Author: roymorgansocial

Biggest shoe retailer gets same-day jump on Amazon

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Original article by Patrick Hatch
The Age – Page: 20 : 30-Jul-18

Footwear chain Accent Group launched same-day delivery from some of its Platypus shoe stores in the week ending 27 July. It aims to expand same-day delivery across its 350-store network over the next two months, with its other brands including Athlete’s Foot and Hype DC. Accent’s chief digital officer Mark Teperson said its new service had proven to be quite popular in its first week of operation, and he hopes it will help Accent to ward off competition from Amazon. Amazon offers same-day delivery in some parts of the US, but not yet in Australia.

CORPORATES
ACCENT GROUP LIMITED – ASX AX1 PLATYPUS SHOES PTY LTD THE ATHLETE’S FOOT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD HYPE DC PTY LTD AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED SKECHERS INCORPORATED VANS INCORPORATED BB RETAIL CAPITAL PTY LTD

Labor refers opposition MPs to police over staff

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Original article by Benjamin Preiss Nicole Precel
The Age – Page: 2 : 30-Jul-18

Victoria Police announced on 27 July that they would re-open investigations into Labor’s alleged misuse of public funds. The Ombudsman found in a report released in March that Labor had used $388,000 in taxpayer funds to pay part-time electoral officers to conduct political campaigning, an act in breach of parliamentary rules. Opposition leader Matthew Guy claims the six ministers that were named in the report should step down until the police investigation is completed. Deputy Premier James Merlino has now made similar allegations against 18 current and former opposition members, and has asked Victoria Police to investigate them also.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA POLICE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET LIBERAL PARTY OF VICTORIA

Cashed-up unions fund TV, radio blitz

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Original article by Andrew Clennell
The Australian – Page: 4 : 30-Jul-18

Prime Malcolm Turnbull has blamed in part the federal government’s by-election losses on the large amount of advertising conducted by Labor, with some of the funds for its advertising coming from the union movement. Turnbull claimed on 29 July that Labor had engaged in "outrageous lies" over health funding. It is estimated Labor spent $A450,000 on television and radio advertising in south-east Queensland in the last week before the Longman by-election, which it appears to have won. By way of contrast, the Liberal party did not run any television commercials in south-east Queensland over the same period.

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

Twitter plunges as fight against fake accounts hits monthly user data

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Original article by Selina Wang
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 28-Jul-18

Twitter shares fell by 21 per cent to $US34.12 on 27 July after it reported that its monthly users were down by a million in the second quarter when compared to the first quarter. The 21 per cent fall was the biggest one-day fall in Twitter’s shares since February 2014. Twitter cited a number of reasons for the decline in user numbers, including new privacy rules in Europe Twitter also advised that it expected its EBITDA for the third quarter to be as much as $US235 million, compared to analyst forecasts of up to $US268 million.

CORPORATES
TWITTER INCORPORATED MACQUARIE SECURITIES (USA) INCORPORATED BTIG LLC PIVOTAL RESEARCH

PM shoots down ABC over Iran attack report

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Original article by Darren Davidson Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: Online : 30-Jul-18

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull may file a formal complaint against the ABC over a story regarding the US and Iran. The online story suggested "unnamed senior figures" in the Australian government had indicated the US could launch a strike on Iran as soon as August. Turnbull noted that neither he, the Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister, or the head of the Australian Defence Force had been contacted prior to the story being published. US Defence Secretary James Mattis has described the ABC story as "fiction".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE UNITED STATES. DEPT OF DEFENSE AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Keating out of touch and a tad vindictive

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Original article by Mark Day
The Australian – Page: 24 : 30-Jul-18

Former prime minister Paul Keating has been rather critical of the Nine-Fairfax merger, while attacking the federal government’s changes to media ownership in 2017. Keating said the changes would reduce diversity within the media, while he referred to Nine’s news output in rather unflattering terms. However, there is plenty of diversity of views within Fairfax’s radio network for example, while "The Australian" publishes views from all parts of the political spectrum. Keating’s views ignore the fact that the Australian media must adapt to survive.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ GOOGLE INCORPORATED FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

BHP sells US onshore oil and gas assets for heavy loss

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Original article by Stephen Letts
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 27-Jul-18

BHP Billiton has advised that it has sold its US onshore oil and gas assets for a total of $US10.8 billion ($14.6 billion). BP is to acquire BHP’s Eagleford, Haynesville and Permian fields, while Merit Energy will buy the remainder of BHP’s Fayetteville assets. BHP has invested $50 billion in its US onshore oil and gas assets since 2011. BHP CEO Andrew MacKenzie said the sale would help to reduce its debt, with the net proceeds to be returned to its shareholders.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP BP PLC MERIT ENERGY

Super Saturday by-election losses spark debate about Malcolm Turnbull’s company tax cuts policy

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Original article by Louise Yaxley
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 29-Jul-18

Labor leader Bill Shorten says the results of the "Super Saturday" by-elections on 28 July reflect voter concerns about the state of Australia’s health system. The Coalition did not win any of the three seats it contested, while Labor has increased its majority in the other two. Latest counting of votes indicated Labor will win the seats of Longman, Braddon, Perth and Fremantle, while Central Alliance candidate Rebekha Sharkie held a resounding lead over Liberal candidate Georgina Downer.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY CENTRE ALLIANCE LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Industry Superannuation Funds show greatest gains in satisfaction

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Jul-18

New findings from Roy Morgan show that in the six months to June 2018, industry superfund members with balances over $5,000 had higher levels of satisfaction with their fund’s performance compared to those with retail and self-managed fund (SMSFs). Over the last 12 months, industry funds have showed gains in satisfaction across all balance segments, with the best performance being a gain of 9.5% points in the over $700k group, followed by 5.0% points in the $250k to $699k segment and 4.4% points for the $100k to $249k segment. Self-managed funds had losses in satisfaction in all of these important groups, with the greatest decline being 18.3% points in the $100k to $249K bracket. Retail funds’ major gain was 10.9% points in the under $5k segment and 1.6% points in the $700k and over segment, with the other segments showing losses. Roy Morgan’s findings are based on in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 consumers per annum in their homes, including over 30,000 with superannuation.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Labor leaps on S&P write-off call for NBN

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Original article by Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 25 : 27-Jul-18

Labor has called for the Auditor-General to audit the National Broadband Network’s books, although Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has labelled the suggestion an "ignorant stunt". Labor’s proposal follows a report from S&P Global Ratings which states that the NBN should be written off, with Labor stating that any proposed audit should concentrate on the NBN’s market share and revenue forecasts up until 2040. Labor has not indicated whether it would write off the NBN if it wins the next federal election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NBN CO LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, STANDARD AND POOR’S (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD