Author: roymorgansocial

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Climbs Higher to 115.6

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Oct-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia rose by 5.1 per cent to 115.6 in the week ended 11 October 2015, more than reversing the falls of the previous two weeks. This is the second highest reading in more than a year, and leaves consumer confidence 2.6 per cent above its long-run average. The rise in consumer confidence was broad-based. The sub-index "economic conditions in the next five years" rose by 10 per cent, while "personal finances in the next 12 months" was up 6.6 per cent.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Labor wins free trade concessions

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 13-Oct-15

The Australian Labor Party will release its proposed legislative changes to protect Australian jobs on 12 October 2015. The Federal Government is reportedly willing to agree to amend the Migration Act in order to ensure the passage of the China-Australia free trade agreement through Parliament. The matter was discussed by Trade Minister Andrew Robb and his Opposition counterpart, Penny Wong.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Call for tighter controls on payday lenders

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 13-Oct-15

The Australian Centre for Financial Studies has proposed to set up a national database of payday loans. It also argues that payday lenders should be more discriminating in assessing borrowers and their capacity to service a loan. The market for payday loans was estimated to be worth between $A800 million and $1A billion in 2012.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL STUDIES, RMIT UNIVERSITY, MONEY3 CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX MNY, CASH CONVERTERS INTERNATIONAL – ASX CCV, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, CASH CONVERTERS INTERNATIONAL – ASX CCV, GOOD SHEPHERD MICROFINANCE, EQUIPSUPER PTY LTD, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Santos slashes 200 jobs to rein in costs

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 13-Oct-15

Listed oil and gas producer Santos has announced further job cuts, after it revealed plans to retrench 565 employees in August 2015. Santos intends to shed an additional 200 employees, with the bulk of the job cuts to be at its head office in Adelaide. The job losses are part of a cost-reduction strategy, with Santos aiming to achieve cost savings totalling $A180m by the end of 2015. Santos shares closed $A0.04 lower at $A5.93 on 12 October.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, CNOOC LIMITED, PETROCHINA COMPANY LIMITED, SINOPEC CORPORATION, BERNSTEIN INVESTMENT RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT

Glencore puts Cobar mine up for sale

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 13-Oct-15

Debt-laden Glencore is seeking to offload the Cobar copper mine in central western New South Wales. The mine’s output for the first half of 2015 was 24,800 tonnes of copper concentrate and 239,000 ounces of silver. Glencore’s Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile has also been put on the market, and an unnamed analyst based in London says neither of the assets are likely to be of interest to major mining groups.

CORPORATES
GLENCORE PLC, BLOOMBERG LP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, XSTRATA AG, X2 RESOURCES PARTNERS LP

Gyngell may be switching channels

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
The Age – Page: 21 : 13-Oct-15

The contract of Nine Entertainment Company CEO David Gyngell expires in November 2016. He is required to give 12 months’ notice if he does not want to renew the contract, and is widely tipped to do so. Nine has been restructured under Gyngell, selling assets and expanding into the subscription video-on-demand sector. Should the Australian Government implement changes to cross-media ownership laws, his last major deal at Nine could potentially be the acquisition of a regional affiliate or a non-TV media asset.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NINE LIVE PTY LTD, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR

Termination changes for 7-Elevens worry franchisees

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Original article by Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 13-Oct-15

Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt wants an amendment to the Fair Work Act in the wake of the wage exploitation scandal at 7-Eleven. His private members’ bill would make a franchisor liable if a franchisee fails to pay staff the correct wages. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven franchisees in Melbourne are concerned that they will not gain much from a proposed change in the way profits are split with head office. They also fear that new termination clauses could be exploited by head office.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

City-dwellers travelling to interstate capitals over destinations just out of town

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Oct-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 10 per cent of Australians aged 14+ visited Melbourne in the year to June 2015, ahead of Sydney (8.4 per cent), the Gold Coast (6.5 per cent) and Brisbane (5.3 per cent). The survey also shows that most of the top holiday destination for urbanites are regions that are nearby. However, even city-dwellers sometimes want to enjoy another city on holidays: Sydney and Melbourne, in fact, are each among the top five domestic travel destinations for all capital city residents around the country – and in some cases are actually more popular than areas only a short drive away.

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ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Woolworths, Lowe’s tip $105m into Masters

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 13-Oct-15

Australian-listed Woolworths and joint venture partner Lowe’s have invested $A3.32bn in Masters Home Improvement to date. They invested an additional $A105m in the hardware venture on 30 September 2015. US-based Lowe’s has now invested $A1.11bn in Masters over the last six years. A put option to sell its 33 per cent stake in the venture to Woolworths can be exercised on 20 October. Woolworths and Lowe’s are progressively introducing a new store format for Masters in a bid to boost sales.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE, HYDROX HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Abbott ahead of PM in social media engagement at least

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 13-Oct-15

Figures from BrandData show that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is less popular on social media than his predecessor, Tony Abbott. Turnbull also trails behind ex-prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in terms of engagement on Twitter. He boasts 456,000 followers on Twitter, while Rudd has 1.6 million. However, Turnbull is ranked in first place on YouTube.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BRAND DATA PTY LTD, TWITTER INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED