BHP pegs Venus as nickel’s rising star

Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 20 : 6-Aug-19

Eddy Haegel, the head of BHP’s Nickel West division, addressed the annual Diggers and Dealers conference on 5 August. He says Nickel West’s future still depends on the outlook for the battery market, but BHP is positioning itself to capitalise on what he describes as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity". BHP has commenced mining at its Venus nickel deposit in Western Australia, while it is undertaking further exploration near its existing nickel operations in the state.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, NICKEL WEST, DIGGERS AND DEALERS FORUM

Google refuses to budge from top spot in mobile handset customer satisfaction

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

Google has won the Roy Morgan Mobile Phone Handset Customer Satisfaction Award for June 2019. Google received a satisfaction rating of 94%, which is a 4% increase since June 2018. It was followed by Apple iPhone (93%), Samsung (90%), LG (90%) and Motorola (90%). Google and Apple iPhone have now held first and second position respectively for eleven months straight. Of the top five brands, LG enjoyed the largest increase to its satisfaction ratings from a year ago (up 13%). However, LG’s rating has remained at around 90% for the past five months. The only decrease in ratings went to Motorola, with a 2% drop compared to a year ago.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY LIMITED, LG ELECTRONICS, MOTOROLA INCORPORATED

Females closing the gender wealth gap

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

The latest findings from the second edition of the Roy Morgan Wealth Report show that the average net wealth (personal assets minus debt) per capita of females in Australia in the year to March 2019 was $400k, equal to 89% of the male average of $449k. This gap is now much smaller than it was in 2007, prior to the global financial crisis, when the female average was only $236k (or 80% of the $296k male average). Overall, the average net wealth per capita of Australians has grown from $285,600 in 2007 to $424,200 in 2019, an increase of 59.7%. This is an increase in real terms (allowing for inflation) of 23.8%. Both genders have shown increased per capita net wealth, but the average woman experienced a 69% increase (from $236k to $400k), while men showed an increase of only 52% (from $296k to $449k). The report is drawn from over half a million in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted in Australians’ homes over the period from 2007 to 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Perth loses top personal net wealth ranking to Sydney

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

The second edition of the Roy Morgan Wealth Report shows that Sydney boasted the highest average net wealth (personal assets minus debt) per capita in the year to March 2019, at $570,000. It was followed by Melbourne ($491k), the ACT ($441k) and Perth ($358k). In contrast, Perth had the highest average net wealth per capita in the year to December 2007, at $338k. This was well ahead of Sydney on $292k and Melbourne on $268k, which also trailed the ACT ($329k). The report is drawn from over half a million in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted in Australians’ homes over the period from 2007 to 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Panadol’s continuing dominance proves a pain for competitors

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 12.4 million Australians aged 14+ (60.4%) purchased headache and pain relief products in an average four weeks in the year to March 2019, up from 12.1 million in 2016. Some 7.8 million Australians (38% of the population) purchase Panadol-brand pain relief products in an average four weeks, followed by Nurofen (21.8%) and supermarket brands (9.9%). The research also shows that over the past three years, the proportion of Australians who purchase Panadol has increased by 0.8% points, while Nurofen has decreased by 1.2% points. Meanwhile, 30.1% of Australians indicate that they buy pain relief products from chemists or pharmacies in an average six months, while supermarkets are the next preferred choice (26%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Push for Darwin Port to be nationalised to end Chinese ownership of strategic northern asset

Original article by Andrew Greene
abc.net au – Page: Online : 5-Aug-19

Federal Labor MP Nick Champion has called for Chinese company Landbridge’s 99-year lease on Darwin Port, which it was awarded by the Northern Territory Government in 2015 under a $500 million deal, to be scrapped. Champion, who is the Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, says he does not think that placing the port back into Commonwealth control will anger the Chinese government. Neil James from the Australian Defence Association says the suggestion to nationalise Darwin Port is a sensible one.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LANDBRIDGE GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE ASSOCIATION

Union’s EBA push for indigenous voice

Original article by Geoff Chambers, Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 3 : 5-Aug-19

Menzies Research Centre director Nick Cater has criticised the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union’s proposed enterprise bargaining agreement with subcontractor Gabba Waterproofing. It includes a First Nations People clause, which amongst other things requires the subcontractor to hold ‘welcome to country’ ceremonies when the number of workers on the North Queensland Stadium project reaches 20. Cater says the CFMMEU’s demands are all about union turf wars rather than Aboriginal land rights. The EBA was lodged with the Fair Work Commission in July.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, GABBA WATERPROOFING PTY LTD, THE MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Job snobs leave bosses in the lurch

Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Aug-19

Almost 60 per cent of businesses looking for lower-skilled roles are finding it hard to find new staff, while almost 50 per cent are finding it hard in general to recruit new employees. This is according to research by the Department of Employment, which found amongst other things that many potential employees were disinterested in the job, lacked personal presentation skills or submitted applications that were of poor quality. Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO James Pearson says the survey demonstrates that action is needed to address the problem of prospective employees who are not job-ready.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SKILLS, SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

CBA sets banking tone with profit pressure

Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 5-Aug-19

The consensus of analysts polled by Bloomberg is that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia will post a 2018-19 cash profit of $8.76bn, which would be seven per cent lower than previously. Jonathan Mott of UBS estimates that CBA has about $5bn in excess capital after completing the sale of Colonial First State Global Asset Management. He says that rather than announcing a special dividend, the bank should retain some capital until the outcome of the New Zealand Capital Review is known. Mott recently downgraded his recommendation on CBA’s stock to ‘sell’. AMP and Suncorp are among the other companies that will issue earnings reports in coming days.

CORPORATES
COMMOTION SYSTEMS, BLOOMBERG LP, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL, RECKON LIMITED – ASX RKN, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP INCORPORATED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ORD MINNETT GROUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Media coalition seeks right to fight warrants

Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Weekend Australian – Page: 8 : 3-Aug-19

The Right to Know Coalition has used its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into freedom of the press to call for changes to the rules governing the issuance of police warrants. The coalition, which comprises 14 media companies and organisations, argued amongst other things that the media industry should have the right to challenge warrants that are used to gather evidence against journalists, and that all such applications should be put to an independent judge in open court. The inquiry was commissioned in response to the recent media raids.

CORPORATES
RIGHT TO KNOW COALITION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS