Company profits are sinking despite inflation remaining high, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows

Company profits have fallen in the past three months, another major dent in claims corporate greed is driving Australia’s outbreak of inflation. Profits dropped 5.3 per cent in the June quarter according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics — the fourth fall in the past five periods. Quarterly profit is now at its lowest level since March 2022, at just south of $130 billion. Mining was hardest hit, with profit sinking nearly 11 per cent over a period which saw mounting shutdowns across the sector. “The mining sector has recorded six quarters of declining profits over the past eight quarters as commodity prices have come off their earlier peaks, although these movements have been quite volatile,” Commonwealth Bank said on Monday. “Mining profits are down by 34 per cent from their (June quarter 2022) peaks.” Retailers and hospitality businesses also delivered lower profits, the ABS data showed. Big supermarkets Coles and Woolworths have drawn fire for rising prices — but both posted falling underlying profits in real, inflation-adjusted terms in their latest results. The fall in corporate profits comes despite inflation running at 3.8 per cent and remaining above the Reserve Bank’s target range of 2 to 3 per cent. That hit as high as 7.8 per cent as a flood of stimulus washed over the economy after the pandemic, driving worker shortages and temporarily causing company profits to rocket. But while profits have gone backwards for the past 12 months, the amount paid in wages and salaries has lifted 5 per cent, the ABS says. The Bureau will give a clearer picture of the national economy on Wednesday with national accounts data.