Qantas eyes return to profitability, High Court clears BHP class action and BrainChip receives 10th US patent
Qantas is bouncing back from the pandemic, offering bonuses and compensation to employees who endured a two-year wage freeze.
Australia’s largest airline Qantas (ASX: QAN) has announced it is expecting a return to profitability after more than two years of losses due to COVID-19.
Qantas anticipates an underlying profit before tax of between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion for the first half of the 2023 financial year.
The company said the expected profitability would result from forward bookings, its latest assumptions of the second quarter, and current fuel prices.
A return to profitability would end the run of five consecutive halves of heavy losses since COVID-19 first hit, resulting in a cumulative statutory loss of $7 billion.
Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce said the airline’s latest announcement showed just how far it has come in its battle through the difficult pandemic period.
Mr Joyce also said the airline would increase the pay of 20,000 of its employees, including $10,000 in cash and share bonuses, and add 10,000 workers’ friends and family as beneficiaries of its staff travel program to compensate for the “long periods of stand-down and a two-year wage freeze.”
The Star Entertainment Group
The Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) has announced incoming chief executive officer and managing director Robert Cooke will begin in the role ahead of schedule, this Monday, 17 October.
After being selected for the role on 29 June, Mr Cooke has since acquired requisite regulatory approvals in Queensland and awaits regulatory approvals in New South Wales.
For now, the company’s current executive chairman Ben Heap has retained responsibility for decisions that require NSW ‘close associate’ status until Mr Cooke’s regulatory approvals in the state are obtained.
Mr Cooke vows to rebuild the trust in the gambling and entertainment giant.
“We need to be putting compliance at the top of the list and if you do that, it protects shareholder value,” he said.
Trying to deal with two reports in NSW and Queensland highlighting the operator was unsuitable to hold a casino licence, Mr Cooke aims to change the views on the company moving forward.
He said “compliance will be put ahead of profits” under his leadership, but insists a “cultural change won’t happen overnight”.
The company’s latest executive change adds to the hiring of law firm Allen & Overy as an independent monitor, along with three new board members, a new chief risk officer, separating the legal risk and company secretary functions, and adding 50 staff to risk and compliance.
Coronado Global Resources
Coronado Global Resources’ (ASX: CRN) share price rose this week after announcing it is in discussions with US-based Peabody Energy over a potential “combination transaction”.
Coronado said “there is no certainty that the discussions will lead to a transaction”, but the company remains hopeful of a better outcome than the merger talks with Arch Resources earlier this year, which ultimately failed.
After coal markets struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic with a drop in power demand as factories closed and reduced output, a resurgence was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which shifted the sector’s fortunes.
With Coronado boasting a market cap of US$2.05 billion (A$3.5 billion), and US-based Peabody being valued at US$3.8 billion (A$6 billion), a merge could see the formation of a new global giant worth around $6 billion (A$9.4 billion).
BHP Group
A class action against BHP Group (ASX: BHP) over the 2015 Brazilian dam collapse that killed 19 people has been given the green light, with the High Court paving the way for non-Australian resident claimants to come forward.
The class action spans from October 2013 until the dam failure on 9 November 2015.
The claimants reportedly suffered losses due to BHP having failed to meet its stock exchange disclosure obligations and because the mining giant was misleading.
BHP pushed its case, arguing any claimants who were non-Australian resident shareholders could not legally be part of the class action.
Australia’s High Court rejected BHP’s appeal, stating legislation does not restrict a claimant’s geographical location or residence.
“BHP’s construction of (the law) ignores the Constitution and the legislation passed by the Commonwealth Parliament… and rewrites the Federal Court of Australia Act,” it said.
More than 700 people were displaced along with the 19 killed when the dam collapsed in southeastern Brazil, which wiped out the village of Bento Rodrigues.
BrainChip
Australian software company BrainChip (ASX: BRN) announced it has been granted its 10th patent in the United States, titled “An Improved Spiking Neural Network”, which increases the patent protection around the company’s neuromorphic on-chip learning technology.
BrainChip also announced it has acquired JAST learning rule technology, which includes its licensed patents, from Toulouse Tech Transfer (TTT) for an estimated worth of $242,485.
The company first acquired an exclusive licence for the JAST learning rule and algorithms from TTT in 2017, but is pleased to now have full ownership of the intellectual property rights.
BrainChip’s latest patent marks its 10th in the US, complementing one in China and 27 pending in the US, Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Israel.
It believes the outstanding patent applications will help “protect a broad level of learning algorithms, providing competitive advantages to the company.”