Sharesight20 top 20 trades on ASX FY2017/18

Last year we debuted the Sharesight20 weekly trading snapshots, a weekly update of the top 20 shares traded by the Sharesight userbase on the ASX (#Sharesight20ASX) and the NZX (#Sharesight20NZX) over the past 7 days.

We also debuted the Sharesight20 monthly trading snapshot where we look at the top 20 trades on both the ASX and NZX markets among the Sharesight userbase during the current month and dig a little deeper into the news behind these movements.

Today we launch the first in our Sharesight20 yearly trading snapshots where we look at the top 20 trades on the ASX over the last 12 months, in this case to coincide with the 2017/2018 financial year.

Sharesight20ASX yearly snapshot for FY2017/18

While often claiming top spot in in our weekly Sharesight20ASX snapshots a2 Milk Limited (ASX: A2M) was beaten by Telstra (ASX: TLS) as the most traded share on the ASX in the 2017/18 financial year. Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) punched above its weight in our yearly snapshot, after sole listing on the ASX in February. Let’s dive into the FY2017/18 news behind the top 20:

Telstra Corporation (ASX: TLS)

• S&P downgraded Telstra as the NBN hit reached $3 billion
• Telstra 'unlimited' mobile network ads banned by court
• Profit forecasts downgraded by 3-4%
• Future of CEO Andy Penn and Chairman John Mullen brought into question
• Telstra 2022 strategy announced: “Telstra sets new strategy to improve customer experience, simplify structure and cut costs”
• News outlets focused on the 8000 job cuts involved
• This further hurt Telstra’s share price with fears of a cut in dividends

A2 Milk Company (ASX: A2M)

• Announced appointment of Ms Jayne Hrdlicka to the role of Managing Director and CEO
• Now has distribution in 3600 stores in the USA
• Launched infant formula into Hong Kong
• Rival Nestle announced entry into the Chinese market with a rival A2 protein milk powder
• Rival Bellamy’s saw similar falls in their share price on the ASX during May after Nestle announcement
• Is China’s two child policy, a tailwind for a2 Milk?
• Launched ‘premium a2 Milk powder with Manuka honey’

The big 4 banks feature prominently in the yearly snapshot, with the Banking Royal Commission driving significant trading activity. Starting with the most traded in CBA:

Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA)

• Banking royal commission: Commonwealth Bank admits 'unfair' loan practices by Bankwest
• Admitted they lost backup data for 20 million accounts after it fell off the back of a truck
• Reached a $700 million settlement with AUSTRAC over money laundering allegations
• Reached a settlement with ASIC over trading of bank bills in connection with the Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW)
• Announced the bank sent 10,000 customers’ data to the wrong email addresses
• Announced new executive leadership team appointments
• CBA to demerge wealth and mortgage broking businesses - possibly to get ahead of any recommendations by the Banking Royal Commission to force such actions

National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB)

• It was revealed that NAB (along with AMP and Westpac) paid ‘prohibited’ kickbacks to advisers
• Like CBA, NAB announced plans to offload wealth management business MLC
• The bank committed to adopt the Foreign Exchange Global Code of Conduct
• The bank also welcomed the Australian Government’s new Open Banking initiative
• Changed remuneration policies for frontline employees to improve service levels as part of NAB’s Group Short Term Incentive (STI) Plan

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)

• Along with the other members of the ‘big 4’ Westpac removed ATM withdrawal fees on their ATM network
• Introduced ‘PayWear’ wearable payments wristband
• Announced beem.it payments app in conjunction with CBA and NAB
• Announced 2020 Sustainability Strategy
• Appointed Michael Correa as General Manager, Asia Pacific
• Introduced least-cost routing for merchants
• Court found Westpac engaged in unconscionable conduct as part of BBSW case
• ASIC taking Westpac and a former financial planner to court over poor financial advice allegations

ANZ Banking Group (ASX: ANZ)

• ANZ agreed to sell pensions and investments and aligned dealer group businesses to IOOF
• Reached a settlement with ASIC over BBSW allegations
• Sold 20% stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank
• Considering IPO for UDC business
• Agreed to an enforceable undertaking with ASIC regarding Prime Access financial planning package
• Unveiled plan to improve financial planning (to get ahead of Banking Royal Commission)
• Agreed to sell 55% stake in Cambodian joint venture ANZ Royal Bank
• ANZ New Zealand announced sale of OnePath Life NZ Ltd to Cigna
• Announced an increase in share buy-back by $1.5 billion to $3 billion

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP)

• Announced after-tax profit drop of 37%, blaming US corporate tax cuts
• ExxonMobil and BHP withdrew Bass Strait oil assets from sale 20 months after announcing plans to offload the assets, after oil prices rebound
• Debate continued over restructure attempts by activist shareholder Elliott Funds to ‘unwind’ the dual UK/Australia listing structure
• As many as 50 parties are interested in BHP’s shale oil asset sale - pushing up valuations
• This includes Royal Dutch Shell and Blackstone Group with a rumoured bid of $10 billion for a portion of BHP’s US Shale operations
• Andrew Mackenzie, CEO of BHP called Trump’s tariffs ‘regrettable’

Galaxy Resources (ASX: GXY)

• Announced the appointment to the Board of Directors of the company Ms Florencia Heredia as an independent, Non-Executive Director
• Announced record production of 52,139 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of lithium concentrate, up 11% on Q3 of FY 2017 (annualised rate of 209,000 dmt tonnes per annum)
• Lithium market watchers are concerned a glut of lithium is due to hit the market in 2018 as production ramps up - hitting prices for the commodity
• Galaxy Resources shares were one of the top performers on the ASX during January - up 11% to January 13th
• As well as rocketing 18% in a single day in May after announcing a deal with South Korean conglomerate POSCO

Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG)

• Announced redemption of US$1,552 million of Senior Secured Notes for funding of very large ore carriers
• Successfully completed US$500m high yield bond offering
• Signed first agreement under landmark funding initiative with ANZ
• Announced expansion of autonomous haulage at Chichester Hub
• Celebrated 10 years of iron ore exports
• Fortescue bought a significant stake in junior miner Atlas Iron

Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL)

• Shell sold out of Woodside Petroleum for $3.5bn - selling their 13.3% stake in the company in November
• UniSuper and GIC take $700m positions in Woodside
• Conducted a successful equity raise in February worth $2.5 billion
• Announced ExxonMobil’s Meg O’Neill to replace Mike Utsler as Woodside Petroleum COO
• Announced a deal with BHP to take over the undeveloped Scarborough gas field
• Announced success in striking oil off southern Gabon field in joint venture with Petronas
• Abandoned plans to build an LNG plant at Grassy Point on Canada’s west coast

Retail Food Group (ASX: RFG)

• On December 9 a Fairfax investigation revealed “Hundreds of RFG stores are for sale, on websites including Gumtree and Seek, as well as in local Chinese-language newspapers”
• Retail Food Group then sent out a memo to franchisees after this story broke, warning them they’d be breaching their franchise agreement if they spoke to the media (risking action)
• Subsequently a further story exposing the dealings of former head of RFG Tony Alford went public
• Retail food group then issued updated guidance for their 2018 H1 profit expectations slashing earnings expectations for the first half by 34 per cent
• In March the group announced plans to close 200 stores
• However UBS believes 200 might be conservative, with 456 store closures more likely
• Retail Food Group shares are now trading as low as $0.50 down from a 52 week high of $5.14

AVZ Minerals (ASX AVZ)

• Secured Chinese funding for Manono DRC lithium project
• AVZ Minerals de-risks Manono after scoring MoU with world’s largest lithium-ion battery electrolyte maker
• Announced hitting a thick intercept at its Manono lithium project in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC)

• Ramsay Health Care says acquisitions are on the radar
• Ramsay's CEO sells down shares
• Tech chief for Ramsay Health Care described its digital journey
• Ramsay Health Care hurt by slump in maternity, rehab bookings

Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS)

• Struck a deal to possibly develop a lithium processing facility with South Korean companies Polaris Shipping and LG Chem
• Signed tantalum deal with GAM, lithium ore deal with Atlas
• Like AVZ, Pilbara Minerals struck a deal to sell lithium to South Korea’s POSCO
• Announced they won’t make a counter bid for junior rival Atlas Iron after Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting outbid them
• Announced they had delivered the first concentrate at Polgangoora site

Afterpay Touch Corp (ASX: APT)

• Merged with Touchcorp (TCH) in 2017 -- learn how to handle the Afterpay (AFY) and Touchcorp (TCH) merger in Sharesight
• Quarterly sales hit $551 million in January, up from $367 million the previous quarter
• Announced that 11,500 merchants are now on-boarded, up from approximately 8,700 at end of the first-quarter
• Entered into a strategic partnership with VC firm Matrix Partners through a new share issuance transaction worth A$18.9 million at A$6.51 per share that saw Matrix Partner’s Dana Stalder join the board to oversee Afterpay’s expansion into the US market
• Shares climbed after announcement of US launch and recruitment of ex Uber staff
• Citi will put $200 million on the line for Afterpay Touch Group
• Named FinTech Organisation of the Year for a second year in a row at the ‘Finnies’ awards
• CEO Nick Molnar was also named Emerging Fintech Leader of the Year

QBE Insurance Group (ASX: QBE)

• Settled shareholder class action for $132.5 million
• Announced the sale of most of its troubled Latin American business to Swiss giant Zurich Insurance
• Announced a full-year loss of AU$1.6 billion
• Was given the green light for EU operations
• Is preparing to bid on CBA’s sale of its general insurance business

Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO)

After solely listing on the ASX in February, Xero continues to be among the most heavily bought share on the ASX by the Sharesight userbase.

• Announced launch in Canada (joining Sharesight in the country)
• Microsoft announced a collaboration with KPMG and CBA to launch a cloud accounting startup ‘to rival Xero’
• Announced a 38% growth in revenue on the back of international subscriber growth
• However the company still returned a loss for the last NZ financial year
• Macquarie analysts upgraded the stock to “neutral” from “underperform” as a result

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Important Disclaimer. We do not provide tax or investment advice. The buying of shares can be complex and varies by country. You should seek tax and investment advice specific to your situation before acting on any of the information in this article.

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