Author: roymorgansocial

Sports face $200m broadcast hit

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 19 : 4-May-20

Executives of Australia’s free-to-air and pay-TV networks believe that the value of sports broadcasting rights has fallen in 2020 because events are being held without crowds due to the pandemic. The Australian Football League and the National Rugby League in particular are expected to face a large decline in broadcasting fees when their 2020 seasons resume. Meanwhile, there is doubt as to whether Fox Sports will renew its broadcasting rights deal with Football Federation Australia beyond the current season.

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SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, FOOTBALL FEDERATION AUSTRALIA LIMITED

New report breaks down Australians’ personal wealth by electorate – and shows PM wealth cluster

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-May-20

The 5th Edition of the Roy Morgan Wealth Report delivers additional unique insights by analysing the distribution of personal wealth across electorates. The House of Representatives takes in 151 electorates. At the end of 2019 the average per capita Net Wealth in Australia’s wealthiest electorate, Wentworth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was $1,060,000 and median Net Wealth was $338,000. In the poorest electorate, Spence in Adelaide’s outer northern suburbs, the average per capita Net Wealth was $187,000 (17.6% of the Wentworth figure) and median Net Wealth just $75,000 (22%). Even before the impacts of the bushfire crises and COVID-19 (coronavirus) there was a chasm between the most and least wealthy; this is likely to widen due to the impact of the coronavirus. The Roy Morgan Wealth Report also examines the wealth of the electorates represented by Australia’s Prime Ministers. Fourteen of the electorates held by post-WWII PMs still exist. Of these, six are among Australia’s 10 wealthiest overall. These include the seats of incumbent Prime Minister Scott Morrison (whose electorate, Cook, is the 6th wealthiest) and his two immediate predecessors, Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, No. 1 on the list) and Tony Abbott (Warringah, No. 2).

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Good news and bad debt

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Original article by Terry McCrann
Sunday Herald Sun – Page: 63 : 3-May-20

The advice from Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh that "so far" more than 320,000 home loan borrowers and 170,000 businesses have had loan repayments deferred is a mix of ‘good’ news and ‘bad’ news. Clearly the numbers who need repayments deferred "will increase". Some "good news" for the government is Roy Morgan’s April estimate of Australia’s unemployed and under-employed, down 439,000 on the last 2 weeks in March – however, it only dropped because of the government’s JobKeeper scheme. If JobKeeper numbers were added to those who are unemployed and under-employed then "real joblessness" is probably around a third of the workforce, with not one person from the public sector ‘out-of-work’. Even with Australian banks proactively playing their part the post-virus reality is not going to be "a walk in the park" – assuming it is allowed!

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AUSTRALIAN BANKING ASSOCIATION, ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Business cashflow assistance tops $6bn

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 4 : 1-May-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government’s tax-free cashflow payments have assisted employers to remain in business during the coronavirus pandemic. New figures show that some 343,211 small businesses and non-profit organisations had collectively received $6.09bn worth of cashflow payments by 28 April. Eligible businesses are entitled to receive payments of between $20,000 and $100,000; the average amount received to date is $17,700 per business. The government estimates that about 720,000 businesses will be eligible for the payments.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Aussie workers among highest taxed in OECD

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 1-May-20

New figures show that workers in OECD member nations had an average income tax rate of 15.8 per cent in 2019. However, Australian workers on the average wage paid an income tax rate of 23.6 per cent. Denmark, Iceland and Belgium were the only OECD nations that had a higher average income tax rate. Grant Wardell-Johnson of KPMG notes that personal income tax accounts for nearly half of Australia’s tax base.

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ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Fortescue upbeat as cash rolls in

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 1-May-20

Fortescue Metals Group has advised that it ended March with a net cash position for the first time since it commenced iron ore exports in 2008. It had a net cash position of $US100m, compared with net debt of $US2.9bn previously. Fortescue’s production report for the March quarter also shows that its shipments rose by 10 per cent to 42.3 million tonnes during the period. It now expects total shipments of up to 177 million for 2019-20; its previous guidance was for export volumes of up to 175 million tonnes.

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FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

Crown property assets spin-off on the cards

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Original article by James Thomson, Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 1-May-20

Citi analyst Bryan Raymond contends having Blackstone as a new shareholder increases the likelihood that casino operator Crown Resorts could spin-off its property assets. Crown contemplated the idea in June 2016, but abandoned the idea some months later. It is estimated Crown’s property assets could be worth up to $5.6 billion, while Dean Dransfield from consultants Dransfield Hotels and Resorts says Crown should only sell its accommodation assets.

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CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN, CITI AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BLACKSTONE, DRANSFIELD HOTELS AND RESORTS PTY LTD

Google hit for defamatory search results

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Original article by Tessa Akerman
The Australian – Page: 3 : 1-May-20

The Supreme Court of Victoria has directed Google to pay lawyer George Defteros $40,000 over search results linked to his name that he alleged were defamatory. Justice Melinda Richards stated that a 2016 link to an article in ‘The Age’ did carry defamatory imputations, but she noted that Defteros had taken some years to get in touch with the newspaper and ask for the article to be removed. Richards also noted that Defteros had referred to criminal Graham Kinninburgh as "a friend", and she suggested that this "reduced the sting of the defamatory imputation" that Defteros felt.

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GOOGLE INCORPORATED, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA

All the way with ScoMo on China

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Original article by Ben Packham, Cameron Stewart
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 1-May-20

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is supporting Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s push for an independent review into the origins of COVID-19. Pompeo says all nations should back Australia’s call for such a review, while he attacked China for threatening economic retaliation against Australia over its review push. Billionaires Andrew Forrest and Kerry Stokes have been criticised by security experts and MPs over their comments that Morrison to back off on his call for a review, with Stokes and Forrest reminded that they should not confuse Australia’s national interest with their own commercial interests.

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UNITED STATES. DEPT OF STATE, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

ACCC approves eBay car ads deal

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-May-20

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has approved eBay’s purchase of Cox Automotive Media Solutions, which owns the Carsguide and Autotrader websites. The transaction, which was announced in December, will see eBay combine its Gumtree Australia operations with those of Cox Automotive Media. The ACCC noted that Carsales and Facebook Marketplace both provide significant competition to the Gumtree and Cox Media businesses.

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EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, EBAY INCORPORATED, CARSGUIDE, AUTOTRADER, COX AUTOMOTIVE MEDIA SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GUMTREE.COM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD