The Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) share price has been under pressure since the start of the year. The Aussie real estate investment trust (REIT) has fallen 33.33% lower and is underperforming the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) by quite a margin.

However, coronavirus restrictions are starting to ease around the country and there’s now some hope of an economic uptick. That’s good news for Aussie businesses and individuals generally, but could it also mean the Mirvac share price is about to soar higher?

Is the Mirvac share price about to soar?

Shares in the Aussie REIT have been smashed in the space of a few months. I think the current $2.12 per share valuation reflects the uncertainty we’re seeing in the domestic and global economies.

And, across the sector, it’s not just Mirvac’s share price that has slumped lower in 2020. In fact, most of the Aussie REITs have shed billions in value in the wake of the pandemic.

One of the biggest concerns for investors is rental income. There have been very public stand-offs between retail tenants and their landlords. Mirvac is a major commercial real estate owner and developer which means it could be vulnerable to any changes in rent.

Clearly, COVID-19 restrictions have affected foot traffic in shopping centres. That’s piled pressure on the Aussie retail sector which was already struggling before the pandemic. However, with restrictions starting to be relaxed, there could be light at the end of the tunnel.

Hopefully, this is good news for the Mirvac share price in 2020. The big question is whether or not Aussies will continue to spend despite the tough economic times.

If the answer is yes, Mirvac could be set to benefit from better than expected earnings. The group’s residential real estate business may also benefit from low interest rates and continued demand for housing. Both of these levers could benefit shareholders in the form of sustained dividends.

Foolish takeaway

There’s no doubt the Mirvac share price is under pressure right now. I would say it’s far from certain where the REIT’s value will go from here.

On the one hand, we could see a recovery for Mirvac’s residential and retail assets. However, fewer workers in the city could be bad news for Mirvac’s office and industrial assets, and the economic climate remains uncertain.

The Mirvac share price could be set to soar, but I think it remains a speculative buy until we see the group’s earnings in August.

More reading

• The 5 ASX shares that were last week’s biggest fallers
• ASX 200 up 1.35%: Gold miners and Fortescue rocket higher, big four banks tumble
• Meet the ASX 200 company that just posted a 90% surge in profit
• These 5 ASX shares were last week’s biggest gainers
• 3 ASX 200 shares to watch this week

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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 Is the Mirvac share price about to soar? appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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At lunch on Monday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week with a strong gain. The benchmark index is currently up a sizeable 1.35% to 5,477.2 points.

Here’s what has been happening on the market today:

Big four banks drop lower.

The ASX 200 may be charging higher, but the same cannot be said for the big four banks. At lunch all four banks are trading lower and are acting as a drag on the market. The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price is the worst performer in the group with a decline of almost 1%. Investors may have concerns that the Reserve Bank could take rates into negative territory in the near future.

Gold miners rocket higher.

One area of the market which is performing particularly strongly is the gold mining industry. Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and the rest of the gold miners are rocketing higher today after the gold price hit a seven-year high on Friday and then continued its ascent on Monday. At the time of writing the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is up a massive 5.9%.

Fortescue record high.

The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price climbed 7% to a record high of $13.40 this morning. Investors have been buying the iron ore producer’s shares after the price of the steel making ingredient climbed above US$90 a tonne. Solid demand in China and production disruptions in Brazil have supported the iron ore price. Fortescue remains on course to deliver record shipments and profits in FY 2020.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers.

The best performer on the ASX 200 on Monday has been the Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) share price with a 10% gain. Investors have been buying its shares after the rise in the gold price. The worst performer has been the Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price with a decline of over 3%. A good portion of this decline is attributable to its shares trading ex-dividend this morning.

Returns as of 7/4/2020

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. 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.

More reading

• The 5 ASX shares that were last week’s biggest fallers
• Is the Mirvac share price about to soar?
• Meet the ASX 200 company that just posted a 90% surge in profit
• These 5 ASX shares were last week’s biggest gainers
• 3 ASX 200 shares to watch this week

The post ASX 200 up 1.35%: Gold miners and Fortescue rocket higher, big four banks tumble appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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