ASX reporting season: All the latest news as listed companies report their results to investors

Donald Trump has vowed to go ahead with imposing tariffs on close neighbours Canada and Mexico, reiterating his complaint that the US had been “taken advantage of” by foreign nations.

On February 1, he signed executive orders to introduce 25 per cent tariffs on products from both countries, plus a 10 per cent tariff on energy from Canada.

After a huge outcry, two days later he granted a month-long pause in imposing them after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised to step up border security.

But that reprieve is due to end within days and Mr Trump has now confirmed during a White House briefing with reporters that they will proceed.

“The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule. This is an abuse that took place for many, many years. The tariffs will go forward, yes, and we’re going to make up a lot of territory,” he said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule.”

The pause is expected to be lifted around March 4.

“Our country will be extremely liquid and rich again,” Mr Trump said.

Canada has warned it will retaliate if tariffs are imposed.

Separately, Mr Trump has signed an order to impose reciprocal tariffs on every country that taxes or charges a tariff on the US and tariffs on certain industries including steel and aluminium.

The president said that under the reciprocal tariff plan, the US will treat other countries’ non-tariff policies as unfair trade practices that warrant tariffs in response.

Those include value-added taxes, or VATs, and other practices that the office of the US trade representative deems to be unfair trade limitations.

Mr Trump also said that foreign countries will not be allowed to send merchandise or other items to the US through another country.

Mark Creasy has cleared the way for Fenix Resources to absorb his iron ore junior that was left in the lurch by the Foreign Investment Review Board for more than a year.

Mr Creasy is the major shareholder of CZR Resources, which since early last year had been waiting on the green light from FIRB to sell its majority stake in the Robe Mesa iron ore project for $102m to Miracle Iron.

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Disgruntled shareholders have sliced 11 per cent off Domino’s Pizza’s stock after it delivered a $22.2 million loss for the six months to the end of December owing to heavy restructuring costs related to the closures of 205 loss-making stores.

It’s now down more than 12 per cent over the past five trading days.

Starbucks plans to lay off 1100 corporate employees globally as new chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations.

In a letter to employees released overnight Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday on Tuesday.

Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and unfilled positions.

Starbucks has 16,000 corporate support employees worldwide but that includes some employees who are not affected, like roasting and warehouse staff.

Baristas in the company’s stores are not included in the lay-offs.

Niccol said all work must be overseen by someone who can make decisions while the the Seattle coffee giant reduces the complexity of its structure and eliminates silos within the company that slow communication.

He has said he wants to improve service times - especially during the morning rush - and re-establish stores as community gathering places.

Niccol is also cutting items from Starbucks; menu and experimenting with its ordering algorithms to better handle its mix of mobile, drive-through and in-store orders.

Starbucks’ global same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 2 per cent in its 2024 fiscal year, which ended on September 29.

In the United States, customers tired of price increases and growing wait times.

In China, its second-largest market, Starbucks faced growing competition from cheaper rivals.

The CEO of Australia’s largest retail bank has penned a letter of reassurance to customers amid cost-of-living pressures and a slip in its shares.

“It’s been a challenging time for Australian households and businesses, and we know many customers have been looking forward to lower rates,” Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said in a letter that hit most patrons’ email inboxes on Monday.

“For our variable home loan rate customers, the full interest rate reduction will hopefully provide some relief.”

CBA shares fell more than eight per cent last week - a fall mirrored by other major Australian banks - but recovered on Monday, rising 2.97 per cent.

Mr Comyn declared in his letter that physical cash was “here to stay,” even if customers’ banking preferences may evolve.

“We’ll continue to distribute more than $4 billion in cash each month through Australia’s largest branch and ATM network, which will also benefit from $100 million in upgrades in 2025,” he said.

“We have extended our promise to keep all our regional CommBank branches open until at least 3 1 J uly 2 027 to support communities and jobs in regional Australia.”

The illegal cigarette trade continues to smoke out retail returns, with fuel and convenience store operator Viva reporting a $27 million decrease in earnings on tobacco products in its half-year results today.

The company, which reported a 20 per cent decline in full year profit after tax of $254m, called out the impact of the illegal cigarette trade on its retail margins.

Overall sales in the convenience store division declined by 4 per cent for the half, but would have been up by 2 per cent, if cigarette sales were not leaking elsewhere.

Viva acquired the Coles Express fuel and convenience business in 2023, as well as the OTR chain and had been converting Coles Express to OTR branded stores over the year. It has also gained Australian Competition and Consummer Commission approval to buy the Liberty service station chain.

The company reported fuel sales of 16.8 billion litres, up 4 per cent and convenience sales of $1.66b, down 4 per cent.

“Group performance was negatively impacted by lower demand within our convenience business due to cost-of-living pressures and illicit tobacco trade, coupled with high inflation lifting the cost of doing busines,” chief executive Scott Wyatt said.

A standout for the company was continued growth in its commerical and industrial division which saw earning rise 5 per cent thanks to increased demand from aviation, resources, agriculture, and defence sectors.

Viva will pay a divident of 3.87c a share, fully franked, taking total dividends for the year to 10.6c, down 32 per cent on the previous year.

Gold touched a fresh record, as exchange-traded funds backed by the precious metal draw renewed interest from investors.

Bullion hit a new all-time high of $US2956.19 an ounce overnight Monday, topping the previous peak reached on Thursday, before paring gains. Prices have risen for the past eight weeks, the longest streak since 2020. Gold-backed ETFs saw the biggest net inflows since 2022 last week.

Mounting concerns over President Donald Trump’s disruptive trade and geopolitical agendas are driving demand for gold as a haven asset. Goldman Sachs last week raised its year-end target for the metal to $US3,100, saying that central-bank buying would be a key driver, as well as expanding ETFs.

Apple has announced plans to invest more than $US500 billion in the US over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas.

The move comes just days after President Donald Trump said Apple CEO Tim Cook promised him that the tech giant’s manufacturing would shift from Mexico to the US Trump noted the company was doing so to avoid paying tariffs.

That pledge, coupled with Monday’s investment commitment, came as Trump continues to threaten to impose tariffs that could drive up the cost of iPhones made in China.

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Profit at Nine Entertainment has cratered as the broadcast and publishing business flags further belt-tightening and restructuring into next financial year.

The company today reported a small uptick in revenue for the first-half to $1.39 billion - a rise of one per cent on the same period a year ago.

But net profit after tax and minorities slumped 29 per cent to $95.1 million.

Nine also said further restructuring was necessary to shore up the balance sheet as it tries to recover from a wave on damning allegations over its internal culture.

That restructuring will continue into the second half and stretch into the next financial year.

“These changes will be designed to ensure Nine’s optimal positioning into the future whilst also maximising the efficiency of our cost base,” it said.

“At this stage, Nine expects further cost efficiencies through to the end of FY27 of more than $100m, of which $10-20m is expected to be realised in FY25, in addition to the previous guidance of $50m in FY25.”

It is also facing higher costs for its television business and a 7 per cent fall in revenue from its publishing arm, which dropped to $268.2m in the first half.

Its online property sales platform Domain - which is now the target of a $2.5b takeover bid from US giant CoStar - delivered a 7 per cent jump in revenue to $217.2m.

Nine owns 60 per cent of Domian and stands to gain about $1.5b from the cash sale.

It repeated the same line in its financial report today as it did when the offer was lobbed last week.

“Domain is of strategic importance to Nine’s media ecosystem and our long-term growth strategy,” it said.

“As Domain’s controlling shareholder, Nine will consider the CoStar proposal with a focus on the best interests of Nine shareholders.“

Pizza giant Domino’s has tumbled to a $22.2 million loss for the six months to the end of December owing to heavy restructuring costs related to the closures of 205 loss-making stores.

The result announced on Tuesday compared with a profit of $57.8m a year ago.

Domino’s, which earlier this month revealed it would swing the axe on 205 stores in a bid to improve profitability, said revenue in the first half was down 6.4 per cent to $1.17 billion. Pre-tax earnings came in at $100.6m, down 6.7 per cent.

The embattled pizza maker booked $115.6m in one-off costs, with impairments on corporate stores to be closed making up $80.6m.

Domino’s said it delivered strong performances in Australia and Benelux, improvements in Germany and South East Asia, but offset by challenges in Japan and France.

“These results demonstrate early progress, however we have more to do to restore value for our shareholders, franchise partners, and customers – as we do so, we will be prioritising profitable same store sales growth similar to other retailers, with selective store additions,” group chief executive Mark van Dyck said.

“Our recent decision to close 205 loss-making stores, including 172 in Japan, should demonstrate we will take the steps we need to provide the venture capital to reinvest in sustainable, long-term growth.”

It declared an unfranked interim dividend of 55.5c per share, unchanged from last year.