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The Objective Corporation Limited (ASX: OCL) share price has jumped almost 5% on Thursday following the software group’s results for the year ended 30 June 2021 (FY21).

Objective share price jumps on profit, dividend increase

Some of the key takeaways from today’s results include:

• Revenue up 36% on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $95.1 million
• Net profit after tax (NPAT) up 46% on pcp to $16.1 million
• Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 49% to $25.6 million
• Earnings per share (EPS) up 45.8% on pcp to 17.2 cents
• Final dividend increased by 2.0 cents per share to 9.0 cents per share

The Objective share price skipped higher on Thursday following the update and remains up 4.87% to $19.59 at the time of writing.

What happened for Objective in FY21?

FY21 was a record year for Objective’s investment in research and development (R&D). The Aussie software group invested $23.1 million in R&D, representing 24% of group revenue.

Objective kicked off the year by acquiring Itree Pty Limited in July 2020 for $18.4 million. The business was fully integrated into the group in FY21 as the group transitioned to a subscription revenue model.

Objective reported strong recognised revenue increases across key segments like ECMaaS (+73%), Connect (+30%), Trapeze (+34%) and RegWorks (+33%).

Operating costs increased by 11% to $54.6 million while annualised recurring revenue (ARR) jumped by 31% to $74.2 million.

What did management say?

Objective CEO Tony Walls commented on the latest results:

We are really pleased with our performance in FY2021 – delivering outstanding outcomes for our customers, and protecting our employees and their families while facing an uncertain operating environment.

Our financial results in FY2021 reflect the continued delivery of our strategic plan, with strong growth in recurring revenue and earnings underpinning our highest ever investment in innovation.

In FY2022 we expect the momentum of our business to drive a continued material lift in revenue and profitability.

What’s next for Objective and its share price?

There was no FY22 guidance provided by Objective in the latest release. However, shares in the Aussie software group have climbed higher on the back of the strong FY21 result.

The Objective share price is up 71.4% in 2021 and the company has a market capitalisation above $1.8 billion.

The post Objective (ASX:OCL) share price jumps on profit increase appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• This ASX tech share fell 87%, but we love it now
• Why Objective, Pinnacle, Resolute, & Xero shares are pushing higher
• Objective (ASX:OCL) share price jumps 6% to record high on strong FY 2021 result

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Objective Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) is heading south today, breaking the week’s consecutive days in green territory.

At the time of writing, the ASX 300 is down 0.64% to 7,383.5 points.

Here’s a summary of which ASX shares are topping the charts today.

FINEOS Corp Holdings PLC (ASX: FCL)

The FINEOS share price is up a mammoth 16.98% to $4.30 following the company’s release of its full-year results.

The insurance software company highlighted robust growth, driven by its subscription revenues. In total, FINEOS achieved revenue of €108.3 million (A$175.41 million), up 23.3% on FY20.

The company did not include a dividend payment for the FY21 year.

City Chic Collective Ltd (ASX: CCX)

Another significant mover today is the City Chic share price, up 14.26% to an all-time high of $6.25. The fashion retailer released its full-year results, announcing strong revenue of $258.5 million, up 32.9% on FY20. This was underpinned by online sales growth of $184.6 million, up 49.3%.

No dividend was stated for the second half of the FY21 period.

Blackmores Ltd (ASX: BKL)

Following suit, the Blackmores price is up 11.34% to a 52-week high of $88.84.

The strong rise in Blackmores shares comes as the company provided its full-year results to the market. The health supplements business reported positive numbers despite operating in a changing COVID-19 environment.

The company is set to reward eligible shareholders with a fully-franked dividend payment of 42 cents per share.

And the ASX 300 companies moving the other way?

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

Falling heavily is the Appen share price, down a massive 20.77% to $10.95.

The artificial intelligence data services company released its half-year results for the FY21 period, registering disappointing numbers across key metrics. Most notably, Appen’s net profit after tax fell 55.1% to US$6.7 million. 

The board decided to maintain its 50% franked interim dividend of 4.5 cents per share.

Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX: LNK)

Also in decline is the Link share price, down 12.43% to $4.51.

