Author: roymorgansocial

11 million Australians visit pubs – mostly for a good feed

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Jul-20

New Roy Morgan data shows that pre-COVID-19, 11 million Australians aged 14+ (52%) were visiting pubs (hotels) for meals or for a drink in an average three months, up from 10 million four years ago. Most visitors to these establishments (9.5 million) go primarily for food. There are also 5.2 million people who do so for the sole purpose of having a drink, while around 3.8 million enjoy visiting pubs for both of these activities at different times. On a State-based level it is South Australians (62%) and Tasmanians (59%) who are proportionally most likely to visit pubs, followed by people in Victoria (54%) and New South Wales (52%). People in Gen X are the leading age group for Australia’s pubs, with nearly 2.76 million (57%) visiting them. Other generations aren’t far behind, with 2.68 million Millennials (54%), 2.4 million Baby Boomers (52%) and 2.4 million in Gen Z (52%) visiting pubs. These findings are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey in the year to March 2020, derived from in-depth interviews with over 1,000 Australians each week and around 50,000 Australians per year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

NEO-Millennials provide hope to health funds

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Jul-20

New private health insurance data from Roy Morgan shows that just 44 per cent of Australians had hospital cover at the end of March, the lowest since 2007. With a focus on Millennials, the data shows that 42% of Millennials pay for hospital cover. This rises to 57% in the case of new economic order (NEO) Millennials, compared with just 27% of traditional Millennials. NEO-Millennials spend more, are highly educated and early adopters of technology. In total, 91% of NEO-Millennials have some kind of insurance, compared to just 76% of traditional Millennials. Conversely, traditional Millennials – who give younger Australians a bad name in health insurance – are less educated, unable or unwilling to spend, and technology laggards. These findings are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 1,000 Australians each week and around 50,000 Australians per year.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Funds face more outflows: APRA

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Original article by Samantha Bailey
The Australian – Page: 15 : 7-Jul-20

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that superannuation fund members have now withdrawn some $18.1bn via the federal government’s early access scheme. APRA expects the new financial year to prompt another surge in applications to withdraw money from super funds. People who have experienced financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic can withdraw up to $10,000 from their super fund in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years.

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AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Bondholders move to stop sale of Virgin

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Original article by Lucas Baird
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 22 : 7-Jul-20

Deloitte will oppose an application for the Takeovers Panel to halt the sale of Virgin Australia to private equity firm Bain Capital. Virgin’s bondholders want its creditors to be given an opportunity to vote on their proposal to recapitalise the failed airline; this includes a debt-for-equity swap and relisting Virgin on the sharemarket. A spokesman for Deloitte says the administrators believe that the application to the Takeovers Panel is without merit and the sale to Bain is the best outcome for all creditors.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, BAIN CAPITAL LLC

Wilson one of AAP’s mystery investors

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 7-Jul-20

Wilson Asset Management founder Geoff Wilson is a member of the consortium that has acquired the newswire business of Australian Associated Press. Wilson has stressed that he contributed to the consortium via a privately-owned entity rather than any of his listed companies. The 35-member consortium finalised the deal in late June, and will formally take control of the business on 1 August.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS PTY LTD, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT

Women twice as likely as men to be discouraged workers after Covid-19 job loss

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Jul-20

A report by the Australian National University has noted an increase in the number of people who are unemployed but not actively looking for work. The report was based on a survey by the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, and report co-author Nicholas Biddle says the increase fits in with the notion of the ‘discouraged’ worker, namely someone who would like to work but does not believe there are any suitable jobs available. The ANU found that women who have lost their job because of COVID-19 are much more likely to be ‘discouraged workers’ than men.

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AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Cash-in-hand security

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Original article by James Campbell, Matt Johnston
Herald Sun – Page: 8 : 7-Jul-20

The scandal over Victoria’s troubled hotel quarantine program continues to deepen. Written statements from several security guards allege that they were paid $22 cash per hour and no superannuation to work at the Crown Promenade Hotel when it was being used to quarantine returned travellers. They also allege that they were not provided with pay slips or asked to supply tax file numbers. They claim to have been hired by a security firm that was subcontracted by Unified Security.

CORPORATES
UNIFIED SECURITY GROUP (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, CROWN PROMENADE HOTEL, CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN

Slim returns among super’s top performers

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 7-Jul-20

Chant West has forecast that the median superannuation fund will post a return of minus 1.3 per cent for 2019-20. The firm also expects the returns for growths to range from minus six per cent to three per cent. Meanwhile, First State Super is among the super funds that have defied the trend, posting a return of 1.3 per cent for the financial year. Cbus achieved a return of 0.75 per cent, and chief investment officer Kristian Fok says a number of factors contributed to the positive return.

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CHANT WEST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD, FIRST STATE SUPER, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND

Work visa sweetener for uni students

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Original article by Tim Dodd, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Jul-20

Australian universities and state governments had been hoping to start bringing international students back into the country from the end of July. However, the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in Victoria has put these plans on hold. In an attempt to help Australian universities to remain competitive with rivals in Canada and Britain, it is believed that the federal government will grant post-study visas to foreign students who are enrolled in Australian universities but have had to return to their home countries and study online. Currently, only overseas students who study in Australia are awarded graduate work rights.

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Reynolds calls for local push on rare earths

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 7-Jul-20

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds says Australia and its partners are working to boost the supply of rare earths and other minerals that are important to their defence forces. Her comments come as Australia and other Western nations seek to cut their dependence on China for rare earths. The federal government’s Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility will provide $150 million in financial support for a proposed mineral sands mine in Western Australia that will include rare earths capacity. The NAIF is also considering supporting Arafura Resources’ $1.1 billion rare earths project in the Northern Territory.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, ARAFURA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ARU, NORTHERN AUSTRALIA INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY, LYNAS CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX LYC