Profits are booming for the owner of Chemist Warehouse since buying the pharmacy giant, backed by a boom in weight-loss drugs.

Sigma Healthcare, which rounded out its first financial year with Chemist Warehouse since completing the takeover in February 2025, grew its revenue by more than 15 per cent to $10.8 billion in the 12 months to June 30.

The growth was driven by new stores across its Australian and overseas networks and a 75 per cent sales surge in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

“GLP-1s have provided a structural tailwind, which we expect to continue,” chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder told an earnings briefing on Thursday.

And options for the drug are expected to continue to widen for customers.

“What’s interesting for me is when the oral dose will be registered in Australia – I truly believe that’s a real tailwind for the business,” Mr Ramsunder said.

“If the government puts it onto the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), which is obviously still being negotiated, and the oral dose comes into Australia, I think the market size starts to grow materially.”

Sigma posted a normalised net profit after tax of $732.3 million for 2025/26, up 23 per cent on the previous year, while reducing its debt to a still hefty $663 million.

There are now almost 660 Chemist Warehouse stores globally, including 560 across Australia, 75 in New Zealand and 18 in Ireland, which grew sales by 45 per cent and turned a profit for the first time.

Including Sigma’s other brands like Amcal, DDS and Guardian, it owns and runs nearly 1,000 pharmacies worldwide.

The company declared a final dividend of two cents per share, meeting its target to pay out between half and 70 per cent of the year’s bottom-line profit.

Despite the sales and earnings growth, the result was deemed mixed by market analysts, who had expected higher sales growth for the Australian business.

Sigma shares fell more than six per cent in morning trading to $2.66 before recovering to $2.73 heading into lunch.

Chemist Warehouse has delivered double-digit like-for-like sales growth for roughly a decade, and Mr Ramsunder said the group was targeting the same in the years to come.

“Our 2027 financial year agenda is clear: grow the network, drive operating leverage, enhance product differentiation and convert today’s platform into sustainable profit and cash generation,” he said.

Furthermore, as living costs continued to weigh on Australian households, prices would continue to be a strategic focus.

“We are a very value-centric, consumer-facing organisation, and we will remain the customer’s friend,” Mr Ramsunder said. 

“We’ll continue to be very competitive moving forward.”

Nvidia’s latest quarterly results have once again blew past Wall Street’s expectations as revenue for the company’s high-end artificial intelligence chips soared, the latest sign that AI infrastructure spending remains strong.

Nvidia said revenue more than doubled year-on-year to $US96.2 billion in its second fiscal quarter, which ended on July 26. Net profit surged 126 per cent to $US59.7 billion.

Excluding certain items, Nvidia’s earnings were $US2.22 per share, well above the $US2.09 per share consensus forecast by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet.

“AI has reached its inflection point. It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue,” CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement.

Along with higher profit and revenue, however, Nvidia’s operating expenses surged 55 per cent to $US8.41 billion.

For the current quarter, Nvidia forecast revenue of about $US108 billion. Analysts are forecasting $US104.86 billion.

If Nvidia hits its revenue target for the August-October period, it will translate into a roughly 89 per cent increase from last year – an indication the company’s phenomenal growth rate is still accelerating.

Nvidia expects to grow its revenue in its fiscal year ending January 2028 by about 70 per cent, citing surging demand for its AI-powering chips. 

Huang emphasised the supply limitations the company is grappling with. 

“Our entire supply chain is challenged,” he told analysts. “At this point we have supply for 70 per cent … Our demand is much higher than that.”

Nvidia’s data centre segment, which includes its AI data centres and factories business, as well as chip demand from hyperscalers such as Amazon, Meta and Google, reported revenue of $US89 billion, up more than twofold from a year earlier.

Nvidia and Amazon Web Services announced a plan to deploy two million additional Nvidia graphic processing units, and will incorporate Nvidia chips to power its fleet of warehouse robots.

Despite the stellar results and still-rosy outlook, many investors worry about a jarring comedown after a three-year boom that has seen Nvidia’s market value soar from $US400 billion at the end of 2022 to roughly $US5.2 trillion now.

While AI has powered stock market gains and US economic growth in recent years, there’s been growing scepticism about whether AI will justify the trillions of dollars that are being spent to develop the technology.

The AI industry is also increasingly facing pushback amid objections to the expansion in data centres and fears that the speed with which AI is being adopted could lead to widespread job losses for many Americans.

Two jurisdictions have forced the prime minister to back down on a major policy that would have required all new AI data centres to be powered by renewable energy rather than coal and gas.

Anthony Albanese left the door open at a meeting of the nation’s leaders on Wednesday to a more “flexible” approach as Queensland and the Northern Territory refused to agree to standards requiring them to use renewables for new data centre developments.

He announced the agreement on the AI laws alongside domestic violence measures and firearm reforms following a meeting of national cabinet in Sydney.

“We want to make sure that in attracting investment, we don’t have eight different systems operating around the country,” he said on Wednesday.

“That’s why we came to a common position, which recognises that all states aren’t exactly the same, and that was accommodated in the way that we normally do in a flexible way.”

South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas said the nation’s leaders agreed renewables would “principally be the form of energy that will pay our data centres in the future in Australia”.

“Acknowledging that there are different circumstances through the fact that in Queensland, for instance, they have state-owned generation,” he told ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday.

“So there’s no need for the federal government to use its powers that it has to override what states want.”

Gregor Verbic, an energy expert at Sydney University, said the national grid was facing the imminent closure of multiple coal-fired power stations.

“(It) will leave a huge gap in the generation capacity, and we are not building new capacity fast enough,” he told AAP.

The federal government has proposed legislation to force data centre developers to provide their own renewable energy source.

Both Queensland and NT governments provided considerable pushback, with the final national agreement failing to mention renewable energy directly.

Professor Verbic said ensuring the energy brought online is renewable is essential to meet Australia’s emissions reduction targets.

“Gas is quite expensive, so I would argue that renewables firmed by utility-scale storage, possibly some gas, is a cheaper solution,” he said.

“Gas can be kept as an option for firming … but as a base load or continuous source of supply, gas is not the right option.”

Mr Albanese flagged draft legislation will be introduced by the end of 2026, with the aim for it to be passed in early 2027.

A decision to drop prices on thousands of goods in the wake of household cost of living pressures helped the owner of Bunnings, Kmart and Priceline achieve another multi-billion dollar earnings outcome.

Industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers, which also owns Officeworks and Target alongside smaller chemicals and fertiliser businesses, made a base net profit of $2.87 billion, a fall of 1.8 per cent, in 2025/26.

But after excluding a gain from an asset sale in the previous year, the result was much better, with an increase of 8.3 per cent for the 12 months ended June 30, on a revenue lift of 3.4 per cent to $47.27 billion.

Chief executive Rob Scott said the overall result was supported by strong earnings contributions from its key Bunnings, Kmart and chemicals, energy and fertiliser groups.

“As households continued to experience cost of living pressures, our retail businesses dropped prices on thousands of products during the year to support household budgets,” he said on Thursday.

The “everyday low prices” campaigns by Bunnings Warehouse and Kmart group continued to drive sales and earnings.

“Kmart group’s higher earnings were supported by the strong value credentials of its Anko (household goods brand) products and focus on operating efficiency and cost control,” he said.

Bunnings sales lifted 3.9 per cent to $20.33 billion, accounting for the lion’s share of Wesfarmers’ total sales, followed by Kmart group, which includes Target, at $11.66 billion, a gain of 2.8 per cent.

Officeworks sales also rose by 3.7 per cent, to $3.68 billion.

The chemicals, energy and fertiliser group delivered a stellar 5.9 per cent sales gain to $3.14 billion, on the back of higher prices for fertilisers and spodumene concentrate, which is used to extract lithium compounds used in batteries.

The well-known Priceline chain lifted network sales by 12.7 per cent, helping the overall health division to sales of $6.47 billion.

“Priceline Pharmacy will continue to invest in value, a differentiated range and service and its loyalty and digital assets, including the new Pulse Rewards program,” Wesfarmers said.

