nib draws Medibank customers, Brickworks posts record profit and PolyNovo announces capital raise

As Medibank (ASX: MPL) clients continue to fear for the safety of their data after the October cyber-attack, rival insurer nib Holdings (ASX: NHF) has confirmed some customers have made the switch over to its service.

nib saw a 4.7% rise in policyholder growth from July to the end of October, which helped drive a 16.3% increase in underlying operating profit.

Chairman David Gordon said the company has stepped up its investment in cybersecurity and was continuing discussions at a board level.

“We are vigilant, and we will remain vigilant against those sorts of attacks and the impact they can have on confidentiality,” he said.

“I can assure you of one thing. Recent events have ensured it gets priority focus and discussion.”

nib chief executive officer Mark Fitzgibbon said growing frustration from lengthy public hospital waiting times was also a factor in gaining new customers, as consumers are forced into private health insurance.

“Macroeconomic factors are working against us, but we also have factors working in our favour – people are still worried about their health and the blow-out in waiting times for public elective surgery helps with private health insurance participation,” he said.

Mr Fitzgibbon said policyholders are not attached to insurers through conditions, and service providers could not refuse coverage based on a customer’s medical history.

“People can move their cover without disadvantage for pre-existing conditions,” he said.

“If you’re a member of Bupa or Medibank or nib, you can switch without having to serve waiting times.”

“In Australia, you can shift, provided it’s the same level of cover we’re not allowed to stop people,” Mr Fitzgibbon added.

BHP Group

BHP Group (ASX: BHP) has reached an agreement with workers at its majority-owned Escondida mine in Chile, to avoid the strike planned for 21 November and 23 November.

The mining giant confirmed on Monday, but said the agreement must still be approved by members of the union.

“Escondida | BHP and Union No 1 built a proposal for the implementation of a series of productivity measures that benefits workers and the company, which is the result of dialogue held in recent weeks,” it said.

The workers at the world’s largest copper mine have threatened the strike amid concerns of “non-compliance, infractions and violations,” from the mining giant.

In response, BHP said it has the highest safety standards, and “the best collective agreement with its workers in the mining industry”.

As Chile remains the world’s top copper producer, the deal aims to ease any concerns over a further tightening of global supplies of the metal.

TechnologyOne

TechnologyOne’s (ASX: TNE) share price is surging, up more than 5% by Tuesday, after the company posted its full-year results for FY2022, which revealed a 22% rise in profit after tax to $88.8 million.

The significant rise signals the Brisbane-based company’s 13th consecutive year of record profit as customers continue to embrace its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Over the last four years, TechnologyOne has moved to switch its clients from legacy licences to its Software as a Service (SaaS) model instead, with legacy licences now accounting for just 3% of its sales.

TechnologyOne’s new model, the SaaS ERP solution, exceeded company expectations, with customer adoption boosting SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 43% to $274.2 million.

The company now has more than 800 large-scale enterprise organisations across a range of industries, including higher education, health services, construction management and local government.

TechnologyOne’s chief executive officer Ed Chung said the company is on track to surpass $500 million in ARR by the 2026 financial year.

“Our strategy is clear – we strive to deliver a compelling customer proposition, providing our customers with any device, any time access from anywhere around the globe, as well as a simple and cost-effective way to run their enterprise,” he said.

Brickworks

Brickworks (ASX: BKW) has posted a record underlying profit of $746 million for FY2022, but has warned of softening demand amid rising interest rates.

Despite the company flagging softer demand in the second half as interest rates continue to impact the housing industry, the group’s revenue grew to $1.09 billion – a rise of 28% on the previous corresponding period.

The company’s newest division Building Products North America generated $399 million in revenue – underpinning EBITDA of $48 million for FY2022. Building Products Australia took in $694 million of revenue for FY2022 to create EBITDA of $205 million.

Brickworks chairman Robert Millner said the results were positive, but also warned a gas supply squeeze on Australia’s east coast was leading to extreme market volatility and price increases.

“The gas we use to fire the bricks in our kilns cannot be easily substituted for alternative renewable energy sources,” he said.

“As such, ready access to reliable and affordable gas is essential for our industry. We only need to look to Europe to understand the cost of continued inaction by government.”

PolyNovo

PolyNovo (ASX: PNV) has announced it will raise up to $47 million in an effort to aid its global expansion efforts.

The capital raising has two main components, including a $30 million institutional share placement to institutional investors, and $17 million share purchase plan for retail investors.

Subject to shareholder approval in January next year, an additional $3 million share placement will be made available to certain directors of the company, which would bump up the capital raising.

PolyNovo said the funds raised will accelerate its growth efforts across the globe with a focus on the US and expanding into Canada, India and Hong Kong. The company will also look at branching into new markets including Japan and China.

“ construction of a new manufacturing and R&D facility, next to the existing factory, to satisfy the significant increase in demand for NovoSorb,” it said.

The company’s share price has seen considerable growth in the year to date – up more than 93% over the last nine months.