Shares in Channel Ten jump following Warburton’s sacking: Midday roundup

Shares in Ten Network Holdings have jumped 7.46% at midday following the sacking of former chief executive James Warburton last week.

Channel Ten will soon have its fifth chief executive in only two years as the station has struggled with ratings and last year’s show hopefuls Being Lara Bingle, The Shire and Everybody Dance Now flopped.

Hamish McLennan from News Corporation is joining the Ten team in three weeks.

Caltex Australia profits rise

Caltex Australia is once again profitable, posting profits of $57 million for the six months to December.

In 2011, the company made a loss of $714 million.

Despite the profit, Caltex has cut the final dividend to $0.23 from $0.28 a share, reducing the annual payout from $0.45 to $0.40.

In 2012, Caltex booked a $309 million provision for the closure of the Kurnell refinery, while in 2011 it took a $1.1 billion write-down in the value of this asset. Despite this Caltex’s revenue rose to $23.3 billion, up from $22.1 billion.

Shares

Australian shares opened strongly this morning, despite a massive fall on Thursday last week which had investors worried.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 41.6 points to 5059.7 at 12:20.

The solid performance across the board follows the US market closing 0.86% higher on Friday, up 119.95 points to 14000.57.