Company Interview / Market Wrap | BHP, Woodside, Sims, ARN Media, CSL, Macquarie, Novonix

BHP (ASX:BHP) has appointed Brandon Craig as its next chief executive to replace Mike Henry, who will step down on July 1st after more than six years in the role. Craig is currently BHP's president of the Americas leading BHP's growth strategy in Canada, the US, and South America.

Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) has appointed Liz Westcott as chief executive and managing director after serving as acting CEO since December. She took over the interim position following the departure of former chief executive, Meg O'Neill to BP. Westcott joined Woodside in 2003 and has overseen major projects.

Sims (ASX:SGM) expects underlying EBIT of between $350-million and $400-million dollars for 2026 as strong non-ferrous metal prices and memory chip markets boost earnings. The firm says underlying EBIT from its Sims Lifecycle Services was forecast to reach $165-million to $185-million. It says the operational impact from the Middle East conflict has so far been limited, with shipping and fuel costs the main areas affected.

ARN Media (ASX:ARN) has terminated its contract with Kyle Sandilands and Quasar Media Services ending the Kyle and Jackie O Show. The company says it issued a notice of termination to Sandilands after determining the host's behaviour during a February 30 broadcast amounted to serious misconduct. Sandilands says he does not accept the termination of the contract and has threatened legal action.

CSL (ASX:CSL) says it is facing a temporary global shortage of its bleeding disorder gene therapy, Hemgenix. The firm says the shortage will result in delays in treatment for some individuals in countries with established commercial access. CSL says the situation is not related to the safety of the therapy but the complexity of manufacturing gene therapies.

And Reuters is reporting that Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) has pulled out of bidding for a stake in Kuwait's oil pipeline network. It says Macquarie notified Kuwait Petroleum Corporation on Friday that it was exiting the process because of the conflict in the Middle East and the uncertain outlook. Macquarie has not commented publicly.

And Novonix (ASX:NVX) has received a notice from the Nasdaq that it is not complying with the exchange's minimum price bid requirement. That's after the closing bid price of its American Depositary Receipts traded below the minimum $1 US dollars required under the listing rules. Novonix will continue to trade and has 180 days to regain compliance.Major banks have raised their mortgage rates after the RBA lifted official rates to 4.1 percent yesterday. AMP is the latest bank to raise its variable mortgage rates by 25 basis points. That increase will take effect from Monday. And the Australian dollar is trading above 71 US cents.