Australia's Aurizon falls most since March 2020 on outlook cut, weak HY profit

Aurizon Holdings

13/02/2023 24:33

** Rail freight operator Aurizon Holdings  AZJ.AX  down 9.2%
to A$3.35 in its worst intraday pct drop since March 2020
    ** Cuts annual EBITDA guidance by 4% due to prolonged wet
weather, Blackwater derailment outage, lower coal volume
expectations and revenue yield reduction
    ** Expects FY23 underlying EBITDA between A$1.42 bln
($981.79 mln) and A$1.47 bln, compared with A$1.47 bln recorded
a year ago
    ** Logs HY underlying net profit after tax of A$169 mln,
down 34% from a year ago; cuts interim dividend to 7 Australian
cents per share from 10.5 AU cps a year ago
    ** "Overall soft results with misses across all lines, which
will surprise given the regulated nature of part of the
business" - Citi analysts
    ** AZJ second biggest pct loser in the ASX 200 benchmark
index  .AXJO ; stock hits its lowest since Dec. 16, 2021
    ** AZJ down 1.1% this year, as of last close, vs a 5.6%
increase in the ASX 200 benchmark index
($1 = 1.4463 Australian dollars)
 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))