The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose by another 0.2% today to 5,966 points.
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price hits a new record
The Afterpay share price briefly soared above $62 this morning. It ended the day up 0.5%, finishing at around $59.50.
UK growth was the cause of the share price jump. Clearpay is the name of UK business.
Clearpay has seen customer purchasing frequency in the UK outpacing US customer purchasing frequency at the same stage of the lifecycle. UK customers are transacting more than eight times within the first year compared to US customers which purchase six times during the first year.
More than 1,100 brands and retailers are offering Clearpay, or are in the process of offering Clearpay, to their customers.
Some of the recent brands added to Clearpay are: Elemis, Bare Minerals, ISAWITFIRST, Apricot, Size, Koibird and Sana Jardin. Existing brands utilising Clearpay are ASOS, M&S, JD Sports and Boohoo.
In May 2020, Clearpay had more than 3 million app and site visits. Clearpay's shop directory contributed over 1.5 million lead referrals to its retail partners. This represents an increase of 40% to 50% of the weekly run rate from January and February.
The ASX 200 buy now, pay later business has been on a strong run since March 2020. The Afterpay share price has gone up 567% in that time.
Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) reintroduces purchasing limits
There has been increased supermarket buying again in Victoria as fears mount about COVID-19 spreading.
Can you guess what one of the products in high demand is? That's right, toilet paper.
Other items to have purchasing limits include hand sanitiser, flour, sugar, eggs and rice.
But Victoria's chief health officer and Woolworths have said there isn't any need to panic buy.
CSR Limited (ASX: CSR) trading update
CSR held its AGM update today and gave an update.
For the first 11 weeks of FY21 the building products division has seen Australian revenue fall 3%. Including the impact of New Zealand COVID-19 restrictions, the decline is 5%.
Projects which started prior to COVID-19 continue to support the revenue. However, current lead indicators such as new home sales in Australia during April and May are down 19% compared to the same period last year. Lower activity is expected later in the year.
In the property division, the first tranche of the Horsley Park transaction remains on track to deliver $80 million in proceeds and $53 million in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the second half of this year.
DEXUS Property Group (ASX: DXS) announces property sale
Dexus has announced the sale of 45 Clarence Street, Sydney for $530 million. This sale price matches the property's book value at 31 December 2019.
It's a 28-level officer tower with 32,000 square metres located in the western corridor of Sydney's financial district. At 31 December 2019 the property was 100% occupied and had a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 3.3 years.
The ASX 200 property business decided to sell the building after receiving an off-market, unsolicited offer from Peakstone – a Singapore headquartered manager.
Dexus intends to initially repay debt with the money. But it could enable Dexus to recycle capital into higher returning opportunities which could become more prevalent over the coming period.
Freedom Foods Group Ltd (ASX: FNP) share price drops, goes into trading halt
The Freedom Foods share price has fallen 14.5% today. Today the food business announced that the managing director and CEO, Mr Rory Macleod, is on leave pending another announcement that's expected to be made early next week.
Yesterday the market learned that the ASX 200 share's chief financial officer and company secretary, Mr Campbell, Nicholas had resigned.
This afternoon Freedom Foods went into a trading halt pending an announcement about its financial performance. The trading halt will remain in place until the morning of 26 June 2020.
