Author: roymorgansocial

Store sales may save mega deal

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Original article by Tom Richardson, Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 14-Jun-24

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has indicated that it has major concerns regarding Chemist Warehouse’s proposed $8.8 billion merger with Sigma Healthcare. The ACCC is particularly worried about the impact on smaller pharmacies that are supplied by Sigma in its role as a wholesaler. In a statement expressing its initial views on the proposed merger, the ACCC indicated that the transaction may lead to increased prices for the goods and services provided by pharmacies, while it could substantially lessen competition in pharmacy retailing. It is possible that Chemist Warehouse may have to sell some of its stores in order to get the ACCC’s approval for the merger.

CORPORATES
CHEMIST WAREHOUSE, SIGMA HEALTHCARE LIMITED – ASX SIG, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

ABS employment estimates for May followed Roy Morgan’s earlier figures showing jobs growth driving a drop in unemployment

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Jun-24

The ABS employment estimates for May released this week showed Australian unemployment dropping 9,200 to 598,900 (4.0%, down 0.1%). The ABS estimate once again followed the earlier released Roy Morgan ‘Real Unemployment’ estimates which showed a decrease of 170,000 to 1,365,000 (8.7%, down 1%) – over twice as high as the latest ABS estimate. The ABS showed under-employment, increasing 17,000 to 1,008,000 (6.7%, up 0.1%) although this is still significantly lower than the latest Roy Morgan under-employment estimate of 1,338,000 (8.5%). The combined Roy Morgan ‘Real Unemployment’ and under-employment estimates show 2.7 million Australians (17.2% of the workforce) unemployed or under-employed in May – the lowest rate of total labour under-utilisation for nearly two years since July 2022 (17.1%, 2.52 million) during the last few months of pandemic restrictions.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Setka threat to AFL may be unlawful

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 14-Jun-24

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says the CFMEU’s proposed work-to-rule campaign against the AFL is likely to constitute unlawful industrial action. Steven Amendola, a partner at law firm Kingston Reid, adds that the threat of industrial action unless the AFL agrees to sack head of umpiring Stephen McBurney could breach adverse action laws; he also suggests that the threat could potentially fall within Victoria’s blackmail laws. The CFMEU’s John Setka contends that the proposed action is not unlawful as construction workers will simply adhere to their regular hours and not work overtime or on rostered days off.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, KINGSTON REID

$4.3b takeover ends 62 years of CSR on ASX

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 14-Jun-24

CSR shareholders have approved its $4.3 billion takeover by France-based Saint-Gobain, with their endorsement coming two days after the bid was approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board. The takeover gives Saint-Gobain ownership of brands such as Monier roof tiles, Gyprock plasterboard and Hebel building blocks. Some investors were unhappy about that the low price that Saint-Gobain was paying to secure control of CSR, but chairman John Gillam says the offer price of $9 per share was in the top third of the valuation range in an independent expert’s report.

CORPORATES
CSR LIMITED – ASX CSR, SAINT-GOBAIN, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD

Australian capital cities rank among world’s least affordable markets to buy a home

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Original article by Clint Jasper
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 14-Jun-24

The Chapman University Frontier Centre for Public Policy examined housing markets in 94 cities in eight countries in terms of their affordability for middle-income buyers. Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver were rated as the most unaffordable markets for those buyers, while Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth all sit in the least affordable 25 per cent of cities The study concluded that the leading cause of unaffordable housing in the cities it studied were land use policies that artificially restrict housing supply, pushing up land prices, while it pointed to Singapore’s success in transforming a "desperate housing situation" in the 1960s to one of the most affordable markets in the report.

CORPORATES
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Telstra ditches carbon offset scheme for direct action

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Original article by Cameron England
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 14-Jun-24

Telstra is to abandon the federal government’s Climate Active carbon neutral labelling program in favour of direct action to cut emissions. The program sees companies, products, buildings and events paying an annual fee to call themselves carbon neutral with government support, although it was attacked by a Senate committee in April over claims it was being used to "greenwash" large companies by enabling them to claim carbon neutrality, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission refusing to endorse the program’s claims. Telstra says the telco’s decision to no longer be part of the program was not related to concerns about the program or carbon credits in general, but that its stakeholders had indicated they preferred a direct approach to emissions reduction.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

‘Not backing down’: G7 summit opens with deal to use Russian assets for Ukraine

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Original article by Paolo Santalucia
The Age – Page: Online : 14-Jun-24

The annual Group of Seven summit has opened in southern Italy, with the G7 leaders agreeing on a US proposal to back a $US50 billion loan to Ukraine that would use frozen Russian assets as collateral. US President Joe Biden said that the loan would serve as another reminder to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "we’re not backing down". Biden made his comments in a press conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at which Zelensky was asked about the question of Chinese support for Russia. Zelensky said he had had a phone call with the leader of China, and that he was told that China would not sell any weapons to Russia.

CORPORATES
GROUP OF SEVEN (G-7)

Record surge in immigrants starts to slow

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Original article by Shane Wright
The Age – Page: Online : 14-Jun-24

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed that the nation experienced its biggest quarterly fall in immigrants since the borders were closed at the beginning of the pandemic, suggesting that the federal government’s efforts to curb migration are beginning to have an impact. However, with Australia’s total population just short of 27 million, the ABS data also reveals a further fall in the nation’s birth rate, with the number of new babies declining to its lowest level since 2006. International students have been largely behind the recent lift in migrant numbers, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he makes no apologies for reforming the migration system by tightening eligibility for foreign students.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Voice support backfired: new Qantas chairman

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Original article by Nick Bonyhady
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 14-Jun-24

Incoming Qantas chairman John Mullen has told the Australian Financial Review Chanticleer 50th Anniversary lunch that corporate Australia’s support for the Voice referendum harmed its image with many people. Qantas backed the Voice under former CEO Alan Joyce and departing chairman Richard Goyder, while it also actively supported same-sex marriage, but Mullen suggested that it was potentially unwise for companies to get too involved in a social cause that could be connected to a particular government, only to find that government out of office

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Google fails to sign on to scams fight

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 17 : 14-Jun-24

Meta has signed up to an intelligence-sharing agreement aimed at combatting financial scams and fraud via the sharing of information between social media platforms and market participants. However, Google is yet to sign up to the agreement, nor have X or TikTok, and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has called them to do so. He says that if social media platforms want to operate in Australia that they must be part of the "team" when it comes to combatting scams, although Google claims it was not approached to join the intelligence-sharing agreement.

CORPORATES
META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, X CORPORATION, TIKTOK, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY