Business

News on companies, industries, and corporate developments.

Business
The Founders: Dog Friendly Co. harness a puppy's dream
The Founders showcases the inspiring journeys of visionary entrepreneurs who turned ideas into thriving businesses. Dive into captivating stories and insightful interviews with founders and CEOs, as they share their challenges, triumphs, and industry insights in this ongoing series. Dogs are a man's best friend — and Dog Friendly Co., an online-based dog apparel brand founded by Sydney siblings Sandra Abade and Luka Maric, seeks to blend style and function for friends around the world. “We're a premium lifestyle brand, so we're designed to elevate the lives of both dogs and owners,” Abade tells Azzet. After starting with its flagship customised dog harnesses, the company now offers products like beds, hoodies, and chew toys, and boasts customers like Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton. The Australian pet supply market has been growing rapidly; IBIS World has projected A$4.1 billion in revenue in 2025. In 2022, 69% of Australian households reported owning a pet, with dogs the most popular choice. Starting off on the right pawThe idea for Dog Friendly Co. began with Abade’s own dog, Carlos. In 2019, Abade was unable to find a harness that would fit a dog of Carlos’ size. “I was looking for something that looked good, was practical
Business
Trading floor: Resmed, Liontown, Eagers lift
Azzet reports on three ASX stocks with notable trading updates today:Resmed soars on tariff exemptionShares in Resmed (ASX: RMD) were up over 6% at the open following a basket of positive news within today’s market update. What captured the market’s attention today were two major announcements. Firstly, the sleep device maker announced that products manufactured in Australia and Singapore will remain exempt from United States trade tariffs. The exemption means that ResMed’s medical devices and masks - manufactured in regions outside the U.S. - fall under a global agreement that ensures duty-free treatment for products designed to support individuals with disabilities. But despite this favourable outcome, ResMed’s CEO, Mick Farrell, flagged the unpredictable nature of trade policies, especially in light of the evolving stance of the U.S. administration. In light of that unpredictability, the company is doubling its manufacturing capacity within the United States. A new production facility is being established in California, highlighting ResMed’s commitment to maintaining a strong domestic base to serve its largest market. The second major market update today was Resmed’s third-quarter financial results in which
Business
Newmont cashes in big on high gold prices, asset sales
With all-time high gold prices and US$4.3 billion in proceeds from asset sales, gold major Newmont has posted quite the record quarter. In its Q1 earnings report, the company revealed a record free cash flow of $1.2 billion on the back of delivering 1.5 million ounces (oz) of gold for $2.6 billion in EBITDA. The average realised gold price was $US2,944/oz, an increase of $301 per ounce over the prior quarter. It's expected that value to go up again for the foreseeable future, with gold currently sitting at US$3,343/oz at the time of writing. Newmont CEO Tom Palmer said the company has now capped off its non-core asset sale, generating about $4.3 billion in total gross proceeds - including >$2.5 billion of after-tax cash for H1 FY25. “With these significant achievements and a solid start to the year, we remain firmly on track to meet our 2025 guidance, continuing on our journey towards creating the world’s leading gold and copper portfolio,” Palmer said. The sell-off over the last 12 months was aimed at sub-500,000ozpa gold assets and doesn’t consider them to be Tier 1 or “non-core”, so it can focus on building up its copper portfolio. The list of breakaway operations divested in 2024 includes up to $475 mil
Business
Texas Instruments reports better than expected earnings
Texas Instruments shares were rising in after-hours trading after the chip maker exceeded expectations in their first quarter earnings report. The company reported first quarter revenue of US$4.07 billion and earnings per share of $1.28, improving upon the revenue from the same time last year. This also beats analysts' expectations of $3.91 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $1.07. "Revenue increased 11% from the same quarter a year ago and increased 2% sequentially,” Texas Instruments president and CEO Haviv Ilan said. “All of our markets grew sequentially with the exception of a seasonal decline in personal electronics. "Our cash flow from operations of $6.2 billion for the trailing 12 months again underscored the strength of our business model, the quality of our product portfolio and the benefit of 300mm production. “Free cash flow for the same period was $1.7 billion.” Illan said the company has invested $ 3.8 billion in R&D and SG&A, invested $4.7 billion in capital expenditures and returned $6.4 billion to owners. When looking forward to the next quarter, Illan said the company is likely to experience more growth and exceed this quarter’s earnings. "TI's second quarter outlook is for rev
Business
Boeing maps smoother flight path as Q1 losses trimmed
The Boeing Company is showing signs of recovering from financial turbulence, announcing a 91% reduction in net loss to US$31 million (A$48.4 million) for the first quarter (Q1) of the 2025 financial year. The result, which compared with a loss of $355 million in the previous corresponding period (pcp), was struck on an 18% increase in revenue to $19.496 billion in the three months to 31 March. The 108-year-old American aerospace and defence company said the core loss per share narrowed to 49 cents from $1.13 in the pcp. Boeing said the results primarily reflected improvements in operational performance and commercial delivery volumes. Source: Boeing“Our company is moving in the right direction as we start to see improved operational performance across our businesses from our ongoing focus on safety and quality,” Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg said in an earnings release. "We continue to execute our plan, are seeing early positive results and remain committed to making the fundamental changes needed to fully recover the company's performance while navigating the current environment." The company said revenue from its commercial airplanes business surged 75% to $8.1 billion in Q1 as deliver

Business
IBM beats expectations on earnings and revenue for Q1
American tech company IBM (NYSE: IBM) has come out ahead of expectations, for both earnings and revenue, in it's latest earnings report. It's first quarter report showed that earnings per share came in at $1.60 adjusted compared to the $1.40 expected, while revenue came in at US$14.54 billion versus $14.4 billion expected, an increase of 0.6% from the same time a year earlier . As a result, the forecast for the full year has been maintained, despite global economic uncertainties with the State's current presidential administration, which IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna described as a “fluid” situation economically, during an interview to CNBC. Net income fell from $1.61 billion to to 1.06 billion, compared to Q1 in 2024.Credit: IBMFor the year ahead, the tech company stayed firm on expectations and guidance, including for $13.5 billion in free cash flow and at least 5% constant currency revenue growth. It also said it expects second-quarter revenue to land in the range of $16.40 billion to $16.75 billion. “While sentiment and the operating environment have been rapidly shifting, our performance reflects the continued success of our focused strategy around hybrid cloud and AI, especially where clients are looking for cost
Business
Mission Critical: Trade war leaves REE miners out to dry
As was laid out in Mission Critical's two-part series on rare earths, it's come as no surprise that China's export ban on rare earth minerals and refined products to the United States has shot a rocket under the share price of juniors in the space. The bigger picture at play here, however, is the lack of ex-China rare earths refining capability. Azzet’s Mission Critical is a weekly column that lays out the ebbs and flows around critical minerals supply chains - from pricing, production, refinement and mergers & acquisitions, to manufacturing and consumer products. Everything, everywhere, all at once is happening in the world of rare earths; with China suffocating global supplies and deals being made in South America, Africa and between nations such as the U.S. and Ukraine to shore up new supply chains. REE juniors are also benefitting from the trade war attention, with Gina Rinehart's Brazilian Rare Earths (ASX : BRE) rising >20% in value in a month. So too neighbour Meteoric Resources (ASX : MEI), which shot up over 35% upon releasing a stonker 388Mt at 2,204ppm REE maiden resource estimate for the Bara do Pacu license at its Caldeira project. Yet the US-China trade war has escalated to the point where Western g
Business
RareX, Iluka to partner multi-commodity project in Kenya
Either RareX (ASX: REE) and Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) shareholders aren’t drinking from the same Kool-Aid, or the former cohort is simply looking at the watershed partnership announced yesterday between both miners through a different lens. Shares in RareX were down around 13% heading into lunch today, after giving back most of yesterday’s 19.4% gain. Given the stock’s share price meteoric ascent year to date, RareX shareholders may have simply concluded that all the good news was now fully priced in – leaving it highly exposed to profit-takers today. Interestingly, while Iluka shares were down 2% on the same news yesterday, the share price jumped by around 4% today.Mrima Hill is a globally significant RE project Share price movements follow yesterday’s revelations that the Perth-based rare earth small-cap was potentially enhancing its role in the critical minerals space by entering a consortium agreement with Iluka to apply for the Mrima Hill rare earth project in Kenya. Regarded as a globally significant rare earth project in Kwale County in Kenya, Mrima Hill is understood to be prospective for phosphate, niobium and manganese. Assuming the partnership’s formal submission at Mrima Hill is successful, it will att
Business
Auto groups band together against Trump's tariffs
Top auto groups in the United States have uncharacteristically rallied together to lobby against the Trump administration's looming 25% tariffs on auto parts. The coalition of groups includes the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, American Automotive Policy Council, Autos Drive America and National Automobile Dealers Association. They appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump in a letter expressing concern surrounding the tariffs set to be implemented on 3 May. They argued that the levy on foreign-made auto parts could cause U.S. plant shutdowns and job losses. “Tariffs on auto parts will scramble the global automotive supply chain and set off a domino effect that will lead to higher auto prices for consumers, lower sales at dealerships and will make servicing and repairing vehicles both more expensive and less predictable,” the letter said. The letter was dated April 21 and was addressed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer. The groups said they represent the country’s top manufacturing sector, supporting 10 million American jobs across all states, injecting US$1.2 trillion into the economy every year.