Author: roymorgansocial

Super-sized broken promise

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Geoff Chambers, Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 1-Mar-23

The federal government has announced that it will increase the concessional tax rate for superannuation balances of more than $3m from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. The tax reform will be included in the May budget and legislated during the current term of parliament; however, it will not take effect until 1 July 2025, after the next federal election. Labor had ruled out changes to the super tax regime during the 2022 election, and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has described the backdown as another broken election promise. The super changes are expected to hit about 80,000 individuals, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has emphasised that 99.5 per cent of Australians will not be affected.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Fall in house prices stalls but reprieve may be short-lived

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Rachel Clun, Shane Wright
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

Data from CoreLogic shows that home values fell by just 0.14 per cent nationwide in February, which is the lowest decline since the Reserve Bank of Australia began to increase the cash rate in May 2022. Sydney was the only capital city to record a rise in house values in February, up 0.3 per cent; however, house values fell by less than 0.5 per cent in all other capitals except Hobart, which recorded a decline of 1.4 per cent. Tim Lawless of CoreLogic warns that the decline in house values may accelerate as the full impact of nine consecutive interest rate rises takes effect.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Solar already Australia’s largest source of electricity as rooftop capacity hits 20GW, consultancy says

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Peter Hannam
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

Solar energy consulting firm SunWiz says Australia now boasts the world’s highest penetration of rooftop solar panels, which are now installed on nearly one in every three homes nationwide. Queensland has the highest penetration of solar panels, at 82 per cent, followed by South Australia (78 per cent) and New South Wales (51 per cent). SunWiz’s data shows that rooftop solar capacity now totals 20 gigawatts nationwide. SunWiz estimates that it took about 11 years for the first 10GW of capacity to be installed, while the second 10GW took just four years. Green Energy Markets recently estimated that the next 10GW will take just over three years to be installed.

CORPORATES
SUNWIZ PTY LTD, GREEN ENERGY MARKETS PTY LTD

Indigenous voice adviser warns vote on knife edge as Liberals say referendum dead without conservatives

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Josh Butler
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

Ed Coper is a director of social change agency Populares and an expert on misinformation. He has warned that the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament is "really susceptible to misinformation", given that many people now form their opinions based on information they read on social media. Coper argues that while social media companies have become better at removing disinformation, it has usually been widely disseminated by the time they are alerted to its presence on their platforms. Meanwhile, Liberal senator Andrew Bragg says the referendum is set to fail unless the pro-Voice campaign actively targets conservative voters. He notes that the campaign is largely focused on people who already intend to vote ‘yes’ in the referendum, but polls show that only 13 per cent of Liberal voters support the Voice.

CORPORATES
POPULARES, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 80.0 in late February

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 80.0 in the week to 26 February. However, Consumer Confidence is still 19.2pts below the same week a year ago (99.2) and 3.7pts below the 2023 weekly average of 83.7. Consumer Confidence was down in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, but up slightly in New South Wales. Consumer Confidence is now below 80 in Victoria and Queensland. Now 22% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 48% (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 32% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 35% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 7% (up 1ppt) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 38% (up 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 21% (up 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 52% (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

Trade surplus hits $41b

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 1-Mar-23

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the nation’s trade surplus rose to $40.9bn in the December quarter. The value of goods exported rose by 1.9 per cent overall, while the value of iron ore and metals exports increased by 6.8 per cent and 16.6 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the current account surplus rose to $14.1bn, up from just $753m in the previous quarter. The trade figures are tipped to add about 1.1 percentage points to GDP growth data for the December quarter, which will be released on Wednesday.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

An exceptional 12 magazine categories enjoy growth over the last year led by Food & Entertainment, General Interest, Home & Garden, Health & Family, Women’s Fashion and Women’s Lifestyle – all with readership up on 2021

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

The Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to December 2022 shows that 11.3 million Australians aged 14+ (52.8%) read print magazines, up 1.7 per cent on a year ago. This market broadens to 15 million Australians aged 14+ (70.3%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, a small drop of 3.6 per cent from a year ago. There were increases in print readership for over two-thirds of the 17 magazine categories during 2022, a year during which COVID-19 restrictions eased considerably following the extensive lockdowns of 2021. The most widely read category of Food & Entertainment magazines increased its print readership by 1.6 per cent to 7,233,000 ahead of General Interest magazines with a readership of 4,131,000, up 1.2 per cent. Exactly half of the top 10 most widely read magazines increased their print readership over the last year, as well as 12 out of the top 25. Better Homes & Gardens is still Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with print readership of 1,689,000, up 4.2 per cent on a year ago, ahead of the Australian Women’s Weekly on 1,258,000. These two magazines continue to be the only two paid magazines with a readership of over 1 million. Australia’s two most widely read free magazines are Coles magazine with a print readership of 4,865,000 just ahead of Fresh Ideas (from Woolworths) with a readership of 4,798,000, up 3.3 per cent. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 65,928 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to December 2022.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Bunnings eyes chunk of $10b pet sales

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 28-Feb-23

Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers has advised that its Bunnings chain will expand its product offering to include a broader pet-care range. Bunnings already sells pet-care products such as kennels, mats and bedding; its new in-store specialty department will be launched in March and feature an expanded range of products such as pet food and toys. Bunnings is hoping to increase its share of the $10bn specialty pet sector. Bunnings posted revenue of $9.8bn for the first half of 2022-23, an increase of 6.3 per cent.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED

REDcycle declared insolvent after handing plastic stockpile to supermarket giants

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Chris Vedelago
The Age – Page: Online : 28-Feb-23

The NSW Supreme Court has issued a winding-up order for RG Programs & Services Pty Ltd, which operated the failed REDcycle scheme for soft plastics packaging. A liquidator has appointed to the company, which is likely to signal the end of the REDcycle scheme. However, this will not affect a recent deal for Coles and Woolworths to assume control of a 12,400-tonne stockpile of soft plastics that is currently being stored in 32 warehouses in three states. The supermarket giants will continue to store the stockpile until they determine how to recycle the waste material.

CORPORATES
RG PROGRAMS AND SERVICES PTY LTD, REDCYCLE, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW

Lynas stockpiling on threat of Malaysia disruption

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 : 28-Feb-23

Lynas Rare Earths has reported its results for the first half of its financial year, reporting revenue of $370 million for the period, up from $314.8 million. Net profit fell from $156.9 million to $150.1 million, while EBITDA came in at $189 million. With its Malaysian cracking and leaching plant under threat of closure as from 1 July, Lynas indicated it is stockpiling processed material for use at its rare earth oxide refinery in Malaysia, while at the same time hoping to get its cracking and leaching plant in Western Australia up and running in time to avoid any disruptions to operations at its rare earth oxide refinery.

CORPORATES
LYNAS RARE EARTHS LIMITED – ASX LYC