Published 1h ago2026-09-11 00:03:20

Sekisui Chemical Enters Australian Housing Market with AU$335M Ausbuild Stake

Sekisui Chemical (TYO:4204) has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Ausbuild Group, a Queensland-based residential land developer and homebuilder, for about AU$335 million, marking its full-scale entry into Australia's housing market.

The transaction is expected to be completed in January 2027, according to a press release on Thursday.

The acquisition will be made through a newly established wholly owned Australian subsidiary, Sekisui Heim Australia AC.

Sekisui Chemical plans to eventually raise its stake in the Ausbuild holding companies to 90%.

Ausbuild has an established land development, sales and construction business in Queensland.

Its consolidated net sales were AU$382.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 2025, while profit attributable to owners of the parent was AU$22.3 million.

Sekisui Chemical said the acquisition will serve as the starting point for expanding its housing business in Australia, where it sees strong population growth and a chronic housing supply shortage.

The company plans to leverage Ausbuild's land development and sales and construction systems to expand the supply of custom-built detached houses, prefabricated houses and townhouses.

It also plans to introduce its modular construction technology to Ausbuild's townhouse business, with implementation targeted within about three years, subject to the establishment of relevant legal frameworks.

Queensland's housing shortage has become more acute amid population growth, while housing demand is expected to expand further ahead of Brisbane hosting the 2032 Summer Olympics, Sekisui Chemical said.

The AU$335 million acquisition price includes the share purchase consideration and related expenses, including advisory fees, and remains subject to adjustment under the transaction terms.

Sekisui Chemical expects Ausbuild to become a consolidated subsidiary in the fiscal year ending March 2027.

The company said it is reviewing the impact of the acquisition on its consolidated financial results.

What else is happening in US Markets?

US Markets3h ago

New Zealand's Manufacturing Sector Expansion Slows in August

New Zealand's manufacturing sector showed continued expansion in August, but at a slower pace than seen in July, as cost-of-living pressures and the Middle East conflict continued to weigh on sentiment.The seasonally adjusted BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index for August was 53.1, down from 54.3 in July but still hovering above the 50 mark that separates expansion and contraction, and higher than the survey's long-term average of 52.5.BusinessNZ Director of Advocacy, Catherine Beard, said that the survey is closely watching the employment subindex that's sitting right on the breakeven mark, also the weakest among all sub-indexes.Deliveries were the second lowest subindex at 52.6, down from July's 55.5, while finished stocks rose the highest at 56.4 from 53.4, followed by new orders, which rose to 54.9 from 53.6. Production fell to 54.2 from 57.1.Sentiment softened further in August with 55.7% of comments negative, though a "good number" of respondents said steady or improving order books was a positive note, as new orders and finished stocks were the only two sub-indexes that showed monthly growth.All sub-industries except "other" expanded in August, with food and beverage, textiles and non-metal manufacturing moving from contraction to expansion, while the decline in the overall PMI reflected softer readings in previously stronger industries rather than a broad-based weakening, BusinessNZ said.BusinessNZ added that the survey data shows positive economic momentum in the third quarter and supports its forecast of 2% gross domestic product growth in the second half of the year.

^NZ50

US Markets4h ago

Japan's August Wholesale Inflation Hovers Near Three-Year High, Cementing Rate Hike Bets

Japan's producer price index (PPI) rose faster than anticipated in August, hovering near its highest level in more than three and a half years and highlighting persistent cost pressures weighed down by a weak yen, preliminary Bank of Japan data showed Friday.Wholesale inflation increased 7.6% year over year in August, topping the 7.4% consensus forecast tracked by Investing.com. However, it remained near the 7.7% revised growth in July, which was the fastest since February 2023.Nonferrous metals saw the biggest movement, rising to 43.3% in August from 40.7% in the previous month, followed by scrap and waste, information and communications equipment, and petroleum and coal products."The pickup would suggest that upstream price pressures remain elevated, potentially sustaining the pass-through of higher input costs to consumer prices," analysts at ING said in a Sept. 4 note.On a monthly basis, corporate goods prices decreased 0.2%, reversing the 0.4% revised gain in July and marking the first monthly drop in one year.The persistent wholesale inflation reinforces expectations for near-term monetary tightening. Most respondents in a Reuters poll anticipate the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate to 1.25% from 1.0% at its upcoming policy meeting on Sept. 17-18.A central bank board member earlier flagged the need for an interest rate increase due to increasing cost pressures.The central bank last lifted borrowing costs to a 31-year high of 1% in June

Nikkei 225

US Markets8h ago

Oracle Tops First-Quarter Expectations as Cloud Infrastructure Revenue More Than Doubles

Oracle's (ORCL) fiscal first-quarter results surpassed Wall Street's estimates as cloud infrastructure sales more than doubled year over year.Revenue increased 30% year-on-year to $19.35 billion during the three months through August, above the FactSet-polled consensus of $19.14 billion. Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.92 from $1.47 a year earlier, compared with the Street's $1.74 view.Cloud sales advanced 62% to $11.61 billion, driven by a 121% jump in infrastructure to $7.39 billion. Wall Street expected $11.51 billion in overall cloud revenue.Oracle's remaining performance obligations -- future commitments arising from contractual relationships -- soared $209 billion year-on-year to $664 billion. The company booked more than $30 billion of AI cloud contracts in the fiscal first quarter."Customer demand for AI cloud training and inferencing services continues to grow faster than supply," the cloud computing company said late Thursday.Oracle delivered more than 300,000 graphics processing units to AI cloud customers since the end of May, nearly triple the capacity shipped during the fourth quarter.Shares were up 6.8% in after-hours trading. The stock is down 22% this year through Thursday close.Oracle's software segment edged 3% lower annually to $5.55 billion.Earlier in the week, Oppenheimer said strong results across enterprise software companies in the most recent quarter point to healthy demand, which should bode well for Oracle's cloud business."Our regression analysis foretells upside in (Oracle cloud infrastructure, or OCI) growth and RPO conversions in (the fiscal first quarter)," the brokerage said in a Tuesday note. "In combination with additional gigawatt capacity coming online, this could support higher (fiscal 2027) guidance while reinforcing the bull case that OCI demand remains supply -- not demand -- constrained."Major technology companies have reported strong annual growth rates for their cloud businesses in the latest earnings season, with Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) cloud revenue surging 82% to $24.77 billion. Microsoft (MSFT) cloud computing platform Azure rallied 43%, while Amazon's (AMZN) Web Services revenue jumped 37%.Oracle expects revenue to grow by 30% to 34% in the second quarter, with cloud sales seen rising 64% and 70%. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to grow between 21% and 25%, reaching $1.85 to $1.91. Markets expect adjusted EPS of $1.89 on consolidated revenue growth of 32% to $21.18 billion.Oracle raised its fiscal 2027 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $8.10 from $8.05. The company expects at least $90 billion in full-year revenue. Analysts expect $8.07 and $89.66 billion, respectively.

$AMZN$GOOG$GOOGL$MSFT$ORCL