Seven things to watch for in results season
Welcome to a Tuesday update from Unmade. In today’s members-only content we preview ASX results season, and things to look out for in the media and marketing sector.
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The worst results season ever?
The diary notes are starting to appear on the ASX. Results season - aka accountancy Christmas - is almost here.
Indeed, you may have noticed that the smaller companies obliged to share quarterly numbers have already started to do so. But the big numbers - the full year results for companies following the standard Australian financial year - begin in about a fortnight.
Here’s seven things to look out for:
Nine: Can it put the last six months behind it?
The market will be looking for tangible evidence that the TV market has hit bottom, and is beginning to turn, as chief sales officer Michael Stephenson suggested at Nine’s half yearly results in February.
Since then, Nine has been through some of the most tumultuous months in its history, with a scandal of sexual harassment in its TV newsroom, chairman Peter Costello resigning after barging a journalist to the ground during a Canberra Airport doorstop, and journalists from the publishing division going on strike. Factor in the end of Facebook’s publishing deals and an imminent round of redundancies, and there’s a lot to worry the market.
Nine’s stock is trading near its lowest point since the Covid emergency began in 2020.
The market will also be looking for good news about Nine’s Olympics advertising revenue, which will land in the current financial year.
Market watchers will also be looking more carefully at chief finance and strategy officer Matt Stanton who, along with Stephenson, are the strongest internal candidates to succeed Sneesby if he does not survive the scandals.
