Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) has secured a deal to offload a 15.1% stake in its Scarborough project to Japanese liquefied natural gas buyer JERA, at a projected value of $1.4 billion.

The announcement was made by the Australian petroleum and natural gas exploration company on Friday.

Woodside Energy is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company.

Corporate earnings for Australia and New Zealand, including notables such as Helia Group (ASX:HLI), are queued up for release in the upcoming week.

Among the companies on the slate, Helia Group’s Full Year 2023 earnings release is due for 26th February 2024.

Other companies set to unveil their earnings include Johns Lyng Group (ASX:JLG), NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF), Waypoint REIT (ASX:WPR), Nanosonics (ASX:NAN), Suncorp Group (ASX:SUN), Altium (ASX:ALU), Healius (ASX:HLS), Alumina (ASX:AWC), Reece (ASX:REH), Polynovo (ASX:PNV), and many more.

Times for these releases are denoted as ‘After market close’, ‘Before market opens’, ‘During business hours’, or ‘No time scheduled’.

Please note that this summary does not provide EPS estimate figures, which can be retrieved elsewhere.

Helia Group (ASX:HLI) is a prominent member of the corporate world, known for its business activities and industry participation.

On Friday, Australian shares experienced a rise, moving in sync with a broader rally in global peers.

This was in part driven by positive performances in domestic technology stocks and financials which counterbalanced commodity losses.

The S&P/ASX 200 index saw a 0.5% increase to 7,650.30.

While this benchmark ended flat on Thursday, worldwide record highs in equity markets was triggered by stunning performance results from AI chipmaker Nvidia.

In response, Australian technology stocks mirrored Wall Street counterparts, marked by a peak climb as much as 2.7% — its highest level since January 6, 2022.

This sub-index is set to record a fourth weekly gain if the current trend continues.

Notably, shares of Block Inc (ASX:SQ2), listed on the ASX, soared as much as 17.1%, reaching their highest level since August 2.

This surge came after the Jack Dorsey-led payments firm predicted adjusted core earnings for the current quarter which surpassed Wall Street estimates.

Concurrently, financials pushed forward almost 1% and are in line to record a seventh straight-weekly gain, with the ‘Big Four’ banks adding between 0.6% and 0.9%.

In contrast, heavyweight miners dipped 0.1%, heading into their third consecutive weekly loss.

Regardless of the dip, BHP Group (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) gained between 0.2% and 0.7%.

On another note, gold stocks hit their lowest level since October 6, 2023, dropping nearly 3.2% while tracing bullion prices' trajectory lower.

Energy stocks also slipped 0.3%, looking likely to end their third week in decline.

Among specific stocks, Brambles (ASX:BHP) recorded a remarkable jump, as much as 4.7%, reaching a record peak after the supply chain logistics firm reported an 18% rise in its half-year profit.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index also rose marginally by 0.1% to reach 11,703.74.

A poll indicated that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is likely to maintain its cash rate at a 15-year high of 5.50% on February 28, and possibly hold off until at least July before commencing to lower the base cost of borrowing.

Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) is a San Fransisco-based company with Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, as its current CEO.

The company focuses on building financial software and hardware products to facilitate businesses around the globe.

Shares of life sciences firm Invion (ASX:IVX) experienced an intraday surge of as much as 25% to reach A$0.005.

This was the company’s most significant intraday percentage gain since January 20.

The hike in stock value was spurred by an announcement that Invion signed a collaboration with South Korean firm Dr.inB.

This partnership aims to further the innovation and use of PhotosoftTM technology.

This advancement is intended to treat the human papilloma virus (HPV), a culprit of body warts.

The said PhotosoftTM technology employs non-toxic photosensitisers and visible light in synergy to treat a range of medical conditions spanning various cancers, atherosclerosis, and infectious diseases.

On the day of the announcement, roughly 1.7 million shares were traded, exceeding the 30-day average volume by 2.5 times.

Notwithstanding the surge in share value, the company’s stock was still down by 20% for the year to date.

Invion is a life sciences company that partners with like-minded firms to develop beneficial medical technology.

Woodside Energy Group plans to sell a 15.1% non-operating participating interest in its Scarborough project to JERA, a Japanese liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer, for approximately $1.4 billion.

The estimated monetary value is composed of a purchase price of around $740 million and reimbursement to Woodside for JERA’s share of the expenditure incurred from the transaction effective date of January 1, 2022.

In August 2023, Woodside announced a sale of 10% participating interest in Scarborough to LNG Japan for $500 million.

If all stake sales are completed, Woodside would retain a 74.9% interest in the $12 billion Scarborough gas project and continue as its operator.

The project targets its first LNG cargo for 2026.

“JERA’s participation in the Scarborough Joint Venture, which will also include LNG Japan, signals the project’s importance to Japanese customers and confidence in long-term demand,” said Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill.

Woodside also entered into a non-binding agreement with JERA to supply six LNG cargoes from its global portfolio annually for a decade starting in 2026.

The stake sale to JERA is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2024.

Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) is an Australian oil and gas explorer with a broad portfolio of high-quality project interests.

The share price of Dusk Group (ASX:DSK) has slid as much as 8.6% to A$0.900, reaching its lowest point since December 1.

The considerable downturn has followed unimpressive results from the home fragrance products manufacturer’s recent half-year financial report.

The report disclosed a year on year drop of 39.5% with the after-tax profit from ordinary activities amounting to only A$8.1 million.

In addition to this financial performance decline, Dusk Group’s ordinary activities revenue also fell by approximately 9.7% to A$77.8 million.

This subpar performance has led to the company’s most significant daily drop since December 1.

As per these trends, Dusk Group’s shares are geared to finish the current week 10.8% lower, marking an overall downturn of roughly 3% for the year to date.

Dusk Group is an Australian-based manufacturer of home fragrance products.

Conrad Asia Energy (ASX:CRD) has been granted approval for the Mako gas price and allocation by the Indonesian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

This consent covers the gas price and volume allocation for the Mako Field project in Duyung PSC.

Conrad Asia Energy is a company that operates in the energy sector, providing sustainable solutions for power generation.

Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN) anticipates an underlying EBITDA margin in the range of 48% to 50% for the group’s financial year 2024.

The company also confirmed the outlook for FY24.

Future projections suggest the underlying operating cost growth will expand at a slower rate compared to revenue on a like-for-like basis.

In addition to these financial forecasts, Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN) announced the appointment of Jatin Khosla as their new Chief Financial Officer.

Jumbo Interactive is an online lottery company that sells lottery tickets through its platform, it operates under regulated conditions and holds retail agreements with well-established lotteries around the world.

Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) recently reported a half-year underlying loss of $36.6 million, which is significantly higher than the previous year’s loss of $19.4 million.

The company’s revenue from ordinary activities was slightly lower, with an announced $417.9 million, marking a 3% decrease.

Despite this, they have maintained their production, cost, and capital expenditure projections for FY24.

Looking ahead, Sandfire Resource anticipates returning the business to profitability and reducing its debt in the forthcoming years.

Moreover, the company is optimistically positioned to deliver more than a 50% increase in copper equivalent production from continuing operations over two years, ending in FY25.

Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) is a mining and exploration company with a key focus on copper, gold, and base metals.

Shares of Accent Group (ASX:AX1) plunged as much as 8.6% to A$2.010, potentially its worst performance since November 17, 2023, if the downward trend persists.

The footwear distributor unveiled that its profit after income tax for the half-yearly period plummeted by 27.6% to A$42.2 million ($27.67 million).

Additionally, the company reported a 2.1% fall in half-yearly revenue.

This has led the company’s stock to its lowest level since January 31.

The downward trend marks the fifth consecutive session of losses for AX1.

The trend also indicates the company’s potentially poorest performance week since mid-November 2023.

In the face of these developments, shares worth about 1.3 million changed hands, showing a slight rise from the 30-day average volume of 1.2 million shares.

Despite the current turmoil, AX1’s performance shows an uptick of 13.4% year-to-date, based on the most recent closing figures.

Accent Group (ASX:AX1) is a leading distributor of footwear.