Author: roymorgansocial

Paid parental leave fight gears up

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Original article by Joanna Mather, Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 22-May-15

Women on Boards chair Ruth Medd is among the individuals and organisations that have lobbied Prime Minister Tony Abbott to abandon proposed changes to the taxpayer-funded paid parental leave scheme. They have urged Abbott to reconsider the reforms, and argue that the Australian Government should aim to increase paid leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks. Meanwhile, Chief Executive Women president Diane Smith Gander says the Government could seek a compromise on the reforms.

CORPORATES
WOMEN ON BOARDS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, CHIEF EXECUTIVE WOMEN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR AUSTRALIAN WOMEN LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE, MERCER INVESTMENTS PTY LTD

Directors blast Coalition over tax

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Original article by Agnes King
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-May-15

Corporate directors have criticised the Australian Government for failing to include GST and superannuation in its tax reform agenda. Perpetual director Sylvia Falzon says tax reform is "pointless" if these issues are not part of the debate, while Wesfarmers director Jennifer Westacott argues that tax reform will encourage greater investment and workforce participation.

CORPORATES
PERPETUAL LIMITED – ASX PPT, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, SAI GLOBAL LIMITED – ASX SAI, REGIS HEALTHCARE LIMITED – ASX REG, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BRAMBLES LIMITED – ASX BXB, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, BUSINESS COALITION FOR TAX REFORM

Services sector ‘well placed’ for LNG boom

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 23 : 21-May-15

WorleyParsons CEO Andrew Wood rejects suggestions that mining services groups lack the capacity to handle huge growth in Australia’s LNG industry in coming years. Chevron Australia MD Roy Krzywosinski recently expressed concern about the ability of mining services providers to cope with the increase in LNG production. Wood argues that once projects commence production their maintenance requirements are much lower than in the construction stage.

CORPORATES
WORLEYPARSONS LIMITED – ASX WOR, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ACCENTURE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BG GROUP PLC, CHEVRON CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, INPEX CORPORATION, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

White out: Aussies opt for fresh over long-lasting milk

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-May-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 70 per cent of Australians aged 14+ consumed fresh milk in an average seven days during the year to December 2014. In contrast, just 15 per cent of Australians consumed UHT/long-life milk. The survey also shows that consumption of UHT/long-life milk rose from 14 per cent of the population to 15 per cent between 2010 and 2014. The proportion of Australians drinking fresh milk declined from 72 per cent to 70 per cent over this period.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Mirvac cranks up its residential output as demand surges

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 21-May-15

Australian-listed property developer Mirvac Group is enjoying strong demand for homes in its master-planned residential housing estates. CEO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz notes that sales have been particularly good in Melbourne and Sydney, with some $A250m worth of sales in Melbourne so far in 2015. She says Mirvac has been increasing the rate at which it releases housing lots in response to the strong demand.

CORPORATES
MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR

FMG defends plan to expand

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Original article by Peter Ker, Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 21-May-15

Fortescue Metals Group’s Peter Meurs says encouraging results from the first stage of a magnetite project in Western Australia may prompt it to proceed to the next stage. The Iron Bridge joint venture has initially targeted two million tonnes of magnetite ore, and Meurs believes that this could be increased to 20 million tonnes. He has refuted suggestions that this would add to the global oversupply of iron ore, arguing that the bulk of iron ore exported from Australia is haematite ore.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, SHANGHAI BAOSTEEL GROUP CORPORATION, FORMOSA HA TINH STEEL CORPORATION, GRANGE RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GRR, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, CHINA INTERNATIONAL TRUST AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION, ANSHAN IRON AND STEEL COMPANY, GINDALBIE METALS LIMITED – ASX GBG

APN cautious about bold step

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 21-May-15

APN News & Media does not expect its revenue to be significantly affected by plans to paywall the websites of its regional newspapers in Queensland. CEO Michael Miller notes that Australian consumers have become used to paying for digital content. The paywalled news sites will use a metered model, whereby a limited number of articles can be read each month without a subscription.

CORPORATES
APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, GANNETT, JOHNSTON PRESS PLC

Barclays: oil will be lower for longer

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 21-May-15

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $US58.60 per barrel on 20 May 2015. Grant Porter of Barclays is bearish about crude oil, forecasting that the US price could trade at around the $US65 level until at least 2017. He notes that drilling work at many US oil wells is partially complete, and they will begin production when the oil price becomes more favourable.

CORPORATES
BARCLAYS BANK PLC, THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCORPORATED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BG GROUP PLC

Target boss reckons there’s room for two

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 21-May-15

Target MD Stuart Machin has outlined plans to revive the discount retailer’s fortunes. He has told Wesfarmers’ annual strategy presentation that up to 10 new stores will be opened each year, while 30 stores will be closed. He has also downplayed concerns that a turnaround by Target could be at the expense of Kmart, noting that there is a lot of scope to gain market share from rival retailers such as Myer and David Jones.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, HARRIS SCARFE HOLDINGS LIMITED

Abbott tipped to dump ore probe

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 21-May-15

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the Federal Government has not yet decided whether to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the iron ore industry. However, he stressed that it is inappropriate for governments to intervene in free markets. Abbott had been in favour of an inquiry only days earlier, but some Coalition MPs oppose any such move.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA