The reporting season for Kiwi ASX stocks officially got underway with stocks including Xero (ASX:XRO) and Harmoney (ASX:HMY) releasing results.

While reporting season for most ASX stocks (Which use the July 1-June 30 financial year) is in August, the ASX isn’t strict on the financial year used so long as results are in by two months after the end of the FY.

As New Zealand uses an April 1-March 31 financial year that puts the deadline for most Kiwi stocks at the end of this month – so there will be more to come in the days ahead and it is “reporting season” across The Ditch.

There are dozens of Kiwi stocks on the ASX, driven to the Australian bourse by far higher liquidity, trading volumes and number of companies than on the NZX.

 

The best-known ASX Kiwi stock kicks off reporting season

Arguably the most notable stock that is Kiwi born and bred is Xero (ASX:XRO) which actually listed first on the NZX, then came to the ASX while dual-listed but eventually became solely listed on the ASX after exiting the NZX.

Investors probably know Xero best for its accounting software but in recent years it has broadened its services through acquisitions (ranging from workforce management platforms to invoicing software) to become an all-round business support service.

Xero reported an 18 per cent climb in revenue at NZ$848.8 million as well as hitting 2.74 million subscribers – 288,000 of which were net additions in the second half of FY21. It made a net profit of $19.8 million which was an increase of $16.4 million from the year before.

While the initial shock of COVID-19 caused cost clawbacks from small business, CEO Steve Vamos said demand had been returning with a vengeance.

“The past year has bought home to many people in small business the need to understand in real time their financial position and how it may change,” he said.

“Looking ahead, we believe small business will be a major driver of economic recovery in a post-pandemic world.”

While Xero shares are well ahead of where they were when the stock first listed, shares dropped 10 per cent today.

Xero (ASX:XRO) share price chart

 

Lending does well in reporting season

On the other fintech lender, Harmoney (ASX:HMY) rose by more than 15 per cent this morning.

Lending stocks have done well in recent months thanks to demand spurred by record low interest rates and it’s been no different in UnZed.

In April 2020 it only originated NZ$4.2 million but 12 months later this was 800 per cent higher at NZ$37.8 million.

The company credited the latest generation of its behavioural credit decisioning and pricing engine – Libra – which was only released in February and only in Australia.

Harmoney (ASX:HMY) ASX share price chart

 

Tilt Renewables

Rounding out the list of stocks releasing results during Kiwi reporting season is Tilt Renewables (ASX:TLT) which owns wind farms on both sides of the Tasman.

Its shares saw a slight rise this morning, although its net profit was only A$66.9 million whereas last year it was A$474.8 million. (The latter figure was inflated by an asset sale.)

Tilt reported meeting the completion of its assets at Waipipi and Dundonnell on time and within budget and generated 1,840GWh in energy across its portfolio.

The company is set to be taken over by Mercury Energy in the coming weeks.

Tilt Renewables (ASX:TLT) share price chart

 

Featured Companies

You might be interested in