ASX reporting season live updates: Everything you need to know about companies revealing results today

Destructive hailstorms and thunderstorms resulted in tens of thousands of insurance claims for one of the nation’s biggest insurers, denting its interim earnings.

Suncorp paid out $542 million in claims from one storm alone, a November 25 thunderstorm that damaged vehicles and property across southeastern Australia.

That storm, which belted southeast Queensland with baseball-sized hail measuring 9cm in diameter, is likely to be one of the costliest in Suncorp’s recent history.

Thunderstorms struck eastern Australia and New Zealand on October 25, resulting in Suncorp having to pay out $358 million in claims.

Overall, Suncorp received 71,000 natural hazard claims during the half year to December.

Suncorp paid out $1.3 billion in total, which was $453 million above its natural hazard allowance.

Most of the damage involved hail, with 26,400 hail-related claims totalling $708 million in damages.

“This has been a challenging half, for the entire insurance industry, with the extreme weather events,” Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston said on Wednesday.

Suncorp is supporting customers impacted by the severe weather events and continues to finalise earlier complex claims, including from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and flooding in Queensland and NSW.

Chief financial officer Jeremy Robson said the hail events were “relatively random in terms of weather patterns” and there was a less-than-clear connection to climate change dynamics.

Suncorp on Wednesday reported a 76 per cent fall in net profit for the first half of 2025/26 to $263 million, from $1.1 billion a year ago.

Cash earnings also dropped sharply, to $270 million from $828 million.

Suncorp collected $7.69 billion in gross written premiums, up 2.7 per cent from a year ago in the six months ended December 30.

The company noted it used 15 different AI chatbots to handle more than 1.6 million digital customer interactions in the half, up more than 28 per cent.

Shares in Suncorp, which declared a first-half dividend of 17 cents, fell more than four per cent to $15.33 in lunchtime trading on Wednesday.

Older buyers are leading the charge for one of Australia’s biggest residential home builders, as pent-up demand continues to drive interest despite the risk of higher borrowing rates.

Mirvac benefited from a 38 per cent rise in the sale of apartments and properties in residential communities, with more than 1000 lots exchanged in the second half of 2025.

Of those, 835 were settled, representing a boost of 22 per cent on the same time a year ago.

The result added to earnings in its development arm, leading the group to a five per cent rise in net operating profit to $248 million in the first half of 2025-26, from the same period last year.

Despite the rising interest rates environment, Mirvac CEO Campbell Hanan said home-seeker inquiry levels in January and February were similar to December, as the group headed towards the end of its half-year.

“I can’t stress enough, there is a chronic undersupply of housing in Australia and that chronic undersupply is going to be there for a while,” he said.

“There is a lot of pent-up demand that is looking to find a solution to this housing problem.”

Despite the first central bank rate hike in two years in February, demand hadn’t faltered, Mr Hanan noted, pointing to a recent sold-out land release for a residential community in Bullsbrook, north-east of Perth.

In Karnup, about 50km south of the CBD, it’s building 1500 new homes in partnership with the WA government.

Mirvac CEO of development Stuart Penklis said the semi-rural area was one of the fastest-growing catchments in Australia.

Australia commissioned a record-breaking number of renewable projects and big batteries last quarter, signaling fresh momentum in the country’s clean-energy transition.

Nine solar and wind generation sites were completed in the final three months of 2025, representing capital expenditure of more than $3.3 billion and adding 2.1 gigawatts of capacity - more than in the prior six quarters combined, according to a report by the Clean Energy Council.

Four utility scale batteries started, helping lift annual output above the total for the prior eight years combined, the industry body said.

While Australia boasts the world’s highest per-capita rate of rooftop solar and is one of the top markets for big batteries, a slow rollout of new transmission infrastructure had seen the buildout of renewable projects slow. That threatens the government’s pledge to slash emissions to between 62 and 70 per cent of 2005 levels by 2035.

There are currently 81 generation projects and 75 storage sites either financially committed or under construction, according to the report.

We love a good aerial view, especially when it comes to big-kit mining stuff.

And Iluka Resources’ $1.7 billion rare earths refinery taking shape in Eneabba is a cracker!

Reporting its full-year results today, the mineral sands miner revealed $865 million has so far been spent on the project, which is largely being bankrolled by the Federal Government as Australia aims to release China’s stranglehold on the global rare earths market.

The plant will be Australia’s first fully integrated refinery for the production of separate light and heavy oxides used in the production of advanced electronics to power green techologies and high-spec weaponary.

First production at Eneabba is slated for 2027.

Australia’s biggest network of mortgage brokers, Australian Finance Group, has recorded a record half-year profit on surging demand for home loans.

AFG’s net earnings leapt 46 per cent to $22.4 million in the six months to December 31, supporting payment of a fully franked interim dividend of 4.7c a share.

“This result reflects the strength of AFG’s fundamentals, underpinned by our leading broker proposition, the scale and diversity of our business, and a clear strategy executed with discipline through all stages of the cycle,” AFG chief executive David Bailey said.

AFG’s 4300-strong broker network now accounts for one in every nine residential mortgages written in Australia.

And the company is off to a strong start for the June half.

“AFG has progressed into the second half impressively, supported by record-breaking January activity on top of the record quarterly lodgements of $31.6 billion and $62 billion for the half-year,” Mr Bailey said.

AFG shares were 5.1 per cent higher at $2.14.

Shares in Lycopodium fell after seemingly disappointing investors with numbers the East Perth-based contractor indicated will improve in the second half of the year.

Net profit of $18.3 million was weaker than the $25.2m generated for the same period as last year. Revenue improved from $167.4m to $174.5m.

Stockbroker Euroz Hartleys said the key focus from investors would hinge on confidence around project execution into 2027.

Lycopodium is banking on strong momentum in gold and copper prices as the catalyst for new work.

The contractor’s shares were down 4.45 per cent in early afternoon trade at $14.18.

National Australia Bank has followed its big-four peers, with its shares hitting a record high after posting solid profit reuslts.

Shares in the lender hit $47.96 in early trade before paring gains to $47.31 by 9.15am - still up 4.4 per cent.

ANZ stood out among its peers last week, with the stock surging to a record on Thursday after the lender’s quarterly profit soared.

CBA, whose shares have steadily declined in recent months amid valuation concerns, spiked the most since 2020 last Wednesday as it posted first-half earnings that beat estimates.

Westpac also unveiled a first-quarter profit increase on Friday.

Five years after Warren Buffett sold off all of Berkshire Hathaway’s newspapers and predicted unending declines for most of the industry, Berkshire disclosed a new $US350 million ($496m) investment in the New York Times.

The somewhat surprising move highlighted the quarterly update Berkshire filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission about the company’s stock holdings in Buffett’s last quarter as CEO.

Berkshire also increased its investment in Chevron just before President Donald Trump ordered the arrest of Venezuela’s president, and the Omaha-based company continued selling off more of its Bank of America and Apple shares.

At the time that Buffett sold off Berkshire’s dozens of newspapers in 2020 he concluded the industry was “toast”.

But even then he suggested that newspapers with a national brand like the Times or Wall Street Journal might still do well.

Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local news at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, said the Times may have its roots in the newspaper business, but today it’s a thriving digital business with popular games like Wordle.

Buffett generally handled any investments worth more than $US1 billion, so at the size of this Times investment it’s not certain whether this was one of his bets.

But many investors will still try to copy it because of Buffett’s remarkable track record over the decades before he handed the CEO title over to Greg Abel in January after six decades of leading Berkshire. Shares of the Times jumped nearly three per cent in after hours trading after Berkshire disclosed the stake.

Shares in Medibank and Nib have jumped after announcing premium increases for 2026.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday approved​​​​ the biggest premium lift since 2017​​​​ and comes after last year’s 3.73 per cent increase.

In an after-market announcement shortly after, Medibank said it would lift premiums by an average of 5.10 per cent.

The change, which applies to both Medibank and ahm health insurance policies, equates to a $2.14 rise per week for a single policy or $4.46 per week for a family policy.

Meanwhile, Nib’s premiums would rise an average of 5.47 per cent. Both price rises will apply on April 1.

Shares in Medibank and Nib were up 6.3 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively, in early trade on Wednesday.

The Aussie sharemarket is inching closer to retaking the 9000-point mark.

The S&P/ASX200 had climbed 29.1 points after the first hour of trade today to 8988.

All sectors were in the green but miners slipped marginally.

Leading the charge was a return to form for some tech stocks, which jumped 2.2 per cent. Health care, telcos, real estate and banking stock also added to the optimism.

Telco Superloop was a standout performer, soaring 12.4 per cent. Netweath was a close second, up 11 per cent. Technology One, Zip Co. and Medibank rounded out the top five stocks so far.

Among those dragging down the market were Capstone Copper (down 16.6 per cent), Fletcher Building (down 4 per cent), Pantoro Gold (down 3.5 per cent), Westgold Resources (down 3.2 per cent) and Judo Captial (down 3.1 per cent).