Author: roymorgansocial

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence up 1.7pts to 88.1 in October

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Oct-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence rose 1.7 points in October to 88.1. Consumers’ net perceptions of their current personal financial situation fell 2 points to -25%. A net 22% (down 2% points) of New Zealanders now say they are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 47% (up 1% point) say they are ‘worse off’ financially. Meanwhile, a net 16% of consumers now expect to be ‘better off financially’ this time next year, up 1 point. A net 38% (up 6% points) of New Zealanders say now is a ‘bad time to buy a major household item’, but net perceptions regarding New Zealand’s economic outlook in 12 months’ time rose 14 points to -18%. The two-year-ahead CPI inflation expectations lifted from 4.2% to 4.5%, undoing most of the previous month’s fall.

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

Parties and pumpkins take centre stage for Halloween

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Oct-23

Once considered a children’s event, Halloween is evolving into a beloved Aussie tradition for adults. Research from the Australian Retailers Association in partnership with Roy Morgan shows that 1.3 million Australians will hold or attend Halloween parties without children in 2023. The data underscores Halloween’s multifaceted appeal as both a family-focused occasion and an event for adults. The age group most likely to host or attend Halloween parties are those aged 18-35, with 16% planning to do so. It comes as popularity for Halloween products continues to surge, seeing sales upticks of 25 per cent each year over the past five years – crowning Halloween as the fastest-growing event on the retail calendar. Home decorations remain the most popular Halloween-specific purchase, growing 14 per cent year on year, while supermarkets are set to sell more than one million kilograms of pumpkins for the Halloween rush. Australians are forecast to spend $490m on Halloween in 2023, which is 14 per cent higher than in 2022.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

Miners fret over US nickel deal

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 30-Oct-23

Australian nickel producers such as BHP, Chalice Mining and Wyloo Metals are concerned that Indonesian rivals will be given access to subsidies via the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Wyloo CEO Luca Giacovazzi contends that a US free-trade agreement on nickel with Indonesia would make it difficult to justify investing in Australian and Canadian nickel mines, due to the higher cost of production. Several US senators have backed the Australian miners’ stance, noting amongst other things that Chinese interests control much of Indonesia’s nickel production.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CHALICE MINING LIMITED – ASX CHN, WYLOO METALS PTY LTD

Rinehart’s war chest full for lithium spree

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 & 28 : 28-Oct-23

The owners of the Roy Hill iron ore mine received $2.25bn in dividends in the year to 30 September, and an additional $800m in October. Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting was paid almost $2.14bn in dividends, as the largest shareholder in the Roy Hill project. Roy Hill has posted a full-year net profit of $2.7bn, compared with $3.16bn previously, while it shipped a record 63.3 million tonnes of iron ore. The remaining mine life of the existing Roy Hill resource is estimated to be less than 10 years, and Hancock Prospecting is ramping up its investment in the lithium sector. It has built an 18 per cent stake in takeover target Azure Minerals, having previously taken a 19.9 per cent stake in Liontown Resources.

CORPORATES
ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, AZURE MINERALS LIMITED – ASX AZS, LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR

Target wary of opportunistic ARN

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 30-Oct-23

ARN Media and Anchorage Capital Partners are offering 0.753 ARN shares for each Southern Cross Austereo share, along with $0.296 in cash and $0.127 in franking credits. Southern Cross chairman John Murray has labelled the takeover bid "opportunistic", while describing it as quite complex and one that could take months to evaluate. Murray and Southern Cross CEO John Kelly have established a sub-committee of its board and management to assess the offer, while its shareholders are supportive of it considering the bid.

CORPORATES
SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO PTY LTD, ARN MEDIA LIMITED – ASX A1N, ANCHORAGE CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD

ASX-listed zombie companies on the rise

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Original article by Chris Herde
The Australian – Page: 17 : 30-Oct-23

Gayle Dickerson of KPMG expects the number of so-called ‘zombie companies’ on the Australian sharemarket to keep rising in 2024. KPMG’s analysis shows that there were just 22 such companies in March 2022; this has consistently risen since then, and totalled 127 in the last six months. KPMG classifies a company as a ‘zombie’ if it shows signs of the firm’s financial stress indicators for three or more consecutive quarters. Dickerson says the Australian Taxation Office’s aggressive debt collection tactics have contributed to the rise of zombie companies.

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

ACCC targets big tech’s AI power

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian – Page: 15 & 19 : 30-Oct-23

Documents released under freedom of information laws have revealed that the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has called on Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to establish a digital platforms ombudsman, so as to help consumers resolve disputes with big technology companies. The documents also show that the ACCC wants UK-style legislation to curb the power of large tech firms like Google, Microsoft and Amazon, claiming that their early dominance in generative AI runs the risk of squeezing out smaller rivals.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MICROSOFT AUSTRALIA, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED

Israel enters second stage of war

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 14 : 30-Oct-23

Israeli Defence Forces troops have engaged in direct combat with Hamas militants in northern Gaza, supported by tanks and airstrikes on more than 450 locations. The IDF’s Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi says Israeli soldiers have killed "hundreds" of terrorists in the first major ground incursion of the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described it as his nation’s ”second independence war", and stated that Israel’s campaign to "abolish evil" is "only just beginning". Israel had previously only conducted small-scale incursions into Gaza, and Netanyahu says this stage of the war is aimed at destroying the governing and military capabilities of Hamas and to bring hostages home.

CORPORATES
ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCES

ACTU calls for fairer, stronger IR reform

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 25-Oct-23

The ACTU has used its submission to the Senate’s inquiry into the Closing Loopholes Bill to propose 44 amendments that it claims would improve the legislation. Amongst other things, the peak union body wants the "employee-like" provisions of the bill to be expanded to all employees with such arrangements, rather than just gig economy workers. It also wants the Fair Work Commission to have powers to arbitrate on the question of whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, and for superannuation to be included in the provisions of the bill regarding wage theft.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Migrant intake has already hit record 500k

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Original article by Michael Read, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 25-Oct-23

The Treasury has previously forecast that net overseas migration totalled 400,000 in the year to June. However, former Immigration Department official Abul Rizvi estimates that net overseas migration topped 470,000 in the year to June; he adds that the migrant intake probably reached 500,000 in the year to September. Rizvi also believes that the Treasury’s forecast that the annual migrant intake will fall to 315,000 by June 2024 is unlikely to be realised. Brendan Coates from the Grattan Institute says Australia’s record migrant intake will increase housing demand and put upward pressure on the inflation rate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, GRATTAN INSTITUTE