The administration services company dropped its full-year results to the market, recording losses due to COVID-19 headwinds. In addition, European business and regulatory changes in its Retirement and Superannuation Solutions (RRS) business brought in lower revenues.

Link declared a fully franked dividend of 5.5 cents per share, up 4.5 cents in H1 FY21.

The post Which ASX shares are leading the ASX 300 today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• City Chic (ASX:CCX) share price jumps 13% to record high on strong FY21 growth
• Blackmores (ASX:BKL) share price edges lower despite profit surge
• Link (ASX:LNK) share price down as revenue slides 6% in FY21
• Appen (ASX:APX) share price tanks after 55% profit fall

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras owns shares of Appen Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd and Link Administration Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended FINEOS Corporation Holdings plc. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd and Blackmores Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended FINEOS Corporation Holdings plc and Link Administration Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Unlike most ASX 200 shares, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) will not be contributing to this month’s earnings season. Due to some calendar quirks, ANZ is waiting until 20 October to deliver its FY2021 full-year numbers.

However, last month, we did get a surprise development from this ASX bank. ANZ announced that it would be embarking on a $1.5 billion on-market share buyback program. In the weeks since this announcement, you might have caught a few ASX notices announcing the various parcels of shares ANZ has now purchased. The latest of these came just yesterday morning, and announced ANZ had bought 485,652 (or $13.77 million worth of) its own shares the previous day.

So what does this buyback program mean for you, assuming you are an ANZ investor?

How will ANZ share buyback program work?

Well, unlike some other recently announced ASX 200 buyback programs, ANZ’s is an ‘on-market’ one. This means that the bank will be buying shares off the market, just as you or I might do on any given day.

This stands in stark contrast to recent buyback programs announced by both Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) and ANZ’s banking peer Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). These two companies have initiated an ‘off-market’ buyback.

This means that existing shareholders can opt to sell their shares back to the company in exchange for some lucrative tax benefits. We looked at Woolworths’ new buyback program, and what it means for investors, just today.

This situation does not apply to ANZ’s program though.

Shareholders will not be able to sell their shares back to the bank directly. And if they do want to sell, it will have to be through the regular channel, meaning no special tax concessions for existing investors.

So how will this benefit shareholders then?

How buybacks benefit shareholders

Well, a share buyback program, even an on-market one, still benefits all existing shareholders. That’s because when ANZ buys back its own shares, it effectively destroys them, reducing the total number of all shares outstanding. In other words, it redivides its pizza (ANZ) into slightly larger slices (ANZ shares).

Thus, if you already own ANZ shares, your ownership of the total company will increase. This has two concurrent effects.

Firstly, it will probably result in higher ANZ share prices over time due to the simple laws of supply and demand (less supply equates to higher prices).

Secondly, it means that, if all else is equal, earnings per share (EPS) and dividends per share will also increase, seeing as there are fewer shares to divide the earnings and dividends between.

In this way, share buybacks are often compared to dividends as a way to return capital to shareholders, albeit without the cash and tax implications of a dividend.

So ANZ shareholders should benefit materially from this buyback program, assuming ANZ is paying a fair price to buy back its own shares. Something for all ANZ investors to consider today!

At the time of writing, ANZ is trading at a share price of $28.42 a share. That gives this ASX bank a market capitalisation of $80.91 billion, a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.22 and a dividend yield of 3.69%.

The post ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share buyback, what does it mean for you? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price has come under significant pressure on Thursday.

In afternoon trade, the struggling infant formula company’s shares are down 10% to $6.17.

This means the A2 Milk share price is now down 47% since the start of the year.

Why is the A2 Milk share price sinking today?

The A2 Milk share price is being sold down on Thursday following the release of the company’s full year results.

For the 12 months ended 30 June, the company reported a 30% decline in revenue to NZ$1.21 billion, a 77.6% fall in EBITDA to NZ$123 million, and a 79.1% reduction in net profit after tax to NZ$80.7 million.

This was driven by declines in revenue across all geographical segments during FY 2021. This was particularly the case for its two key segments. China & Other Asia revenue fell 16.6% to NZ$583.4 million and ANZ revenue dropped 42% to NZ$559.7 million.

How does this compare to expectations?

Over the last 12 months, the A2 Milk share price has been sold off due to management downgrading its guidance four times.

Fortunately, the company eventually achieved its final guidance, but only just. A2 Milk was guiding to revenue of $1.2 billion to $1.25 billion and EBITDA of $132 million to $150 million (before acquisition costs).

As mentioned above, A2 Milk ended up reporting revenue of NZ$1.21 billion and EBITDA of NZ$123 million (or NZ$133 million excluding acquisition costs).

However, the team at Bell Potter were optimistic that the company would perform better than this. Which may explain some of the weakness in the A2 Milk share price today.

What was the broker expecting?

According to a recent note, Bell Potter was expecting sales of NZ$1,222.7 million, EBITDA of NZ$138.2 million, and adjusted net profit after tax of NZ$96.5 million. The company missed on all three of these metrics.

Bell Potter also revealed that it was expecting EBITDA in the region of NZ$319.4 million in FY 2022. This compares to the consensus estimate of NZ$264 million, which the broker felt was “on low side.”

While no guidance has been provided for the year ahead, management’s outlook commentary appears to make achieving the broker’s FY 2022 estimate a very big ask.

The post How do the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) results compare to broker expectations? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended A2 Milk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is in the air today after the airline reported its earnings for financial year 2021 and announced its plans to restart international flights.

While Qantas’ dented bottom line hasn’t put the market off, the airline’s comprehensive plan to get Australians back overseas has likely left many wanderlusting Aussies feeling hopeful.

Right now, the Qantas share price is $5.03, 3.39% higher than its previous close. Today’s boost brings its gains for the week so far to an impressive 17.6%.

So, let’s take a look at Australia’s largest airline’s path forward.

Qantas share price up amid international travel hopes

The Qantas share price is taking off today after it outlined its plan to take off internationally, starting in December.

Qantas’ plan rests on the National Cabinet’s plan to transition out of COVID-19 which states Australia’s international borders will be cracked open when 80% of eligible Australians are inoculated against COVID-19.

Qantas believes the 80% target will be reached in December. And so, the airline hopes to be flying to other nations with similarly high rates of vaccination before the end of 2021.

Countries Australians could soon travel to include Singapore, the United States, Japan, United Kingdom and Canada.

Asia Pacific

Singapore and Japan are among the nations Qantas hopes will be on its departure board in December.

Qantas also expects the trans-Tasman bubble to be reopened by December and is selling tickets for flights to New Zealand from then.

Qantas also expects to fly Boeing 787s, Airbus A330s, 737s, and A320s to Fiji before the year ends.

The airline is planning to restart flights to Hong Kong in February.

Europe

The United Kingdom is on top of Qantas’ bucket list.

Qantas’ expects its non-stop flights to London to be back in the air as soon as possible. However, the airline is wary Western Australia might not relax its border restrictions which may see Qantas taking off and landing the 17-hour flight in Darwin.

Additionally, 5 A380s will be returning to Australia ahead of schedule. Some of these will be operating flights between Sydney and London (via Singapore) from November 2022.

North America

The United States and Canada might also see Australians arriving on Qantas flights from December.

Additionally, some of the returning A380s will begin flying between Sydney and Los Angeles from July 2022.

Qantas will also use its range of A330-200 aircraft to fly from Brisbane to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

And then what?

Qantas expects the rest of Qantas’ and Jetstar’s international network to open up from April 2022 at the earliest, with capacity increasing gradually from then.

The airline’s next stops might include Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Johannesburg.

That news has likely got many travel bugs excited. It also goes without saying, opening its international network once more will likely do great things for the Qantas share price.

Qantas will return 10 A380s with upgraded interiors to service by early 2024. Though, the exact timing will depend on how quickly the market recovers.

Additionally, Qantas will receive 3 new Boeing 787-9s in financial year 2023 after it retires 2 A380s.

Jetstar will also get its first 3 Airbus A321neo LR aircraft from early financial year 2023. The new planes will allow it to redeploy some of its existing 787s to other markets.

