Australia&#39;s Suncorp-Metway FY Net A$618M; Outlook Upbeat
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SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Australian banking and insurance group Suncorp-Metway Ltd. (SUN.AU) said Friday net profit for the full year ended June 30 jumped 61% to A$618 million from A$384 million a year earlier, boosted
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MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Fresh from two major acquisitions, Australia&#39;s biggest gambling company Tabcorp Ltd. (TAH.AU) Thursday said annual net profit rose 23% to A$311.
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SunTrust Banks Inc. STI.N, a large  southeastern U.S. bank, on Thursday said fourth-quarter profit  rose 33 percent, helped by loan and deposit growth and its  acquisition of National Commerce Financial Corp.
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Growing world markets for minerals and energy will help push Australia&#39;s commodity exports up 15 percent to a record 95 billion Australian dollars (US$71 billion; euro54 billion) this fiscal year, the government&#39;s chief commodities forecaster said Monday.
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Australian buyout target Qantas Airways  Ltd.  raised its annual profit forecast for the third  time in six months as fuel prices ease and demand for travel  increases.
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MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Australia&#39;s largest retailer Coles Myer Ltd. (CML.AU) reported Wednesday a better-than-expected 44% rise in annual net profit, driven by booming
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Customers at the Big Six banks have been borrowing more with fewer defaults. It&#39;s a winning combination helped along by a buoyant economy, and it&#39;s expected to keep bank profits rising into the future.
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Sun doubled its profit in the quarter ended Dec. 30, although revenue was nearly flat compared with the same period a year earlier, the company announced Thursday.Net income for the quarter, the second of Sun&#39;s fiscal year, was $260 million, or $0.31 per share, up from $133 million and $0.15 per share in the same quarter of fiscal 2006, the company announced Thursday.Revenue was $3.62 billion, up just 1.4 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The growth came from Sun&#39;s services business, where revenue climbed 5 percent. Sales of servers and storage products, which account for about two-thirds of Sun&#39;s business, declined by 0.5 percent.Business was particularly slow in the U.S., where revenue declined 8 percent year over year. The EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region performed better with growth of 7 percent. EMEA accounted for 39 percent of revenue in the quarter, overtaking the U.S., which is usually Sun&#39;s biggest source of revenue.Despite the quarter&#39;s slow growth, Sun said its full-year growth would be better. On a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman said revenue for fiscal 2008 would increase in the &quot;low-to-mid single digits&quot; and predicted revenue growth in the second half of greater than 5 percent.Sun&#39;s profit benefited from its ongoing cost-cutting plan, which has included several hundred layoffs so far. Its $260 million profit included a restructuring charge of $32 million.Sun announced a surprise plan last week to buy MySQL, the biggest open-source database vendor, for $1 billion. Sun officials said Thursday they are unsure whether the MySQL acquisition will close in the second or third quarter, and have not yet calculated the long-term impact on Sun&#39;s financials. They expect to take a one-time charge of $30 million to $50 million when the deal closes.
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Australia&#39;s biggest retailer, Coles Myer, beat its forecasts with a 26.5 per cent rise to record annual profits and said it was on track to meet profit growth forecasts for the next two years.
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SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Colorado Group Ltd. (CDO.AU), an Australian footwear and clothing retailer, said Monday it expects net profit for the fiscal year ending Jan. 29 to be over 30% higher than that of a year earlier.
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Australian supermarket giant, Woolworths, beat forecasts on Monday with a 12 per cent rise in second-half profit on vigorous cost savings and its ability to drive margins despite a competitive onslaught.
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BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner has posted a record annual net profit of 10.45 billion US dollars and delivered an upbeat outlook amid unprecedented global demand for commodities.
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JOHANNESBURG (Dow Jones)--Consolidation in the gold mining sector was shaken awake Monday as Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY), the world&#39;s sixth-biggest producer by output, launched
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Australia's competition regulator will not oppose Suncorp-Metway Ltd.'s  planned A$7.36 billion ($5.8 billion) takeover of rival Promina Group  to create the nation's second-biggest car and home insurer.
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HARMONY Gold Miningâs hopes of winning control of the rival Gold Fields appeared to be boosted yesterday, as Harmony swung to a first-quarter profit at operating level.
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Australia&#39;s biggest supplier of fresh milk, National Foods, has posted a net profit of $68.7 million, an increase of 14 per cent on last financial year.
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SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Australian data released Monday confirmed a story of reaccelerating economic growth in the second quarter as company profits surged while inventories