Author: roymorgansocial

Melbourne byelection for lord mayor announced after Doyle resignation

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Original article by Rachel Eddie
The New Daily – Page: Online : 14-Feb-18

Victoria’s Acting Local Government Minister Martin Pakula has confirmed that a postal vote to elect Melbourne’s new Lord Mayor will be held on 12 May. The by-election follows the resignation of former lord mayor Robert Doyle over sexual harassment allegations. Possible contenders for Lord Mayor include Property Council head Sally Capp, Phil Cleary and acting Lord Mayor Arron Wood. Pollster Gary Morgan will be a candidate. Morgan says he ran against Doyle three times, and had argued on each occasion that Doyle was not a "fit and proper" person to be Melbourne’s Lord Mayor. Morgan was the only candidate to put Doyle last for preferences.

CORPORATES
MELBOURNE CITY COUNCIL, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF VICTORIA

Union fined $1m over Boral boycott

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 15-Feb-18

The Federal Court has ordered the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union to pay fines totalling $A1m for breaching the secondary boycott provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act. The union had banned Victorian building sites from using concrete supplied by Boral in the wake of a 2012 industrial dispute between the CFMEU and Grocon. Justice John Middleton found that the union engaged in a secondary boycott at two building sites, although the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission had contended that 12 sites had been affected.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, ALSAFE PREMIX CONCRETE PTY LTD, GROCON PTY LTD, COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA), HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Turns out Abbott was right about new jobs

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 15-Feb-18

The general consensus of economists is that the latest labour force data will show that about 15,000 jobs were created in January 2018. This would lift the number of jobs created since the September 2013 federal election to more than 971,000. Prior to the election, then Opposition leader Tony Abbott had committed to increasing the labour force by one million during the Coalition’s first five years in office. The Government is on track to deliver on this pre-election promise well within the five-year time-frame, after the economy added 400,000 jobs in 2017.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, BLOOMBERG LP

Credit mischief costs banks $50m

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 15-Feb-18

The financial services royal commission will initially focus on banks’ responsible lending practices in relation to credit cards, home loans and car finance packages. Meanwhile, new figures show that the Australian Securities & Investments Commission has ordered banks to pay $A50m in refunds and compensation to credit card customers over the last two years. Westpac, ANZ and Citi are among the banks that have been forced to reimburse customers during this period.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, CITIBANK PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

IAG profit jumps 24pc, as insurer mulls Asian exit

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 21 : 15-Feb-18

Insurance Australia Group has posted a 2017-18 interim net profit of $A551m, which is 24 per cent higher than previously. The insurer has written down the value of its Asian assets by $A50m, and indicated that it could potentially exit the region. Meanwhile, CEO Peter Harmer says the company took action to remedy problems with its "add-on" car insurance business well before the financial services commission commenced, and opted to withdraw from this sector of the market.

CORPORATES
INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, SWANN INSURANCE (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, NRMA LIMITED, CGU INSURANCE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INCORPORATED

Saving private Barnaby: rescue mission heads off leadership crisis . . . for now

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Original article by Joe Kelly, Dennis Shanahan, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-Feb-18

National Party leader Barnaby Joyce was the Opposition’s main target during question time in parliament on 14 February. The Joyce saga is also expected to attract scrutiny by Labor in upcoming Senate estimates hearings. Meanwhile, Joyce will not face any threat to his leadership in the near-term after senior members of the Nationals stepped in to quell unrest within the party’s ranks over the deputy prime minister’s shenanigans. However, some Nationals MP say his position will be untenable if further revelations emerge.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Woodside in $2.5b raising for LNG growth

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 15-Feb-18

Woodside Petroleum has advised that its profit for 2017 rose by 18 per cent to $US1.024bn. Meanwhile, the group will have a 75 per cent stake in the Scarborough gas field after striking a deal to acquire ExxonMobil’s 50 per cent interest in the undeveloped asset for $US744m. Woodside will finance the acquisition via a $A2.5bn capital raising. BHP Billiton holds the remaining 25 per cent stake in Scarborough, and it could potentially exercise its pre-emptive right to buy ExxonMobil’s stake.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WATERMARK FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BERNSTEIN INVESTMENT RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT, WOOD MACKENZIE, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Adani still getting special royalty deal

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 15-Feb-18

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Jackie Trad says Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine would be entitled to defer royalty payments for four years if the project proceeds. The State Government approved the royalty scheme in May 2017, which will also apply to other resources projects in the Galilee Basin. Trad has rejected suggestions that Adani has been given a "royalty holiday", arguing that interest will be payable on the deferred payments. Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Environment & Science has rejected New Hope Group’s amended environmental authority for a proposed expansion of its New Acland coal mine.

CORPORATES
ADANI MINING PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE, NEW HOPE CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX NHC, LAND COURT OF QUEENSLAND, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND MINES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Share indexes tipped to test recent lows

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 15-Feb-18

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Bull & Bear Indicator suggests that global equities face a further pullback and could fall to around the level seen during the recent sharemarket rout. Meanwhile, BAML’s latest survey of fund managers shows that respondents’ average cash balance has risen by 0.3 per cent to 4.7 per cent, while equity allocation has fallen by 12 per cent and bond allocation has fallen to the lowest level in two decades.

CORPORATES
BANK OF AMERICA NA, MERRILL LYNCH AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, MSCI ALL COUNTRY WORLD INDEX, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

PM takes CEOs on Trump mateship trip

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 12-Feb-18

Executives from a number of leading Australian companies and organisations will accompany Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his upcoming visit to the US. Seek, Wesfarmers and IFM Investors will be among the entities represented. Billionaire Anthony Pratt notes that there is over $A1 trillion worth of investment between Australia and the US, and that the US is both Australia’s most significant ally and its major investment partner. A number of state premiers will also be joining Turnbull.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, 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, ORICA LIMITED – ASX ORI, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, UNITED STATES. NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION, DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UNITED STATES), REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), GLENCORE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA