PRE-MARKET AUSTRALIAN, JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCK NEWS: Macquarie beats net profit estimates, SoftBank in talks with Nvidia, SK Hynix receives flurry of orders by tech firms

Australia

AMA Group (AMA AT) – Co. announces share buybacks of up to 47.8mln ordinary shares for up to 12 months. (Newswires)

Endota (EDA AT) - Canterbury Partners is reportedly seeking a buyer for wellness group Endota in a deal valued at more than AUD 200mln. (AFR)

Macquarie Group (MQG AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net rose 31% Y/Y to 4.85bln (exp. 4.41bln), rev. rose 13% Y/Y to 19.45bln, dividend AUD 4.20 (prev. AUD 3.90), assets under management fell 23% Y/Y to AUD 722bln. Co. announced that it is to end share buyback in November due to the prevailing market conditions. (Dow Jones)

Japan

Kakaku,com (2371 JT) - Oasis Management raises its stake in Kakaku,com to 15.74% from 12.11%, according to a filing. (Newswires)

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306 JT) - Co. agreed to form a strategic partnership with Google under which Japan's top bank will use the technology company's artificial intelligence to get closer to retail customers. (Nikkei)

Renesas Electronics (6723 JT) - Co. completed the acquisition of Irida Labs to expand vision AI software capabilities and accelerate system-level vision solutions. (Business Wire)

SoftBank (9984 JT) - Co. is in talks with Nvidia (NVDA) to build made-in-Japan AI servers. (Nikkei)

Other Japanese News:

• BoJ data up to April 30th shows Japan spent around JPY 4.68tln to support the JPY.

South Korea

BGF Retail (282330 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 118.7% Y/Y to 29.3bln, EBIT rose 68.6% Y/Y to 38.1bln, rev. rose 5.2% Y/Y to 2.12tln. (Yonhap)

CS Wind (112610 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net fell 54.1% Y/Y to 43.9bln, EBIT fell 40.7% Y/Y to 74.3bln, rev. fell 21.2% Y/Y to 711.1bln. (Yonhap)

GS Retail (007070 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 783.6% Y/Y to 42.5bln, EBIT rose 39.4% Y/Y to 58.3bln, rev. rose 3.8% Y/Y to 2.85tln. (Yonhap)

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 172.3% Y/Y to 773.8bln, EBIT rose 108.8% Y/Y to 905.4bln, rev. rose 54.8% Y/Y to 5.91tln. (Yonhap)

HD Hyundai Marine Engine (071970 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 103% Y/Y to 28.1bln, EBIT rose 216.5% Y/Y to 32.6bln, rev. rose 60.8% Y/Y to 133.5bln. (Yonhap)

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (009540 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 86.6% Y/Y to 1.14tln. (Yonhap)

Korea Aerospace Industries (047810 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 41.4% Y/Y to 41.3bln, EBIT rose 43.4% Y/Y to 67.1bln, rev. rose 56.3% Y/Y to 1.09tln. (Yonhap)

Kumho Petrochemical (011780 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net fell 22.9% Y/Y to 96.3bln, EBIT fell 50.7% Y/Y to 59.4bln, rev. fell 6.7% Y/Y to 1.77tln. (Yonhap)

KT&G (033780 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 46.6% Y/Y to 378.2bln, EBIT rose 27.7% Y/Y to 364.5bln, rev. rose 14.3% Y/Y to 1.7tln. (Yonhap)

LG (003550 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net fell 37.7% Y/Y to 379bln, EBIT fell 35.1% Y/Y to 413.8bln, rev. fell 7% Y/Y to 1.8tln. (Yonhap)

LG CNS (064400 KS) - Co. expressed a goal of becoming a major partner for companies seeking to incorporate robots into their business and unveiled a new platform that can train and manage robots. (Yonhap)

LIG Nex1 (079550 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 69.5% Y/Y to 135.4bln, EBIT rose 56.1% Y/Y to 171.1bln, rev. rose 28.7% Y/Y to 1.16tln. (Yonhap)

Netmarble (251270 KS) - Co. Q1 (KRW) net rose 163% Y/Y to 210.9bln, EBIT rose 6.8% Y/Y to 53.1bln. (Yonhap)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) – Co. has received offers by big global tech firms to invest in its new production lines and fund purchases of its UV lithography machines. (Reuters)