COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Qantas posts US$1.4 bln loss

Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd posted a full-year net loss of A$1.964 billion (US$1.41 billion), one of its largest ever, driven by impairment charges and restructuring costs designed to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic.

"Covid-19 will continue to have a huge impact on our business and we're expecting a significant underlying loss in FY21," chief executive Alan Joyce said in a statement, adding the trading conditions were the worst in its 100-year history.

The carrier's A$124 million underlying pre-tax profit in the 12 months ended June 30, its most-watched financial figure, was well above the A$6.5 million average profit expected by 11 analysts polled by Refinitiv. That was due mostly to a strong first half before the pandemic hit.

Qantas in June had warned it expected to take around A$2.8 billion of one-off charges, which included a writedown of A$1.4 billion on its Airbus SE A380 fleet but said it expected a small pre-tax underlying profit.

Its biggest-ever net loss was A$2.84 billion in 2014, which prompted major cost cuts and led to strong annual profits of around A$900 million for four years before the pandemic. – Nampa/Reuters

Pandemic hits AIA's sales

Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group Ltd reported a 37% fall in new business for the first half of the year, as the Covid-19 pandemic dented sales of its insurance products in its main markets of Hong Kong and China.

Insurers across the world have been hit by pandemic-related claims including for travel, business interruption and event cancellation, while economic slowdown and job losses have led to reduced demand for life insurance.

In Asia, insurance firms mainly rely on their army of agents for product sales, which have been dented by lockdown and social distancing measures put in place in various countries to contain the pandemic.

AIA's new business value, which measures expected profits from new premiums and is a key gauge for future growth, dropped to US$1.41 billion in the six months ended June 30 from US$2.28 billion a year earlier.

"In the first half of 2020, measures to contain the spread of Covid-19-19 across our markets have limited face-to-face sales meetings," said chief executive officer Lee Yuan Siong, adding new business sales took the biggest hit from the containment measures. - Nampa/Reuters

Nvidia beats estimates

Nvidia Corp forecast third-quarter sales above expectations, but the chipmaker's shares could come under pressure after a meteoric rise, with some growth driven heavily by a recent acquisition rather than core products.

But results sent shares down 1.5% in trading after the bell. Before the market close on Wednesday, Nvidia's shares had gained more than 185% over the past year and with a valuation of about 53 times expected earnings over the next 12 months.

Nvidia said it expects third-quarter revenue of US$4.40 billion, plus or minus 2%, compared with analysts' estimates of US$3.97 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company's data centre segment reported second-quarter revenue of US$1.75 billion beating estimates of US$1.71 billion, according to FactSet data.

Nvidia said Mellanox, the Israeli networking chip firm that it acquired for US$7 billion in cash this year, contributed 30% of data centre segment sales. – Nampa/Reuters

Airbnb files for IPO

Short-term home rental company Airbnb Inc confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, setting the stage for one of the marquee stock market debuts of the year.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the IPO have not yet been determined, the company said. "The initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions," Airbnb added.

Reuters reported in October Airbnb was close to hiring Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc as joint lead advisers on its IPO, after the company announced plans to go public in 2020.

The company's plans to go public come at a time when its core home-rental business has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced millions of people to postpone their travel plans.

The collapse of its core home-rental business prompted Airbnb to suspend marketing activities for the year and cut about 25% of its workforce. - Nampa/Reuters

Apple tops in market value

Apple Inc became the first publicly listed US company with a US$2 trillion stock market value, as Wall Street investors put aside challenges to its iPhone ecosystem in favour of bets it will only prosper more in the post-coronavirus world.

Shares in the company have surged since blowout quarterly results in July that saw the iPhone maker eclipse Saudi Aramco as the world's most valuable listed company, up about 57% in value so far in 2020.

The moves reflect growing investor confidence in Apple's shift towards relying less on sales of iPhones and other gadgets and more on services for its users, as well as a broad shift by big institutional investors during the coronavirus crisis.

With Amazon, Microsoft and Google-owner Alphabet, all now worth around US$1 trillion or more, the big US tech companies are together worth more than US$6 trillion.

Cupertino, California-based Apple surprised Wall Street as it was able to get loyal shoppers buy iPhones, iPads and Macs online even as several brick-and-mortar stores remained closed due to the coronavirus lockdowns. – Nampa/Reuters