Iron ore miner Murchison Metals Ltd
(ASX:MMX) says it mined 458,961 tonnes of ore for the June quarter up 24 per cent on the previous quarter.
Murchison says shipping for the quarter filled seven vessels with a total of 173,193 wet metric tonnes of lump and 190,382 wet metric tonnes of fines exported.
Murchison says the Chinese steel industry showed signs of improvement during the quarter, believed to be mainly due to the Chinese government’s stimulus packages positive impact on construction activity.
Murchison says at June 30 2009 the company was debt free and has cash and liquid investments of $126 million. Murchison Metals posted a profit in 2008 after losses the four years previous.
Property investor Centro Properties Group (ASX:CNP) says the value of its Australian and U.S. managed property portfolios fell $2.6 billion in the six months to June 30.
The company says the value of its Australian portfolio came to $7.69 billion at June 30 2009, down from 8.17 billion at the end of December 2008 and down from $9.09 billion at June 2008.
Centro says the value of its U.S. managed portfolio at June 30 2009 dropped to US$10.08 billion from US$11.81 billion at the end of December 2008 and down from US$12.42 billion at the end of June 2008. Centro says independent valuations were conducted for 57 per cent and 29 per cent of its Australian and U.S. properties respectively. Centro Properties Group posted a $2 billion loss in 2008.
Australian Foundation Investment Company Ltd (ASX:AFI) has reported net profit for the year of $103.5 million, a 75.1 per cent fall from the year before.
The company says it took a cautious approach to investing given the difficult market conditions which prevailed throughout the year.
AFI says major investments over the period were in the issues undertaken by Australian Infrastructure Fund, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Incitec Pivot, NAB, QBE Insurance, Rio Tinto, Santos and Westpac.
The investment company says its major sales during the 12 month period in the Investment Portfolio were driven by corporate activity, St George Bank was taken over by Westpac and Queensland Gas was taken over by British Gas.
AFI says it remains relatively cautious in the present environment, saying that economic conditions in Australia and globally are likely to remain subdued in the medium term. Looking back at the past five years, Australian Foundation Investment Company’s profit highlight was in 2008.
