It has been a busy day on the Australian share market with a large number of quarterly, trading, and half year updates.
Three quarterly updates that appear to have impressed the market today are summarised below. Here's what you need to know:
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
The Santos share price is up over 8% to $4.32 after a rebound in oil prices and the release of its first quarter update. For the first quarter of FY 2020, Santos delivered US$265 million of free cash flow. However, for much of this quarter oil prices were much stronger. So Santos is hurriedly working to lower costs to combat the recent oil price collapse. It is targeting a 2020 free cash flow breakeven oil price of US$25 per barrel. Until then, it has significant liquidity to ride out the storm. At the end of the quarter it had liquidity of over US$3 billion. This comprises US$1.15 billion in cash and US$1.9 billion in committed undrawn debt facilities.
Uniti Group Ltd (ASX: UWL)
The Uniti share price has rocketed 14% higher to $1.34 after the release of its third quarter update. The growing telco company reported record positive net operating cash flow of $7.9 million in the March quarter. This was a 217% increase on the prior quarter on a like for like basis. Management also advised that it annualised run-rate EBITDA is tracking above its forecast. Increased levels of work-from-home, online learning, and domestic internet consumption have strengthened underlying demand for its superfast fibre-to-the-premises services. The company recorded record net new FTTP connections in March.
Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)
The Volpara share price has pushed 3.5% higher to $1.31. The catalyst for the medical technology company's solid gain was the release of its fourth quarter update this morning. During the quarter Volpara reported cash receipts of NZ$4.7 million. This represents a 354% increase on the prior corresponding period. The company also revealed similarly strong growth in its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) metric. At the end of the period its ARR had reached NZ$18 million. This is ahead of its upgraded guidance and up 172% year on year. Volpara's software products are now contracted to ~27.1% of US women who undergo screening and have at least one of its products applied on their images and data.
