Author: roymorgansocial

ATO’s $75bn crackdown on debt

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 13 : 18-Dec-17

The Australian Taxation Office is understood to have reached settlements with 12 multinational companies in regard to related party debt. The value of the borrowings in question is put at $A75 billion. ATO Deputy Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says the term of the settlements provide for future tax revenues, as well as resolving past disputes. He says the ATO is now working with an additional 60 taxpayers, with the value of their related party debt accounting for around $A120 billion.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

CBA ignored warnings on systems: regulator

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 18-Dec-17

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has now been accused of 14 contraventions of section 82 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act. AUSTRAC advised the CBA on 14 December that it is adding six more alleged contraventions to its charges against the bank. AUSTRAC has also stated that the CBA had plenty of opportunities in recent years to improve its counter-terrorism funding and anti-money laundering procedures.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE

Trump set for business tax cut

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Original article by John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 12 : 18-Dec-17

US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are hopeful that his corporate and income tax package will be passed by legislators before Christmas. The package includes a cut in the US company tax to 21 per cent, to take effect from January. Japan has also announced that its company tax rate will be reduced from 30 to 20 per cent, but only for firms that increase local capital spending and boost wages. Meanwhile, Labor and some crossbenchers remain opposed to the Federal Government’s plan to reduce the tax rate for all Australian companies to 25 per cent over 10 years.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UNITED STATES), UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, STRATEGAS RESEARCH PARTNERS LLC, TAX FOUNDATION

Late splurge sparks hopes for 2018 M&A

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 18-Dec-17

Data from Dealogic shows that $US86.9 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions had been announced in Australia as at 15 December 2017, which is 3.8 per cent lower than at the same time in 2016. Likewise, the value of announced M&A deals globally has fallen by 4.6 per cent to $US3.5 trillion. However, Nick Sims of Goldman Sachs notes that there has been an upturn in M&A activity in Australia and globally during the December quarter, which is expected to continue in 2018. Meanwhile, the total value of offshore acquisitions made by Australian companies has risen by 75 per cent so far in 2017, to $US26.3 billion.

CORPORATES
DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AWE LIMITED – ASX AWE, INTEGRAL DIAGNOSTICS LIMITED – ASX IDX, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, HARBOUR ENERGY LIMITED, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CVS HEALTH CORPORATION, AETNA INSURANCE COMPANY, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS PTY LTD, NUFARM LIMITED – ASX NUF, LINK ADMINISTRATION HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LNK

Cheap and fast NBN service attracts broadband switchers

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Dec-17

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 15% of Australian households that now have an NBN connection at home either switched to the NBN or switched their NBN fixed broadband service provider in the last 12 months. Some 53.7% of decision makers – those who are considered to be the decision makers in their household when it comes to technology – cited "cheaper rates" as the reason for choosing the new plan in the six months to September 2017, almost double the rate of a year ago (26.9%) and far higher than existing fixed broadband users (28.9%). Fixed broadband decision makers making the switch to a new NBN Service Provider in the last year were also far more likely than a year ago to mention faster data connection/download speeds (31.6% cf. 17.8%) and clear pricing of the plan (29.5% cf. 22.3%). Meanwhile, decision makers that switched to an ADSL or Cable fixed broadband service provider were also just as likely to choose based on faster connection and download speeds (30.5% cf. 31.6% for NBN) although clearly less likely to nominate cheaper rates (38.8% cf. 53.7% for NBN) or clear pricing of the plan (24.2% cf. 29.5% for NBN).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Australians oppose Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem Israeli capital

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Dec-17

A special Roy Morgan SMS Survey taken on December 14-15 shows that 76% of Australians aged 18+ are opposed to US President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Only 24% of Australians expressed support for the decision. Analysis by age and gender shows that 82% of women and 69% of men oppose Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, while just 18% of women and 31% of men support the decision. Meanwhile, respondents of all age groups strongly oppose Trump’s decision, while analysis by federal voting intention shows that supporters of the Greens (96%) and Labor (88%) are far more likely to oppose Trump’s decision than Liberal-National Party supporters (59%). L-NP support for the decision is 41%, which is more than double supporters of Labour and the Greens. A separate Roy Morgan SMS Survey shows that 75% of New Zealanders oppose Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, while 25% of New Zealanders support the decision.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Lord mayor Robert Doyle takes leave after sex harassment claim by councillor who quit

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Original article by Miki Perkins, Clay Lucas
The Age – Page: Online : 18-Dec-17

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has vowed to clear his name after standing down in the wake of allegations that he sexually harassed and indecently assaulted city councillor Tessa Sullivan. Doyle says he will co-operate fully with an investigation into the allegations, and he will take a month’s leave while the investigation takes place. Sullivan, who was elected to the Melbourne City Council on the "Team Doyle" ticket in 2016, has resigned from the council and is expected to be replaced by Team Doyle candidate Beverley Pinder-Mortimer.

CORPORATES
MELBOURNE CITY COUNCIL

Budget to slice $23bn off debt pile

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Dec-17

Australia’s gross debt is now expected to be about $A583bn in 2020-21, which is $A23bn lower than forecast in the Federal Government’s May 2017 Budget. Treasurer Scott Morrison says the revised debt forecast, which will be outlined in the mid-year Budget update on 18 December, will reduce the government’s annual interest bill by $A1bn. He adds that the government will now no longer be reliant on debt to finance recurrent expenditure, and borrowings will only be used for capital expenditure.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Uber soars and well-placed to tackle rising competition

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-Dec-17

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that nearly 3.7 million Australians 14+ (18.4% of the population) travelled by Uber in the last three months. The strongest percentage growth of Uber users since 2015 has been among those aged 35+, although all age groups have experienced incredible growth. However, 58.7% of Uber users are still aged under 35 – either 14-24 (25.1%) or 25-34 (33.6%) with a further 23.4% aged 35-49 and 17.9% aged 50+. These proportions represent a significant percentage change from 2015, when over three-quarters of Uber travellers were aged under 35. Meanwhile, the growth of Uber, and the entry of new ride-hailing apps, has had a definite impact on the level of taxi patronage around Australia, although Western Australia is the only State in which more residents have travelled by Uber in the last three months (23.9%) than via a taxi (19.6%) – also the lowest rate of taxi patronage in the nation.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UBER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Disney, Fox deal combines two of world’s biggest entertainment giants

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Original article by
CBS News – Page: Online : 15-Dec-17

Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Igor is confident that the group’s $US52.4bn deal to acquire key assets from 21st Century Fox will be cleared by regulators. The assets to be bought by Disney include the 20th Century Fox film studio and cable TV networks such as National Geographic, while assets to be retained by 21st Century Fox include the Fox free-to-air and pay-TV networks. These will be spun off into a new listed company. Igor has flagged the possibility of Fox CEO James Murdoch taking on a role at Disney.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, 20TH CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL