This week was the first week of reporting season. During August those companies listed on the ASX with a financial year ending 30 June, which is most of them, will report their full year financial statements.
In other news, the RBA decided to leave cash rates unchanged at 2% on Tuesday as predicted by Mike King on Monday. Are further cuts likely in the future?
On Monday, the Motley Fool Staff revealed their top picks for August and Mike King examined how much you will need to retire comfortably in this piece.
Former industry insider, Mitch Sonogan, has been writing a series of articles taking an in-depth look at the mining industry called The Mining Investor's Handbook. He completed parts 10 and 11 during the week.
Full-year reports
Units in listed property investment instrument BWP Trust (ASX: BWP) were relatively unmoved on Wednesday despite it reporting a 13.7% increase in income for the year and a 7.7% lift in its full-year distribution.
Shares in engineering services company Downer EDI Limited (ASX: DOW) fell 8.9% on release of its full-year results on Thursday. The company posted a 2.7% fall in net profit and a 4.8% drop in revenue.
Debt collector Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP) shares fell by more than 2.5% on Tuesday even though its full-year results showed revenue and profit growth of 10% on last year.
Shares in labour hire firm Skilled Group Ltd. (ASX: SKE) rose 4.8% on the release of its results. However the move may have more to do with the announcement of a proposed special dividend of 15.5 cents should the merger with Programmed Maintenance Services Limited (ASX: PRG) go ahead.
On Tuesday, mobile payments and advertising company Mobile Embrace Ltd (ASX: MBE) reported a 71% increase in revenue and a 62% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
Half-year reports
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) has seen its underlying net profit fall 43% for the half-year to 30 June 2015 compared with last year thanks to falling commodity prices.
Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia (ASX: GMA) reported a 25% fall in its first half statutory profit but just a minor deterioration in its underlying profit.
Takeover news
Childcare centre rollup company G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) upped its bid for takeover target Affinity Education Group Ltd (ASX: AFJ) to 80 cents per share. Here's why G8's share price fell on the news and here's why Affinity's rose.
The board of outdoor clothing retailer Kathmandu Holdings Ltd (ASX: KMD) advised investors to reject Briscoe Group's takeover offer causing the stock to rise 3% on Thursday.
Shares in eye surgery specialist Vision Eye Institute Ltd (ASX: VEI) rose 1.7% on Tuesday as the company rejected a bid from Pulse Health Limited (ASX: PHG).
Shares in law firm Shine Corporate Ltd (ASX: SHJ) were down 1.6% on Wednesday as the company announced it plans to acquire West Australian law firm Bradley Bayly for just over $13 million.
Insurance broker Austbroker Holdings Limited (ASX: AUB) announced the acquisition of 60% of Allied Health Australia, a provider of workplace rehabilitation services for an initial fee of $8.6 million.
Other announcements
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) plans to raise $2.5 billion from institutions and up to a further $500 million from retail investors for a minimum price of $30.95 per share.
Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) released its quarterly production report showing a 15% rise in production offsetting falls in commodity prices. Then a few days later, the vertically integrated energy provider announced the sale of its majority holding in New Zealand based Contact Energy for $1.6 billion.
Shares in crowdsourcing company Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) went into a trading halt pending a possible capital raising on Monday. On Wednesday, the company announced that it had raised $10 million from institutions at a price of $1.40 per share and that founder and CEO, Matt Barrie, had sold $12 million of shares.
Shares in online foreign exchange business Ozforex Group Ltd (ASX: OFX) were up 12% on Thursday after the company announced a 31% uplift in net operating income and 22% improvement in transaction volumes for the first quarter of the year.
Shares in payday lenders Money3 Corporation Limited (ASX: MNY) and Cash Converters International Ltd (ASX: CCV) fell as Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) announced it would stop providing funds to the industry. The news comes on the back of a class action being filed against Cash Converters relating to its Queensland operations.
China based electric scooter manufacturer Vmoto Ltd (ASX: VMT) reported that sales were down slightly in its second quarter compared to last year, although they were up 13% on the first quarter this year.
