The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell by 0.1% today to 6,745 points.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX, with an IPO stealing some of the headlines:
Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH)
The Pushpay share price jumped more than 10% today after it was announced that the investor Sixth Street is going to become the largest shareholder of the company with a 17.8% holding.
This increased holding by Sixth Street is due to the investment vehicle related to Peter Huljich and Christopher Huljich selling of its shares of Pushpay to Sixth Street.
Sixth Street is a global investment business with over US$50 billion of assets under management (AUM) and committed capital. It has previously invested in other growth companies like Airbnb, AirTrunk, Paycor and Spotify.
The Chair of Pushpay, Graham Shaw, said:
We are delighted to welcome Sixth Street as a cornerstone investor in Pushpay. As a highly experienced technology and growth investor with a core thematic focus on the convergence of software and payments, Sixth Street's global scale and partnership-orientated investing approach brings considerable strength to Pushpay's shareholder register.
Kathmandu Holdings Ltd (ASX: KMD)
The Kathmandu share price went up over 9% in reaction to the company's half-year result today.
The company reported a 12.9% increase in sales to $410.7 million, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 19% to $48.2 million and underlying net profit grew 32.8% to $23.1 million. Statutory net profit after tax came in at $22.3 million.
The Kathmandu division suffered a significant fall of sales and profit due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions and store closures.
However, the acquired Rip Curl business achieved strong sales and profit growth – sales went up 86.1% to $251.1 million and EBITDA grew 164.3% to $48.7 million.
The board resolved to continue dividend payments again, with an interim dividend of NZ 2 cents per share.
The company said Kathmandu is entering the strong winter season, whilst Rip Curl continues to trade in line with the strong first half results.
Travel sector suffers
The ASX travel sector had many of the ASX 200's worst performers today.
One of the worst performers in the ASX 200 was the Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price which fell more than 4%. The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price fell over 3%, the Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price fell around 4%, the Helloworld Travel Ltd (ASX: HLO) share price dropped around 4% and the Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price dropped over 2%.
Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)
The Airtasker share price rose around 60% today on a strong first day on the ASX.
Airtasker gave a short update as part of an announcement to say that all metrics across the business continue to perform strongly and management expect to meet or exceed its prospectus forecast.
It also said that, as part of the initial public offering (IPO), it received higher than expected demand from both its staff and taskers, with over $2.5 million subscribed from these stakeholders.
Airtasker CEO Tim Fung said:
We have an incredible foundation to build from and we're excited to be taking our new shareholders on the exciting journey to fulfill Airtasker's mission: to empower people to realise the full value of their skills.