Looking ahead, Wesfarmers said high inflation continues to impact households and businesses.

“While Australian consumer demand remains resilient, cost of living pressures continue to affect many households across the economy,” it said.

“Uncertainty regarding the outlook for inflation, house prices, interest rates and tax setting are affecting consumer sentiment, while higher costs of doing business are weighing on business confidence and spending.”

In the first seven weeks of 2026/27, Bunnings sales were slightly above the second half of 2025/26, helped by unseasonably dry weather in July.

Kmart group’s sales were little changed, while Officeworks turned in a positive performance.

Wesfarmers declared a final dividend of $1.20, taking the total for the year to $2.22.

The government is urgently working to confirm the welfare of dozens of missing Australians after catastrophic flooding and a landslide hit communities along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China.

Australian officials are aware of several citizens in the impacted region, near where a huge wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on Wednesday.

Nepali ⁠police said late on Wednesday that 157 ‌bodies had been recovered so far.

Among those missing are 34 Australians, Reuters reports.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told AAP they were liaising with local authorities as well as tour operators and stood ready to provide consular assistance.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the significant flooding in Nepal and Tibet, China,” the spokesperson said.

“We are aware of a number of Australians in the area and Australian officials are urgently working to confirm their welfare.”

The loss of life and and destruction caused by flash flooding is devastating, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those killed or missing and all affected by this disaster,” she said in a statement on Thursday morning.

“Officials are urgently working to confirm the welfare of Australians in the area.”

Australian Ambassador to Nepal Simon Ernst released a statement together with the embassies of the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected by this disaster. We express our solidarity with the people of Nepal during this difficult time,” they said.

“We encourage all those in affected areas to follow the guidance of local authorities and official safety advisories as the situation continues to evolve.”

Australia’s spring property season is shaping up to be unusually sluggish, as sellers retreat from a weak market and unsold homes pile up. 

New property listings in the four weeks leading up to August 23 were 8.2 per below the five-year average, property analytics firm Cotality data shows.

Advertised stock levels remain elevated overall, suggesting home owners are holding back from adding to an already crowded market. 

Gerard Burg, head of research at Cotality, said the findings painted a gloomy outlook for spring, usually the year’s main buying and selling period. 

“Potential vendors looking out at the market right now, they’re seeing weakness,” he told AAP. 

“They’re seeing home values going backwards across the country and they’re seeing pressures on the demand side.”

Sydney is leading the downturn, where new listings were 14 per cent below the five year average in the four week period.

Mr Burg said the retreat was sharpest in the city’s wealthiest areas, including the eastern suburbs, north shore and inner-west.

Declines have been more modest in outer suburban areas, a trend also unfolding in Melbourne, where city-wide listings fell by nine per cent. 

Similar pullbacks were recorded in all capitals except Adelaide, which Mr Burg said appears to be earlier in the adjustment process. 

But advertised stocks remain elevated, with nationwide listings over 137,000 in the four weeks to August 23, 1.7 per cent above the five-year average. 

That added supply, combined with a four month national downturn in house values, make the market unusually buyer friendly.

Sydney buyer’s agent Simon Cohen said the opportunity for buyers was greater than any he had seen since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“If you’re someone who can afford to buy, you are able to take advantage of a market with deals that we haven’t seen for a very long time,” the Cohen Handler chief executive said. 

Mr Cohen said most vendors were only listing out of necessity, driven by circumstances either financial or personal, such as divorce.

“This isn’t a market where you put your property on the market just to test it,” he said.

Mr Burg agreed buyers were in the “driver’s seat” but stressed affordability pressures would keep many on the sidelines. 

“It’s only really a buyer’s market because so many buyers have been pushed out,” he said, citing rate hikes and cost-of-living challenges. 

The findings come four months into a housing downturn, with house prices falling about two per cent nationwide and 2.8 per cent in the capitals.

History showed downturns tended to last no more than 12 months, but much would turn on the timing of the next interest rate cut, Mr Burg said. 

Assuming no further inflation shocks are in store, he said Cotality did not expect the current 4.35 per cent rate to fall until “well into” 2027. 

Australia’s biggest airline is about to detail just how badly the various shocks from the Middle East conflict between the United States and Iran has dented its bottom line.

Qantas will release its full-year earnings on Thursday, after making a statutory profit of $925 million in the first half.

In mid April, Qantas said it hadn’t commenced a planned $150 million share buyback and was reducing domestic capacity because of the Middle East conflict.

It said that the price of jet fuel – its biggest expense – had more than doubled since February.

Like many airlines, Qantas hedges most of its exposure to crude oil, but remains exposed to the cost of refining crude oil into jet fuel.

That expense had increased dramatically from $US20 a barrel in February to a peak of around $US120 a barrel, Qantas said.

Consequently, the airline expected to spend $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion in the second half on jet fuel, up from its original estimate of $2.5 billion.

The airline may also give an update on Project Sunrise, its ambitious plan to launch direct flights to London and New York from Australia’s east coast.

The first specialised Airbus A350-1000ULR to be used for the long-haul routes touched down in Melbourne on July 24 following a test flight from the Airbus manufacturing facility in Toulouse, France.

Qantas is scheduled to take delivery of the airplane in April 2027 and begin flights between Sydney and London in October 2027.

The airline will also on Thursday open a new dedicated ground training facility at its campus just north of Sydney Airport, which will be used to teach emergency procedures to pilots and cabin crew.

It’ll compliment a separate flight training hub in nearby St Peters that features flight simulators and aircraft cabin mock-ups.

Whether the Reserve Bank hikes interest rates again or leaves them on hold could ultimately be decided by housing.

Housing was Australia’s chronic inflation issue, AMP economists My Bui and Diana Mousina said on Wednesday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest consumer price figures showed headline inflation exceeded forecasts at 3.5 per cent in the year to July.

Despite only making up 21 per cent of the CPI basket, housing accounted for nearly one-third of annual inflation.

“We think new dwelling purchases need to come down to at least 0.25 per cent month-on-month for the Reserve Bank to be comfortable, as this is a very cyclical category that can quickly show any progress in inflation,” Ms Bui and Ms Mousina said.

Given the outsized influence of construction costs on inflation, the sector has been singled out by RBA governor Michele Bullock as one area where cost pressures were flowing through from the Middle East to consumers.

“Producer prices are rising for the things you’d expect and we are seeing it come through in things like building costs,” she told reporters after the RBA’s last board meeting in August. 

“The building industry is one where they’re trying to pass it on. Others are wondering whether or not demand is strong enough for them to pass it on, because it all depends on whether consumers will actually choose to pay if prices go further. 

“So that push and pull between whether or not it comes into the producer prices and ultimately gets passed on to the consumers, that’s what we’re going to have to be watching.”

The 2.1 per cent rise in house construction input costs in the June quarter was the largest quarterly increase since 2022, JP Morgan analyst Tom Ryan said.

“Given the inherent lags in the construction sector and the current dwelling construction pipeline remaining substantial for now, we expect relatively elevated building cost pass-through to persist in the very near term,” he said.

But cost pressures remain below the 2021/22 inflation break-out, and the slowdown in the established housing market should cap capacity use in the construction sector and limit how much builders can pass on costs, Mr Ryan said.

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said as well as next week’s June quarter GDP print, the ongoing housing market slump would be the next focus.

He expects the RBA to be concerned that inflation is too high, but that it will be mindful that weak growth and falling house prices will put downward pressure on inflation.

At 3.6 per cent, the trimmed mean could still be too high for the RBA to tolerate in the September quarter, but it is too early to tell, given statistical issues with the monthly July quarter, Mr Bloxham said.

“In addition, a weak GDP print next week or a sharper than expected decline in housing prices are also expected to play a role in whether the RBA lifts rates further,” he said.

With Cotality’s next gauge of home values due out next week, another steeper-than-expected fall in prices could tip the RBA back away from another hike.

