Reporting Season Round Up: Megaport and Challenger announce positive results

Here it is – your daily round up of ASX companies’ financial results. Reporting results to market this morning were Megaport (ASX:MP1), Challenger (ASX:CGF), Reckon (ASX:RKN), and Coranado (ASX:CRN).

Megaport (ASX:MP1)

The Bevan Slattery run company offers cloud connectivity services with scalable bandwidth and flexibility to move workloads between different data centres.

It had a record performance during FY21 with annual revenue growing 35% to $78.28 million and customers growing 24% to 2,285.

Slattery all but said MP1 benefited from companies’ increased IT requirements as a result of COVID-19, which saw companies undertake a rapid shift to remote working.

“For our customers and partners, agility is the name of the game. The past year has shown us that the ability to adapt to shifting demands on IT systems makes or breaks businesses,” he said.

“I am very proud of Megaport’s enduring drive to innovate and deliver value to our customers, partners and shareholders.”

Megaport also announced its latest acquisition in AI-powered multicloud and edge application orchetration company InnovoEdge.

Megaport (ASX:MP1) share price chart

Challenger (ASX:CGF)

Challenger also announced positive results to the market. The life insurance and annuities provider reached $110 billion in Assets Under Management, up 29% and a $592 million after tax profit.

While the result represented a substantial turnaround from the $416 million loss it made last year, the company today announced the departure of its CEO Richard Howes who has been with the company in various roles for nearly two decades.

The company expects a net profit between $430 million and $480 million in FY22 and will pay a dividend of 20 cents per share.

Challenger (ASX:CGF) share price chart

Reckon (ASX:RKN)

The $100 million cloud-based accounting software provider uses the calendar year as financial year and so it only released half-yearly results.

But Reckon too announced profit growth – of 18.6% to reach $5.4 million. It’s total revenue was $37.5 million, with subscription revenue accounting for 88% of that. It was able to pay down $4 million in debt thanks to the sale of its ReckonDocs business and is paying a dividend of 3 cents per share.

“We have returned the overall business to revenue growth and with our expansive client bases, our talented team, and new cloud product launches across all groups, we are very well positioned to continue this trend,” said CEO Sam Allert.

Reckon (ASX:RKN) share price chart

Coronado (ASX:CRN)

Coronado reported 10% higher production and 12.1% higher revenues coming in at 8.8 million metric tonnes and US$800 million and it credited high global demand for steel, particularly from China.

While the group made a net loss after tax of US$96.1 million this was 22% better than the prior corresponding period and it reduced its net debt by over 40% thanks to a refinancing package.

The company promised shareholders it was in a strong position going into the second half of 2021.

“We are buoyed by the prospect of prolonger higher metallurgical coal prices as steel demand continues to rise faster than supply growth driven by ongoing robust industrial output,” said CEO Gerry Spindler.

“Coronado is well positioned to improve production rates and lower costs in the second half of the year, alloowing us to take advantage of the higher prices and to continue our trajectory of increasing liquidity and reducing net debt.”