The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) edged slightly lower to 7,488 points.
Here are some of the highlights from the ASX:
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)
The Wesfarmers share price fell around 3% after the ASX 200 retailing giant reported its FY21 result.
Wesfarmers reported that its continuing operations revenue increased 10% to $33.9 billion. Continuing operations earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 18.8% to $3.8 billion, net profit after tax (NPAT) grew by 16.2% to $2.4 billion and earnings per share (EPS) jumped 16.2% to 214.1 cents.
The ASX 200 share's statutory net profit jumped 40.2% to $2.4 billion.
Bunnings earnings before tax grew 19.7% to $2.2 billion, Kmart Group grew earnings by 69% to $693 million and Officeworks earnings went up 7.6% to $212 million.
Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott said:
Bunnings, Kmart Group and Officeworks delivered strong sales and earnings growth for the year. While customer demand remained resilient, sales growth in Bunnings, Officeworks and Catch moderated from mid-March as the businesses began to cycle elevated demand following the onset of COVID-19 in the prior year. Pleasingly, sales growth from mid-March remained strong on a two-year basis across all the group's retail businesses.
The Wesfarmers full year dividend was $1.78 per share, an increase of 17.1%. Wesfarmers also decided to announce a return of capital amounting to $2 per share.
Looking at the 2022 financial year to date, Bunnings sales are down 4.7%, Kmart and Target sales are down 14.7%, Catch's gross transaction value is down 8.5% and Officeworks sales are down 1.5%.
Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC)
Another ASX 200 share to drop today was Lynas – it fell 4% after its FY21 report was released.
The rare earth miner achieved record sales in the quarter ending June 2021. This helped revenue jump 60% to $489 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 294% to $235.3 million.
The Lynas net profit after tax surged 710% to $157.1 million.
Lynas said that it has made progress on the Lynas 2025 projects, with a number of milestones achieved, including further exploration of its Mt Weld Resource. The Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility also achieved a number of milestones during the year, including the placement of orders for all long lead time items.
Planning continues for the ASX 200 share's proposed US rare earth separation facility. It has signed two separate contracts for funding grants from the US government.
In the last three months of the year, the USA project team submitted detailed engineering and design work for the heavy rare earths facility.
Lynas noted that the rare earths market has rebounded despite the ongoing pandemic which reinforces the importance of its critical material globally.
Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)
The Nextdc share price fell around 4% after the business released its FY21 result.
It said that its data centre revenue grew by 23% to $246.1 million. This drove underlying EBITDA higher by 29% to $134.5 million, beating guidance. Operating cashflow increased by 148% to $133.2 million.
Contracted utilisation went up 8% to 75.5MW and the number of customers increased by 13% to 1,547.
The ASX 200 share's capital expenditure dropped 18%, or $116 million, to $301 million. Nextdc said that there has been a strong ongoing focus on capital management which has allowed the company to reserve cashflow ahead of expectations. It had $1.7 billion of liquidity at 30 June 2021.
In terms of guidance for FY22, it's expecting data centre services revenue to grow by at least 15.8% to a range of $285 million to $295 million.
Underlying EBITDA is expected to grow by at least 19% to a range of $160 million to $165 million.
Capital expenditure is expected to come in at a range of between $480 million to $540 million (up from $301 million).
