NZ
Electronic card transactions in New Zealand remained unchanged at $6,297 million in July 2023 compared to the previous month when adjusted by seasonal effects and in-line with market estimates. V. little boost from the world cup — sitting flat.
Bucking the trend was Briscoes Group, it’s shares jumping 2.2% yesterday, its sales declining a minor amount – doing better than expected in a challenging environment for the half ending July. Performing much better than peers The Warehouse and Hallensteins which have been more volatile as of late. Briscoes CEO Duke is a good operator — The Warehouse continues to be a dog’s breakfast with management sorely in need of a wake-up call. They ought to take a page out of Briscoe’s book.
Housing The high-interest rate environment has put a dampener on spending, while mortgage rates have been well above 6% for some time now. ASB reports almost half of their customers are still on sub-6% while a huge chunk is still yet to be exposed to higher rates so full effects still not in place yet – more pain to come even if rates hold flat from here.
Australia
The Australian market (ASX200, +0.4%) was up yesterday led by tech and financials.
Australia’s largest bank CBA rose +2.6% after reporting a record annual profit of $10.2b thanks to higher interest rates, and lifted its dividend – causing its large baking peers to also report modest gains. However, they warned of margin pressures and rising debt arrears due to elevated living costs. Invocare shares jumped +5.9% after its board backed the lower $1.8 billion takeover bid by private equity group TPG Capital at $12.70 per share.
US
Disney released its quarterly results, revealing declines in its television and movie sectors, but some signs of hope evident by reduced losses in its video streaming division.
CEO Bob Iger stated that the company remains on track to surpass its objective of cutting $5.5 billion in costs, driven by efforts to “restructure the company, enhance efficiencies, and reinstate creativity at the core of our operations.”
Although Disney’s revenue for the fiscal third quarter, at $22.4 billion, fell $100 million short of analyst predictions, its diluted earnings of $1.03 per share exceeded the expected 96 cents. The company’s shares experienced a surge of over 4 percent during after-hours trading.
Continuing to be buy rated on Disney as we see the signs of a turnaround starting to happen.
Warner Music experienced a 4.6% increase in quarterly revenues compared to the same period in the previous year, reaching $1.39 billion during the initial three months of 2023. Notably, these months coincided with new manager Kyncl’s inaugural quarter as CEO.
Recorded music revenues saw a more modest 2.2% rise, totaling $1.14 billion, while streaming revenues within this segment also grew by 2.2%, reaching $773 million. Continue to be buy rated on WMG – we like the continued royalties from the music business and the capital light model. We like UMG, Warner’s EU “twin” as well, prefer to owning Spotify — own the “source”.
Johnson Redbook same store sales weekly YoY — giving back those Covid gains
