The ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) was eventful again this week. Here are four big stories you may have missed that affected businesses in the ASX 200 index:
REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)
REA Group reported its first quarter numbers this week. The share price fell 3.6% after REA Group disclosed that revenue fell 9%, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped 14% to $114.9 million and free cash flow declined 20% to $41.8 million.
This was partly because national listings fell 15% (with declines of 21% and 22% in Melbourne and Sydney respectively). Revenue also fell because REA Group extended the duration of its Premiere All listings from 45 days to 60 days which deferred revenue – otherwise revenue would have only dropped 6% and EBITDA would have declined by 9%.
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)
The cloud accounting tech company announced its half year result this week.
Subscribers grew by 30% to just over 2 million, operating revenue increased 32%, EBITDA excluding impairments rose 91% and it reported positive net profit and free cash flow numbers.
One of the most attractive parts of the report was that the gross margin increased from 82.8% to 85.2%.
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)
Big bank NAB reported its FY19 result to investors this week.
As expected, the final dividend was cut to $0.83 per share. Cash earnings fell by 10.6% to $5.1 billion, although excluding large notable items cash profit actually increased by 0.8%. Statutory net profit dropped 13.6% to $4.8 billion.
NAB expects the tough conditions to continue for the short-term.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)
Another big ASX bank reported this week, but Westpac's numbers weren't as good as NAB's.
Westpac's cash earnings dropped 15% to $6.85 billion, excluding notable items cash profit still dropped by 4% to $8 billion. Statutory profit obviously dropped too, falling by 16% to $6.8 billion.
The Westpac board decided to reduce the final dividend by 15% to $0.80 per share.