While Ms Bullock has consistently reminded reporters that the bank does not target house prices, a deep downturn could dent demand and do part of the RBA’s job.

Meta has agreed to a multibillion-dollar settlement, promising to add child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms, to end a trial over teen social media addiction, state attorneys general say.

The $US16.68 billion ($A23.23 billion) agreement settles claims filed by 47 US states over social media harms to children.

California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey were among 29 states that sued the tech giant in 2023 but the deal cuts short the trial, which was expected to include chief executive Mark Zuckerberg taking the stand before a jury in federal court in California.

The agreement is worth $US353 million in the state of Virginia alone and is one of the biggest in state consumer protection history, Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement.

“For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health,” Jones said.

The settlement “will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm”.

Meta said in a blog post that it was “building on our longstanding efforts to empower parents and support teens”.

“Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” the company said.

“We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that’s why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard.”

The company urged its rivals to adopt similar safety measures.

The settlement sum is a fraction of the company’s 2025 revenue of $US201 billion.

The lawsuit accused Meta of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hiding them from the public.

It also argued that Meta violated US federal laws by routinely collecting data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent.

The trial kicked off last week in Oakland, California, with US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers overseeing the proceedings.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, began his testimony late on Tuesday and defended Meta’s record and progress on child safety and privacy.

The cases in other states had been expected to go to trial later.

In addition, nine attorneys general filed lawsuits in their respective states.

Under the proposed settlement, Meta agreed to adopt a series of safety features, including a “hard cap” on daily time limits and pauses for children using Instagram and Facebook.

It will eliminate push notifications during weekday school hours and bring in “robust” age-assurance measures and “age-appropriate” content controls to prevent bullying and harmful material about eating disorders and self-harm.

There will be stronger and more user-friendly parental controls and limits on social comparison features such as “like” counts.

with AP

Australia’s share market is on track for a third session of gains, as local banks continue their rebound and oil prices slip on hopes of a potential deal to reopen the Hormuz Strait shipping route.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 18.2 points by midday, up 0.21 per cent, to 9,183.6, as the broader All Ordinaries advanced 16.5 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 9,391.4.

The top-200 had gained more than 56 points in early trade, but retreated sharply after higher-than-expected July inflation figures surprised the market, increasing pressure for further Reserve Bank interest rate hikes.

“Today’s inflation figures are a hot mess, and are as much a product of policy decisions than a true measure of price pressures,” Deloitte Access Economics partner Stephen Smith said.

“The result was also messy, as it reflects policy-led changes to electricity prices and the partial restoration of the fuel excise.”

Crude prices have fallen more than nine per cent since last week, amid varied reports and multiple pathways to a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping route that has been disrupted since the US Iran war began in late February.

Lower crude prices weighed on inflation expectations, easing recently red-hot bond yields and providing a boost to global equities.

“Although peace talks remain at an impasse, the vastly reduced military activity and threats between the US and Iran has reduced the geopolitical risk premium in the markets,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

The local energy sector fell 2.4 per cent into the red, as Woodside, Santos and coal producers sold off.

The major banks have continued to rebound after tumbling for most of August, helping lift the heavyweight financials segment, although insurers have remained under pressure.

Non-energy miners have continued their record-breaking rally, as strong copper and gold prices helped the sector reset its all-time high for a third straight day.

BHP did the same, and was trading at $68.24 after spiking to a fresh peak of $68.77 earlier in the session.

Gold miners broadly traded higher, despite the precious metal easing to $US4,643 ($A6,473) an ounce, having surged more than 15 per cent in August on the back of an easing greenback and US bond market jitters.

Consumer staples outperformed the other sectors, as Woolworths handed down a bumper $1.1 billion bottom-line full-year profit, up from $983 million a year earlier.

Its shares rallied 3.4 per cent by midday, following Coles’ nearly five per cent post-earnings rally on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in earnings, Nine Entertainment shares soared almost nine per cent after growing its statutory net profit after tax by seven per cent to $142.4 million.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.76 US cents, up from 71.45 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm, the Aussie briefly hitting two month highs at the prospect of higher interest rates.