Author: roymorgansocial

Roy Morgan Business Confidence increased 2.1pts to 93.2 in January – now at its highest since August 2023

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Feb-24

In January 2024, Roy Morgan Business Confidence was 93.2 (up 2.1pts since December). This was the second consecutive monthly increase in Business Confidence, and the first time the index has increased for two straight months since early last year. However, despite the increase, Business Confidence has now spent a record 12 consecutive months below the neutral level of 100; this is the longest stretch in negative territory in the history of the index, which dates back to 2010. Business Confidence is also now 18pts below the long-term average of 111.2, and down 3.2pts since January 2023. Businesses remain concerned about the performance of the Australian economy, with 59.5% expecting ‘bad times’ for the economy over the next year and 56.7% expecting ‘bad times’ for the economy over the next five years. Nevertheless, businesses remain relatively positive about their own prospects over the next year; 42.3% say they will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while only 25.0% say they will be ‘worse off’ – a positive net rating of 17.3% points. The Roy Morgan Business Confidence results for January are based on 1,609 detailed interviews with a cross-section of Australian businesses from each State and Territory.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Tabcorp to pay $35m-$40m for Melbourne Cup broadcast rights in new deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 17 : 21-Feb-24

Tabcorp will sub-licence the free-to-air broadcasting rights to the Melbourne Cup to Nine Entertainment Company. Tabcorp has finalised a six-year deal with the Victoria Racing Club for exclusive broadcasting rights for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, at a cost of between $35m and $40m a year. Tabcorp was required to secure a sub-licensing deal with a free-to-air network to comply with the anti-siphoning laws for major sporting events; the Melbourne Cup will also be broadcast on Tacorp’s Sky Channel service. Nine’s deal with Tabcorp will commence with the 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival; the rights were previously held by the Ten Network.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, SKY CHANNEL, VICTORIA RACING CLUB LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 82.8 in mid-February

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Feb-24

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 82.8 in the week to 18 February; it has now spent a record 55 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is now 2.4 points above the same week a year ago (80.4), but 0.8 points below the 2024 weekly average of 83.6. Consumer Confidence was up in New South Wales and Queensland, but down in Victoria, WA and SA – the opposite result compared to a week ago. Now 20% of Australians (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 50% (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’. Looking forward, 33% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 33% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’. Now 10% (down 2ppts) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 31% (up 2ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 23% (up 2ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 50% (down 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Dam disaster, nickel weigh on BHP

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 18 : 21-Feb-24

BHP has posted a 2023-24 interim statutory net profit of $US927m ($1.42bn), which is 86 per cent lower than previously. The result was marred by one-off charges relating to its Nickel West division and the Samarco tailings dam disaster in Brazil. However, BHP’s underlying profit of $US6.6bn was in line with the previous corresponding period. Meanwhile, CEO Mike Henry says BHP is the world’s lowest-cost major iron ore producer thanks to its Pilbara operations, which produced and shipped about 142.1 million tonnes in the half-year. Its full-year guidance is for 282 to 294 million tonnes.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, NICKEL WEST, SAMARCO MINERACAO SA

Labor’s drone ship gamble

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Original article by Cameron Stewart
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-Feb-24

The federal government will increase its spending on defence to 2.4 per cent of GDP from the early 2030s, in response to the review of the navy’s surface fleet. The government will increase defence spending by $1.7bn over the four-year forward estimates period and $11.1bn over the next decade. Amongst other things, the government will fast-track the acquisition of 11 new general purpose frigates, while the Hunter-class project will be scaled back from nine frigates to just six. The navy will also retire the first of the ageing Anzac-class frigates immediately, while a second will be decommissioned by 2026. The government will invest in a fleet of semi-autonomous ships that are still being developed in the US; these ‘drone’ ships will each have 32 missile cells, significantly increase the navy’s firepower.

