Since August is now over and spring has sprung, we can finally put this winter’s earning season in the rearview mirror. It was an interesting season, to say the least, with the usual bevy of ASX 200 winners, losers, and surprises.
So today, let’s wrap up August’s earnings with a look at those companies that most delighted and dismayed investors. We’ll start with the winners
Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners of this earnings season?
CBA and bank shares
It was a relatively strong season for ASX bank shares. Although we only got to hear from a few ASX banks (and only one of the big four), it was still a fairly positive affair.
Starting off with the biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) had a pretty impressive slate of numbers when it reported on 9 August. As we covered at the time, the bank reported a 6% increase in cash net profits to $10.16 billion, which enabled CBA to declare its largest dividend in history of $4.50 per share, fully franked.
Also delivering some impressive numbers was Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN). This bank share delivered a 15.3% bump in cash earnings up to $576.9 million, with a 15.1% boost to its full-year dividends up to a fully franked 61 cents per share.
Dividend shares (outside the mining sector)
Even outside the banking space, it was a pretty pleasing season for dividend investors, with the glaring exception of miners (more on that later).
We saw big dividend increases announced from Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Transurban Group (ASX: TCL), Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE), CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), and Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH).
We also saw full-year dividend pay rises from Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL).
Now, onto some losers from this reporting season
Which ASX 200 shares left investors wanting more?
Tech shares
It ended up being a pretty lacklustre season for many ASX tech shares, with a couple of obvious exceptions. Leading the disappointments was arguably the WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) share price. Wisetech reported its earnings on 23 August.
Although this logistics solutions company revealed a 29% increase in revenues to $817 million, a 30% boost to underlying net profits, and a 31% increase to its final dividend, investors were clearly expecting more. The WiseTech share price tanked by 20% the day the earnings came out and is still yet to recover.
Another disappointing company was Appen Ltd (ASX: APX). Appen shares had a shocker late last month, reporting a 24% slump in revenues to US4138.9 million and a net loss of US$24.2 million. The shares crashed more than 30% when these results were revealed.
Although it only reported a quarterly update early in August, Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) was another tech letdown. Block shares lost more than 26% over August.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for tech, with Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) delighting its shareholders last month. Altium reported on 21 August and impressed investors. The company reported a 19.2% spike in revenues to US$263.3 million and a boost in profits after tax of 19.6% to US$66.3 million.
Altium also upped its final dividend by 14.9%. Investors showed their appreciation by sending the Altium share price up by almost 26% when the earnings came out.
Mining shares
Although investors probably weren’t expecting a repeat of 2021 and 2022’s numbers this year, it was still hard not to be disappointed with what came out of the mining space this earnings season.
We’ll start with the big one, BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP). On 22 August, BHP revealed a 17% drop in revenues to US$53.8 billion, alongside a drop in underlying profits of 37% to US$13.4 billion. As a result, BHP’s full-year dividends will come to US$1.70 per share, down 48% from last year.
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) was one of the first shares to report, dropping its earnings back on 27 July. Like its rival BHP, Rio didn’t have a lot of positive numbers to show off. Revenues were down 10% to US$26.67 billion, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 25% to US$11.73 billion.
Like BHP, Rio was forced to slash its dividend, with the miner declaring a final dividend of US$1.77 per share, down 33% on last year.
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) didn’t provide any relief to mining investors either. This company saw its revenues retreat by 3% over FY23 to US$16.87 billion, while underlying profits fell by 11% to US$5.5 billion.
Again, Fortescue cut its dividend too, with a final dividend of $1 per share declared. That’s down a nasty 17.35% from last year’s final payment of $1.21.
