Fonterra Posts Record Profit đź’°

Author

Jay Geris
September 23, 2023

Good Morning,

Fonterra posts record $1.6b annual profit, pays highest ever dividend, Westpac index finds consumer confidence plummets further, Queenstown suffers wettest day in 24 years, snow hits parts of south, and Hackers threaten to dump data stolen from Auckland University of Technology.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • Markets were mixed over the past two days. The NZX 50 grew +0.4%, to 11,324.82, the ASX 200 decreased -1.3% to 7,163.30, the S&P 500 decreased -2.6% to 4,443.95 and the Nasdaq lost -3.3%

  • European stocks fell as risk sentiment took a hit on worries that interest rates will remain high for longer than previously expected (BBG)

  • Oil edged higher toward USD$94 a barrel, capping a tumultuous week that saw the Federal Reserve flagging a further rise in US interest rates this year and Russia ban diesel exports (BBG)

Earnings and Data

  • Fonterra reported a record annual profit of NZD$1.6 billion and is returning record dividends to its shareholders (Stuff)

News Summary

  • NZ Police say they are in touch with protest organisers planning to lead marches on Parliament next week and have "set clear expectations for peaceful and lawful activity” (1 News)

  • A state of emergency has been declared in Queenstown, with more than 100 households evacuated overnight due to fears over slips and flooding (1 News)

  • A ransomware gang called Monti claims to have hacked Auckland University of Technology and stolen 60 gigabytes of data, which it is threatening to dump online early next month (Stuff)

  • Westpac says consumer confidence has trickled downwards in the September quarter and says it signals the number of New Zealand households who are pessimistic versus optimistic about the country’s economic landscape (Herald)

  • New Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson has apologised to customers and promised now is the time for the airline to reset and deliver a better service to Australians and its workers (9 News)

  • Commonwealth Bank business customers could get a rude shock when they go to make deposits from next month, with the bank increasing its fees from October 1 (9 News)

  • The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday is issuing final rules to prevent semiconductor manufacturing subsidies from being used by China and other countries deemed to pose American national security concerns (RT)

  • Singapore’s central bank is increasing its deposit insurance coverage per depositor to a maximum of S$100,000 (USD$73,160) from April next year (BBG)

  • Singapore-headquartered food delivery service Foodpanda on Friday confirmed to CNBC that it is conducting its latest round of layoffs as the need to be “more agile remains critical” (CNBC)

  • U.S. Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine next week, President Joe Biden said Thursday, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to address the Canadian Parliament in the next leg of his North American trip (CNBC)

  • Japan’s central bank maintained its ultra-loose policy and left rates unchanged on Friday, mindful of the “extremely high uncertainties” on the growth outlook domestically and globally (CNBC)

  • People flocked to a flagship Apple store in downtown Beijing on Friday morning to pick up the latest iPhone, despite market worries that nationalistic fervour would dampen the U.S. company’s sales in China (CNBC)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

  • Cisco Systems on Thursday agreed to buy cybersecurity firm Splunk for about USD$28 billion in its biggest-ever deal to strengthen its software business and capitalise on the boom in artificial intelligence (RT)

  • Magellan Midstream Partners' unitholders on Thursday voted in favour of its sale to larger rival ONEOK Inc for USD$18.8 billion, creating one of the largest U.S. energy pipeline companies (RT)

  • Glenmark Pharma will sell a 75% stake in its life sciences unit to detergent maker Nirma for 56.52 billion rupees (USD$679.84 million) and use the proceeds to repay debt (RT)

  • Delivery Hero confirmed talks on a partial sale of its Asia business on Wednesday, adding that the deal's value is still under negotiation (RT)

  • Coty Inc., the US beauty and fragrance company, is moving forward with a proposed Paris listing that could take place as soon as the coming weeks, people with knowledge of the matter said (BBG)

VC & Fundraising

  • European private equity firm Keensight Capital said it has raised €2.8 billion (USD$3 billion) to invest in technology and health-care companies (BBG)

Equity Raises

  • Cainiao Network Technology Co., the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is planning to file for its Hong Kong initial public offering as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially making it among the first of the Chinese tech firm’s units to go public (BBG)

Daily Picks

  • Nearly half of young voters want rent limits put in place (1 News)

  • Wild weather: Your rights if travel plans are hit by a storm (Stuff)

  • Major drugmakers are using artificial intelligence to find patients for clinical trials quickly, or to reduce the number of people needed to test medicines, both accelerating drug development and potentially saving millions of dollars (RT)

Job Board

New Zealand

  • ASB rural banking graduate - Apply here

  • Waterman Capital investment analyst - Apply here

Australia

  • Citadel Securities graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Intern - Apply here

  • IMC graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Jarden

    • Graduate role - Apply here

    • Summer internships - Apply here

  • Macquarie graduate roles - Apply here

  • Optiver

    • Graduate role - Apply here

    • Internships - Apply here

The Daily Deck is sponsored by Industrial Equity, LLC

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