National Australia Bank lifts its annual statutory net profit by 7.6 per cent, while Singapore Telecommunications — Optus's parent company — reports an 83 per cent rise in half-yearly profit.Disclaimer: thisOptus reports revenue growth but faces high operating expenses
However, its operating expenses were up 3.4 per cent, reflecting higher costs of goods sold and content costs, as well as inflationary pressure on expenses, especially energy costs. The deal was expected to completed in the third quarter of 2023. SingTel owns a 29.6% stake in the enlarged integrated mobile and fixed broadband company.
The Australian share market has started the day higher, with industrials and education stocks leading the gains.However, the tech and energy sectors were down.More than 800 large companies paid no tax in 2021-22, an Australian Taxation Office report reveals. About 10 million Optus customers are believed to have been impacted, as well as about 400,000 businesses including banks, tech firms and lawyers.
The bank, however, said it was still struggling to fight strong competition in the home-lending market and dealing with higher wholesale funding costs. Analysts had expected a profit of $7.80 billion, according to Visible Alpha estimates compiled by Citi. "The Fed not necessarily hiking anymore might get people a little bit more excited, but does that mean that we're going to start cutting aggressively? It's too early to say that," said Marvin Loh, senior global macro strategist at State Street in Boston.