Author: roymorgansocial

Retailers at risk as consumers tighten belts

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 25-Mar-19

Insolvency firm SV Partners has stated that 916 Australian retail outlets are at "high to severe risk of collapse" in the next 12 months. Its forecast is based on data from credit bureaus and providers. An online retailer with turnover of more than $1 billion is one of the businesses that are considered to be under threat. Deloitte Access Economics has stated that retail sales growth will fall to 1.6 per cent in 2019 as consumers curtail their spending; well-known retailers to have failed in recent months include Roger David and Shoes of Prey.

CORPORATES
SV PARTNERS PTY LTD, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, ROGER DAVID STORES PTY LTD, SHOES OF PREY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, ED HARRY MENSWEAR, NAPOLEON PERDIS COSMETICS PTY LTD, BEDS ‘R’ US PTY LTD

Chronican plans to put NAB back in business

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 25-Mar-19

Business banking will be a key focus of National Australia Bank’s growth strategy, says incoming chairman Philip Chronican. He notes that NAB has the biggest presence in Australia’s business banking market, particularly in the small business sector. Chronican has also identified automation as an area in which NAB is lagging behind its rivals, and stresses the need to reduce costs. Other priorities for NAB include appointing a successor to former CEO Andrew Thorburn and restoring its reputation in the wake of the Hayne royal commission.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, FINANCE SECTOR UNION

AFLW inspires more women to play Australian Football

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Mar-19

A Roy Morgan Single Source shows that more than 550,000 Australian women aged 14+ now play one of the four main football codes. Female participation in Australian Football has increased by 21,000 over the last year, to 176,000, while nearly 400,000 women now play Soccer. Meanwhile, 67,000 Australian women now play Rugby League and 32,000 play Rugby Union. The survey also shows that 207,000 women in New South Wales now play football of one sort or another, followed by Victoria with 139,000 and Queensland with 89,000. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the increasing interest in women’s sport of all types including the football codes provides an increasingly lucrative platform for companies looking to capture a share of this emerging market while it goes through a significant growth phase.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Myer cuts another 50 jobs as sales fall

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 22-Mar-19

Myer Holdings has stressed that customer-facing staff will not be affected by the department store group’s latest job cuts. CEO John King has advised that 50 employees will be retrenched, primarily in store administration, marketing and merchandising roles. Myer is expected to shed further jobs when it begins reducing the amount of space it leases in some of its stores. Myer retrenched 30 executives and managers in August 2018, shortly after King took the helm.

CORPORATES
MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, HOUSE OF FRASER HOLDINGS PLC, TOURISM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, J WALTER THOMPSON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, OGILVY AUSTRALIA

Labor push on minimum wage will hurt those it’s meant to help

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Original article by Kurt Wallace
The Australian – Page: 14 : 22-Mar-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has committed to raising the minimum wage to become a "living wage" if Labor wins the 2019 election. The ACTU has stated that a living wage is needed so that no full-time worker is living in poverty, but under its definition of what is poor, someone earning $42,000 a year would be deemed to be living in poverty; many would take issue at this definition. Research based on the annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey suggests that poverty is on the decline, while introducing a living wage will result in less jobs and fewer hours worked.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH

Never again: NZ bans semi-automatics

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Original article by Ean Higgins
The Australian – Page: 8 : 22-Mar-19

New Zealand will ban semi-automatic rifles in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings, with Prime Minister ­Jacinda Ardern saying she is determined to ensure that such an attack never happens again. The government will conduct a gun buyback as part of its gun control measures, with the buyback expected to cost between $NZ100 million and $NZ200 million. Ardern has called for New Zealand to observe two minutes’ silence on 22 March. It is estimated that there are around 1.5 million firearms in New Zealand.

CORPORATES
NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Jobless fall gives RBA breathing room

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 22-Mar-19

Australia’s official unemployment rate fell from five per cent to 4.9 per cent in February, with a net gain of 4,600 jobs for the month. The economy shed 7,300 full-time jobs in February, although this was offset by the creation of 11,900 part-time positions. The participation rate and the underutilisation rate both eased slightly, to 65.6 per cent and 13.1 per cent respectively. Economists say the unemployment rate’s fall to an eight-year low will reduce pressure on the Reserve Bank to cut official interest rates.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK

Patient Fed backs off rate hikes

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 12 : 22-Mar-19

The Federal Reserve is now widely tipped to leave the cash rate unchanged until 2020, after it adopted a more dovish stance at its latest monetary policy meeting. The central bank has dampened expectations of two interest rate increases in 2019, with chairman Jerome Powell indicating that the cash rate may be left on hold for some time. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s stance has heightened speculation regarding the timing of any rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX

Tax big banks for implied guarantee

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 25 : 22-Mar-19

Australia’s four major banks are able to access wholesale funding at cheaper rates because of an implied guarantee that the federal government will not let them fail because of their size. ME Bank CEO Jamie McPhee says governments should tax the bigger banks because they get cheaper funding as a result of the "too big to fail" guarantee, and that this would make it easier for smaller banks to compete. ME Bank has advised that its net profit for the second half of 2018 fell 11 per cent to $41 million.

CORPORATES
ME BANK, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Miner Forrest makes long march to Norway to protest offshore oil drilling

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 21 & 24 : 22-Mar-19

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety & Environmental Management Authority has received more than 30,000 submissions regarding a proposed oil drilling program in the Great Australian Bight. Fortescue Metals Group founder Andrew Forrest is amongst those who oppose the drilling plans of Norway-based Equinor, due to the potential environmental impact on the Bight. Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation recently launched the Flourishing Oceans initiative.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, MINDEROO FOUNDATION, EQUINOR, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL OFFSHORE PETROLEUM SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY, THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY, VALE SA, CHEVRON CORPORATION, BP PLC, FLOURISHING OCEANS, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, ACIL ALLEN CONSULTING PTY LTD, WOOD MACKENZIE