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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report

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Speaker 1: for Monday, the nineteenth of August twenty twenty four. I'm

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Speaker 1: suan Alma. Every afternoon, We've got the five stories that

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Speaker 1: happen today that you need to know about. Story number one,

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Speaker 1: the SMPASX two hundred closed up just to touch zero

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Speaker 1: point one percent to seven nine hundred and eighty points today. Broadly,

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Speaker 1: the utility stocks did best in the consumer staples company's worst.

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Speaker 1: The big banks were all high, while the miners dropped.

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Speaker 1: Vice Tech Global, James Hardy, and Goodman Runder performers. Aria

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Speaker 1: was one of the best. Story number two. A poll

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Speaker 1: will cut back on the pace of its electric vehicle

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Speaker 1: charger rollout as EV sales slow and it's also facing

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Speaker 1: challenges in its core aviation and heavy transport markets. The

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Speaker 1: fuel refiner and retailer are now stay twenty nine percent

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Speaker 1: drop in net profit for the six months to the

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Speaker 1: end of June and cut its dividend, sending its share

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Speaker 1: price down four and a half percent. Today. Chief executive

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Speaker 1: Matt Halliday set a challenge with rolling out new EV chargers.

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Speaker 1: He's actually getting them connected to local distribution networks as well.

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Speaker 1: As the fact that sales growth has slowed. More than

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Speaker 1: two thirds of mpoles fuel sales are actually to aviation

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Speaker 1: and heavy transport operators, and the shift to sustainable fuels

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Speaker 1: is challenging for the group. Mister Harday praised the result

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Speaker 1: in tough economic conditions, saying the resilience of mpole's local

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Speaker 1: retail earnings was particularly pleasing and had helped offset setbacks

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Speaker 1: at its light and refinery in Brisbane and softer international sales.

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Speaker 1: Story number three, lend Lease has fallen to a one

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Speaker 1: and a half billion dollar annual loss after taking heavy

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Speaker 1: write downs on its offshore operations. They would insist that

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Speaker 1: its turnaround plan is on track. The property developer says

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Speaker 1: it is on the way to selling off the BOLK

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Speaker 1: its international development and building businesses and return about four

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Speaker 1: and a half billion dollars of capital to Australia now.

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Speaker 1: It dumped its global ambitions back in May, following pressure

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Speaker 1: from activist investors. Chief executive Tony Lombardo said the company

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Speaker 1: was simplifying its business and the result reflected challenging business

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Speaker 1: conditions and the early actions from its refreshed strategy. He

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Speaker 1: said the group's priorities are strengthening its balance sheet, returning

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Speaker 1: capital to shareholders, investing in its local operations, and growing

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Speaker 1: its international investments platform. Len Lisa's core operating profit after

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Speaker 1: tax raised by two percent for the year end of

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Speaker 1: June thirty. The one and a half billion dollar loss

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Speaker 1: included one point three eight billion dollars of impairments and

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Speaker 1: charges on businesses it is selling off. There was also

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Speaker 1: a five hundred million dollar ride off of goodwill, primarily

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Speaker 1: related to its acquisition of British building firm Bobus Construction,

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Speaker 1: which is being prepared for sale. Story number four. Team Australia,

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Speaker 1: which includes the big iron ore producers and steel makers,

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Speaker 1: are being hammered by enormous levels of steel being sold

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Speaker 1: by Chinese steel mills into the Asian region, according to

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Speaker 1: Bluescope boss Mark Vasella. Bluescope is Australia's largest steel maker,

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Speaker 1: and mister Vasella said steel margins had been more than

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Speaker 1: halved thanks to the actions of Chinese makers. He said

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Speaker 1: it will hurt companies like bagp and Rio Tinto and

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Speaker 1: it isn't a great outcome a Team Australia. He was

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Speaker 1: speaking after announcing a drop in net profit. Now the

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Speaker 1: claps and steel margins, combined with the housing construction slow

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Speaker 1: down in Australia, prompted the company to forecas much weaker earnings.

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Speaker 1: For the first half of this financial year. Luscope's share

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Speaker 1: price fell three point four percent and finally straight number five.

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Speaker 1: He had another profit. A too Milk company share price

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Speaker 1: tunnels nineteen percent today, even after it said it had

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Speaker 1: won a bigger share of the lucrative Chinese infant formula market.

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Speaker 1: A two increased earnings for the last financial year by

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Speaker 1: nearly eight percent, but it was way below expectations, triggering

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Speaker 1: the selloff. Not helping was a disappointing outlook from the group.

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Speaker 1: The infant formula company, which also sells milk, warned that

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Speaker 1: the Chinese market is facing increased competition and challenging microeconomic conditions.

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Speaker 1: Chief executive AT David at bort Lucy said that while

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Speaker 1: China still had forty percent of the world's infant market

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Speaker 1: despite the falling birth rate, A two is looking to

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Speaker 1: expand elsewhere and become more relevant to families over their

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Speaker 1: life cycle. He was talking a lot about the US

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Speaker 1: and Middle East today. On FRIDAYA to cells arbitration disputes

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Speaker 1: with its key supply Sinlack, which has agreed to end

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Speaker 1: an exclusivity arrangement that will allow a TOW to manufacture

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Speaker 1: its own infant formula. That's it, very afternoon report for Monday,

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Speaker 1: the nineteenth of August twenty twenty four. Michael Thomas and

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Speaker 1: I will be back tomorrow morning with a Tuesday edition

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Speaker 1: of Fear and Greek Business News. I'm Sean Elma. Enjoy

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Speaker 1: your evening