Author: roymorgansocial

Room for unions to work with super funds: Combet

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Apr-19

Industry Super Australia chairman Greg Combet says he has no concerns with union officials raising industrial relations issues with trustees of superannuation funds. However, he stresses that trustees must be mindful of their duty to act in the best interest of fund members when considering such issues. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority recent advised that trustees must not be influenced by "sponsoring organisations" in carrying out their duties. Combet has previously been ACTU secretary and a Labor minister.

CORPORATES
INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED – ASX BSL, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, GLENCORE PLC

Japan Inc splashes out on Dulux

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 17 : 18-Apr-19

Directors of DuluxGroup have endorsed a cash offer of $9.80 per share from Japan-based Nippon Paint, which values the deal at $3.8bn. DuluxGroup CEO Patrick Houlihan says the deal will allow the Melbourne-based company to sell its products in more international markets, following the recent launch of its Selleys range in Indonesia. Nippon Paint has stressed that DuluxGroup will retain its branding and leadership team.

CORPORATES
DULUXGROUP LIMITED – ASX DLX, NIPPON PAINT, SELLEYS CHEMICAL COMPANY PTY LTD, PARCHEM CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS PTY LTD, CRAIG AND ROSE, JAPAN POST COMPANY LIMITED, TOLL HOLDINGS LIMITED, MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP INCORPORATED, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, ORICA LIMITED – ASX ORI

Lecturer sues Sydney Uni over sacking

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 18-Apr-19

Former lecturer Tim Anderson has launched an unfair dismissal claim against the University of Sydney and deputy vice-chancellor Stephen Garton. The university claims that he was dismissed for breaching its code of conduct and public comment policy. The National Tertiary Education Union in turn alleges that the teaching material and social media posts that led to Anderson’s sacking are protected under clauses in the university’s enterprise agreement relating to intellectual freedom. In addition, it contends that his sacking was unlawful under provisions of the Fair Work Act concerning political opinion.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION INDUSTRY UNION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

Santos warns of PRRT tax hit

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 20 : 18-Apr-19

Santos has posted sales revenue of $1.01bn for the March quarter, which is 28 per cent higher than previously, while free cash flow rose to a record $327m. Santos has also advised that it produced 18.4 million barrels of oil equivalent during the quarter, which is up 33 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, Santos has indicated that its earnings could be adversely affected by changes to the petroleum resource rent tax that take effect on 1 July.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CONOCOPHILLIPS, QUADRANT ENERGY PTY LTD, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS

Netflix subscribers on rise, but growth slows at home

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Original article by Joe Flint, Micah Maidenberg
The Australian – Page: 21 : 18-Apr-19

US-based subscription video-on-demand giant Netflix boasted 148.9 million paying subscribers worldwide at the end of March, exceeding its own forecast of 148.2 million. However, Netflix added just 1.7 million new customers in the US during the March quarter, compared with overall customer growth of 9.6 million. Netflix has forecast that subscriber numbers will grow by five million in the June quarter, including 300,000 in the US. Netflix is facing growing competition from rival streaming services.

CORPORATES
NETFLIX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, AT&T CORPORATION, HBO, APPLE INCORPORATED, CBS CORPORATION, SHOWTIME, WARNERMEDIA, COMCAST CORPORATION, NBC UNIVERSAL INCORPORATED

Iron ore players hit by Vale mine restart

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 17 & 26 : 18-Apr-19

Shares in Fortescue Metals Group, BHP and Rio Tinto fell sharply on 17 April, after Vale was cleared to resume production at its Brucutu iron ore mine. News that Vale expects production to resume within days also weighed on the iron ore price. Meanwhile, BHP has advised that its iron ore production costs will rise due to the impact of Cyclone Veronica; full-year production guidance for its Pilbara operations has been reduced to between 265 and 270 million tonnes. BHP’s Pilbara iron ore shipments totalled 64 million tonnes in the March quarter.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, VALE SA, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Revealed: Bill’s carbon costs

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Original article by Simon Benson, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Apr-19

The Greens believe that Labor’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target is too dependent on the use of international carbon credits. Greens MP Adam Bandt has signalled that the party could use its numbers in the Senate to block any legislation that mandates the use of international carbon credits. Meanwhile, some estimates suggest that Australian businesses could be forced to pay up to $25bn to purchase international carbon credits under Labor. This is based on an average price of $50 per carbon credit over the next decade.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, BAECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Tax Office to ramp up audits of landlords

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 18-Apr-19

The Australian Taxation Office has signalled that it will audit about 4,500 taxpayers who claim deductions for rental properties in 2018-19. The ATO undertook 1,500 such audits in 2017-18, after random sampling of tax returns showed that 90 per cent of claims for rental deductions contained errors. Assistant commissioner Gavin Siebert says the ATO uses data analytics and information from a range of third-party sources in its audits. It imposed penalties totalling $1.3m for incorrect rental deductions in 2017-18.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Hadley facing legal action over bullying

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Apr-19

A former employee of Sydney radio station 2GB is believed to planning to sue broadcaster Ray Hadley, claiming that bullying contributed to his mental health problems. Chris Bowen alleges that he was subject to ‘intense bullying’ over a 16-year period at 2GB. He first raised allegations of bullying via social media in March, but did not name Hadley at the time. Bowen has yet to file any documents in court.

CORPORATES
2GB, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, LAXON LAWYERS

Boutique funds emerge as top performers

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 26 : 18-Apr-19

Data from Mercer shows that the median long-only Australian share fund achieved a return of 10.9 per cent in the March 2019 quarter, on the back of a 9.5 per cent gain for the S&P/ASX 300 index. Smallco Broadcap Fund, Collins Opportunistic Value Investing and CBG Australian Equities delivered the best returns for the quarter, while the ECP AM All Cap fund was the top performer in the year to March. BlackRock achieved the best return among long-short funds over both three months and 12 months.

CORPORATES
MERCER INVESTMENTS PTY LTD, SMALLCO BROADCAP FUND, COLLINS OPPORTUNISTIC VALUE INVESTING FUND, CBG AUSTRALIAN EQUITIES FUND, ECP ASSET MANAGEMENT ALL CAP FUND, BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED