falling profit

Wholesaler, clothing and homewares retailer, Pacific Brands Limited (ASX:PBG) have presented a preliminary final report to the market while transitioning a new CEO to head the company.

• Current CEO Sue Morphet will resign next month and will be replaced by former Foster's head John Pollaers, scheduled to take over the helm on September 3.
• Pacific Brands reports a staggering loss of $450.7 million, much worse than the previous year's $131.9m loss.

Consumer electronics retailer, JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) has released its full year results.

• Full year net profit was down 4.6 percent to $104.6 million (from $109.7 million the previous year)
• Total sales for the year $3.13 billion (up 7 percent from prior year)
• Comparable sales down 1 percent.
• Gross margin fell by 9.4 percent to only 21.1 percent.
• On news of the announcement, JBH stocks hit a three month high of $9.92.

Australian furniture retailer, Nick Scali (ASX:NCK) have announced to the stock exchange that their full year profit is down 22.3 percent.

• Net profit down 22 percent to $9.024 million ($2.6 million less than previous year)
• Gross margin down: 60.8 percent from 62.7 percent from discounts and promotions.
• Revenue increased 9.4 per cent to $109.39 million from $100 million

Australian bionic ear manufacturer, Cochlear (ASX:COH) has announced a 68 percent fall in profit. The company's profit directly impacted from a product recall which lost the company 5 percent market share and a write down of $101.3 million.

Key Reporting Figures for Cochlear

• Revenue $779 million – down 4 percent for the year to June 30
• 23,087 implant unit sales, down 6 percent
• Net Profit after tax - $56.8 million for 2012

Mining conglomerate, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), has announced a better than expected first half underlying profit result of US$5.2 billion. Market expectations set the result to be at US$4.9 billion.

Other notes about the third largest mining company in the world:

• Net profit down 22 percent to US$5.9 billion (1H)
• US$1.94 billion profit drop blamed lower iron ore and commodity prices

Australian Retailer, Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN) announced on Monday that full year pre-tax profit to June 30, 2012 was likely to be down 40 percent. The announcement to the stockmarket said that unaudited preliminary accounts for 2012 indicated a profit before tax and minority interests of $227.6 million compared to the $373.9 million profit in 2011 (down 39.1 percent).

QBE Insurance Group (QBE) is starting the year on a rough phase as it announces the 40-50 per cent decline in profit and 62 per cent in dividend, causing its shareprice to drop to an eight-year low. This follows yesterday's bad news regarding the involvement of the insurance company's subsidiary Balboa in a pricing probe in the US.

Qantas Airways (QAN) expects its net profit to fall to between $140 million to $190 million for the first half of the fiscal year. The airline blamed the rising fuel costs and industrial disputes that amounted to $650 million for its first half fall in profits.

"The group's first-half performance reflects a challenging operating environment, with uncertainty in global economic conditions, elevated fuel prices and volatile foreign exchange rates," said Qantas.

Australian broadcaster, Ten Network Holdings (ASX:TEN), have reported a collapse of 90.5 percent in their full year profit. The public company reported that its net profit fell to $14.2 million in the 12 months to August 31st from $150 last year. However, revenue increased by one percent to $1 billion, with television revenue increasing by 2.2 percent to $851.1 million.

After posting a 49 percent drop in full year net profit to $40.5 million, analysts have slashed Premier Investments' (ASX:PMV) earnings forecast for next year.

Macquarie has cut its 2012 earnings forecast by 2 percent and Linwar Securities by 5 percent, while Credit Suisse has pegged earnings forecast at the lower end.