Author: roymorgansocial

Australian talent misses out as Netflix ramps up

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Original article by Karl Quinn
The Age – Page: 15 : 2-Mar-18

Netflix intends to spend around $US8 billion ($A10.27 billion) on content in 2018, but Australian film and television producers are yet to see much of that investment. Thus far, fantasy/crime program "Tidelands" is the only Australian program that Netflix has commissioned. Although around 30 per cent of Australian households subscribe to Netflix, a survey presented to a review of Australian and children’s screen content in September found that only between two and 2.5 per cent of the content shown on Netflix in Australia was of local origin.

CORPORATES
NETFLIX INCORPORATED, RMIT UNIVERSITY, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Trump trade war fears sparks stock plunge

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 2-Mar-18

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply after US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and a 10 per cent tariff on foreign aluminium. His announcement came less than one hour after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell had told US legislators that he did not think tariffs were the best way of addressing the possible negative side-effects of international trade. Trump’s announcement is not expected to be well-received by China.

CORPORATES
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, FARR, MILLER AND WASHINGTON LLC, US STEEL MINING COMPANY INCORPORATED, CENTURY ALUMINIUM COMPANY, CATERPILLAR INCORPORATED, BOEING COMPANY, ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS US, OXFORD ECONOMICS LIMITED

APRA relaxes as home boom ends

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 17 & 22 : 2-Mar-18

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres has told a Senate committee that the slowing residential property market may reduce the need to cap annual growth in lending to investors. The latest data shows that there has been a sharp fall in lending to investors, while credit growth across the economy has also slowed. However, a number of lenders have recently moved to reduce the interest rates on their interest-only investment loans. Morgan Stanley forecasts a further slowdown in both credit growth and the housing market.

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AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, VIRGIN MONEY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ADELAIDE BANK, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DIGITAL FINANCE ANALYTICS, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Uncanny resemblance between today’s sharemarket and 1987

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Original article by Karen Maley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 2-Mar-18

Independent strategist Russell Napier says growth in M2 money supply in the US has fallen significantly in 2018, noting the parallels with US money supply in the year leading up to the sharemarket crash in October 1987. The rise in the yield on US 10-year bonds in 2018 has also mirrored the upward trend in 1987, albeit to a much lower level. At around 2.9 per cent, the bond yield is still well below the 1987 peak of 10.1 per cent, but Napier points out that the recent rise has been much larger in percentage terms.

CORPORATES
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, UNITED STATES. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

Australian Inflation Expectations unchanged at 4.5% to start 2018

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Mar-18

Australians aged +14 expect inflation of 4.5% per year over the next two years, according to the Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations Index for January 2018. This is unchanged for a third straight month and also unchanged from January 2017. Inflation Expectations have levelled off in recent months after rising throughout the last year; 2017 was the first year since the series began in 2010 that Inflation Expectations were higher year-over-year in every month. Despite the increases throughout 2017, Inflation Expectations remain well below the seven-year average of 5.0%. Analysis by State shows that Inflation Expectations remain the highest in Queensland at 4.8%, with the southern States of Victoria and Tasmania both on 4.7%, and South Australia on 4.6% also above the national average. Analysis by Federal voting intention shows that ALP supporters (4.5%) have Inflation Expectations equal to the national average, above those of L-NP supporters (4.1%).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Private equity upbeat on deals, record capital

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 20 : 2-Mar-18

Bain & Company has released a report which notes that the global private equity industry had some $US633bn worth of funds to invest at the end of 2017. Meanwhile, private equity experts who attended the annual Asian Venture Capital Journal conference are positive about the outlook for deal-making in Australia during 2018. Data from Dealogic shows that $US1bn ($A1.3bn) worth of deals were made in the first two months of the year.

CORPORATES
BAIN AND COMPANY, PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS PTY LTD, KKR AND COMPANY LP, I-MED/MIA NETWORK LIMITED, LIFEHEALTHCARE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LHC, DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, BGH CAPITAL PTY LTD

Yancoal dares to dream dividends

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 31 : 2-Mar-18

Yancoal Australia has posted a 2017 net profit of $A229m, its first since 2012. The result was boosted by pre-tax earnings of $A276m for the Coal & Allied assets that Yancoal bought for $US2.7bn ($A3.5bn). Yancoal CEO Reinhold Schmidt notes that the deal made the Chinese-backed company the third-largest coal producer in Australia. He says dividends may be on the agenda at some point, but stresses that the focus is on delivering sustainable returns for investors.

CORPORATES
YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX YAL, COAL AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES LIMITED, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Kiwibank tops New Zealand customer satisfaction ratings

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Mar-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that Kiwibank had the highest satisfaction rating of the largest New Zealand banks in the year to December 2017. Kiwibank had a rating of 83.9%, compared with 82.6% in 2016. Overall consumer satisfaction with banks in New Zealand was 78.2%, up from 77.1% in the previous year. Of the largest New Zealand banks, six showed improved satisfaction, with the biggest gains coming from BNZ (up 2.2% points to 79.6%) and ANZ (up 2.0% point to 79.6%). Meanwhile, of the largest banks considered by customers to be their main financial institution, TSB Bank customers with 91.7%, have the highest likelihood (high advocates) of recommending them to a friend or colleague. They are followed by The Co-Operative Bank (86.6%) and Kiwibank (73.3%).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, KIWIBANK LIMITED, BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, TSB BANK LIMITED, CO-OPERATIVE BANK

2017 Pre-Christmas sales of just over $50 billion prediction spot on

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Mar-18

Roy Morgan’s annual retail sales forecast, undertaken in conjunction with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), predicted total retail sales growth of 2.8% to $50.073 billion for the most important retailing period of the year: 15 November-24 December 2017. This is just 0.1% higher than the 2.7% growth achieved, with actual sales totalling $50.019 billion. There was growth across all six categories measured, with spending on Hospitality growing the fastest, by 4.1% to $7.123 billion, while the slowest-growing category was Department stores, for which spending increased 0.6% to $2.945 billion. Analysing retail sales figures on a State-by-State basis shows that South Australia grew fastest, with retail sales growing 5.1% to $3.326 billion, while growth was slowest in post-mining boom Western Australia, up just 0.3% to $5.4 billion. Australia’s two biggest States also grew strongly with Victoria up a healthy 4.7% to $12.839 billion and New South Wales up 2.8% to $16.128 billion.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

Gold traders’ scam ripped off $1bn GST

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 21 : 1-Mar-18

The Australian Taxation Office estimated in February 2017 that goods and services tax fraud by gold traders had cost the federal government around $A700m in revenue. However, ATO deputy commissioner Timothy Dyce has told a Senate committee that the forgone revenue may now be almost $A1bn. He added that legislation enacted in April 2017 has closed the loophole which enabled gold traders to avoid GST liability.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA