Despite recent housing data coming in well below expectations, Le Brun sees hope in the construction sector. “A lot of analysts I have been speaking to think we are coming to the bottom of the cycle, and Stockland and other are due to turn around,” he says.
Waterer says recent GDP figures beat expectations.“The indicators are not all going to the down side,” he says.
The unemployment numbers, which came out today, are steady at 5.2%.
Outlook
Worries about a possible slowdown in demand from China, and about falling commodity prices, mean that even the companies well inside the boom – mining, resources and mining services – are starting to see softening numbers.
The main pain revealed by the overall picture relates to exports, which makes the profit results a concern for medium-sized and large companies, which typically have export revenue: the high Australian dollar, the fluctuating economic picture in Europe and the US, softening demand in China are all part of the picture.
And although there are worries about some domestic issues – 84% of CFOs identify government decisions as an issue and, of those, 36% saying these have a ‘significant’ impact – domestic indicators are still positive, and the outlook remains optimistic because most of the bad news has already been flagged and taken into account by the market, which is rising.
And the good news …
Sleep therapy company, Resmed, ended its fourth quarter with a 12% full-year net profit.
