Author: roymorgansocial

Woolworths to offload two key DJs sites

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 23-Jul-15

Woolworths Holdings CEO Ian Moir says the South African group plans to reinvest the proceeds of David Jones asset sales into the department store business. Woolworths is set to sell one of the David Jones stores in both the Melbourne and Sydney CBDs. The two stores could fetch around $A400m in total, and Moir says the remaining two stores in the CBDs will be expanded and upgraded. The David Jones food halls will also be upgraded at a cost of $A8m.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS HOLDINGS LIMITED, DAVID JONES LIMITED, COUNTRY ROAD LIMITED, WITCHERY FASHIONS PTY LTD, TRENERY, SEED, FCUK

Echo to zero in on wealthy VIP gamblers

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 22-Jul-15

Australian-listed Echo Entertainment Group has signalled that its new casino in Brisbane will aim to derive a significant proportion of its revenue from Asian high-rollers. CEO Matt Bekier notes that high-rollers account for about 30 per cent of revenue at The Star casino in Sydney, and the new gaming venue will seek to emulate this. The $A2bn casino at Queen’s Wharf is slated to open in 2022, and will compete with The Star and Crown Resorts’ gaming venues for high-roller patronage.

CORPORATES
ECHO ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LIMITED – ASX EGP, THE STAR, CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN, CHOW TAI FOOK ENTERPRISES LIMITED, FAR EAST CONSORTIUM INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, SHANGHAI GREENLAND GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, TREASURY CASINO AND HOTEL, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF STATE DEVELOPMENT, TRADE AND INNOVATION, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Chinese investment in property tipped to surge

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Original article by Sally Rose
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 22-Jul-15

The Chinese Government’s decision to make the nation’s sharemarket more accessible to international investors has prompted a rally in Shanghai Composite Index over the last year. However, some economists expect the relaxation of rules governing capital outflows from China to have a bigger impact in the long-term. Stephen Halmarick of Colonial First State Global Asset Management expects this to include a big rise in Chinese investment in Australia’s property market.

CORPORATES
COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF SUPERANNUATION TRUSTEES, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, CHINA. NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS, MACQUARIE ASSET MANAGEMENT

Law firms’ new threat: accountants

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Original article by Agnes King, Katie Walsh
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 41 : 22-Jul-15

Australia’s four major accounting firms are aggressively expanding into the legal services sector. Ernst & Young has assembled a 16-strong team of lawyers in Australia, while PricewaterhouseCoopers boasts about 120 lawyers. In the past, accounting firms have tended to focus on areas such as tax litigation, but they are increasingly expanding into areas such as property and employment law. There is speculation that this trend may prompt some law firms to give more of their accounting work to smaller firms at the expense of the "big four".

CORPORATES
ERNST AND YOUNG, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BAKER AND McKENZIE, ASHURST AUSTRALIA, K&L GATES LLP, DLA PIPER, KING AND WOOD MALLESONS, BEATON RESEARCH AND CONSULTING PTY LTD, BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA, SOCIETY OF INDIAN LAW FIRMS

Fight builds over $3b GST compo

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 22-Jul-15

The New South Wales Government has proposed lifting the GST rate to 15 per cent, with the extra revenue to be used to finance public health services. Its modelling suggests that annual GST revenue would increase by $A36bn by 2020 with the higher tax rate. Meanwhile, the cost of public health funding is expected to top $A20bn by 2020. When the need to compensate households for the increased GST is taken into account, it is estimated that a further $A2bn to $A3bn in health funding would be needed in addition to the extra GST revenue.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, QUEENSLAND. TREASURY, LIBERAL PARTY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

ANZ eyes Esanda sale to raise $1.5b

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Original article by Clancy Yeates, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 22-Jul-15

The ANZ Bank aims to offload its Esanda personal finance business by mid-2016, while the banking major has also flagged the sale of some Asian assets. The sale of Esanda is likely to be worth about $A1.5bn, which will significantly boost ANZ’s capital ratio ahead of the introduction of new capital requirements in July 2016. It is estimated that ANZ will need to lift its capital by around $A2.3bn in total.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, ESANDA FINANCE CORPORATION LIMITED, PT PANIN BANK, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS. BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING SUPERVISION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Upbeat run-in to reporting season puts 6000 target back on radar

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Original article by Rose Powell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 22-Jul-15

Just 16 Australian-listed companies have issued earnings downgrades in the lead-up to the August 2015 profit-reporting season. Nader Naeimi of AMP says there is potential for the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index to reach the 6,000-point level during the reporting season, although he doubts that it will rise much further. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse has scaled back its end-of-year forecast for the S&P/ASX 200 from 6,500 to 6,000 points.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, AFFINITY EDUCATION GROUP LIMITED – ASX AFJ, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, ARRIUM LIMITED – ASX ARI, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, PRIMARY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX PRY, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Commodity rout to dog miners

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Original article by Amanda Saunders
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 22-Jul-15

BHP Billiton recently wrote down the value of its US shale assets by $US2.8bn. Analysts expect many resources groups to announce write-downs of key commodities during the next year, due to the sharp downturn in the prices of commodities such as iron ore, crude oil and coal. BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American are tipped to report large declines in their underlying earnings as a result of bearish commodity markets.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, GLENCORE PLC, ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM CORPORATION, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, LIBERUM CAPITAL LIMITED

Selfie investors snub cash, shares

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Original article by Kate Cowling
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 22-Jul-15

The investment portfolios of Australian self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) have usually been focused on assets such as local shares, cash and term deposits. However, AMP Capital and BlackRock are among the groups that have noted greater interest in their absolute return funds among SMSFs. Hasan Tevfik of Credit Suisse says SMSFs often change their asset allocations in order to boost income, although he adds that this typically means increased exposure to shares.

CORPORATES
AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, TOWERS WATSON, PERPETUAL PRIVATE CLIENTS, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Bounces

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Jul-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia rose by 4.5 per cent to 111.8 in the week ended 19 July 2015, partially reverses the eight per cent fall over the previous two weeks. The bounce was likely driven by easing concerns around international events, as the Chinese stock market rebounded and Greece reached an agreement with its creditors. The sub-index on "economic conditions in the next year" rose by 10.8 per cent, and the sub-index on "economic conditions in next five years" rose by 7.1 per cent.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