Author: roymorgansocial

For entertainment purposes: who’s playing music, games and videos on their smartphones?

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Aug-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 70 per cent of Australians aged 14+ own a smartphone. The survey also shows that 47% of all smartphone owners used their phone to play music during an average week in the year to March 2015, while 45 per cent played games and 31 per cent watched videos. Meanwhile, 74 per cent of Generation Z use their smartphone to play music and 64 per cent play games. Among Generation Y, 58 per cent play music and 52 per cent play games. Some 44 per cent of Generation Xers play games and 40 per cent play music, while 22 per cent of Baby Boomers and 22 per cent of Pre-Boomers use their smartphone to play games.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Stan taps Aussie content in battle with Netflix

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Original article by Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 25 : 3-Aug-15

The Stan streaming video joint venture between Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment Company will invest in Australian productions will a view to selling them globally. Stan CEO Mike Sneesby says offshore streaming video groups have already expressed interest in buying the TV spin-off of popular film "Wolf Creek". Sneesby is also upbeat about growth in Stan’s revenue and paid subscriptions.

CORPORATES
STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NETFLIX INCORPORATED

Screen boss tips revival from local film production decline

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Original article by Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 25 : 3-Aug-15

The total expenditure on Australian film and TV productions in 2013-14 was $A640m. Expenditure fell in 2014-15 and is also expected to be lower in 2015-16. Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason says the main contributor to the downturn is the decline in offshore funding for local productions. However, Mason anticipates an upturn in the local industry, and notes that Australian TV shows and films are attracting strong ratings and good takings at the box office.

CORPORATES
SCREEN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

Buyers scoop up all 191 units in western Sydney project

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 3-Aug-15

Sydney’s residential property market boast an clearance rate of 78.8 per cent for the week ended 2 August 2015, according to CoreLogic RP Data. The clearance rate in Melbourne was 76.8 per cent, while the national clearance rate was 75.7 per cent. Meanwhile, First Point Projects and St Hilliers First Point sold every apartment on offer in the Thornton Central residential project in the Sydney suburb of Penrith on 1 August.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RP DATA LIMITED, FIRST POINT PROJECTS PTY LTD, ST HILLIERS PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, McGRATH REAL ESTATE PTY LTD

Virgin, Qantas expand regional air fleets as rivals struggle

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 3-Aug-15

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines will increase its capacity following the $A15.1m acquisition of two Fokker 100s. Alliance Aviation Services secured a deal to sell the airplanes in May 2015, but the identity of the buyer had not previously been disclosed. Qantas has also been actively increasingly its fleet of aircraft servicing regional routes, and has advised that the Network Aviation airline in Western Australia will adopt the QantasLink name.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA REGIONAL AIRLINES PTY LTD, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, NETWORK AVIATION PTY LTD, QANTASLINK, ALLIANCE AVIATION SERVICES LIMITED – ASX AQZ, BHP BILLITON IRON ORE PTY LTD, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, ADITYA BIRLA MINERALS LIMITED – ASX ABY, CONSOLIDATED MINERALS LIMITED, REGIONAL EXPRESS AIRLINES, REGIONAL EXPRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX REX, SKYWEST AIRLINES LIMITED

PM defiant, Speaker quits

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Aug-15

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wants the Speaker of the lower house to be independent in future, in the wake of Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation over an expenses scandal. He also says Prime Minister Tony Abbott should reveal whether Bishop had been offered any incentives to step down. Meanwhile, Abbott has revealed plans for a sweeping review of parliamentary entitlements, while there is speculation that Bishop’s resignation may prompt a ministerial reshuffle in order to appoint a new Speaker.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Gorgon’s first LNG cargo faces delay

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 3-Aug-15

US-based Chevron has advised that the Gorgon LNG project may not commence shipments until early 2016. Production was initially slated to begin in the September 2014 quarter, but this was subsequently pushed back to late 2015 due to delays and a cost blowout. Chevron executive Jay Johnson says unforeseeable events such as inclement weather could further delay the $US54bn project, which also faces the threat of strike action over enterprise agreement negotiations.

CORPORATES
CHEVRON CORPORATION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CB&I INCORPORATED

Mobile banking tipped to wipe 600 branches

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 3-Aug-15

A UBS report forecasts that the growing shift to the use of mobile banking services will result in a 5.6 per cent reduction in the number of bank branches globally. Australian bank executives who participated in the UBS survey expect local bank branch numbers to be slashed by 11 per cent in coming years, which would equate to 603 branches. The survey also forecasts that the proportion of banking transactions carried out using mobile technology will rise from 25 per cent to 46 per cent in the next three years.

CORPORATES
UBS AG, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, NAB VENTURES

HuffPost to launch on August 19

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 3-Aug-15

The Australian edition of online newspaper "The Huffington Post" will boast a staff of 30, led by editor-in-chief Tory Maguire. HuffPost Australia will also have access to content from a network of 900 journalists worldwide. It is a joint venture between The Huffington Post and Fairfax Media, and Maguire is confident that the new site will not gain readers at the expense of Fairfax titles. HuffPost Australia will be officially launched on 19 August 2015.

CORPORATES
THE HUFFINGTON POST, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), BAUER MEDIA KG, GUARDIAN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED, DAILY MAIL AND GENERAL TRUST PLC, BUZZFEED PTY LTD

Miners pin hopes on gold-led resurgence

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Original article by Tess Ingram
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 & 16 : 3-Aug-15

Mergers and acquisitions activity in the global mining sector topped $A4.2trn in 2014, according to data from Dealogic. In contrast, there were just $A77.6bn worth of deals involving Australian mining companies and assets. However, a number of recent deals in the local gold mining sector has boosted optimism about the outlook for M&A activity, particularly in the gold industry. Hayden Bairstow of Macquarie Group expects M&A to be a hot topic during the upcoming Diggers & Dealers conference.

CORPORATES
DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, DIGGERS AND DEALERS FORUM, NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX NST, EVOLUTION MINING LIMITED – ASX EVN, OCEANAGOLD CORPORATION – ASX OGC, NEWMONT MINING CORPORATION, BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION, ROMARCO MINERALS INCORPORATED, ANTOFAGASTA PLC, METALS X LIMITED – ASX MLX, RNI NL – ASX RNI, PANORAMIC RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX PAN, TANAMI GOLD NL – ASX TAM, ARGONAUT SECURITIES PTY LTD, PCF CAPITAL GROUP PTY LTD, LION SELECTION GROUP LIMITED – ASX LSX, DORAY MINERALS LIMITED – ASX DRM, MUTINY GOLD LIMITED, ERNST AND YOUNG