Author: roymorgansocial

Spotify denies its algorithm spurns Australian music

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Original article by Michael Bailey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 11-Apr-25

Spotify Australia MD Mikaela Lancaster says that the "vast majority" of song choices by the streaming service’s 13 million Australian users are actively made by them and not its algorithm. Lancaster was responding to claims that the algorithm ‘steers’ users away from Australian music, while she notes that Spotify paid out $250 million to Australian rights holders last year, with that figure expected to grow by a double-digit percentage this year. Spotify has launched a Turn Up Aus tile on its homepage and its search page that links to playlists of local music curated by its Sydney-based team.

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SPOTIFY LIMITED

Virgin to pay 61,000 flyers refunds for overpricing

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Original article by Alex Mitchell, Farad Farad
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 11-Apr-25

Virgin Australia says it will contact passengers who have been found to have been overcharged as a result of an error with its booking system. The airline has stated that the error occurred between April 2020 and March this year, and that around 61,000 travellers were affected. Virgin Australia says the impacted travellers will have to lodge a claim to receive their refund and that they have a year in which to do so, with the average refund due being $55; Consumer advocate Adam Glezer contends the refund claim process is too laborious, and puts an unfair onus on affected passengers.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED

Lexus wins the Roy Morgan Best of the Best Award for Customer Satisfaction

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Apr-25

Car maker Lexus has won the Roy Morgan ‘Best of the Best’ Customer Satisfaction Award for the third time, with a record high customer satisfaction rating of 98.2%. The win for Lexus was its third in the prestigious category after wins in 2017 and 2019. Last year’s winner Aussie Broadband and liquor store chain Dan Murphy’s have filled out the top three. The ‘Best of the Best’ award goes to the company that achieves the highest customer satisfaction of all 38 winners in the Annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards. Lexus won 11 monthly satisfaction awards during 2024 and won its sixth Roy Morgan Car Manufacturer of the Year Award, after previous wins in 2014-2017 and 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, LEXUS AUSTRALIA, AUSSIE BROADBAND LIMITED – ASX ABB, DAN MURPHY’S

Roy Morgan unveils Annual Customer Satisfaction Award winners across all categories

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Apr-25

Roy Morgan has announced the winners of its annual Customer Satisfaction Awards for 2024. The awards recognise outstanding levels of customer satisfaction, as judged by more than 60,000 consumers via the Roy Morgan Single Source survey. The award categories cover sectors such as banking, insurance, superannuation, automotive, retail, telecommunications and utilities. Of the 38 award winners this year, 26 are repeat winners backing up from victory a year ago. The repeat winners include 15 with a perfect record of 12 monthly wins; there were also five first-time winners, and five companies returned to the winner’s circle this year after missing out a year ago. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the Annual Customer Satisfaction Awards are the gold standard in identifying those companies and brands that stay ahead of the pack by knowing what their customers want and delivering it consistently.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Leaders to resist Trump on China

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, Simon Benson, Ben Packham, Will Glasgow
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 11-Apr-25

Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar has called on the federal government to not give in to possible demands from the Trump administration to impose trade restrictions on China. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government’s view is that free and fair trade is a good thing, and that Australia’s trade relationship with China is an important one. Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Australia needs to have a strong trading relationship with China, while Trade Minister Don Farrell has restarted negotiations with the European Union on a free-trade agreement.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Trump admits transition problems as White House says tariffs on China actually 145 per cent

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Original article by
The Australian – Page: Online : 11-Apr-25

Donald Trump chaired a televised cabinet meeting on Thursday US time, during which he admitted there were "transition problems" with his tariff plan, as US shares fell again over the growing trade war between the US and China. The White House has clarified that tariffs imposed on China by Trump added up to 145 per cent, not 125 per cent, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a post on X that the Xi Jinping-led government would not back down against the US, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that "all options remain on the table" in terms of potential EU tariffs against the US.

CORPORATES
EUROPEAN COMMISSION

How the bond market forced Trump to retreat

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 13 & 20 : 11-Apr-25

A dramatic sell-off of US treasuries led to US President Donald Trump announcing a 90-day reprieve of reciprocal tariffs on all countries bar China, rather than the recent sell-off on Wall Street that some have suggested. The sell-off of US treasuries was attributed to global investors such as China and Japan losing faith in the US, and was compounded by hedge funds unwinding what is known as the ‘basis trade’. Despite Trump’s decision to pause his reciprocal tariffs, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says there could still be a recession in the US, with Oliver saying the significant damage that Trump has done to confidence in the US will be hard to recover.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Nuclear power ‘not cool’, declares Forrest, as iron ore threat looms

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian – Page: 15 : 11-Apr-25

Mining magnate and philanthropist Andrew Forrest has told a business breakfast in Perth that nuclear power is not the best energy option for Australia. Amongst other things, he questioned why taxpayers should fund nuclear power stations via the Coalition’s plans if the private sector is not willing to take on the "massive risk". The founder of Fortescue also warned that Australia’s iron ore industry is facing challenges such as the low grade and high impurities of Pilbara iron ore, as well as imminent competition from the higher-grade ore that will soon be produced in Africa.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE LIMITED – ASX FMG

Dutton’s gas blast to cut bills

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Original article by Geoff ChambersMatthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 9-Apr-25

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has released Frontier Economics’ modelling of the Coalition’s domestic gas reservation policy. It concludes that wholesale gas prices would fall by 23 per cent if LNG producers are required to redirect an additional 10-20 per cent of their output to the domestic market. This would in turn reduce households’ gas bills by about seven per cent. The cost of gas for large industrial users would fall by 15 per cent, which would have a flow-on effect across the economy. The Coalition’s gas reservation plan includes a $400m levy on east coast LNG producers in the first year; the levy is intended to cover the gap ­between the Coalition’s proposed domestic price of $10 a gigajoule and the LNG net back price.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Roy Morgan Business Confidence drops 2.5pts to 106.0 in March despite interest rate cut in February

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

In March 2025, Roy Morgan Business Confidence was down 2.5pts to 106.0, despite the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates for the first time in over four years in mid-February. Business Confidence is now 4.3pts below the long-term average of 110.3, although it is up 7pts from March 2024. Business Confidence has now had a positive rating above 105 for six months in a row – the first time this has happened since July 2021. Now 60.7% (down 1.1ppts) of businesses expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next year, while 34.3% (down 0.8ppts) expect ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since February 2022). Meanwhile, 44.8% (unchanged) of businesses expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while only 17.3% (up 0.9ppts) expect the business to be ‘worse off’ financially. The latest Roy Morgan Business Confidence results for March are based on 1,481 detailed interviews with a cross-section of Australian businesses from each State and Territory.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED