The Australian sharemarket's six-day rally has come to an abrupt halt today with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) falling 1%, following the lead set by international equity markets overnight. The ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) has also retreated 1% in what has been a broad sell-off.
Here are four companies that are performing particularly poorly today…
DUET Group (ASX: DUE) has emerged from a two-day trading halt, only to fall 8.4% to $2.18 per share. Duet, which is a $3.5 billion energy infrastructure group, is raising $1.67 billion in capital to fund the acquisition of Energy Developments Limited (ASX: ENE). This will significantly dilute shareholder ownership. The institutional component was oversubscribed allowing the company to raise $806 million so far.
Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC) experienced a strong lift last week after the rare earths miner released its latest quarterly cash flow report, revealing $6.4 million in free cash flow for the period. The stock hit a high of 4.7 cents – up from 3.9 cents prior to the release – although it has since retreated back to just 3.7 cents. It's down 5.1% today.
Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX: TAH) fell 3% to $4.83 after the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, or AUSTRAC, announced legal proceedings against the company. AUSTRAC, which is Australia's anti-money laundering agency, has alleged that three of Tabcorp's businesses had failed to comply with legislation. Tabcorp said that it is reviewing the nature of the proceedings and will inform the market of its intended response.
Academies Australasia Group Ltd (ASX: AKG) shed 20% of its market value, falling to just 52 cents per share following a revised earnings guidance provided late Tuesday afternoon. Academies Australasia expects financial year 2015 (FY15) revenues to climb 43% compared to the prior corresponding period, driven predominantly by acquisitions, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is tipped to fall 59% to $2.3 million compared to last year's result.
