On a day when it was announced the Federal politicians will be paid 4% more to disappoint us, Materials led the local market higher. The S&P/ASX200 gained 37.80 points or 0.53% to 7,197.60. Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.07% and is currently 4.89% off of its 52-week high.
The top-performing stocks in this index are Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX:SYA) and Johns Lyng Group Ltd up 23.63% and 8.47% respectively.
Building and restoration group Johns Lyng Group reported solid earnings numbers and expects an 18.5% jump in FY24 business as usual (BaU) revenues.
The company recorded a record financial result to the end of June 30, driven by its core Insurance Building and Restoration Services (IB&RS) division.
FY23 revenue increased 43.2% to $1.3 billion, while earnings increased 42.9% to $119.4 million. IB&RS contributed revenue of $1.1 billion, up 53% which included BaU revenue of $775.3 million and catastrophe (CAT) revenue of $371.3 million.
Johns Lyng will pay a 4.5c per share final dividend.
Group chief executive Scott Didier said the company’s portfolio of defensive growth businesses will continue growing annuity-style revenues. He said these are "largely immune to underlying economic conditions".
"Our reported and forecast earnings are defensive and resilient, and we have confidence that they will continue to grow."
Sayona’s bump is a reversal of yesterday’s 27% loss on the back of the resignation of its CEO.
Looking at the sectors, most were in the green. Materials gained 1.34%, with the next best performer being Consumer Discretionary with a 1.30% lift. Health Care was the biggest loser followed by Information Technology down 0.29% and 0.27% respectively.
Gas prices jump on Chevron (NYSE:CVX) strike news
Gas prices jumped 10%, following union threats to energy giant Chevron.
Unions are threatening to strike at two key LNG plants in Western Australia, which would threaten global gas supply.
Benchmark European gas futures soared by 10.5% to €38.414 per megawatt-hour overnight, after Chevron received protected action notices late Monday, indicating impending labour disruptions.
Scheduled to commence on September 7, these disruptions will involve rolling stoppages and work bans at two key energy projects - Gorgon and Wheatstone.
The action covers 500 workers and could go as long as 11 hours per day, which could spell disaster as the Wheatstone offshore platform supplies about 7% of globally traded LNG.
ANZ’s senior commodities analyst Daniel Hynes told the AFR, “Prices tend to rally ahead of the risk and when it becomes clearer to the market the type of industrial action that could take place, it doesn’t have to be a full plant closure, for traders to then reevaluate the impact.”
Hynes noted that Europe remains volatile in the face of war and would still need to reduce gas consumption by 15% to avoid shortages through winter.
“The severe supply disruptions that we could potentially see in this case do leave the region in a difficult situation, considering it’s now almost entirely reliant on LNG for its gas consumption there.
“It’s hard to see the price volatility easing although, certainly, over the next few months leading into the heating season ... it’s going to be a pretty jumpy ride.”
Five at five
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) gained 0.35% today to 2,817.6.
It was a steady news day for the index.
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