The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) went up 1.1% today to 6,589 points.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX today:
Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF) FY21 half-year result
The fast food business boasted of generating strong earnings growth in FY20 despite COVID-19 impacts.
Collins Foods revenue grew 11.3% to almost $500 million. KFC Australia was the star performer with revenue growth of 15.6% to $415.5 million and same store sale growth of 12.4%.
The company decided to close its nine remaining Sizzler restaurants in Australia, which were shut by 15 November 2020 following a brand review.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 10.5% to $63.7 million – 'underlying' means before AASB 16.
Underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) went up by 15.1% to $27.5 million and net operating cash flow, before AASB 16, rose by $23.6 million to $57.3 million.
Net debt was down to $170.7 million from $217.3 million. Collins Foods decided to declare an interim dividend of 10.5 cents per share, which was an increase of 10.5%.
Collins Foods Drew O'Malley said: "Despite the challenges imposed by COVID-19, the business is in a strong position financially and operationally. Net debt and leverage levels have significantly reduced due to the strength of our operating cashflows, and the challenges brought on by the pandemic have allowed us to make significant improvements to digital and delivery platforms, which continue to perform well."
The Collins Foods share price went up around 11% in reaction to this result.
Humm Group Limited (ASX: HUM) and Douugh Ltd (ASX: DOU)
These two businesses announced a joint venture today to expand into the US.
Humm, which used to be called FlexiGroup, announced that neobank Douugh will offer a Douugh 'powered by humm' branded buy now pay anywhere solution for the US market in the first half of 2022.
Douugh will utilise humm's technology platform to manage a line of credit up to US$1,000 to eligible customers through a 'credit jar' on Douugh's platform and virtual Mastercard. This is going to be an interest-free option which will be paid back over six weekly instalments.
This is first proposed joint venture generated by humm ventures, an initiative to explore new and innovative ways to expand the global reach and distribution of humm.
Humm CEO Rebecca James said: "Through our proposed joint venture with Douugh, we are taking our first steps into the United States as a company. At the same time, we are demonstrating how humm ventures can create innovative and novel ways to take humm's world class technology and capabilities to expand its relevance and distribution."
Humm is also going invest $2.5 million into Douugh's capital raising at an issue price of $0.22 per share.
The humm share price went up 1.2% and the Douugh share price went up 9.4%.
Aussie house prices
CoreLogic's latest monthly update showed that Australian house prices went up by 0.8% across the country in November 2020.
Sydney prices rose 0.4%, Melbourne prices grew 0.7%, Brisbane prices went up 0.6% and every other city went up more than 1% with Canberra and Darwin both going up almost 2%.
As you may be able to guess, the big four ASX banks responded by going higher. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price went up 1.5% and the Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price rose 0.75%.
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
The oil and gas giant upgraded its 2020 guidance today. It said that its 2020 production guidance is now going to be in a range of 87 million to 89 million barrels of oil equivalent. This was an increase from previous guidance of 83 million to 88 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Santos also lowered its production cost guidance to $8 to $8.05 per barrel of oil equivalent.
The Santos share price rose 0.8% today.
