ASIC pilot program to clear business names for registration; Metcash FY profits down 17.9%: Midday Roundup

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has announced a pilot program to free up Australian business names for registration.

ASIC will soon begin contacting business name holders with expired business names. Business name holders will have a two month period to renew their registration, after this time ASIC will automatically cancel registrations if no action is taken.

ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said the program was an important step in opening up the pool of business names for registration and ensuring the register of business names was accurate and up-to-date.

Tanzer added the measures provided fairness in the system by requiring all businesses to pay their renewal fees to maintain their registration. 

Metcash FY profits down 17.9%

Following a significant decline in full-year net profit, Metcash will look to increase its fresh food and grocery offering in a bid to ward off competition from supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths, reports Business Spectator.

The wholesale distribution company posted a net profit of $169.2 million in the year to April 30, a 17.9% decline on the $206 million reported in the previous year.

However, revenues were up 3.2% for the year, up from $12.98 billion last year to $13.30 billion.

Metcash is expecting to pay a fully-franked final dividend of 9c on July 25 to shareholders on the register as of July 1. This is down from the previous year where Metcash paid shareholders a final dividend of 16.5c.

Metcash’s fully-franked total dividend for the year is 18.5c.  

These findings come in a wake of closures of 25 of the companies Franklin stores in the past year, leaving a significant dent in its food and grocery segment. This was slightly offset by growth in liquor, hardware and automatic segments.

 Aussie shares up

Local shares opened a little higher this morning ahead of key data from China and the US.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 44.3 points to 5463.8 points at 12:10pm AEDT. On Friday, the Dow Jones closed 25.62 points up, rising 0.15% to 16,947.1 points.