Author: roymorgansocial

Roy Morgan illegally locked out of premises at 401 Collins St by Impact Investment Group

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Morgan Poll Update – Page: Online : 21-Dec-15

Following a failed attempt to be heard at the Supreme Court on Friday, Impact Investment Group illegally and without notice, de-activated all security passes for 401 Collins St, Melbourne, changed the locks and put security guards on the building. There is a dispute between Roy Morgan Research and Impact Investment Group over a purchase/leaseback contract for 401 Collins St. The dispute revolves around details of a replacement lift – which, amongst other things will block access to the Collins St entrance to the building for at least six months. As IIG have refused to negotiate, mediate, discuss, or in any way, resolve the issues of the dispute, Roy Morgan Research has stopped paying rent. This matter is before the Supreme Court at IIG’s initiation. Roy Morgan Research has a $A2.5 million bank guarantee (bond) in place and a personal guarantee for rent from executive chairman Gary Morgan. The action taken by IIG in locking Roy Morgan Research out of its premises is not only illegal, it is vexatious and the information provided to the media is mischievous, wrong in fact and defamatory with potentially large damages. Gary Morgan expresses concern about the stress this causes staff so close to Christmas.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, IMPACT INVESTMENT GROUP PTY LTD, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA

Cowin’s fee solution to penalty rate stand-off

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 18-Dec-15

Australian businessman Jack Cowin has warned that industries such as hospitality will be forced to increase their prices unless weekend penalty rates are reduced. The founder of Hungry Jack’s argues that fast food restaurants and hotels will need to lift their prices if they have to keep paying people higher wages for doing the same job on weekends as on weekdays. Russell Zimmerman of the Australian Retailers Association says lower penalty rates would enable retailers to employ more staff.

CORPORATES
HUNGRY JACK’S PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Christmas: time to talk turkey

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Dec-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 6.2 per cent of Australians aged 14+ ate turkey in an average seven-day period in the year to September 2015. The survey also shows that 12 per cent of Australian eat turkey in the month of January, while turkey consumption reaches its lowest point in August (3.4 per cent). Analysis of turkey consumption in January over the last five years shows that 16.2 per cent of Australians aged 50-64 eat turkey in January, ahead of the 65+ age group (14.2 per cent). Meanwhile, 13.2 per cent of Australians born in Australia eat turkey in January, ahead of those born in the UK (11.6 per cent). People identifying as Presbyterian (15.4 per cent), Anglican (13.9 per cent) and Methodist (14.0 per cent) also come in above-average for seasonal turkey-eating compared with those of other faiths.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Packer pushes for Crown deal

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 18-Dec-15

Crown Resorts chairman James Packer is believed to favour fully rather than partially privatising the listed casino operator. Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings, which has a 53 per cent stake in Crown, has stressed that directors of Crown have not been presented with any proposals to privatise the group. Delisting Crown is likely to cost around $A5bn, and groups such as private equity firms or pension funds could potentially help Packer to finance any such deal.

CORPORATES
CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN, CONSOLIDATED PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED, MELCO CROWN ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Tireless hero for innovation

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Original article by Jennifer Hewett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 35 & 36 : 18-Dec-15

Business Council of Australia president Catherine Livingstone has been named the Business Person of the Year for 2015 by "The Australian Financial Review". Livingstone has been a keen advocate for a greater focus on innovation, and she has welcomed the Federal Government’s innovation statement under new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. She also believes that tax reform should be a priority for the Government.

CORPORATES
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, COCHLEAR LIMITED – ASX COH, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, CSIRO

Good, bad, ugly: ATO reveals all

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Original article by Neil Chenoweth, Primrose Riordan, Edmund Tadros, Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 18-Dec-15

Some 579 of the 1,539 public companies whose tax details were released on 17 December 2015 did not pay any tax in Australia in fiscal 2014. The Australian Taxation Office figures cover 554 companies based in Australia and 985 foreign-owned companies, and show that Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer and Citrix Systems are among the companies that paid no tax. BHP Billiton had the highest corporate tax bill, at $A4.1bn.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, HEWLETT-PACKARD AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TOSHIBA (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ACER INCORPORATED, CITRIX SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, APPLE INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, CAPGEMINI AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NOKIA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ALCATEL-LUCENT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, ITOCHU CORPORATION, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION, SUMITOMO CORPORATION, ESSO AUSTRALIA RESOURCES LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Woodside cuts spending, lifts production guidance

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 18-Dec-15

Woodside Petroleum has advised that its total production for 2015 will be within the range of 91 million to 93 million barrels of oil equivalent. Its previous forecast was 88 million to 93 million boe. The oil and gas group has also indicated that capital expenditure for the calendar year will be $US100m lower than previously forecast, and its exploration budget has been cut by $US70m. Woodside’s shares closed 0.85 per cent lower at $A26.82 on 17 December.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, APACHE ENERGY LIMITED, CHEVRON CORPORATION

Stanmore Coal on track to reopen mothballed mine

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 19 : 18-Dec-15

Nick Jorss, the MD of Australian-listed Stanmore Coal, is confident that the Isaac Plains mine in Queensland will be profitable despite the downturn in the coking coal price. Stanmore will employ about 150 people at the mine, which it bought from Vale and Sumitomo for just $A1 earlier in 2015. The company has targeted April 2016 to commence production.

CORPORATES
STANMORE COAL LIMITED – ASX SMR, VALE SA, SUMITOMO CORPORATION, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, FELIX RESOURCES LIMITED, YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX YAL, EXCEL COAL LIMITED, PEABODY ENERGY CORPORATION

Easy money era coming to an end

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 18-Dec-15

The Australian sharemarket rose on 17 December 2015, in response to the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates from historic lows. However, the Australian dollar lost ground in local trading, while the US dollar gained 0.95 per cent. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has given indications that there could potentially be four interest rate increases in 2016, although Mark Bayley of AquAsia has questioned whether there will be scope for such aggressive monetary policy tightening. Many analysts believe that two rate rises are more likely.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, AQUASIA PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, SCHRODER INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WELLS FARGO BANK

Fox Sports wins football trifecta

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 18-Dec-15

Fox Sports will be seeking an increase in subscribers after securing the broadcasting rights for the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League and the Australian Rugby Union. CEO Patrick Delaney notes that Foxtel pay-TV subscriptions account for about 75 per cent of Fox Sports’ revenue, as live matches do not have advertising breaks. Fox Sports will pay about $A285m for the five-year deal with the ARU, and will gain some revenue from on-selling the rights to selected matches to the Ten Network.

CORPORATES
FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, SUPER RUGBY, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SANZAR, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE