Australia's largest private hospitals operator, Ramsay Health Care, has stuck to its full-year guidance while flagging that Brexit could weigh on the UK business and Australia is still facing some challenges.

Last year, it bought Sweden's Capio which expanded its presence in the Nordic region and in Germany.

Net profit in the six months ended December 31 rose 9.6 per cent to $270.1 million from $246.54 million in the year-earlier period. Core net profit edged up 1 per cent to $290.8 million from the year-earlier $288 million, the company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

Carrie LaFrenz has the full story here.

Waste management group Bingo Industries has gained the green light from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for the $578 million acquisition of the Dial-A-Dump business after agreeing to sell its Banksmeadow processing facility in outer Sydney to allay concerns by the regulator about competition in the collection of building and demolition waste.

The ACCC approval will be a filip for Bingo, which stunned investors on February 18 when it cut profit forecasts by up to 20 per cent.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the Dial-A-Dump transaction had raised "a number of significant concerns", largely centred on the building and demolition waste sector in the eastern suburbs and inner city suburbs of Sydney, but the sale of the Banksmeadow facility should be enough to maintain competition in that segment.

Simon Evans has the full story here.

Australian shares have climbed slightly in early trade as Rio Tinto's results are being well received by the market.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 10 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 6160.3.

Rio Tinto is leading the market with a 1.8 per cent gain, BHP Group is up 0.4 per cent and Ramsay Health Care is up 4.6 per cent.

Bingo Industries has soared 17.6 per cent, Ingham's Group is up 3.6 per cent and Orocobre is up 3.2 per cent.

SPONSORED POST

The Australian sharemarket is set for a flat open to the day after Wall Street finished a non-eventful session slightly in the red on Wednesday, writes Kyle Rodda.

Political spot fires have captured the attention of market participants. From Washington, to Hanoi, to Kashmir, to Caracas, to London: the ugly machinations of power have dominated the headlines. Only, despite fleeting action, the impact to market activity has seemingly been muted. A facile logic might suggest that it is because of the geopolitical uncertainty in the world that markets have traded so dull overnight. It would be too long a bow to draw, though: tremors can be seen in prices, but a global earthquake can't be found.

Not to diminish the events turning the world in the last 24-hours: they go well beyond the importance of markets. It's simply just markets haven't responded terribly much to them.

Read the full 8@eight here.

Here are the market highlights:

SPI futures down 1 point at 6130

AUD -0.7% to 71.38 US cents

On Wall St near 4pm: Dow -0.3% S&P 500 -0.1% Nasdaq +0.1%

Rio Tinto has lavished shareholders with a $US4 billion ($5.6 billion) special dividend and given its growth prospects a much-needed boost by revealing an exciting copper prospect in Western Australia.

The mining giant reported a 2 per cent rise in underlying profit to $US8.8 billion, beating expectations for a profit of $US8.5 billion. Revenue edged higher to $US40.5 billion during a year in which the company sold five major assets.

Rio declared a final dividend of $US1.80, in line with last year's final payout of $US1.80. But it will also pay a $US4 billion special dividend, following the sale of its stake in the Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia in late 2018.

James Thomson and Brad Thompson have the full story here.

Good morning and welcome to Markets Live for Thursday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.