Author: roymorgansocial

WA to bring in level two restrictions to combat COVID-19 case rise

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Original article by Peter de Kruijff
WAtoday – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

Western Australia recorded 1,140 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, and there are now 5,540 active cases in the state. Premier Mark McGowan has announced that level two restrictions will be introduced from 3 March, which will coincide with the reopening of the state’s borders; he says it is hoped that the new restrictions will be in place for no more than four weeks, adding that the state’s Omicron outbreak is expected to peak before the end of March. Meanwhile, NSW reported 5,856 new infections and six deaths on Monday, while there were 5,852 new cases and three deaths in Victoria.

CORPORATES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

NAB backflips on outrageous credit card cash ban

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Original article by Charlotte Grieve
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

It was recently revealed that the National Australia Bank was getting staff to encourage customers to use options other than cash payments in NAB branches when making credit card payments. It denied that the policy amounted to a ban on cash payments in branches, but internal training documents suggest otherwise. However, following an angry reaction from NAB customers and staff, the NAB has done a backflip on its credit card cash ban, which had been described as "outrageous" by the Finance Sector Union.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

Buy now, merge later: Zip, Sezzle in $491m tie-up

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 1-Mar-22

Zip Co will acquire ‘buy now, pay later’ rival Sezzle in an all-scrip deal that values the latter at $491 million. The transaction comes less than two months after Latitude Financial announced that it would buy Humm’s BNPL and credit card businesses. The announcement coincided with the release of Zip’s results for the six months to 31 December. Zip reported an interim loss of $172.8 million, down from $455.9 million a year earlier, while revenue was up 89 per cent to $302.2 million.

CORPORATES
ZIP CO LIMITED – ASX Z1P, SEZZLE INCORPORATED – ASX SZL, LATITUDE FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP LIMITED – ASX LFS, HUMM GROUP LIMITED – ASX HUM

Deluge of flood claims has investors fleeing

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-Mar-22

The Insurance Council of Australia has advised that more than 15,000 insurance claims arising from floods in Queensland and New South Wales have been lodged to date. Suncorp had received 5,000 claims by Monday morning, while Insurance Australia Group had received more than 3,200 claims by Sunday evening. Suncorp has also indicated that it may incur losses of up to $75m as a result of the floods; the general insurer recently reported that its costs associated with weather events in the first half of 2021-22 totalled $695m.

CORPORATES
INSURANCE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG

Total News readership is up 0.9 per cent for the 12 months to December 2021 with growth in all Australian states and territories

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

The latest Total News readership figures produced by Roy Morgan on behalf of ThinkNewsBrands shows that 20.4 million Australians consumed news in a four-week period in the year to December 2021, an increase of 0.9 per cent compared with 2020. The readership figures show that Total News reaches 97 per cent of the population aged 14+. Total News consists of all news brands (print and digital) and digital news websites. Readership has grown in all states and territories, while digital news maintains its position of strength with readership of 19.3 million, up 1.5 per cent year-on-year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, THINKNEWSBRANDS

Dozens killed and injured as Putin bombs Ukraine

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Original article by Charles Miranda, Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson, Merryn Johns
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

Russia has launched a major missile and rocket attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Dozens of civilians are believed to have been killed and many more have been injured in the bombardment, which is believed to have included unguided Grad rockets and banned cluster bombs. There have been reports that Russian generals have been ordered to take Kharkiv at all costs, although Ukraine says it still holds the city. Meanwhile, a 5km convoy of Russian tanks and troops is advancing on Kyiv. There have also been reports that Russian mercenaries are in Kyiv and have orders to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and his government. Zelensky says he is sceptical about peace talks with Russia on the border with Belarus. The first round of talks have ended without a resolution, but they are expected to resume in coming days.

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Mobile banking apps and the internet are more satisfying for customers than branch visits or phone banking

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

The new Roy Morgan Satisfaction with Banking Channels Report shows the CBA recording the highest customer satisfaction levels for branch visits, internet banking and mobile banking – using an app on a mobile phone or tablet – among the big four banks. The report also showed mobile banking and internet banking as the service channels with the highest customer satisfaction. As of December 2021, CBA was the strongest performer of the big four with the highest customer satisfaction across three of the service channels including mobile banking (90.8%), internet banking (87.8%) and branch banking (83.5%). The CBA had customer satisfaction of 76.3% for phone banking. There was little to split its competitors, with ANZ coming in second overall with 89.2% (mobile), 86.6% (internet), 83.2% (branch) and 76.6% (phone). Westpac followed with 87.9% (mobile), 86.1% (internet), 82.1% (branch) and the highest of the big four for phone banking (79.4%). NAB rounded out the big four with 89.8% (mobile), 86.5% (internet), 81.5% (branch) and 77.3% (phone). This new data comes from Roy Morgan Single Source, Australia’s most comprehensive consumer survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Magazine categories enjoy strong growth in 2021 led by Food & Entertainment, Home & Garden, General Interest and Health & Family – all with readership up year on year

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

The Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to December 2021 shows that more than 11 million Australians aged 14+ (52.4%) now read print magazines, an increase of 1.4% from a year ago. This market broadens to 15 million Australians aged 14+ (70.8%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, a small drop of 3.9 per cent from a year ago. The overall magazine industry readership figures are up compared to a year ago, and the print readership of the three most widely read magazine categories increased significantly from a year ago. Readership of Food & Entertainment increased 7.2 per cent to over 7.1 million, General Interest was up 6.8 per cent to over 4 million and Home & Garden increased by 7.9 per cent to over 3.7 million. More than 80% of Australia’s top 25 most widely read magazines (21 out of 25) experienced growth in their print readership during 2021 compared to a year earlier. Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with print readership up 2.7 per cent to 1,6211,000 ahead of the Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 1,291,000, an increase of 0.2 per cent on a year ago. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 65,093 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to December 2021.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

10 years on, ASIC drops Rio pursuit

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-Mar-22

Rio Tinto has agreed to settle the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s legal action over the $US29bn writedown of its Mozambique coal assets in early 2013. The $750,000 civil penalty for breaching Rio Tinto’s continuous disclosure obligations in the lead-up to the writedown must be approved by the Federal Court. ASIC has dropped most of the original charges against Rio Tinto, as well as former CEO Tom Albanese and ex-CFO Guy Elliott. Rio Tinto had acquired Mozambique-focused Riversdale Mining for $US3.7bn in 2011.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED

WA to bring in level two restrictions to combat COVID-19 case rise

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Original article by Peter de Kruijff
WAtoday – Page: Online : 1-Mar-22

Western Australia recorded 1,140 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, and there are now 5,540 active cases in the state. Premier Mark McGowan has announced that level two restrictions will be introduced from 3 March, which will coincide with the reopening of the state’s borders; he says it is hoped that the new restrictions will be in place for no more than four weeks, adding that the state’s Omicron outbreak is expected to peak before the end of March. Meanwhile, NSW reported 5,856 new infections and six deaths on Monday, while there were 5,852 new cases and three deaths in Victoria.

CORPORATES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET