Stocks of the Hour: Westpac, Worley, Seek & Lendlease

Australia’s oldest bank Westpac (ASX:WBC) has completed its $725 million sale of its general insurance business to Allianz. Along with the deal, Allianz entered into an exclusive 20-year agreement for the distribution of general insurance products to Westpac’s customers. The bank expects to report a gain from the sale of approximately $61 million. Shares in Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) are trading 0.7 per cent lower at $25.62.

Global engineering provider Worley (ASX:WOR) has been awarded two operations and maintenance services contracts for a portfolio of six wind farms in Victoria by a subsidary of Pacific Hydro. Under the deal, Worley will deploy full asset management, operations and maintenance services which will be executed by their regional Victoria team. Shares in Worley (ASX:WOR) are trading 4.1 per cent lower at $11.47.

Employment marketplace provider SEEK (ASX:SEK) appoints Ian Narev as chief executive officer. The news comes after outgoing ceo Andrew Bassat stepped down in February. At this point, it is expected that Mr Bassat will transition to a new role as executive chairman and ceo of an independent SEEK Investments entity in due course. For the meantime, the board has appointed Andrew as a non-executive director of SEEK as of today. Shares in Seek (ASX:SEK) are trading 0.7 per cent lower at $32.92.

Global infrastructure company Lendlease (ASX:LLC) has issued a lowered profit update for financial year 2021 of $375 million to $410 million due to the looming effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The $7.9 billion property firm expects its 2021 full year statutory profit to land within the range of $200 million to $320 million after tax. Shares in Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC) are trading 2.7 per cent lower at $11.15.

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Source: Finance News Network