Author: roymorgansocial

AutoHaul fix nearing for Rio Tinto

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 2-Nov-16

Andy Barr, the CEO of Italy-based Ansaldo STS, says the group is close to completing some major projects in Australia. Ansaldo is a key supplier for Rio Tinto’s AutoHaul project to automate trains at its iron ore mines in Western Australia. Although Barr did not name Rio Tinto, the resources giant is believed to be one of the customers to which he was referring, The AutoHaul project has been delayed by software problems, which have prompted Rio Tinto to scale back its iron ore export forecasts for 2016 and 2017.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, ANSALDO STS, ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD, QUEENSLAND RAIL

5.6 million will watch 2016 Melbourne Cup

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Nov-16

Today’s Melbourne Cup will be one of the most-watched sporting events of the year, with 5.6 million Australians 14+ (29%) expected to tune in to watch the race on TV, new research from Roy Morgan shows – but the audience has flipped over the past decade from being mostly under 50 to mostly over 50. The Melbourne Cup’s audience has declined by almost a million Australians over the last decade from 6.5 million (39%) in 2006. However the horse race on the first Tuesday every November remains among the most-watched sporting events in the country: just behind the AFL Grand Final (6.4 million) and State of Origin matches (6.0 million) – and ahead of the NRL Grand Final (5.3 million).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, THE EMIRATES MELBOURNE CUP

Girls given mobile phones before boys (thanks, Dad!)

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Nov-16

The latest Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey has found that 69% of girls aged 6-13 own a personal mobile phone, compared with 64% of boys. However, just 3% of boys and 2% of girls aged 6-7 own a mobile phone. This rises to 12 per cent of girls and 5% of boys aged 8-9. The gap between girls and boys becomes starkest at age 10 and 11, when an additional 17% of girls get a phone, compared with 15% of boys, while a further 41% of boys and 38% of girls aged 12-13 own their own phone. Meanwhile, a Roy Morgan Single Source Survey of Australians aged 14+ has found that 19 per cent of girls and 16 per cent of boys aged 14-15 have their own mobile phone. By the end of their teens, 98% of men and 99% of women have their own mobile phone.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Power bill shock as RET helps big firms

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Original article by Kylar Loussikian, Sid Maher
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Nov-16

Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox warns that a sharp rise in the spot price of large-scale generation certificates could result in a 1-2 per cent increase in electricity bills for households and businesses. He attributes the rise in the spot price to concern that growth in renewable energy supply will not be sufficient to meet the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target. This requires the proportion of electricity generated by renewables to rise from 12.75 per cent at present to 23.5 per cent by 2020. Some states have more aggressive renewable energy targets.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GREEN ENERGY MARKETS PTY LTD, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIA. CLEAN ENERGY REGULATOR, CLEAN ENERGY COUNCIL LIMITED

Banks on S&P negative watch over hot property

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 & 15 : 1-Nov-16

Factors such as rising household debt and residential property prices have prompted Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Australia’s economic risk trends. The firm has also downgraded the credit rating outlook of 25 local lenders to "negative". S&P downgraded the major banks’ rating outlooks to "negative" in mid-2016, but it has not yet made any further changes. However, their "AA-" credit ratings could be reviewed, particularly if Australia implements new global regulations regarding bank bailouts.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S CORPORATION, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Woodside plays down $US5 billion Wheatstone cost blowout

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 1-Nov-16

Woodside Petroleum has advised that a 17 per cent increase in the cost of the Wheatstone LNG project will have limited effect on the capital expenditure guidance it issued in early 2016. The oil and gas producer has a 13 per cent stake in the Chevron-led project, whose total cost has risen by $US5bn ($A6.6bn) to $US34bn. Saul Kavonic of Wood Mackenzie says he had already anticipated a cost over-run of at least 15 per cent.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CHEVRON CORPORATION, WOOD MACKENZIE, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS

Tabcorp, Sportsbet saddle up for year’s biggest day

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Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 21 : 1-Nov-16

Tabcorp expects to process some five million bets on the 2016 Melbourne Cup itself and 10 million on the day of the race. The TAB App is expected to be used to place about 25 per cent of bets. Meanwhile, Sportsbet CFO Ben Sleep forecasts that the online bookmaker will process about four million bets, reaching a peak of 20,000 per second. Tabcorp CEO David Attenborough forecasts that Qewy will win the Cup.

CORPORATES
TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, SPORTSBET AUSTRALIA, THE EMIRATES MELBOURNE CUP, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS

Cashed-up fund cools on property

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Original article by Daniel Palmer
The Australian – Page: 24 : 1-Nov-16

The Future Fund has posted a return of 1.5 per cent for the September 2016 quarter. Its cash holdings rose by 0.4 per cent to 22.1 per cent, compared with just 15.1 per cent for the same period in 2015. The sovereign wealth fund lifted its portfolio’s weighting toward equities by 0.6 per cent to 29.4 per cent, while its exposure to property and private equity fell. MD David Neal says the Future Fund is likely to maintain its risk-adverse profile. Its assets under management totalled $A124.65bn at the end of the quarter.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, PORT OF MELBOURNE

ANZ cuts back Asian footprint

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 21 & 24 : 1-Nov-16

CEO Shayne Elliot says the ANZ Bank will eventually offload more of its retail banking operations in Asia, after striking a deal to sell its retail and wealth assets in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Indonesia. ANZ has not revealed the price of the transaction, although it says Singapore-based DBS Bank will pay $A110m more than the book value of the assets. ANZ will incur a $A265m net loss on the transaction, while it will also slightly affect its earnings per share and return on equity. ANZ expanded its presence in Asia under previous CEO Mike Smith.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, DBS BANK LIMITED, ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Commodities up but $A stuck at US77c

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Original article by Jens Meyer
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 1-Nov-16

The rally in the price of coking and thermal coal since early August 2016 has bolstered Australia’s terms of trade. However, the Australian dollar has been largely range-bound over this period, and it has not been able to achieve a sustained rise above the $US0.77 level. The currency has not benefited from growing expectations that the Reserve Bank will leave official interest rates on hold in the near-term. Sean Callow of Westpac expects the currency to test the $US0.70 level by the December 2017 quarter.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND