Yesterday certainly was a busy day filled to the brim with earnings releases from the likes of A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) and Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW).
But with so many results being released, it seems inevitable that a few would slip under investors' radars.
Three results of note that I think are worth reading about are summarised before. Here's how these companies fared in the first half:
ARB Corporation Limited (ASX: ARB)
During the first half of FY 2019 this four-wheel drive vehicle accessories company delivered a 5.6% increase in sales revenue to $217.6 million and a 16.5% lift in net profit after tax to $27.3 million. However, when adjusting for the underprovision of taxes in prior years, net profit grew only 3.1% on the prior corresponding period.
Sales in the key Australian Aftermarket segment grew 3.2% during the period thanks to growth in all states, with above average growth in South Australia and Western Australia. Supporting this growth was its Export segment which grew sales by 7.3% over the period. Looking ahead, the company has had a positive start to the second half but warned that economic conditions in some of its main markets remain unpredictable.
Codan Limited (ASX: CDA)
This technology company was a strong performer during the first half of FY 2019, delivering a 35.5% increase in revenue to $128.4 million and a 40.5% jump in net profit after tax to $22.2 million. The company's Communications products and Metal Detection products segments were the key drivers of growth during the half. Sales of Communications products grew 40% to $40.7 million and sales of Metal Detection products increased 29% to $82 million.
Traditionally the company's second half is the strongest, but management warned that it does not expect this to be the case this year due to several large contracts in the first half and the opening of a new gold detector market during the period which resulted in high initial demand.
Sandfire Resources (ASX: SFR)
In the first half of FY 2019 this copper and gold miner posted revenue of $272.3 million and profit after tax of $48.3 million. This was down 1.8% and 19%, respectively, on the prior corresponding period and largely due to a pullback in copper prices over the period.
Pleasingly, management appears confident that the second half will be positive and has retained its guidance. FY 2019 production guidance has been maintained at the upper end of both 63-67kt of contained copper and 37-40koz of contained gold. Its C1 cash costs have been lowered to ~US$0.90-US$0.95 per pound.
