These are the companies and sectors making headlines in afternoon trade.
Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) – Shares rallied 7% after the company's quarterly report noted no natural graphite production due to inventory being sufficient for sales and low demand. Syrah observed an oversupply in graphite markets and unsustainable price declines, which have led to a higher use of synthetic graphite within the key market China. During the quarter, Syrah secured a loan facility of US$150 million to support its Balama Project. The funds will support the company in managing the near-term volatile natural graphite market conditions and continued operations in preparation for increased sales to ex-China anode customers.
IGO (ASX: IGO) – Shares in the lithium producer rallied 4.3% and is now on a four-day streak after reporting a better-than-expected Q1 result on Tuesday. The result highlighted strong production at Greenbushes exceeding cost and output expectations, while operational issues at Nova led to weaker than expected performance. Analysts widely noted Greenbushes' efficiency gains but were concerned by soft lithium prices and the deferred TLEA dividend, which dampened financial upside and added uncertainty to cash flow.
Appen (ASX: APX) – Shares in the former tech darling continue to recover, up 6.3% on Wednesday and now up more than 200% year-to-date. Appen reported its Q3 report, highlighting a stable and positive revenue trajectory, up 35% year-on-year (ex-Google) to $54.1 million. The report noted "traction in multiple generative AI projects contributed to revenue growth for China and one of our Global customers."
Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) – Shares rallied 4.4% after the lithium heavyweight reported a better-than-expected 1Q25 result, where production and costs both beat market expectations. Pilbara revised its FY25 guidance, which included mothballing the higher cost and lower capacity Ngungaju plant. The new production guidance is 13% lower than the previous guidance, but lowers unit operating costs and capex by 6.6% and 9.6% respectively.
Nickel Industries (ASX: NIC) – Shares in the Indonesian nickel producer ticked 2.5% higher after reporting its strongest quarter of 2024, delivering over US$100 million in EBITDA from operations.
Data#3 (ASX: DTL) – Shares up 2.4% after the company's AGM guided to first-half FY25 pre-tax income between $31-33 million vs. $29.4 million consensus. The guidance expects earnings to skew towards the second half, with the fourth quarter to contribute significantly to the full-year profit. "Investments by the public sector in new infrastructure projects, investments in public and private education and health plus the wave of advancements in AI, should all help to grow our pipeline across all lines of business," said CEO Brad Colledge.
Calix (ASX: CXL) –Shares in the environment technology company tumbled 13% to near four year lows after joint venture partner Pilbara Minerals announced plans to defer their Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant Project. The project is currently 60% complete and will be paused until market conditions improve.
Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) – Shares dipped another 9.4% to record lows after the embattled casino operator reported Q1 adjusted EBITDA loss of $18 million (1Q24: $62 million profit). The update flagged a continued deterioration in operating performance from a challenging operating environment and continued implementation of mandatory carded play/cash limits. The group continues to finalise the longform documentation required to access the new debt facilities, which comprises two tranches of $100 million each.
Woolworths (ASX: WOW) – Shares in the supermarket giant tumbled 5.5% to a fresh five month low after an unexpected first-half FY25 EBIT guidance downgrade. “While the key Q2 trading period remains ahead of us, Australian Food EBIT for the first half is forecast to be below our previous expectations. We currently expect 1H25 EBIT ... to be within a range of $1,480 million to $1,530 million compared to $1,595 million in 1H24," said Bardwell. The new figures represent a decline of 5.6% compared to 1H24 and 10.4% below consensus expectations of $1.68 billion.
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