15/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | APR 15, 2026

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Australia Inc starts to feel fallout from Middle East war

BP flags ‘exceptional’ trading results amid oil price volatility LONDON: BP said yesterday it expects its huge oil trading desk to post “exceptional” results for the first quarter, signalling a windfall from the spike in oil prices triggered by the US-Israeli war against Iran. The company also said in a quarterly trading statement that its net debt would rise to between US$25 billion and US$27 billion from just over US$22 billion in the previous quarter because of movements in working capital, an accounting measure of liquidity based on current assets minus liabilities. This broadly echoed the first-quarter outlook from European rival Shell, which also flagged strong results in oil trading, an area where European majors are more active than US competitors. Global benchmark Brent crude soared to multi-year highs near US$120 a barrel after US-Israeli strikes on Iran began in late February, followed by Tehran’s closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route and attacks on Gulf neighbours. Brent averaged around US$78 a barrel during the January-to-March quarter, compared with US$63 in the fourth quarter and US$75 a barrel during the same time last year, according to Reuters calculations. BP’s overall oil and gas production is expected to be broadly flat on the quarter, it said. Refining margins rose to US$16.9 a barrel in the first quarter from US$15.2 in the previous three months, it said, adding this would help boost results in its refined products business by US$100 million to US$200 million. Energy companies typically do not reveal full results of their trading divisions. BP is due to report first-quarter results on April 28. Meg O’Neill became the company’s fifth CEO since 2020 this month.

provisioning was at the highest level since the Covid-19 pandemic. Westpac’s warning came as more of a surprise than the airline’s, with investors sending the bank’s shares down 3.7%, while Qantas fell 1%. “Westpac is interesting because they’re talking about potentially higher bad debts on some of their energy-exposed customers,” said Omkar Joshi, chief investment officer at Opal Capital Management. Investors said the longer the Middle East conflict drags on, the more of a material impact it would have, which would lead to more profit warnings. National Australia Bank’s index of business confidence tumbled 29 points to -29 in March, a magnitude only seen during major crises, such as the pandemic in 2020. A separate survey showed consumer sentiment dropped by 12.5% in April to its lowest in more than two years. In New Zealand, a2 Milk slashed its fiscal 2026 profit guidance on Monday, citing disruptions to its supply chain caused by the Middle East conflict. Opal Capital Management’s Joshi said recession or stagflation was “definitely a real risk”. “And has the risk increased in the last six weeks? I’d say definitely it has.” – Reuters

o Business confidence, consumer sentiment slump, Qantas sees fuel costs up as much as 32% from previous forecast, Westpac prepares for rise in bad debts

SYDNEY: Australia’s corporates are starting to count the cost of the war in the Middle East, with profit warnings from two top companies and a crash in business sentiment pointing to pain from rising prices, raising the risk of stagflation. The country’s top airline Qantas Airways and second largest lender Westpac Banking Corp flagged their earnings could be hurt by soaring fuel prices and the impact on customers, as feared by the country’s central bank. “With the supply shock from the energy market disruption expected to result in higher inflation and higher interest rates, an expected slowing in economic growth will create a more challenging environment for some customers,” Westpac said. The updates are some of the clearest indications yet on how the Middle East conflict and the resultant fuel crisis are impacting the bottom lines of companies in Australia. They came the same day as surveys showed

business confidence and consumer sentiment have slumped and Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) deputy governor Andrew Hauser said the country could be facing “the central bank’s nightmare: the stagflationary shock – inflation up, activity down”. Qantas warned its jet fuel bill for the second half of its financial year ending June could be up to A$800 million (RM2.24 billion) or 32% higher than it previously forecast due to a jump in oil prices, and said it had cut flights and hiked fares. “Jet fuel prices have more than doubled and remain highly volatile,” Qantas said in a market update, adding it was closely monitoring the “dynamic environment” and could take further steps to offset the impact of fuel cost increases. Qantas also said it had held off starting a planned A$150 million share buyback due to the heightened uncertainty. Westpac increased credit provisions, anticipating borrowers faced a tougher outlook due to rising prices and interest rates. It said

SIX-WEEK HIGHS ... A man walks past an electronic board displaying the Nikkei Stock Average along a street in Tokyo yesterday. Japan's Nikkei share average rallied to levels not seen since the start of the war in Iran as optimism over negotiations to end the conflict sent oil prices lower, Reuters reported. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index jumped 2.43% to 57,877.39, its highest close since March 2, while the broader Topix climbed 0.87% to 3,755.27. In Seoul, South Korean shares rose to log their highest close in six weeks on hopes of a deal between the US and Iran to end the war. The benchmark Kospi closed up 159.13 points, or 2.74%, at 5,967.75, its highest closing level since March 3. – AFPPIC

She will face shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on April 23 after influential proxy advisers and some shareholders have supported votes against the board’s wishes. – Reuters Chinese chipmaker YMTC plans new factories amid heightened US-Sino trade tensions

BEIJING: Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) aims to build two more factories in addition to one that will be completed this year, which will more than double its production capacity when all three are up and running, people familiar with the plans said. China has been keen to wean itself from foreign technologies such as semiconductors – a critical sector that the US has sought to limit Chinese advancements in. This month, a cross party group of US politicians proposed imposing further restrictions on exports of chipmaking tools to China. The three new plants will each have the capacity to produce 100,000 wafers per month when fully operational, said three sources who were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.

on par with products from sector leaders like Samsung Electronics. Although most of its sales are in China, YMTC accounted for 11.8% of the global NAND flash market last year, according to a UBS report. While Samsung commands 30.4% of the market, YMTC has the same share as Sandisk and is not too far behind SK Hynix, Kioxia and Micron which hold 16%, 15.9% and 13.3% respectively. UBS predicts YMTC’s share will exceed 14% by early 2027. YMTC is also expanding into DRAM, the memory chips used for temporary data processing in electronic devices. All three new plants will allocate some capacity to DRAM production, two sources said, adding that the exact amount will depend on the company’s progress in developing those chips. – Reuters

said, adding that more than 50% of equipment has been sourced from domestic companies including critical tools used for vertical stacking of chip layers. YMTC has intensified collaboration with local suppliers such as Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (Amec) since the US Commerce Department added YMTC to its Entity List in December 2022, they said. Amec also did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters was not able to learn target operational dates for the two factories being planned or where they might be located. Founded in 2016 in Wuhan with strong backing from local government and major state-backed chip investment funds, YMTC has made relatively quick strides in know-how, and analysts say its latest Xtacking 4.0 architecture is

Unlisted YMTC, China’s largest maker of NAND flash memory chips that store data in smartphones and computers, currently has two fabs which can produce a combined 200,000 wafers per month, they added. Its plans for the two new plants as well as details about the factory that is close to completion are being reported by Reuters for the first time. YMTC, one of many Chinese companies that the US restricts sales of goods to, did not respond to a request for comment. YMTC’s third factory, which like its first two plants is located in Wuhan, should start operations late this year and be capable of producing 50,000 wafers per month by 2027, according to two of the sources. The building has been completed and the company is currently installing equipment, they