profit expectations

Leighton Holdings (LEI) shares jumped as high as 4 per cent or 82 cents to $21.35 in trading this morning after the Australian contractor upgrades its profit guidance for the first half. This is a result from the improved earnings that its Australian and Asian operations incurred.

Leighton Holdings (ASX:LEI) is shooting for the stars to lift its net profit by $1 billion over the next four years. Leighton chief executive David Stewart is "very confident" the group could post at the upper end of its net profit guidance of between $600 and $650 million.

The market was paying attention as shares jumped 8.3 percent after the company posted results and gave assurance it would easily bounce back into the black this year.

Tomorrow's interim earnings season kicks off with reporting from Rio Tinto and analysts are overwhelmingly gunning for a 39.1 percent boost in underlying profit from US$5.77 billion to US$8.03 billion.

Rio is expected to announce a $7.3 billion first half net profit culled from its iron ore, aluminium and copper divisions. 80 percent of the net profit is expected to come from the robust iron ore division, a 50 percent jump from last year’s US$6.2 billion.

First half profit rose to a record 38 percent for ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) as the lender increased market shares. ANZ said in a statement that net profit for the six months to end of March soared to $2.664 billion from $1.925 billion the previous year.

Australia's largest department store chain, Myer (ASX:MYR) has released a statement stating that annual profit for the company may rise as much as 10 percent from store refurbishments and new outlets. The company estimates that earnings before items will rise between 5 percent and 10 percent in the 12 months ending June 2011 from the fiscal 2010 profit of A$169 million ($158 million).

Australian outdoor goods and clothing retailer, Kathmandu (ASX:KMD) has lowered its profit forecast due to a weaker retail environment.

Sunland Group (SDG), a company that is involved in the business of property development and construction with concentrations on Sydney, Victoria, Gold coast, northern NSW, Brisbane and Dubai has boosted its yearly profit expectations by as much as 15 to 20 percent due to the house and land settlements that came earlier than expected. The company is currently expecting to post a $17 to $18 million worth of profit at June 30th.