Commentary from management

Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce commented on the plan that might be driving the Qantas share price today. He said:

I know the prospect of flying overseas might feel a long way off – especially with New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown. Some people might say we’re still being too optimistic.

But the current pace of the vaccine rollout means all Australian states are on track to reach the 80% target by December – which is the trigger for starting to carefully open to some parts of the world.

And if the emotional response to our recent vaccine ad is any indication, the idea of planning a trip might encourage even more people to get the jab…

We can adjust our plans if the circumstances change, which we’ve already had to do several times during this pandemic.

The post Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price up amid plan to restart international travel appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price rises despite big COVID-19 blowout
• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price on watch following $2.35 billion pre-tax loss
• Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price lifts 5% as ad campaign hits home
• The Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price fell 6% last time the company reported
• It’s been a good week for the Qantas (ASX:QAN) share price

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX: PRU) share price is edging higher on Thursday after the Aussie miner reported a 48% surge in net profit for the year ended 30 June 2021 (FY21).

Perseus share price lifts after first ever dividend

Some of the big takeaways from today’s FY21 results release include:

• Revenue up 15% on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $679.7 million
• Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 11% on pcp to $303.1 million
• Operating cash flow up 42% on pcp to $302 million
• Net profit after tax (NPAT) up 48% on pcp to $139.4 million
• Basic earnings per share (EPS) up 18.4% on pcp to 9.57 cents
• Final dividend of 1.5 cents per share

The Perseus share price has edged higher on Thursday following the results update.

What happened for Perseus during the year?

The Aussie gold miner produced 328,632 ounces in FY21 at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of US$1,016 per ounce. Those production numbers exceeded guidance as the group’s Yaouré mine boosted performance higher.

The group’s sales revenue was underpinned by an average realised price of US$1,642 per ounce alongside the record production result. Perseus said it was on track for 500,000 ounces per annum of gold production and well-positioned for future growth.

Following the strong financial performance, the board decided to implement a dividend policy, starting with the first ever dividend for investors announced today.

What did management say?

CEO and managing director Jeff Quartermaine was positive about the latest results:

FY2021 has been a transformational year for us, during which we have successfully brought our third gold mine, Yaouré, on stream and as importantly, converted our group’s strong gold production into improved earnings and cash flow.

Looking to the future, we expect this trend of improved earnings and cash flow to continue as we close in on our corporate objective of producing more than 500,000 ounces of gold per year, a target that we expect to achieve for the first time in FY2022.

What’s next for Perseus and its share price?

Perseus is tracking for 500,000 ounces of annual production with 1H FY22 guidance of 225,000 to 255,000 ounces. The Aussie gold miner is expecting an AISC of US$925 to US$1,025 per ounce and is planning a “significant” reduction in capital expenditure.

The Perseus share price has edged 0.34% higher to $1.48 on Thursday following the FY21 results update, and remains up 10.2% in 2021.

The post Perseus (ASX:PRU) share price edges higher on dividend debut appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) shares have lost 0.47% on Thursday after the Federal Court slapped the bank with an $18.5 million penalty.

NAB stocks were trading for $27.54 mid-afternoon as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed it had won its landmark civil case.

The court found NAB has breached its responsibilities as an Australian financial services licence holder in failing to disclose fees to clients.

Specifically, the bank charged fees for personal financial advice without giving customers compliant disclosure statements. 

When it did provide disclosures, it did not provide them within the required timeframe. And the disclosures contained “false or misleading” information about the charges and the services provided in return.

It was the first time ever a court has penalised a company for fee disclosure breaches under the Corporations Act.

“NAB’s system failures resulted in significant fee disclosure failures over an extended period,” said ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court.

“This caused harm to customers as the inaccurate information meant they couldn’t make informed decisions about the financial services they were paying for.”

‘Customers need to have confidence’

Federal Court justice Jennifer Davies said fee disclosure statement obligations are “specific consumer protection measures enacted for the safeguard of the interests of clients”.

“They are strict obligations, underscoring the seriousness of the contravening conduct.”

As well as the massive fine, NAB was also ordered to pay ASIC’s legal costs.

According to ASIC, the failures occurred because NAB didn’t have systems or procedures to identify whether:

• Its services matched what was recorded in client agreements
• The fee disclosure statements were compliant
• The bank was banned from charging service fees

“Customers need to have confidence in their financial services providers that they will be charged correctly for the services they receive and given accurate and timely information,” Court said.

“The penalty of $18.5 million handed down to NAB is a timely reminder to financial services licensees to ensure they meet their obligations to their clients.”

The court took into account NAB’s early admissions when determining the final penalty.

Despite the loss on Thursday, NAB shares have gained more than 6% in the past month and 20% so far this year.

The post NAB (ASX:NAB) fined $18.5m for misleading customers, shares slump appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Wisr Ltd (ASX: WZR) share price is soaring on Thursday after the lending company announced its FY21 results.

At the time of writing, the Wisr share price is up 8.93% to 30.5 cents.

Wisr share price lifts on triple digit growth revenue

Wisr achieved significant financial and operational milestones in FY21, with key highlights including:

• Operating revenue up 280% to $27.2 million
• Total new loan originations up 168% to $365.8 million
• Total loan originations of $611 million as at 30 June 2021
• Maiden positive operating cash flow in the month of June
• Customer profiles on the Wisr Financial Wellness Platform lifting 80% to over 450,000

What happened to Wisr in FY21?

The Wisr share price has been a top performer in 2021, rallying 60.5% year-to-date.

The company continues to find success by redefining the consumer finance experience and providing its users access to a suite of financial wellness tools.

Wisr’s loan originations continue to go from strength to strength, lifting 52% in 2H21 from 1H21 to $221 million.

The company is exploring additional verticals to expand its loan book, launching a secured vehicle loan product in 1Q21. Wisr believes this opens up a potential $51 billion market opportunity in the consumer vehicle finance space.

To help drive growth, the company successfully tapped into the global debt capital markets, pricing a $225 million asset-backed security (ABS) transaction to help scale its loan book.

That’s in addition to a $55 million capital raising to accelerate the growth of its loan book and improve its technology stack.

While Wisr is still a loss-making business, the company is showing signs of improvement at the bottom line. In FY21, the company had a loss for the year of $17.6 million, a 25% improvement compared to the $23.5 million loss in FY20.

At the end of the period, Wisr remained well capitalised with cash of $92.4 million, driven predominately by the $55 million capital raise in June.

Management commentary

Wisr CEO Anthony Nantes commented on the results, saying:

The accelerated revenue growth of 280% to $27.2M is an exceptional result as the superior loan unit economics of the Wisr Warehouse funding model come into full effect. Now with our second major competitive product, secured vehicle loans, in market, there remains a huge opportunity for Wisr to grow market share by attracting Australia’s most creditworthy customers with a smarter, fairer deal, underpinned by an exceptional customer experience that actually improves a customer’s financial wellbeing.

What’s next for Wisr?

The Wisr share price is within an arm’s reach of its all-time high of 34 cents.

The business wants to put its “strong balance sheet to work” and accelerate the pace to achieve its medium-term target of a $1 billion loan book.

To drive loan book growth, the company aims to expand its total addressable market by exploring new markets and growth opportunities.

Its recent expansion into secured vehicle loans is already showing promise, representing 20% of the company’s loan book as at 30 June.

In late March, the company executed a term sheet to invest in European financial wellness fintech platform, Arbor. The company believes this potentially opens up an entry pathway to the circa $1.76 trillion European consumer finance market.

The post Up 12%, the Wisr (ASX:WZR) share price is surging. Here’s why. appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why the Wisr (ASX:WZR) share price rocketed 9% today

Motley Fool contributor Kerry Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM) share price has been smashed on Thursday following the group’s latest full-year results release.

At the time of writing, the Platinum share price is down 8.26%, trading at $4.00.

Platinum share price smashed after FUM declines

Some of the key takeaways from Platinum’s results released late on Wednesday include:

• Average funds under management (FUM) down 2% on the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $23.4 billion
• Management fee revenue down 4% on pcp to $265.3 million
• Total revenue up 6% on pcp to $316.4 million
• Profit before tax up 6% on pcp to $234.2 million
• Diluted earnings per share up 5% on pcp to 28.2 cents
• Final dividend of 12 cents per share, meaning a full year, fully franked dividend of 24 cents per share

Investors’ reaction to the latest full-year results saw the Platinum share price plummet on Thursday morning.

What happened for Platinum in FY21?

Platinum reported strong absolute return numbers across all of its Platinum Trust Funds in the last year. Some of the top performers include its Brands Fund (+50.6%), Global (long only) Fund (+32.8%) and Health Care Fund (+31.9%). However, the relative performance numbers were a little more mixed.

Both the Brands Fund and Health Care Fund achieved double-digit relative performance. However, the Asia Fund (-1.9%), International Fund (-1.6%) and Technology Fund (-4.7%) struggled on a 1-year, relative basis.

Platinum pointed to “cautious” portfolio positioning to protect clients from downside risk as a key detractor to International Fund performance. The asset manager says market risks remain “elevated” and shorting will be important in some overpriced sectors.

In its analyst briefing, Platinum pointed to avoiding current favourite themes including e-commerce, payments and staples.

The asset manager also said concern about regulatory crackdowns in China created new opportunities and that “out of favour stocks can do well”.

The post Platinum (ASX:PTM) share price slumps 8% as FUM declines appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares in July

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL) share price has dropped 2.76% this Thursday as the pharmaceutical company reported its earnings for the financial year ended 30 June 2021 (FY2021).

Starpharma share price slumps as revenues fall, losses mount

• Revenues from continuing operations of $2.15 million, down 67% compared to the prior corresponding period of FY2020 (pcp)
• Total revenues and other income of $3.5 million, down 50.7% from pcp
• Loss after tax of $19.73 million, an increase of 34% over the pcp’s loss of $14.7 million
• No final dividend was declared for FY2021

What happened in FY21 for Starpharma?

The financial year just passed was a wild one for Starpharma, as evidenced by the company’s share price range over the past year. With a 52-week high of $2.51 a share and a low of $1.12, investors have certainly been erratic at valuing this company’s shares.

Back in February, investors lit a rocket under Starpharma shares when it announced that its Viraleze nasal spray, which has antiviral applications, gained successful registration for sale in Europe. That included the United Kingdom (UK). This news seemed to be the driving force behind Starpharma reaching its new all-time high in February. However, since then, the road has been rockier.

In June, the company took a bit of a hit. The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency pinged Starpharma for “allowable promotional claims” promoting Viraleze as a potential preventative measure against COVID-19 infection. The Starpharma share price fell around 10% at the time.

However, last month, the shares once again got a boost when Starpharma announced that Viraleze “has potent virucidal activity against the Delta variant of COVID-19”.

What did management say?

Here’s some of what Starpharma CEO Dr Jackie Fairley had to say on Starpharma’s FY21 numbers today:

2021 has been a remarkable year for all of us around the world. Despite the impact of the unrelenting global pandemic, Starpharma was able to continue to recruit into our three DEP phase 2 clinical programs and achieve a number of important commercial milestones across the business. These included the rapid development and launch of VIRALEZE… 

The company is extremely proud to have developed, registered and launched VIRALEZE ahead of schedule and in time for it to play a role in the evolving situation in Europe.

What’s next for Starpharma?

Dr Fairley also stated that the year ahead will see Starpharma focus on its DEP drug delivery platform. As well as  progressing “further registrations, distribution arrangements and launches for VIRALEZE in other regions”. It will also aim for further registrations and launches of its VivaGel product.

Although the Starpharma share price is down more than 3% today, the company’s losses for 2021 so far are now sitting at 19.8% year to date. The company is also down around 7.15% over the past 12 months. At the current Starpharma share price of $1.24, the company has a market capitalisation of $501.51 million.

The post Starpharma (ASX:SPL) share price tanks 3% on 67% revenue drop appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Starpharma Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Starpharma Holdings Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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