Author: roymorgansocial

News, Telstra discuss Foxtel and Fox Sports merger

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 21-Mar-16

Foxtel’s joint owners Telstra and News Corp may merge the pay-TV group with News Corp’s fully-owned Fox Sports. Telstra recently flagged plans to list 60 per cent of its stake in Foxtel on the sharemarket, and merging it with Fox Sports would make the IPO more attractive to investors. Foxtel’s EBITDA and revenue fell in 2015, while Fox Sports posted EBITDA and revenue of $US135m and $US500m respectively in 2014-15.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED

Customers empty wallets in top malls

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Original article by Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 18-Mar-16

Australian consumers like to shop in big shopping centres. The 2015 annual "Big Guns" survey by "Shopping Centre News" shows that Chadstone in Melbourne recorded retail spending of more than $A1.4 billion in 2015. Michael Lloyd, of "Shopping Centre News", expects all the biggest 10 centres to generate turnover in excess of $A1 billion by 2020.

CORPORATES
GANDEL GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED, VICINITY CENTRES – ASX VCX, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD

Miners fear fallout from clean-up laws

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 18-Mar-16

Businessman Clive Palmer has warned that the Environmental Protection (Chain of Responsibility) Amendment Bill could result in excessive costs of environmental clean-ups from failed mining projects. The Bill was introduced in Queensland’s Parliament by Environment Minister Steven Miles on 15 March 2016. Palmer also said that the laws would have detrimental effect on investment in Queensland.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL LIMITED

Fairfax journos strike over jobs

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Original article by Jake Mitchell, Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 3 : 18-Mar-16

Fairfax Media’s plans to cut the equivalent of 120 full-time jobs have met with dismay among journalists who decided to protest against an editorial restructure of metropolitan mastheads. Other cost cutting measures include cuts to contributor costs and expenses. Staff at the newspapers walked out in protest on 17 March 2016. Their action will last until 21 March.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

New Rio CEO an internal peak, confirming Walsh’s 2015 tip

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Original article by Amanda Saunders
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Mar-16

Rio Tinto’s head of copper and coal, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, has been appointed CEO of the mining giant. He will take over from Sam Walsh in July 2016. Meanwhile, he will act as deputy CEO and will also join the board of the company. Jacques played a prominent role in negotiations with the Mongolian Government for an Oyu Tolgoi mine.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, GLENCORE PLC

RBA give exporters no relief on $A

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 18-Mar-16

The Australian dollar has risen above $US0.76 for the first time in eight months and this trend is bad news for exporters. Tourism operators, services providers and education companies cannot count on a corrective action from the Reserve Bank of Australia. A decline in the unemployment rate, which fell from six per cent to 5.8 per cent in February 2016, will make the central bank less willing to cut the official interest rate.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Telstra mulls Foxtel IPO

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1&8 : 18-Mar-16

Telstra is believed to be considering a sharemarket float or sale of its stake in pay TV Foxtel. As Foxtel is worth between $A8 billion and $A9 billion in total, Telstra could receive $A4.5 billion for its 50 per cent stake in the company. Foxtel announced on 17 March 2016 that its CEO Richard Freudenstein will be replaced by News Corporation Australia CEO Peter Tonagh.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD

Turnbull gets nod for early, double dissolution election

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Original article by
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 18-Mar-16

The Senate is likely to pass laws changing the Senate voting system. The purpose of the changes is to prevent micro parties using the preference system to win Senate seats. The passage of the proposed legislation would enable Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call an early, double-dissolution election for 2 July 2016.

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

$A ignores RBA ‘jawboning’ and pushes to eight-month high

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Original article by Vanessa Desloires, Mark Mulligan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 18-Mar-16

The Australian dollar was trading at $US0.7591 in late local trade on 17 March 2016. The local currency has been rising for some time and even words of caution by Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Guy Debelle failed to affect it. Debelle told a foreign exchange seminar in Sydney that Australia needs a weaker domestic currency.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, BANK OF JAPAN, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Myer leads ASX rally along with miners

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Original article by Jens Meyer
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 18-Mar-16

The S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed one per cent to 5,168.2 points on 17 March 2016. Investor sentiment was positively influenced by higher commodity prices and the decision of the US Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged. Big mining companies recorded significant gains, with Fortescue rising nine per cent to $A2.65, BHP Billiton gaining 2.4 per cent to $A17.29 and Rio Tinto adding 2.4 per cent to $A43.73.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX ALL ORDINARIES INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUB, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, EVOLUTION MINING LIMITED – ASX EVN, OROTONGROUP LIMITED – ASX ORL, ASCIANO LIMITED – ASX AIO, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS