Author: roymorgansocial

Mining capex slump ‘only half finished’

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Original article by Mark Mulligan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 14-Jun-16

National Australia Bank notes that capital expenditure in the mining sector has fallen to around 4.5 per cent of GDP, compared with eight per cent at the height of the resources boom. The bank expects capex to reach a low of just 1.5 per cent of GDP by 2018. NAB also notes that the downturn in employment in the mining sector has been slower than anticipated, although this is expected to gather pace in coming years with the loss of a net 50,000 by 2019.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Undue payments under scrutiny

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Original article by Grace Collier
The Weekend Australian – Page: 22 : 11-Jun-16

Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder has criticised the Australian Labor Party for opposing plans to reduce the company tax rate. However, many of Wesfarmers employees are covered by the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association’s enterprise bargaining agreement. The SDA in turn contributes more to Labor’s coffers than any other union. While Labor is widely seen as being "anti-big business", it in fact ultimately receives much of its funding from the large end of town. Furthermore, a lot of this funding is sourced from what the trade union royal commission labelled "corrupting payments".

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT

Beer buddies: Australian men and the amber fluid

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Jun-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 38.1 per cent of Australians aged 18+ drink beer at least once in any given four-week period. The survey, which was carried out in the year to March 2016, also shows that 5.3 million Australian men (or 58.8 per cent of the adult male population) drank some kind of beer in an average four weeks, compared with 1.7 million women (18.2 per cent). Meanwhile, 47.6 per cent of men consumed standard beer during this period, and 37.1 per cent drank premium/imported beer. Full-strength beer (53.6 per cent) is far more popular than mid-strength (13.6 per cent) or low-alcohol (10.1 per cent). Carlton Draught is the most popular beer brand, consumed by 11.1 per cent of Australian men in an average seven-day period.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Target hits the bulls’ eye for women’s underwear

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Jun-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that just over 2.5 million Australians aged 14+ buy women’s underwear in any given four weeks, spending an average of $A55 per person. The survey, which was carried out in the year to March 2016, also shows that 576,000 Australians (or 22.5 per cent of total women’s underwear shoppers) make at least one women’s underwear purchase at Target in an average four weeks, spending an average of $A36 each. Kmart attracts 447,000 women’s-underwear shoppers in an average four weeks, with an average spend on women’s underwear of $A27. Meanwhile, 412,000 people shop at Best & Less for women’s underwear in an average four weeks, spending an average of $A34.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BEST AND LESS PTY LTD, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, VICTORIA’S SECRET, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Dissident push falters at InterOil

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Original article by Brian Robins
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 20 : 13-Jun-16

Takeover target InterOil has advised that its annual meeting will proceed on 14 June 2016, after a court dismissed an application by ex-CEO Phil Mulacek to have it delayed. Shareholders will vote on Mulacek’s push for a board spill. He opposes a $US2.2 billion ($A3bn) bid for the company by Australian-listed Oil Search, arguing that the offer undervalues InterOil. The majority of institutional investors are believed to support the bid.

CORPORATES
INTEROIL CORPORATION, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, SUPREME COURT OF YUKON

O’Keefe ready to ride iron ore’s upswing

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Original article by Brian Robins
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 23 : 13-Jun-16

Champion Iron chairman Michael O’Keefe hopes the iron ore group can replicate the success he had at coal producer Riversdale Mining, which Rio Tinto bought for $A4bn during the resources boom. Champion Iron was created via the merger of Australian-listed Mamba Minerals and Canada’s Champion Mines. The group paid $C10.5m for the Bloom Lake iron ore project, which boasts 66 per cent iron. In contrast, most Australian iron ore has an iron content of 62 per cent or less. O’Keefe has targeted late 2017 for the first shipment from Bloom Lake.

CORPORATES
CHAMPION IRON LIMITED – ASX CIA, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INCORPORATED, IRON ORE COMPANY OF CANADA

Copper stopper, two million more get fibre under Labor’s NBN plan

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 13-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition will announce details of its broadband policy on 13 June 2016. An additional two million homes and businesses will be connected to the national broadband network via fibre-to-the-home, rather than fire-to-the-node, if the Australian Labor Party wins the federal election. Labor will also seek to determine whether homes that have been connected via fire-to-the-node can be upgraded to fibre-to-the-home. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Australia needs a high-quality NBN in order to compete with Asia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Captain’s call ‘a bid to sink Greens’

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Original article by Sid Maher, Sarah Martin
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 13-Jun-16

The Federal Government will direct preferences to the Australian Labor Party, rather than smaller parties such as the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team. Labor in turn has indicated that it will not direct preferences to Xenophon’s party in South Australian seats. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended the Coalition’s decision to direct preferences to its arch rival, arguing that it is in the national interest to avoid another minority government in which the Greens and minority parties have significant influence.

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

Coroner takes aim over privacy

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 26 & 28 : 13-Jun-16

The Seven Network’s Bruce McWilliam has expressed concern about the broader implications of a proposal for the inquest into the death of cricketer Phillip Hughes to scrutinise media coverage of the tragedy. He warns that this would give coroners greater power to regulate the reporting of incidents in which people died. The Ten Network’s senior litigation counsel, Tasha Smithies, says it is not appropriate for issues such as breaches of privacy to be handled by a coronial inquest.

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, NEW SOUTH WALES. CROWN SOLICITOR’S OFFICE, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL

Ricketson pushes for tougher press regulation

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 26 & 28 : 13-Jun-16

The Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s representative on the Australian Press Council has again weighed into the debate on industry regulation. Matthew Ricketson has advocated changes to the way media companies are regulated, and suggested that regulation of the online media sector is lacking. He was a controversial choice for the MEAA’s representative on the APC, given that he co-authored the Finkelstein report which proposed the establishment of a statutory regulator for the media sector.

CORPORATES
MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)