Author: roymorgansocial

$15bn kickstart for economy

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Adam Creighton, Greg Brown, Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 5-Jul-19

Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey says the federal government’s income tax cuts will boost the retail sector and consumer spending. The tax cuts have also been welcomed by Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott, who says further action is needed to ensure long-term economic growth. Meanwhile, Chris Richardson of Deloitte Access Economics expects the tax cuts to have a bigger impact in the near-term than the recent interest rate cuts. Labor agreed to back the full tax package in the Senate after its proposal to bring forward the stage-two cuts and legislate stage three separately was rejected.

CORPORATES
HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Morgans knew of problems at branch

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Original article by Liam Walsh
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 5-Jul-19

Stockbroker Morgans is the subject of dozens of law suits from clients; over 20 of them are targeting Morgans and David Wilkins, the former head of its branch at Springwood in Queensland. Some clients of Morgans have claimed that they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of advice they received from Morgans’ Springwood office. An email sent in 2009 that is contained in one of the lawsuits against Morgans indicates that its senior management were aware that there were problems at the office, but the fir did not advise clients about its concerns.

CORPORATES
MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

ING home loan customers most satisfied just ahead of Bendigo Bank and Suncorp

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Jul-19

The satisfaction rating of the home loan customers of Australia’s big four banks was 71.1% in May, well below the 76.8% rating given by their non-home customers. The home loan customers of the other major banks all have much higher satisfaction than the big four and are closer to the rating given by their non-home loan customers. ING has the highest home loan customer satisfaction with 88.9%, followed by Bendigo Bank (86.2%) and Suncorp (81.0%). The CBA is the best performer among the big four with 72.5%, followed by Westpac (70.7%), NAB (70.4%) and ANZ (69.6%). These are some of the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s ‘Customer Satisfaction report on Consumer Banking in Australia’, May 2019. This report is based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes and covers over two decades. The latest data in this release is for the six months to May 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, BENDIGO BANK, SUNCORP BANK, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Shares near all-time high as rates fall

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Original article by Melissa Yeo
The Australian – Page: 21 & 29 : 5-Jul-19

The S&P/ASX 200 reached a new 12-year high during intra-day trading on 4 July, and the benchmark index is now just 133 points shy of its record high of October 2007. George Kanaan of UBS says the fall in bond yields has been the key driver for local and international shares in 2019. The federal government’s income tax cuts package has also boosted sentiment among Australian investors; Plato Investment Management’s MD Don Hamson says the tax cuts could have the same stimulatory impact as two reductions in the cash rate.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, PLATO INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, PEPPERSTONE GROUP LIMITED, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Real unemployment at 9.2% in June as tax cuts set to boost economy

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Jul-19

The latest data for the Roy Morgan employment series shows that 12,363,000 Australians were employed in June 2019, up 118,000 over the past year. The rise in employment was driven by a significant increase in full-time employment of 479,000 over the last year (to 8,279,000); however, part-time employment has declined by 361,000 (to 4,084,000). The figures also show that 1,254,000 Australians (9.2% of the workforce) were unemployed in June, up 83,000 on a year ago, and the unemployment rate was up by 0.5%. An additional 1,275,000 Australians (9.4% of the workforce) were under-employed, working part-time and looking for more work, a decrease of 27,000 in a year (down 0.3%). In total, 2,529,000 Australians (18.6% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in June, an increase of 56,000 in a year (up 0.2%). Roy Morgan’s real unemployment figure of 9.2% for June is significantly higher than the current ABS estimate for May 2019 of 5.2%. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says many commentators are expressing concern about the state of the Australian economy; however, with significant income tax cuts being legislated by the new Government and back-to-back interest rate cuts by the RBA in June and July, there is an increasing amount of stimulus in the Australian economy to support businesses and therefore increase employment opportunities.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Investors lurk for North West Shelf shake-up

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 4-Jul-19

Saul Kavonic of Credit Suisse says that some of the partners in the North West Shelf venture could potentially divest their stakes in coming years. The NW Shelf project plans to commence processing third-party gas to offset the depletion of its own gas reserves. Woodside Petroleum has a 16.7 per cent stake in the NW Shelf project and is its operator; CEO Peter Coleman used a recent site tour to flag the possibility that the oil and gas group could eventually review its interest in the project and whether it could make better use of its capital.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, HAYBERRY GLOBAL FUND

Lenders reluctant to pass on cut in full

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 19 : 4-Jul-19

Macquarie Bank, Suncorp, ME Bank and ING will reduce their interest rates on a range of mortgage products by less than the latest 25 basis point reduction in the cash rate. They have joined Westpac, National Australia Bank and the Commonwealth Bank in not passing on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut in full. However, a number of smaller lenders have reduced their mortgage rates by the full amount, including Athena, Resimac and Newcastle Permanent.

CORPORATES
MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, SUNCORP BANK, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, ME BANK, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, ATHENA HOME LOANS PTY LTD, RESIMAC GROUP LIMITED – ASX RMC, NEWCASTLE PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY LIMITED, STATE CUSTODIANS PTY LTD, RACQ BANK, HOMESTAR FINANCE PTY LTD, REDUCE HOME LOANS, RATECITY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SHAW AND PARTNERS LIMITED

Trade surplus hasn’t hushed rate cut talk

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 4-Jul-19

Australia’s trade surplus rose to a record $5.7bn in May, eclipsing the previous high of $4.8bn in April. The big trade surplus was driven by strong growth in iron ore export volumes and the price of the steel input. Kaixin Owyong of National Australia Bank says the record trade surplus could put the nation on track to achieve a current account surplus for the first time in decades. Meanwhile, some economists have flagged the potential for another official interest rate cut in August.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Woolies gives up liquor and gambling

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 4-Jul-19

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says the retail giant has been working on the proposed demerger of its liquor and hotels business for more than a year. Endeavour Group will be created via the merger of pubs and poker machines operator ALH Group and Endeavour Drinks, which owns the Dan Murphy’s and BSW liquor chains. Woolworths plans to divest Endeavour Group via a demerger, trade sale or IPO in 2020 and retain a minority stake. Woolworths has attracted criticism over its exposure to poker machines, but Banducci stresses that this was not a driver of the demerger proposal.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, ENDEAVOUR GROUP, ALH GROUP LIMITED, DAN MURPHY’S, BWS – BEER WINE SPIRITS, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, LANGTON’S, CELLARMASTER WINES PTY LTD, PINNACLE DRINKS, THE MATHIESON GROUP PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, THE QUANTIUM GROUP PTY LTD

Open banking delayed due to data concerns

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 4-Jul-19

The federal government’s open banking regime is slated to begin on 1 February 2020, although this will require the Consumer Data Right bill to be passed by the end of July. Shadow financial services minister Stephen Jones says Labor has some concerns about how customers’ data is used and retained under the new regime, which will need to be addressed if Labor is to support the legislation. Jones has questioned whether there will be sufficient time to pass the bill before parliament rises for the winter break.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG