Author: roymorgansocial

Fairfax advised to exit regionals

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 26 : 13-Jun-16

Australian businessman Alex Waislitz holds around two per cent of Fairfax Media’s shares via Thorney Investment Group and the listed Thorney Opportunities fund. He has suggested that Fairfax could divest its regional newspapers division, which could include merging it with the regional newspapers arm of rival News Corp Australia. Waislitz also says Fairfax should not seek to acquire or merge with a free-to-air TV network, arguing that the group should focus on growth businesses such as Domain.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, THORNEY INVESTMENT GROUP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THORNEY OPPORTUNITIES LIMITED – ASX TOP, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, DOMAIN.COM.AU, APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN, NEW ZEALAND. COMMERCE COMMISSION, FETCH PLUS, AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL MEDIA

Reform FWC for actual fairness

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Steve Knott
The Australian – Page: 12 : 10-Jun-16

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s abrupt change in stance regarding the Fair Work Commission’s review of weekend penalty rates was not unexpected. FWC president Iain Ross – a former ACTU official – was appointed by Shorten in 2012, when he was the nation’s industrial relations minister. Indeed, 18 of the 27 appointments to the "independent" FWC made by the Australian Labor Party between 2007 and 2013 were affiliated with Labor or were previously in the union movement. Meanwhile, a survey has found that 87 per cent of employers in the resources sector support a review of the FWC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED)

Private equity gives Guvera cold shoulder

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sally Rose
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 10-Jun-16

The proposed sharemarket float of Guvera is backed by AMMA Private Equity, which was established by Darren Herft, who also co-founded the streaming music provider. He is CEO of Guvera and executive chairman of AMMA. Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association CEO Yasser El Ansar is concerned that the IPO could damage the reputation of the private equity industry. El Ansar says members of AVCAL – which do not include AMMA – must comply with a strict code of conduct, which includes their relationship with the businesses in which they invest.

CORPORATES
GUVERA LIMITED – ASX GUV, AMMA PRIVATE EQUITY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, BENCHMARC GROUP, PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS PTY LTD, CHAMP PRIVATE EQUITY PTY LTD, ARCHER CAPITAL PTY LTD, KKR AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Low prices knock sense into producers

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 10-Jun-16

There is growing recognition among Australian energy groups of the need to continue reducing costs, amid sustained weakness in the crude oil price and a growing oversupply in the LNG market. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher has suggested greater collaboration among rival LNG groups and has raised the possibility of LNG infrastructure being owned by independent operators rather than producers. Meanwhile, Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman has acknowledged that the LNG projects in Queensland have cost much more than originally budgeted.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, NOVA SYSTEMS, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, CLOUGH LIMITED, McKINSEY AND COMPANY, CB&I INCORPORATED, SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Overseas companies ‘can game the system’

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 6 : 10-Jun-16

The Australian Labor Party’s proposal to increase the threshold for offshore investment in agricultural land has been criticised by Treasurer Scott Morrison. Labor would require purchases of farmland valued at $A50m or more to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, but Morrison contends that offshore buyers would seek to avoid this by acquiring land for $A49m. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has also criticised Labor’s proposal to lift the threshold for foreign investment in the agribusiness sector to $A1bn.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Demerging Alcoa slams ‘opportunistic’ Alumina

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Barry FitzGerald
The Australian – Page: 22 : 10-Jun-16

Alcoa’s vice-president of investor relations, Matt Garth, has criticised Alumina over its attempt to use the US group’s proposed demerger to renegotiate the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals joint venture. Garth told investors and analysts in Sydney that Alumina is being "emotional and opportunistic", and rejected the Australian-listed company’s claim that it must agree to the Alcoa demerger under the terms of the AWAC agreement. He added that Alcoa is confident that a court will rule in its favour.

CORPORATES
ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, ALCOA INCORPORATED, ALCOA WORLDWIDE ALUMINA AND CHEMICALS, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

High company tax rate halted Sydney shift for Catcha Group

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 10-Jun-16

Catcha Group founder Patrick Grove has indicated that the corporate tax rate was a key factor in his decision not to relocate some of his Malaysia-based business empire’s operations to Australia. He adds that the corporate tax rate meant Australia was ruled out when he was considering shifting Catcha’s headquarters to a global city several years ago. The Federal Government intends to reduce the tax rate for all companies to 25 per cent over the next decade.

CORPORATES
CATCHA GROUP, IFLIX LIMITED, IPROPERTY GROUP LIMITED, ICAR ASIA LIMITED – ASX ICQ, ENSOGO LIMITED – ASX E88, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ANDERSEN, TECHNOLOGY ONE LIMITED – ASX TNE, ONESHIFT PTY LTD, POWEREDLOCAL

Labor retreats on cuts

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey, Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1& 6 : 10-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition will unveil a number of savings measures on 10 June 2016 that it will implement if it wins the federal election. It will also no longer oppose some of the spending cuts that were announced in the Australian Government’s May 2014 Budget, which have been stalled in the Senate. These measures are expected to include the Government’s proposed changes to welfare payments such as the Family Tax Benefit and a reduction in R&D tax concessions. The Opposition aims to eliminate the budget deficit within five years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Rich-Lister calls on $100m Fairfax buyback

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 10-Jun-16

Australian businessman Alex Waislitz holds around two per cent of Fairfax Media’s shares via Thorney Investment Group and the listed Thorney Opportunities fund. He says Fairfax could improve value for shareholders by repurchasing an additional $A100m worth of its shares, while he also advocates offloading non-core assets. However, Waislitz says Fairfax should invest more capital in real estate listings business Domain rather than selling it.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, THORNEY INVESTMENT GROUP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THORNEY OPPORTUNITIES LIMITED – ASX TOP, DOMAIN.COM.AU, APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN

Unlockd secures deal with Tesco

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 10-Jun-16

Australian telco and mobile advertising group Unlockd has continued to expand globally, after securing a deal to supply its technology to Tesco Mobile in the UK. The deal with Tesco Mobile, which boasts some 4.6 million customers, includes content partnerships with Facebook and the British division of News Corporation. Unlockd CEO Matt Berriman says the company is enjoying monthly revenue growth of 75 per cent. It secured a deal with Sprint Telecom in the US earlier in 2016.

CORPORATES
UNLOCKD PTY LTD, TESCO MOBILE, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SPRINT TELECOM, LEBARA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, SPOTLESS GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SPO, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CAR, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, CITIBANK PTY LTD, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL, CATCH-OF-THE-DAY.COM.AU, BRITISH AIRWAYS PLC, McDONALD’S CORPORATION, BRANSTON, DORITOS