Washington H. Soul Pattinson reported statutory net profit after tax of A$2.191 billion for the year to 31 July, up 502 percent from A$364 million. Revenue from continuing operations rose 96 percent to A$1.87 billion. The shares rose 7.5 percent to A$48.94, a new 52-week high.
Almost none of that headline is what it appears to be, and the company says so.
The increase comes from completing the A$15 billion merger with Brickworks in September 2025: full consolidation, day-one merger accounting gains, and a reset of the tax cost base. With the historic cross-shareholding unwound, Brickworks now consolidates fully from the merger date where it was previously equity-accounted. That is an accounting event, not five hundred percent more business.
The numbers that describe the actual year are elsewhere and they are good. Net cash flow from investments rose 12 percent to A$572 million, and 8.3 percent per share to A$1.51 against a larger capital base. Pre-tax net asset value returned 10.2 percent, beating the ASX benchmark by 4.2 points, and stands at A$13.7 billion, with post-tax NAV per share up 27.2 percent. The final dividend of 63 cents takes the full year to A$1.11, up 7.8 percent, extending a run of 35 consecutive years of dividend payments. Total available liquidity is A$3.8 billion including undrawn facilities.
But the sentence worth taking away came from the call, and it has nothing to do with the merger.
Over five years, the portfolio has moved from 90 percent listed equities to 40 percent, with the balance across fixed income, private companies, credit, emerging companies and other classes. Six asset classes now, every one of them carrying a global component. Cash went from under A$500 million at the half year to twenty percent of the portfolio today, described as a deliberate and tactical position to manage liquidity. Last year the group sold A$2.7 billion more than it bought.
That is a structural change made gradually, in public, by a firm whose entire identity was listed Australian equities.
Every operator faces the smaller version and almost nobody executes it, because the thing you are moving away from is usually the thing you are known for and the thing still paying the bills. A roastery that is ninety percent wholesale to cafes knows perfectly well that the account book is concentrated, that a bad year in hospitality lands entirely on them, and that direct, subscription, equipment servicing and training would spread it. Knowing that and moving five points of revenue a year for five years are completely different undertakings.
What makes it possible is that nobody has to do it in one move. Fifty points of portfolio mix, at ten a year, is a decade of ordinary decisions.
The pre-tax portfolio has returned 11.5 percent a year over five years, 3.5 points ahead of the market.
Five hundred and two percent is accounting. Ninety to forty is strategy.
Source: Investing.com, “Earnings call transcript: Soul Patts H2 2026 profit jumps 502% as shares rise”
