Author: roymorgansocial

RACT marginally ahead of RAA in general insurance customer satisfaction

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Oct-19

RACT is the winner of Roy Morgan’s General Insurer of the Month Award for September 2019, with a customer satisfaction rating of 93%. The insurance arm of the Tasmanian motoring organisation now has an unbeatable lead in the general insurer category for the annual customer satisfaction award. South Australia-based RAA (92%) was a close second in the category, followed by People’s Choice Credit Union (90%), Shannons (90%) and Western Australia’s RAC (88%). The four leading general insurers improved their satisfaction ratings when compared to a year ago, with Shannons showing the largest gain of 5%. RAC was the only top-five general insurer that slipped in ratings over the same period, although it only declined 1%. These latest customer satisfaction ratings have been drawn from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with around 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, RACT INSURANCE PTY LTD, RAA INSURANCE LIMITED, PEOPLE’S CHOICE CREDIT UNION, SHANNONS, RAC INSURANCE PTY LTD

BHP, Vale to resume at Samarco

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 28-Oct-19

BHP and Vale are hopeful of resuming production at their Samarco joint venture’s Germano iron ore mine in Brazil by late 2020. This follows the granting of a Corrective Operating Licence for the mine by Minas Gerais state’s environmental regulator. The mine has been closed since a tailings dam collapse in November 2015. BHP has indicated that restarting Germano is dependent on Samarco receiving funding for a new filtration plant at the mine.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, VALE SA, SAMARCO MINERACAO SA

Miners tipping China’s winter halts to ease

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Original article by Peter Ker, Brad Thompson, Mike Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 28-Oct-19

Fortescue Metals Group COO Greg Lilleyman says China’s annual winter shutdown of industries such as steel-making is likely to have less impact on commodity prices than in recent years. He adds that it is hard to predict the extent of the shutdowns, given that much of the responsibility for implementing the policy to improve air quality has been delegated to provincial governments. South32 CEO Graham Kerr says that some winter production cuts are likely, but he adds that China is also likely to prioritise economic growth.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, WOOD MACKENZIE

Watchdog to probe surge in tax debts

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Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 28-Oct-19

The Inspector-General of Taxation & Taxation Ombudsman, Karen Payne, says her office will investigate the causes of a sharp increase in unpaid tax debt, which has risen from $19.2bn to $26.2bn over the last four years. Meanwhile, there was a 13 per cent increase in the number of complaints lodged with the IGTO about the Australian Taxation Office in the last year. This followed a series of media reports which accused the ATO of excessive use of garnishee notices to recover unpaid tax debts, particularly against small businesses.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF TAXATION AND TAXATION OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

JB Hi-Fi says low interest rates a double-edged sword for retailers

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 25-Oct-19

JB Hi-Fi has advised that its Australian stores recorded same-store sales growth of 3.7 per cent in the September quarter, while its New Zealand arm’s same-store sales were up 3.8 per cent. JB Hi-Fi CEO Richard Murray says group sales are still expected to increase by about 2.2 per cent to $7.65bn in 2019-20. He notes that while consumer confidence has improved since the 18 May federal election, the cash rate’s fall to a record low has also prompted some fears about the state of the economy.

CORPORATES
JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, THE GOOD GUYS, NICK SCALI LIMITED – ASX NCK, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL

Perry’s Rockpool chain cheated its staff out of $10m

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Original article by Tessa Akerman
The Australian – Page: 3 : 25-Oct-19

Maurice Blackburn’s principal lawyer Josh Bornstein has described allegations that Rockpool Dining Group underpaid its staff as one of the "most egregious cases of wage theft" in Australian history. The law firm has submitted a complaint to the Fair Work Ombudsman on behalf of the Hospo Voice union; amongst other things, it alleges that the restaurant group altered employees’ timesheets to show that they worked for just 38 hours a week, when some in fact are said to have worked for up to 100 hours a week. Bornstein says the FWO should seek the maximum penalty against Rockpool, given that it has acknowledged that the penalty against celebrity chef George Calombari for wage underpayment was too light.

CORPORATES
ROCKPOOL DINING GROUP, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, HOSPO VOICE, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, MADE ESTABLISHMENT PTY LTD

Don’t extend coal power plants: Origin

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 17 & 26 : 25-Oct-19

Frank Calabria will use a speech to a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch in Sydney on 25 October to warn against extending the life of coal power plants without the government providing a ‘carbon signal’. Calabria, who is the CEO of Origin Energy, will also call for an end to the ongoing energy war. He will say that the government needs to put an end to ‘quick fixes’ so far as the energy policy ‘puzzle’ is concerned, and focus instead on long-term solutions.

CORPORATES
ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA

Kelty unleashes super spray at Swan

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 25-Oct-19

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty referred to Wayne Swan as a "miserable bastard" at the launch of the Crescent Think Tank on 24 October. Kelty’s description of the former Labor treasurer was on account of him only increasing the superannuation guarantee by 0.5 per cent during Labor’s six years in office. Kelty and former Labor prime minister Paul Keating are pushing for the SG to be increased to 12 per cent, although some Liberal MPs and the Grattan Institute have called for it to be paused at 9.5 per cent. Kelty says suggestions that deferring SG increases will cause employers to increase wages are "laughable".

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, GRATTAN INSTITUTE

Multiple super accounts cost $2.6bn a year

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 25-Oct-19

Superannuation fund members pay a combined $32bn in fees each year, including some $2.6bn in fees on lost and forgotten super accounts. Data from the Australian Taxation Office highlights the issue of multiple super accounts; some 23 per cent of the nation’s 16 million workers have two super accounts, while eight per cent have three and one per cent have six or more super accounts. The ATO also notes that more Australians have opted to consolidate their super accounts over the last five years.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Treasury $1bn debt sale comes up short

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 26 : 25-Oct-19

The Australian Office of Financial Management’s CEO Robert Nicholl has downplayed the fact that investors did not fully support a new issuance of Treasury notes. The AOFM attracted bids totalling $936m for a $1bn issuance of Treasury Notes that will mature on 24 January 2020. Nicholl notes that demand for short-term debt instruments such as Treasury Notes can vary significantly, adding that the shortfall will not be a concern for the federal government unless it becomes a regular occurrence.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY. OFFICE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB