CAPITALISTS AND FINANCIERS – AUSTRALIA

$21.7b dividend windfall set to land

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Original article by Tom Richardson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 26-Sep-23

BHP tops the list of Australian companies that will pay dividends in the final week of September. The resources group accounts for $6.34bn of the $21.7bn worth of dividends that investors will receive in coming days. Commonwealth Bank shareholders will in turn receive a combined $4bn worth of dividends, while Fortescue Metals Group’s payout will be about $3.01bn. Cyan Investment Management portfolio manager Dean Fergie expects fewer shareholders to invest their dividends in equities, given that banks are offering much better returns on cash deposits compared with recent years.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, CYAN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Investors pull out of equities on recession fear

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 12-Jul-23

Data from global funds network Calastone shows that Australia fund managers’ net outflows totalled $2.8bn in the June quarter. Equities accounted for $1.65bn of the net outflows, while property accounted for $173m. The bearish investor sentiment toward higher-risk assets resulted in fixed income funds recording net inflows of $582m for the period. Teresa Walker of Calastone says there is no particular reason to favour the Australian sharemarket over offshore markets at present.

CORPORATES
CALASTONE

Pandemic sees influx of investors

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Original article by Lucy Dean
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 31-May-23

The ASX’s latest investor survey shows that 51 per cent of Australian adults now hold investments outside of superannuation or the family home. This compares with 46 per cent in early 2020, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The report shows that more than 1.2 million Australians have started to invest in shares since the pandemic began; the ASX’s Rory Cunningham says women account for 50 per cent of the new investors, and 50 per cent of people who intend to invest. However, Irene Guiamatsia from Investment Trends notes that the overall proportion of investors who are women has remained steady at 42 per cent since 2020; she says this is primarily because women tend to have lower income than men.

CORPORATES
ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, INVESTMENT TRENDS PTY LTD

Unprofitable firms worth $60b on ASX

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 21-Sep-22

Research from MST Marquee shows that 50 companies in the S&P/ASX 300 are unprofitable, up from 48 prior to the index’s latest quarterly rebalance. Hasan Tevfik of MST notes that investors continue to back unprofitable companies despite their poor performance, noting that these companies have a combined market capitalisation of about $60bn. He says the continued support for profitless companies may be due to investors’ hopes that they will deliver strong returns, as they did in 2009 and the first year of the pandemic.

CORPORATES
MST MARQUEE, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 300 INDEX

Investors rewarded with bumper dividends, buybacks

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Original article by John Collett
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 1-Sep-21

CommSec’s chief economist Craig James is cautious about the outlook for the Australian sharemarket in the wake of the August reporting season. He notes that the recent strong performance of many listed companies has already been priced into sharemarket valuations. Capital management was a key feature of the reporting season, with listed companies announcing some $20bn worth of share buybacks, while investors will receive more than $34bn worth of dividend payments. Peter Warnes of Morningstar says investors should expect lower dividend payouts in 2022.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD

Banks, miners set for big payout boost

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Original article by William McInnes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 26-May-21

Jane Shoemake of global asset manager Janus Henderson is upbeat about the outlook for Australian dividend payouts in 2021. She notes that mining companies and the major banks dominated the list of the 10 biggest dividend payers in 2019 and 2020, and investors are set to benefit from high commodity prices and a rebound in dividend payments in the banking sector. Shoemake also expects energy stocks and defensive retailers such as Coles Group and Woolworths to increase their dividends.

CORPORATES
JANUS HENDERSON GROUP PLC – ASX JHG, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW

Returns the world’s best over 121 years

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 20 : 5-Mar-21

Data from Credit Suisse shows that the Australian sharemarket has outperformed other bourses over the long-term, with real annual returns of 6.6 per cent since 1900 in US dollar terms. The ASX’s annualised return over this period was 6.8 per cent in local currency terms, behind the 7.1 per cent return from the South African bourse. Looking ahead, Credit Suisse says Generation Z can expect annualised equity returns of about three per cent, compared with annualised returns of 7.1 per cent since 1950 for Baby Boomers.

CORPORATES
CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

Results so far are a shot in the arm for investors

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 23 : 20-Aug-20

The S&P/ASX 200 has gained two per cent since the start of the August reporting season. Investors have responded positively to earning results, dividend payouts and outlook guidance, as well as a rally in the S&P 500 and the continued strength of commodity prices. Indeed, dividend announcements were a common factor among many stocks that outperformed on 19 August; likewise, a lack of dividend payments contributed to some stocks being sold down.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX

Handle the market with care: ASIC

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 13 & 20 : 7-May-20

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has expressed concern about a rise in day-trading activity among so-called ‘mum and dad’ investors during the coronavirus lockdown. ASIC notes that even market professionals often find it hard to time the market during volatile trading conditions, and it warns that retail investors risk incurring significant losses at a time when many cannot afford to do so. ASIC also notes that more retail investors are trading in complex investment products such as contracts for difference.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Shares near all-time high as rates fall

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Original article by Melissa Yeo
The Australian – Page: 21 & 29 : 5-Jul-19

The S&P/ASX 200 reached a new 12-year high during intra-day trading on 4 July, and the benchmark index is now just 133 points shy of its record high of October 2007. George Kanaan of UBS says the fall in bond yields has been the key driver for local and international shares in 2019. The federal government’s income tax cuts package has also boosted sentiment among Australian investors; Plato Investment Management’s MD Don Hamson says the tax cuts could have the same stimulatory impact as two reductions in the cash rate.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, PLATO INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, PEPPERSTONE GROUP LIMITED, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA