Ann: DTL expects to report a record second half result, page-6

At the best of times I think that the seasonal nature of DTL's business tends to play havoc with the market's interpretation of its financial performance from one period to the next.

This year, with the acutely weak first half (almost a 15-year low), which was cycling a strong first half result from the previous year, recovering all the ground in the second-half was always going to be a tall order (which begs the question why they provided guidance to that end, in the first place, but that's a separate debate).

I suspect the stock will be sold off today due to the "miss", but as a long-term shareholder, it is the overall trend in earnings that is of importance to me.  As the chart below shows, the second-half result for FY2018 is impressive in the context of the company's history (as well as highlighting the extent of the drag on this year's result from the first half):