Ann: Preliminary Profit Advice - Half Year Ended 31 December 2016, page-18

Loathe as I am to be overly focused on short-term factors, I couldn't help thinking about ASW while I was reading a trading update issued by listed Perth-based broker Euroz Limited (EZL) yesterday.

EZL, whose Equity Capital Markets (ECM) business was cited as a driver of the strong DH16 performance in its Securities Division.  According to EZL's announcement, the half-year result saw a "significant ECM rasings of $5756m, the successful completion of merger and acquisition mandates and a modest increase in brokerage".

It should not be lost on followers of ASW that those sorts of market activities, and specifically in the WA listed corporate space, coincides squarely with the drivers of ASW's profitability.

It seems to support my intuitive view that the DH was for ASW, a materially stronger half than the 4% Pre-Tax Profit growth, as implied by the guidance put forth late last year, appears to indicate.