BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, a members-only warehouse club chain, achieved excellent results. Photo / Mike Mozart, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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International
US
BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings reported its financial results for the 13th and 52nd weeks ended January 28, 2023.
The members-only Warehouse Club chain hit $1 billion in adjusted ebitda for the first time in its history.
Comparable club revenue increased 9.8 percent year-over-year, membership fee income increased 8.0 percent and diluted earnings per share of $0.95 increased 21.8 percent.
The company saw 22.0 percent growth in digitally-enabled sales and opened five new clubs since the end of the third quarter.
The investments made by the company have positioned it well for long-term growth and sustainable value creation.
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The Company has provided guidance for fiscal 2023 that includes an expected 4-5 percent increase in comparable club revenue (excluding gasoline) and a 5-6 percent increase in dues revenue.
Merchandise gross margins are also expected to improve by around 40 basis points year-on-year. Earnings per share are forecast to be around last year’s levels, including a 53rd week advantage of a low ten cents per share.
The company plans to invest approximately $450 million.
Data for last week’s US jobless claims was released, rising to its highest level since December, with California and New York driving the rise.
Initial claims rose by 21,000 to 211,000, while standing claims grew the most since November 2021. The numbers beat all estimates by a Bloomberg poll of economists, indicating some moderation in the labor market.
However, the data can be inconsistent from week to week and the increase may have been compounded by factors such as severe weather and school holidays.
The Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates will depend on upcoming economic data, including Friday’s jobs report and next week’s inflation data.
rest of the world
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Credit Suisse has delayed the release of its annual report due to inquiries from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about 2019 cash flow statements.
The bank’s 2022 annual financial statements, published last month, remain unaffected.
Credit Suisse said the SEC’s feedback was technical in nature and related to the netting treatment of some securities lending and borrowing transactions.
This resulted in understated balance sheet and cash flow positions, leading Credit Suisse to revise its 2020 total assets and liabilities by 13 billion Swiss francs (NZ$22.7 billion), or 1.7 percent of its total assets.
Domino’s Pizza Group expects to incur around £9 million (NZ$17.5 million) in costs for two new cloud-based IT systems in 2023. The share price fell by up to 10.0 percent.
However, the company’s collections business has benefited from more shoppers picking up their orders to reduce shipping costs, with pickup orders up 28.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Despite the positive news, Domino’s reported a decline in underlying core earnings for 2022 on tech investments, higher costs and grocery inflation. The company’s 2023 outlook also pointed to higher interest costs and further technology investments.
raw materials
US authorities transferred $1 billion (NZ$1.64 billion) worth of bitcoin from a dark web hack to new wallet addresses, including one owned by Coinbase.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported that nearly 10,000 bitcoin were sent to Coinbase-controlled wallets, while about 41,000 were routed to government-controlled wallets.
Investors expressed concerns that authorities would sell the recovered bitcoin on the open market, potentially lowering the token’s price, causing bitcoin’s price to drop about 2.0 percent and taking it below $22,000 pushes.
However, fears of an open market sale may be overdone, as the government typically sells confiscated assets at auction. The composition of the market will likely affect the extent to which it reacts to potential market-moving events.
Oil prices fell for a third straight day on concerns about the economic impact of rising interest rates, which outweighed positive news of a surprise drop in US crude inventories and hopes for Chinese demand.
Comments by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the likelihood of further hikes in interest rates on the back of strong data updates also contributed to the drop in oil prices.
Brent crude was down 0.4 percent to $82.32 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 11 cents to $76.55. Fears of a recession are growing, according to oil brokerage PVM’s Tamas Varga.
Australia
Xero plans to cut up to 800 jobs worldwide to streamline operations and achieve a better balance between growth and profitability.
The company is also exiting Waddle, a cloud-based lending platform it acquired in 2020, and expects a A$30-40 million writedown.
Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said the reorganization would adjust its operating cost base as it balances growth and profitability.
Xero’s share price fell in November after a larger loss was announced, but following today’s announcement, the share price rose more than 7.5 percent.
Despite reporting an elevated loss in its report for the first half of fiscal 23, Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) share price rose 3.09 percent to A$1.00 on Thursday, among the top performers in the market S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX:XJO ).
The increase in losses was expected as the company increased its investments and operations to begin large-scale production, which it has now achieved.
Core Lithium has now evolved from a mine explorer and developer into a mine operator and producer, making it one of the few ASX lithium companies actually producing lithium.
The Company is well positioned to capitalize on high demand for available battery grade lithium concentrate and to complement its existing binding offtake agreements with Ganfeng Lithium and Yahua.
The Company had A$125 million in cash at the end of the period and is expected to generate revenue now that it is producing lithium.
New Zealand
In February 2023, retail spending increased in most categories except apparel.
The highest increases were recorded in consumer durables and consumer goods. However, total seasonally adjusted card spending fell 1.7 percent, with non-retail categories being the largest contributor to the decline.
Despite this, total retail card spend increased by 11.7 percent compared to February 2022, and total card spend increased by 14.9 percent.
The data only reflect values at national level and are not adjusted for price changes. Electronic card transaction data includes use of credit and debit cards in both retail and service industries, including online shopping.
Comes today
Today there is no planned news for the NZX motherboard or the ASX motherboard. BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) results for this month are released throughout the day and provide valuable insight into the activity level of New Zealand’s manufacturing sector.
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