CORPORATES
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

BHP urges Labor to fix IR before issuing subsidies

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Original article by Peter Ker, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 21-Feb-24

BHP CEO Mike Henry says the resources group would be supportive of any assistance for Australia’s embattled nickel industry, such as a short-term production tax credit. However, he warns that a tax credit may not be sufficient to save the industry, given the significant challenges facing the nickel market. Henry adds that getting industrial relations policy right is more important than offering subsidies and rescue packages. BHP in particular will be impacted by the same job, same pay’ regime for labour hire workers. BHP’s wholly-owned labour hire firm, Operations Services, pays workers less than their colleagues employed on site-specific enterprise bargaining agreements. BHP’s Western Australian nickel mines are among the sites that use Operations Services workers.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, OPERATIONS SERVICES

ANZ cleared for $4.9bn Suncorp deal

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Original article by Paulina Duran
The Australian – Page: 15 & 19 : 21-Feb-24

The ANZ Bank will overtake National Australia Bank as the nation’s third-biggest lender after receiving approval for its acquisition of Suncorp Bank. The Australian Competition Tribunal rejected the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s assertion that the $4.9bn deal would substantially lessen competition in sectors such as mortgage lending. The tribunal’s deputy president John Halleysays it was of the view that the small increase in ANZ’s market share arising from the merger would not significantly increase the likelihood of ‘co-ordination’ among the major banks in order to limit competition.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, SUNCORP BANK, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, AUSTRALIA. COMPETITION TRIBUNAL, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

More than 2.7 million New Zealanders now read newspapers and magazine audiences surge to over 1.7 million

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Feb-24

Roy Morgan has released its readership results for New Zealand’s newspapers and magazines for the 12 months to December 2023. The data shows that 2.73 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (64.4%) now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition, 1.71 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (40.3%) read magazines, whether in print or online either via the web or an app. The New Zealand Herald is still the nation’s most widely-read publication, with a total cross-platform audience of 1,720,000 in the 12 months to June 2023 – almost five times as many as the second placed Dominion Post with a readership of 341,000. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s most widely read magazine is still the driving magazine AA Directions, which had an average issue readership of 379,000 during the year to December (an increase of 63,000 on a year ago). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source survey of 6,254 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to December 2023.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

New report reveals Roy Morgan is one of Australia’s leading data companies – with in-depth information on millions of Australians based on their Helix Personas

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Original article by
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Feb-24

Roy Morgan leads the way as one of Australia’s leading data companies. A special in-depth report into Australia’s leading data companies interviewed Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine and Executive Chairman Gary Morgan about the role the company plays in compiling data and building profiles of different Australians. One of Roy Morgan’s key products is ‘Helix Personas’ which profiles people under headings such as "young and platinum", "smart money", "cautious conservatives", "fair go", "working hard" and nearly 50 other personas. For example, the "young and platinum" group love their mobile devices and are "always on the hunt for the shiny, new and cool" and "making the rent". Their income is around the $64,000 a year mark and they can often be found "living a conventional life centred around family". Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine confirmed that the Helix Personas market segments are based on statistical information, not data from individual people. "It’s totally ethical. Unlike Facebook or any of these things, it’s not any particular individual", Roy Morgan’s chief executive Michele Levine, said.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Blue-collar workers to bear the brunt of jobs market slowdown

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Original article by Matthew Elmas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 20-Feb-24

Economists have for some time been forecasting that Australia’s labour market is set for a slowdown after several years of strong growth. A report from Deloitte Access Economics has forecast 1.5 per cent growth in white-collar jobs in 2024-25, following estimated growth of 2.5 per cent in 2023-24. Meanwhile, growth in blue-collar jobs is expected to slow to just 0.3 per cent, with industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and wholesaling set to shed jobs. Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens notes that two-thirds of the nation’s jobs growth in 2023 occurred during the first half of the year, while the number of job vacancies has fallen by 14.4 per cent over the last 12 months.

CORPORATES
DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD