Author: roymorgansocial

Hanson dooms company tax cuts

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 26-Feb-18

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reiterated that Australia must reduce its company tax rate in order to remain internationally competitive in the wake of the Trump administration’s tax reforms. However, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says her party will not support the tax bill in the Senate. She has also questioned whether reducing the tax rate for all companies to 25 per cent would actually result in increased investment in Australia. Acting Prime Minister Mathias Cormann says the tax package must be passed in its entirety.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Private equity looks at BHP’s shale assets

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Original article by James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 22 : 26-Feb-18

BHP Billiton’s US shale assets are tipped to fetch at least $US10bn. Peter O’Connor of Shaw & Partners notes that this equates to about eight per cent of BHP’s market capitalisation. Energy companies such as Chevron and Anadarko are likely to consider some of the shale assets, which have also attracted interest from private equity firms. The private equity sector has ramped up its investment in energy assets in recent years.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, SHAW AND PARTNERS LIMITED, CHEVRON CORPORATION, ANADARKO PETROLEUM CORPORATION, EOG RESOURCES INCORPORATED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, WARBURG PINCUS AND COMPANY, ATX ENERGY PARTNERS, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, EAGLECLAW MIDSTREAM VENTURES, ENERGY TRANSFER PARTNERS LP

‘There’s a lot of money in the room’

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 26-Feb-18

Seven Network owner Kerry Stokes says US President Donald Trump is more engaging than he had expected. Stokes is one of a number of Australian executives to have accompanied Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his visit to the US, and whom Turnbull introduced to Trump. QIC CEO Damien Frawley said the White House was clearly a lot more organised than it has been portrayed in the media, while Business Council of Australia president Grant King said it was clear that Trump is "getting some things done".

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, QIC LIMITED, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PRATT INDUSTRIES PTY LTD

Twiggy, Japan Inc plan to ship LNG to NSW

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Original article by Matthew Stevens
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 26-Feb-18

Billionaire iron ore miner Andrew Forrest is believed to be the dominant partner in a new venture, Australian Industrial Energy. AIE, in which Japanese trading companies Marubeni and JERA are also involved, is planning to transport LNG to a yet-to-be decided port in New South Wales, where a re-gasification terminal would be established. It is understood that the volume of gas that the terminal would be capable of delivering is equivalent to about 70 per cent of total NSW demand.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL ENERGY, MARUBENI CORPORATION, JERA, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SQUADRON ENERGY, DUET GROUP, TOYKO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY INCORPORATED, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, BRICKWORKS LIMITED – ASX BKW, QENOS PLASTICS PTY LTD, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, ORICA LIMITED – ASX ORI, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL

Nine and News Corp in tie-up talks on cricket

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 26-Feb-18

The Ten Network may lose the Big Bash League broadcasting rights if a potential deal between Nine Entertainment Company and News Corp’s Fox Sports comes to fruition. Sources have indicated that they may a joint bid for all forms of the game, with Nine to retain its existing coverage of international matches and share coverage of the domestic Twenty20 competition with Fox Sports. The two media groups are believed to be proposing to offer between $A130m and $A150m per year, although they have not yet approached Cricket Australia.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, BIG BASH LEAGUE, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, CBS CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Higher volatility is going to be a fact of life again

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Original article by Bill Bovingdon, Chris Dickman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 26-Feb-18

Further volatility can be expected across all asset classes as central banks wind back quantitative easing programs and interest rates rise from historic lows. The European Central Bank has begun to scale back its asset purchasing program, although inflation is not yet sufficiently high for it to begin adjusting monetary policy. Meanwhile, Australia’s cash rate is likely to remain steady amid a continuing low level of inflation. The active management strategy is likely to deliver better returns than passive investing in the current environment,

CORPORATES
EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, ALTIUS ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Lexus wins Best of the Best award for 2017

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Feb-18

Car manufacturer Lexus has been named as the inaugural winner of the Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Award – ‘Best of the Best’ – awarded to the company that achieved the highest customer satisfaction of all 32 winners at the 2017 Annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards. Lexus’ win as the 2017 Roy Morgan Car Manufacturer of the year was hard fought ahead of rivals Skoda, Renault and Mazda, but the tight race between the four did not detract from Lexus’ overall performance against competing businesses across all 32 categories. Lexus’ averaged a customer satisfaction rating of 95.8% in 2017 to finish just in front of Supermarket of the Year Foodland on 95.3%, General Insurer RACT on 94.5%, Handset Provider of the Year Apple iPhone on 92.3% and Bank of the Year Greater Bank on 92.0%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, LEXUS, SKODA AUTOMOBILOVA AS, RENAULT HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MAZDA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOODLAND AUSTRALIA LIMITED, RACT INSURANCE PTY LTD, APPLE PTY LTD, GREATER BANK LIMITED

Flying high: Qantas and Air New Zealand soar at 2017 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards for Travel

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Feb-18

Roy Morgan has announced the winners of its 2017 Customer Satisfaction Awards for the Australian tourism and travel industry. Qantas was named the Domestic Airline of the Year, while it also took out the award for Domestic Business Travel Airline of the Year. It has won both awards for a fourth consecutive year, winning all 12 monthly awards for Domestic Business Travel Airline. Air New Zealand was named the International Airline of the Year for the first time, with 11 monthly wins.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AIR NEW ZEALAND LIMITED – ASX AIZ

Sensis Data Solutions partners with Roy Morgan Helix Personas

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Feb-18

Sensis Data Solutions, providing data validation services to thousands of Australian businesses, has partnered with Roy Morgan for Helix Personas to enhance and enrich clients’ data. Helix Personas uses deep psychographic insights, far beyond simple demographics, to segment the Australian population into seven communities and 56 distinct personas. The tool incorporates proven drivers and predictors of future behaviour – consumer’s values, beliefs and attitudes, so marketers can reach their customers most effectively with messages that resonate. Helix Personas also provides rich insight into media habits, so marketers can choose the most appropriate channel of communication. Other applications include look-a-like targeting, store and branch optimisation, local area marketing and merchandising. By overlaying Sensis Data Solutions’ existing demographic information with Helix Personas’ psychographic information, clients are given a far more comprehensive view of their database, allowing them to develop a much deeper understanding of who their customers are, create precisely targeted marketing campaigns, optimise marketing spend by using the most effective messaging and media channels and grow their customer base by finding new customers that "look like" their best customers.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, SENSIS DATA SOLUTIONS

Qantas soars to record profit

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Original article by Annabel Hepworth
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 23-Feb-18

Qantas has posted an underlying pre-tax profit of $A976m for the first half of 2017-18, an increase of 14.6 per cent. The airline’s statutory profit after tax rose 17.9 per cent to $A607m. Qantas is likely to resume paying corporate tax soon, after advising that it now has just $A368m worth of tax-loss credits. Meanwhile, CEO Alan Joyce has emphasised the need for a reduction in the corporate tax rate in order to ensure that the Australian economy is internationally competitive. Qantas shares rose $A0.31 to close at $A5.58 on 22 February.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES