Author: roymorgansocial

House-price optimism yet to reach investors

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Original article by Ingrid Fuary-Wagner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 23-Jul-19

Australian investors are feeling less optimistic about the property market than they were three months ago, according to ME Bank’s latest property sentiment survey. However, overall sentiment regarding the market is more positive than it was in April. Although the downturn in the property market appears to have come to an end, fewer people between the age of 18 and 39 are feeling positive about the state of the property market than they were in April.

CORPORATES
ME BANK

Unlike: judge wrong in Facebook defamation case

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 23-Jul-19

News Corp Australia will contend that it should not be liable for defamatory comments that are posted by readers of its publications on its Facebook pages. The media group will appeal against a recent Supreme Court of New South Wales ruling with regard to liability for third-party comments on Facebook. News Corp will argue that it is not the primary publisher of such comments, and that media companies use Facebook’s services on term and conditions imposed by the social media giant.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SKY NEWS

Podcasts growing in popularity in Australia

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Jul-19

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that more than 1.6 million Australians aged 14+ (8.1%) now download audio or video podcasts in an average four weeks, compared with less than 1 million just four years ago. Driving the growth in podcasts are downloads to mobile phones, which have more than tripled since 2015 to over 1.3 million Australians. Meanwhile, just over 410,000 Australians now download podcasts to computers, down from a peak of just over 570,000 in 2016. In addition, around 210,000 Australians download podcasts to their tablets in an average four weeks. The Single Source survey is derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week and 50,000 each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

1-in-5 shop at Kmart for home products

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Jul-19

The latest research from Roy Morgan shows that 19.9% of Australians aged 14+ who buy home products shopped at Kmart in an average three months in 2019, up 9.4% points from five years ago. In contrast, Big W’s share of home products customers has declined by 2.2% points to 8.1%, and Target has declined by 4.1% points to only 5.6%. Meanwhile, only 2.9% of home products customers shop at eBay, up a modest 0.6% points from five years ago, and the gap between eBay and Kmart has grown from 8.2% points in 2014 to 17% points in 2019. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the performance of Kmart in recent years is a shining example that traditional retailers can be (extremely) successful despite the surge in online retailing and the challenges of primarily online outlets such as eBay and Amazon.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED

ABC still most trusted, Facebook improves

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 23-Jul-19

The MEDIA Net Trust Survey, which was conducted by Roy Morgan in April, reveals that while Facebook – and Social Media generally – remains deeply distrusted in Australia, the ABC is still by far the nation’s most trusted media organisation. Some 44 per cent of Australians distrust social media, but only 7 per cent distrust the ABC. After the ABC, SBS is Australia’s second most trusted media owner, followed by Schwartz Media and Macquarie Media, as the only other media owners with a positive Net Trust Score. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the consistently strong NTS performance by the ABC demonstrates that ‘real news’ is significantly more trusted by Australians than the ‘fake news’ promulgated on social media.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, SCHWARTZ MEDIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN

Former Arrium directors face recovery action

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 22-Jul-19

Insolvency firm KordaMentha has launched legal action in the New South Wales Supreme Court in an attempt to pursue former directors of failed steel firm Arrium for monies owed to its creditors. Arrium was placed in administration in April 2016 owing $2.8 billion to banks and noteholders. KordaMentha then operated the business as administrators until it was purchased by British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta for around $700 million in August 2017.

CORPORATES
KORDA MENTHA AND COLLEAGUES PTY LTD, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, ARRIUM LIMITED

PM to Senate: no deals on drought aid

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 4 : 22-Jul-19

The federal government will table its bill for a future drought fund in the Senate on 22 July; it was passed by the House of Representatives in 2018 but was not put to a vote in the Senate. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the bill will not be changed in any form to satisfy the demands of Labor or crossbenchers; he adds that drought funding should be a "no-brainer" and not something on which deals need to be done. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese claims that the government’s proposed legislation would see money taken from the Building Australia Fund.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Tax office targets lawyers’ privileges

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 7 : 22-Jul-19

The Australian Taxation Office is hoping a new industry code of conduct that is being developed with the Law Council of Australia and other professional bodies will lead to improved auditing of multinationals. The ATO is finding it difficult to conduct such audits because lawyers are making blanket claims that documents being sought are subject to legal privilege. ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says law firms have no interest in seeing privilege claims that turn out to be false, as this could put the concept of privilege at risk.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COMMOTION SYSTEMS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

ABCC pursues workers on strike over union flags

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Jul-19

The Australian Building & Construction Commission is prosecuting 66 members of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union for engaging in unlawful industrial action. It is alleged that they failed to return to work after a meeting with CFMMEU delegates at a construction site in Brisbane. Amongst other things, the meeting is said to have discussed the issue of union flags being removed from union sites. The CFMMEU and its officials are not subject to the legal action. The workers each face a fine of up to $42,000.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, ACTU

Asahi puts $16bn on bar for CUB

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Original article by Bridget Carter, Eli Greenblat
The Weekend Australian – Page: 25 & 28 : 20-Jul-19

Japan-based Asahi is set to acquire Carlton & United Breweries in a $16bn deal, subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. The deal includes beer brands such as Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught, and is expected to be finalised in the March 2020 quarter. Asahi secured the deal after Anheuser-Busch InBev abandoned plans for an IPO of its Asian brands, including CUB. The IPO documents show that CUB had a 48.8 per cent share of the Australian market in 2018, while rival brewer Lion – which is owned by Japan’s Kirin – had a 36.4 per cent market share.

CORPORATES
CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERIES, ASAHI BREWERIES LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV, LION PTY LTD, KIRIN HOLDINGS COMPANY LIMITED