PRE-MARKET AUSTRALIAN, JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCKS NEWS: Earnings deluge from Australia continues
AUSTRALIA
Adairs (ADH AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net loss 39.4mln, rev. from continuing operations rose 3% Y/Y to 641.7mln, FY27 sales fell 4.5% Y/Y in the first eight weeks. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Ampol (ALD AT) - Co. H1 (AUD) historical-cost net 1.36bln, replacement-cost net 857.2mln, rev. rose 33% Y/Y to 20.41bln. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Ansell (ANN AT) - Co. FY (USD) net 208.6mln (prev. 101.6mln Y/Y), rev. 2.14bln (prev. 2.00bln Y/Y), dividend 0.415/shr (prev. 0.28/shr). (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Aussie Broadband (ABB AT) - Co. FY (AUD) underlying EBITDA rose 19.6% Y/Y to 165.3mln, rev. rose 9.2% Y/Y to 1.30bln. (Motley Fool)
Bendigo & Adelaide Bank (BEN AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net 375.1mln (prev. loss 97.1mln Y/Y), rev. 1.99bln (prev. 1.94bln Y/Y). (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Endeavour Group (EDV AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net fell 88% Y/Y to 52mln, underlying net fell 15% Y/Y to 363mln, rev. rose 1.3% Y/Y to 12.21bln. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA AT) - Co. H1 (AUD) net loss 214.1mln (prev. loss 35.4mln Y/Y), rev. fell 21% Y/Y to 25mln. (Motley Fool)
EVT (EVT AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net rose 52% Y/Y to 50.7mln, EBITDA rose 4.8% Y/Y to 306.6mln, rev. rose 5.2% Y/Y to 1.32bln. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Forrestania Resources (FRS AT) - Co.’s British Hill drilling programme extended gold mineralisation at depth, with key intersections including 29 metres at 3.91 g/t, 26 metres at 2.06 g/t and 32 metres at 1.42 g/t. (Motley Fool)
Macmahon Holdings (MAH AT) - Co. secured a AUD 485mln, 42-month extension to its mining-services contract at Greatland Resources’ Telfer Gold Mine in Western Australia. (Motley Fool)
NIB Holdings (NHF AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net fell 6% Y/Y to 187.5mln, underlying operating profit rose 9.1% Y/Y to 260.9mln, rev. rose 5% Y/Y to 3.80bln, target dividend payout ratio raised to 65–75%. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Perenti (PRN AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net fell 84% Y/Y to 18.8mln, underlying net rose 7.6% Y/Y to 192.1mln, profit from continuing operations fell 24% Y/Y to 107.1mln, rev. fell 0.4% Y/Y to 3.34bln; Co. reinstated its share buyback programme. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
PLS Group (PLS AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net 525.8mln (prev. loss 195.8mln Y/Y), rev. 1.93bln (prev. 768.9mln Y/Y), final dividend 0.05/shr, reaffirmed FY27 guidance. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (QRI AT) - Co. FY (AUD) operating profit rose 6% Y/Y to 70.9mln, total investment income rose 9.5% Y/Y to 88.3mln, net assets attributable to unitholders rose 3.6% Y/Y to 1.01bln, monthly distributions reached an annualised 8.60% by year-end. (Motley Fool)
Reece (REH AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net fell 2.8% Y/Y to 308.2mln, rev. rose 4.5% Y/Y to 9.38bln. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Regal Partners (RPL AT) - Co. H1 (AUD) statutory net rose 258% Y/Y to 94.1mln, normalised net rose 108% Y/Y to 93.3mln, funds under management reached a record 21.4bln, with net inflows of 1.4bln. (Motley Fool)
Stanmore Resources (SMR AT) - Co. H1 (USD) net loss 44.2mln (prev. loss 50.5mln Y/Y), underlying EBITDA rose 18% Y/Y to 174mln, no interim dividend, reaffirmed 2026 guidance. (Dow Jones Newsplus)
Woolworths Group (WOW AT) - Co. announced the expansion of lower shelf prices to more than 1,000 everyday products, while veteran activist Geoff Cousins is leading a shareholder revolt to oust Chair Scott Perkins ahead of the retailer’s AGM. (The Australian)
Broker Ratings/Price Target
- GQG Partners (GQG AT) - Price target cut 2.6% to AUD 1.85/shr by UBS.
- Ramelius Resources (RMS AT) - Price target cut 2.1% to AUD 4.70/shr by UBS.
- Regis Resources (RRL AT) - Downgraded to Sell from Buy, price target raised 6.0% to AUD 8.00/shr by UBS.
JAPAN
FANUC (6954 JT) - Co. plans to boost capital spending by 20–30%. (Newswires)
Itochu (8001 JT) - Co.’s Itochu Techno-Solutions unit is partnering with Taiwan’s largest IT services provider to support semiconductor-related Taiwanese companies expanding into Kyushu. (Nikkei)
Kubota (6326 JT) - Co. plans to expand exports from India to Europe, Africa and North America as its Escorts Kubota joint venture increases manufacturing capacity. (Nikkei)
Mitsubishi Motors (7211 JT) - Co.’s Philippine subsidiary began sales of the Outlander plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in the Philippines, marking the current-generation model’s first ASEAN launch. (Newswires)
Nissan Motor (7201 JT) - Co. is seeking to improve profitability by standardising powertrains, vehicle platforms and software technologies across multiple models to shorten development times. (Nikkei)
Tokuyama (4043 JT) - Co. is adding plants in Vietnam and Malaysia for semiconductor-grade polysilicon to diversify production away from Japan and reduce supply-chain disruption risks. (Nikkei)
Rapidus - Japan’s trade ministry will seek JPY 150bln for additional investment in the Co. in the FY27 budget to support 2nm chip production and encourage bank lending. (Nikkei)
Other News
Japan faces a projected JPY 10tln fiscal shortfall as food-tax cuts and higher defence spending push FY27 budget requests above the prior year’s level. (Nikkei)
Japan’s GX Acceleration Agency invested in nuclear-fusion startup Kyoto Fusioneering and plastics-recycling company JEPLAN, helping mobilise JPY 20bln in combined public-private funding. (Nikkei)
Japan’s Financial Services Agency registered Smartround Securities as a brokerage for secondary-market trading of unlisted shares. (Nikkei)
SOUTH KOREA
Galaxy Corporation - Co. opened a robot-themed park in Seoul featuring robot-powered K-pop performances and interactive content. (Yonhap)
Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Co. expects up to KRW 110tln to be used for shareholder returns this year, which would mark the largest investor return by a South Korean company. (Yonhap)
Samsung SDI (006400 KS) - Co. will sell its KRW 4.45tln stake in Samsung Display to fund overseas facility investment for future growth. (Yonhap)
Pharmaceuticals
South Korea’s major pharmaceutical companies each spent around KRW 100bln on new-drug R&D in H1 as they seek future growth engines. (Yonhap)
Financials
South Korean banks’ net profits fell in H1, primarily due to lower non-interest income, while interest income reached a record high for a six-month period. (Yonhap)
Other News
South Korea President Lee appointed senior trade official Park Jung-sung as chief trade negotiator. (Yonhap)
This is a digest rather than a single event, and digests of this kind set the tone for the local session rather than reprice anything on their own. The Australian leg is the weightiest: a broad spread of FY and H1 prints across banks, insurers, retailers, miners and contractors, with the recurring feature being the gap between statutory and underlying numbers, since several names show large swings on the statutory line while underlying profit moved only modestly. In past Australian reporting seasons the market has tended to trade the underlying line, guidance reaffirmations and capital returns (buybacks, payout ratios) rather than headline net, and the split between resource-linked names and domestic consumer names has typically driven sector dispersion on the day. The Japan items are mostly strategic, capex plans, supply-chain diversification into Southeast Asia, semiconductor state funding, which fit the established pattern of incremental corporate restructuring stories that move single names only modestly absent a guidance change. Korea's Samsung shareholder-return and stake-sale items are the kind of governance and capital-allocation news that has historically attracted more sustained attention given the market's long-running valuation discount debate. Worth noting are the follow-ons: broker target changes already appearing alongside the prints, and whether the guidance reaffirmations hold up against any management commentary through the session.