0428 GMT - Australian data center operator NextDC's contract wins announcement this week enhanced certainty to Macquarie's revenue forecasts, the investment bank's analysts say in a note. Macquarie says NextDC has added 35.9MW of contracted utilization since December. "We understand most of this applies to a single hyperscale customer. This provides clarity for the group following the group" after it bought the S5 and M4 data centres with no previous pre-commitment, says the investment bank. Macquarie says NextDC provides exposure to the "attractive" DC industry with a development pipeline and reiterates its outperform call. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0417 GMT - China's increasing appetite for wine, particularly in the premium and luxury category, provides a growth opportunity for Treasury Wine Estates, Macquarie analysts say in a note. The Australian investment bank says that if the Chinese market reopens, this could provide FY 2023 EBIT upside of around 17% for TWE. Still, Macquarie flags that it will likely be a multiyear process to fully service the market again, as production needs to be ramped up and wines need to be cellared. "We expect a supply/demand imbalance to occur if the market were reopened, allowing TWE to move on price and drive further margin expansion on already market-leading metrics in its Penfolds brand," Macquarie says. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0338 GMT - It is difficult to forecast the potential financial impact of Corporate Travel Management's U.K. Home Office contract win, Citi analysts say in a research note. The company this week said it was awarded the material contract for around A$3 billion, but Citi says the amount appears to be an estimate of potential work, with no committed spend. Citi also sees a range of variable factors, including speed of processing and asylum-seeker numbers. "At full run rate clearly the contract will have material implications, however without further information we find it difficult to assess the financial impact," says Citi, which as a result, leaves its estimates unchanged. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0333 GMT - Australian data-center operator NextDC's latest contract update suggests that it is set to get more business from hyperscale customers, Citi analysts say in a note. In the update, the company said recent customer wins have pushed contracted utilization up 43% since end-December. Citi thinks the update points to a strong demand outlook, and highlights a hyperscale customer committing to a contract with a long billing ramp. It also thinks that more hyperscalers could bring forward their requirements to lock-in available capacity amid potential concerns about supply constraints. Citi reiterates a buy call on NextDC, viewing it as a play on the secular shift toward cloud computing, as well as a defensive play in a slowing macro environment. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0116 GMT - Latitude will incur both one-off and longer-term costs from a cyberattack last month that exposed customer data, but the damage to its brand its likely to be limited, Morgan Stanley analysts say in a note. They reckon that the Australian lending company will speed up a technology overhaul, increasing ongoing costs by 2%-3% across FY 2023-2025. MS also forecasts a one-off A$18 million post-tax impact for stolen document replacements and other one-off costs stemming from the hack--not including any potential fines or class actions--though it notes that insurance recoveries are likely to provide some protection. "We do not expect this to have a material impact on volumes, and we lower average FY 2023 balances by around 1%, with minimal impact in FY 2024-25." (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0101 GMT - Barrick Gold could consider opportunities to increase its exposure to copper via M&A, following efforts by other large miners to seek copper-rich deals, Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina says in a note. "We are already seeing sizable transactions in the mining sector, and we expect to see more large-scale mining M&A in the near future," he says. Barrick had previously signaled it wasn't interested in competing for Newcrest, an Australian miner with large copper resources that Newmont Corp. is seeking to buy. LaFemina notes that Barrick had a challenging 1Q, as anticipated. "Despite the challenging quarter, Barrick reports that it is on course to meet its full year 2023 operational targets," he says. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

0049 GMT - Margin trends will be a key focus area for investors at Bank of Queensland's upcoming 1H FY 2023 result, amid a challenging environment for Australian lenders,marked partly by heightened mortgage discounting, say Morgan Stanley analysts in a note. The investment bank forecasts BOQ's margin to rise by 13 basis points half-on-half to 1.88% in 1H, and assumes that the Australian regional lender's margin reached 1.90% in 1Q, before declining to 1.87% in 2Q. Amid a challenging environment for margins, MS expects BOQ's margin to decline by 12bp year-over-year to 1.73% in FY 2024. "This is materially below the latest Visible Alpha consensus of 1.81%," MS says. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2334 GMT - Corporate Travel Management's contract with the U.K. Home Office builds confidence in its ability to deliver strong contract wins, say Goldman Sachs analysts in a note. Also, the U.K. win opens up the options of the contract rolling on for a longer term. The contract announced on Thursday is for a value of around A$3 billion over two years from March with an option for extension for an additional year. "We view managed travel as a growing space, especially heading into a cost constrained environment," says GS. The investment bank sees Corporate Travel Management as being well positioned to take advantage of organic and inorganic growth opportunities due to its strong balance sheet. It has a buy rating on the stock. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is set to rise at the open, after U.S. stocks jumped on hope that inflation may be easing. Australian stock futures are up 0.2% ahead of the open, after the S&P/ASX 200 had closed 0.3% lower Thursday as unemployment data kept the central bank alert to lingering inflation risks. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.1% higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite put on 2.0%. Ahead of the open, Best & Less named Erica Berchtold as CEO from September 4, and regional lender Bank of Queensland flagged a A$200 million writedown as part of its upcoming first-half results. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0619 GMT - Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.3% lower at 7324.1, as unemployment data keeps the central bank alert to lingering inflation risks. Most sectors finished in the red, with energy, information technology and property trusts the only outliers, closing up 0.9%, 1.0% and 0.4% respectively. Consumer staples was the biggest drag on the market, finishing the day 1.2% lower. Supermarket group Coles fell 2.5%, and rival Woolworths gave up 1.1%. Costa Group fell 2.0%, while Treasury Wine Estates ended flat. Corporate Travel Management was the biggest mover of the day, rising 12% after saying it secured a two-year contract with the U.K. Home Office. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires