Author: roymorgansocial

Pay shake-up looms for nation’s retailers

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 29 : 6-Sep-17

The majority of large Australian retailers have union-endorsed enterprise agreements, but grocery giant Coles is widely tipped to abandon its disputed workplace agreement in favour of the industrial award system, a move that is likely to be followed by other retailers. Coles employees who are on weekend shifts would receive a pay rise, although staff who only work on weekdays would face a pay cut unless Coles implements a "grandfathering" arrangement for existing employees. About 300,000 employees of large retailers would be affected if the awards system is widely adopted, as well as potentially a further 100,000 fast-food workers.

CORPORATES
COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Electric car sales boost

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 6-Sep-17

Electric cars accounted for just 1,200 of the more than one million new cars that were sold in Australia in 2016, The Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Macquarie Leasing are hoping to boost interest in electric cars via a $A100 million leasing program. It is hoped that their partnership will reduce transport’s 93 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 200,000 tonnes.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. CLEAN ENERGY FINANCE CORPORATION, MACQUARIE LEASING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, ATLASSIAN CORPORATION PLC, AUSTRALIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY

Funder backs CBA class action

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 6-Sep-17

Listed litigation fund IMF Bentham has agreed to provide financial backing for a proposed shareholder class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The major bank’s shares have shed more than 10 per cent since early August, when Austrac initiated legal action over the CBA’s failure to comply with money-laundering laws. The class action is being undertaken by law firm Maurice Blackburn, which estimates that CBA could face a potential payout of at least $A200m. CBA could also incur sanctions in other countries where it has a presence.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, IMF BENTHAM LIMITED – ASX IMF, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Fears lingering over franchisors dodging new law

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 27 : 6-Sep-17

The Australian Government’s legislation to protect employees from being exploited is intended to increase the liability of franchisors for the illegal work practices of franchisees. However, Giri Sivaraman of law firm Maurice Blackburn warns that franchisors may try to circumvent the tougher regime by claiming that they had taken reasonable measures to combat wage theft. Higher financial penalties will apply for "deliberate and systematic" underpayment of wages, but the University of Sydney’s Stephen Clibborn cautions that this may be hard to prove.

CORPORATES
MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, 7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP

Fox missed deadline to help save Ten

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 6-Sep-17

Ferrier Hodgson has indicated that Ten Network suitor CBS Corporation had agreed to a reduction in the price that Ten paid for its content in mid-June. However, the deal was dependent on 21st Century Fox also agreeing to cut the cost of its program supply deal. Fox was given a deadline of 13 June to accept the new terms for its supply deal, but the Murdoch-backed group failed to do so and Ten subsequently went into administration. The revised content supply deals were also conditional on Ten refinancing a $A200m loan facility with the Commonwealth Bank.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, CBS CORPORATION, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FERRIER HODGSON AND COMPANY, KORDA MENTHA AND COLLEAGUES PTY LTD, FORT STREET ADVISERS PTY LTD, ILLYRIA PTY LTD, BIRKETU PTY LTD

Build-to-rent will struggle in Australia

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 6-Sep-17

Melbourne-based Caydon Property Group has started work on its first "build-to-rent" apartment project in the US. However, Caydon founder Joe Russo questions whether the build-to-rent model will be successful in Australia, noting that rising property values means that such an apartment building is likely to be less profitable than selling all apartments off the plan. Mirvac is undertaking a capital raising to finance its first build-to-rent project, while Salta Properties also plans to enter the sector.

CORPORATES
CAYDON PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, SALTA PROPERTIES PTY LTD, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, SCAPE LIVING STUDENT ACCOMMODATION, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, GREYSTAR REAL ESTATE PARTNERS LLC, DOMUS HOLDINGS CORPORATION

Citi tips ‘attractive’ return on stocks

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Original article by James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 35 : 6-Sep-17

Data from Citigroup shows that the earnings of Australian-listed companies increased by 17.8 per cent in 2016-17, although growth was just 4.3 per cent when resources stocks are excluded. Earnings are forecast to rise by 3.4 per cent overall in 2017-18, although Tony Brennan of Citigroup notes that growth could be around 10 per cent when dividends are taken into account. Meanwhile, UBS expects earnings growth of 3.5 per cent overall. Citigroup also forecasts that the S&P/ASX 200 could potentially rise by 12 per cent in 2017-18.

CORPORATES
CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, PRIMARY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX PRY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, COMPUTERSHARE LIMITED – ASX CPU, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX

Twiggy’s court win backfires on Fortescue

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Original article by Tess Ingram
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Sep-17

Andrew Forrest was recently successful in obtaining a ruling from the High Court to prevent two firms from lodging mining applications over his Minderoo cattle station in Western Australia. The ruling caused concern that other mining applications previously made in WA may not be valid, including those made by Fortescue Metals Group, which was founded by Forrest. Records show that Fortescue has made applications for 16 mining leases since the High Court ruled in Forrest’s favour, with some applications appearing to be for existing Fortescue leases.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, YARRI MINING PTY LTD, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF MINES, INDUSTRY REGULATION AND SAFETY, ONSLOW RESOURCES LIMITED

Stability for Lowe’s first year at helm

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Original article by Philip Baker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 36 : 6-Sep-17

Official interest rates have remained unchanged at 1.5 per cent during Philip Lowe’s first year as Reserve Bank of Australia governor. In contrast, the cash rate rose by 0.5 per cent during the first 12 months’ tenure of his predecessor, Glenn Stevens. Meanwhile, the next change in monetary policy is likely to be a rise in interest rates, although a number of economic indicators suggest that rates may stay on hold until late 2018.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Edges Higher – up 0.6pts to 114.1

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Sep-17

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence edged up 0.5% to 114.1 in the week ended 3 September 2017, following a 3.9% rise in the previous week. Households’ views towards current financial conditions slipped 2.0%, partially unwinding the previous 4.7% rise. Similarly, sentiment around future financial conditions fell 1.7%, following a solid 6.4% increase earlier. Despite the fall, confidence in overall financial conditions remains close to its long-term average. Meanwhile, consumers’ views towards current and future economic conditions posted another solid rise (2.6% and 5.5% respectively). Even so, views towards both current and future economic conditions are running below long-run averages.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