Last week the S&P/ASX 200 index pushed aside coronavirus concerns and climbed higher. The benchmark index recorded a 1.5% gain to close the week at 7130.2 points.
Whilst a good number of shares climbed higher, some climbed more than most. Here's why these shares were the best performers on the benchmark index:
IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)
The IDP Education share price was the best performer on the ASX 200 last week with a massive 36.4% gain. Investors were fighting to get hold of the student placement and language testing company's shares following its half year results release. IDP Education impressed the market when it delivered a massive 53% increase in EBITDA to $106.2 million. This was driven by a particularly strong performance from its student placement segment and further supported by robust growth in the IELTS segment. Another positive was that the company revealed that the coronavirus outbreak was not having a meaningful impact on its business at this point.
Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG)
The Breville share price wasn't far behind with an impressive 27.5% gain. The catalyst for this strong rise was the release of the appliance maker's half year results. Breville delivered a 25.4% increase in revenue to $552 million thanks largely to double-digit growth in all regions in the global product segment. Looking ahead, management advised that it expects full year EBIT to be consistent with the markets' consensus forecast of ~$110 million.
Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF)
The Challenger share price was a strong performer last week with a gain of 13%. The annuities company's shares charged higher following the release of its half year results. Challenger reported a 4% decline in normalised net profit after tax to $191 million due to a higher effective tax rate. This was largely in line with expectations. Looking ahead, management advised that the company is on track to achieve the top end of its FY 2020 normalised net profit before tax guidance range of $500 million to $550 million.
BINGO Industries Ltd (ASX: BIN)
The BINGO Industries share price was on form last week and recorded a gain 12.4%. This was despite there being no news out of the waste management company during the period. However, late last month BINGO reaffirmed its FY 2020 underlying EBITDA guidance. This means it is on track to deliver underlying EBITDA in the range of $159 million and $164 million in FY 2020. This represents a 50% to 54.5% increase on FY 2019's underlying EBITDA. A key driver of this growth has been the game-changing acquisition of rival Dial a Dump Industries last year for $578 million.
