Author: roymorgansocial

Superannuation balance of intending retirees increasing, but females still lag

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 31-Jul-17

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that an estimated 430,000 Australians intend to retire in the next 12 months. An analysis of the superannuation of intending retirees shows that the average balance for women is $158,000, or 60.8% of the male average of $260,000. The gender gap has closed considerably since 2008, when the female balance was only $79,000 or 55.2% of the average male superannuation balance. A great deal of publicity has been given to this issue, and it has obviously increased awareness and effort to improve retirement funding for women.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Retail property sentiment dips

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Original article by Elizabeth Redman
The Australian – Page: 23 : 28-Jul-17

National Australia Bank’s latest survey of the commercial property sector has revealed that sentiment is at its least optimistic in the retail property segment. Sentiment in that category is at its lowest since the end of 2014, in part due to the looming arrival of Amazon. Sentiment towards CBD hotels is also down, but sentiment in the office and industrial segments rose. Looking at individual states, sentiment has improved in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, but declined in New South Wales.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED

Coal plants hold key to ‘cheap energy, CO2 cuts’

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 28-Jul-17

Engineers from GE argue that it would cost between $A57m and $A114m to retrofit Australia’s existing coal-fired power stations to produce more electricity and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. They estimate that these plant could generate an additional 1,000MW to 1,500MW while cutting their carbon emissions by about 19 million tonnes. Australia’s remaining coal-fired power stations are slated for closure by 2050.

CORPORATES
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, TESLA INCORPORATED, NEOEN, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Cyber crooks selling forged CBA statements for just $6

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 28-Jul-17

Identity theft is growing at 80 per cent per annum according to Equifax, while fake Commonwealth Bank and Westpac bank statements can be acquired on the "dark web" for as little as $A6. Spokespersons for both banks state that they have a range of technologies and monitoring activities in place aimed at preventing the theft of customer data. Identity thieves can use false bank statements for any number of purposes, including setting up other bank accounts and earning identity points to acquire drivers’ licences and other official documents.

CORPORATES
EQUIFAX INCORPORATED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COLONIAL FIRST STATE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, THE PERSONNEL RISK MANAGEMENT GROUP PTY LTD, PHARMACYID PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD

MP fiasco extends to bloodlines

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 28-Jul-17

The issue of federal politicians with dual citizenship continues to attract scrutiny, with 21 lower house MPs having confirmed that a parent or grandparent was born overseas. There would be major implications for the Government if any Coalition MPs were found to have foreign citizenship by descent, given its one-seat majority in the lower house. Meanwhile, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has confirmed that he was a British dual national when elected to Parliament in July 2016. He had taken action to renounce his British citizenship, but official documentation was not completed until December.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Cooling property market good for Domain, REA

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 28-Jul-17

Online real estate advertising groups REA and Domain will benefit from any slowdown in the Australian residential property sector, according to David Kaynes of Citigroup. He says this is because agents may have to place a listing advertisement more than once before a property is sold if the market starts to cool off. Citigroup’s share target price for REA is $A80, while its target price for Domain parent Fairfax Media is $A1.10.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, DOMAIN.COM.AU, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TPG CAPITAL LP, HELLMAN AND FRIEDMAN

Glencore nears $1.4bn deal on Rio coalmines

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 28-Jul-17

Yancoal Australia is set to on-sell some of its newly-acquired New South Wales thermal coal assets to Glencore in a deal worth $US1.139b ($A1.42bn). Glencore will acquire a 49 per cent stake in the Hunter Valley Operations from Yancoal and Mitsubishi following the completion of Yancoal’s acquisition of Rio Tinto’s NSW coal mines for $US2.69bn. Yancoal had trumped Glencore in a bidding war for the Rio Tinto assets.

CORPORATES
YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX YAL, GLENCORE PLC, MITOLO GROUP PTY LTD, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, COAL AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES LIMITED, YANZHOU COAL MINING COMPANY LIMITED

Taxing trusts as companies not a bad idea, lawyers say

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 28-Jul-17

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has indicated that he will scrutinise the tax treatment of family trusts if Labor wins the next federal election. Currently, trust themselves are not taxed, with the income they distribute being taxed at a beneficiary level. However, it is possible that Labor may decide to start taxing trusts as companies, a move once considered by the Howard government. Michael Parker of Hall & Wilcox says such an idea has merit, provided that trusts are still able to access franking credits and the capital gains tax discount.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, HALL AND WILCOX, RSM GROUP, BDO GROUP PTY LTD

Labor left to embrace Corbyn, torpedo neoliberal economics

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Original article by Troy Bramston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 28-Jul-17

The Australian Labor Party’s left faction will use its New South Wales state conference to ramp up its push to make inequality a key policy agenda. The left faction intends to formally repudiate the neoliberalism policies of the Bob Hawke and Paul Keating-led Labor governments in favour of the socialist agenda of the UK Labour Party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Labor’s national ­assistant secretary, Paul Erickson, has praised Corbyn and believes that Australians are just as disillusioned about mainstream politics as people in the UK.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LABOUR PARTY (GREAT BRITAIN)

RBA rate hike hopes fade as Aussie bumps past US80c

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 28-Jul-17

The Australian dollar reached a new two-year high of US0.8043 during intra-day trading on 27 July, compared with $US0.76 at the start of the month. The currency rallied after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates on hold, and Charlie Jamieson of Jamieson Coote Bonds says a US rate rise in September is looking increasingly unlikely, while a rise in Australia’s cash rate will also be off the agenda in the near-term. Meanwhile, Westpac estimates that the Australian dollar’s fair value is around $US0.76 to $US0.77.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE, JAMIESONCOOTEBONDS PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA