Author: roymorgansocial

Policy uncertainty hits oil and gas juniors

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 17 & 18 : 16-Apr-18

Fund managers argue that the share prices of smaller oil and gas producers are underperforming due to lack of certainty regarding energy policy in Australia. They say the positive outlook for east coast gas prices is not being reflected in share prices in the sector, which is expected to experience a supply deficit in coming years. Cooper Energy MD David Maxwell says there is strong evidence to suggest that east coast gas prices will remain at elevated levels for some time.

CORPORATES
COOPER ENERGY LIMITED – ASX COE, FLINDERS ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, HARBOUR ENERGY LIMITED, AWE LIMITED – ASX AWE, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, TAYLOR COLLISON LIMITED

Rio calm as Russia sanctions hit plant

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 16-Apr-18

Rio Tinto has advised that its Queensland Alumina Limited business is unlikely to be significantly affected by a move by the US to impose trade sanctions on Russian companies. However, Rio Tinto has responded to the trade sanctions by declaring force majeure with regard to some QAL contracts. Russian companies that are affected by the sanctions include Rusal, which has a 20 per cent stake in QAL. Rio Tinto also has offtake agreements with Rusal regarding the former’s alumina smelters in France and Iceland, while Rusal also sources bauxite from Rio Tinto for its smelter in Ireland.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, QUEENSLAND ALUMINA LIMITED, RUSAL, GLENCORE PLC, LONDON METAL EXCHANGE LIMITED, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF STATE

New whistleblower bill unworkable

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 16-Apr-18

Griffith University’s Professor A.J. Brown has criticised proposed laws that aim to protect whistleblowers. He says a major flaw is that a whistleblower would essentially have to reveal themselves to be the source of information that was leaked to journalists in order to be protected by the legislation. He adds that as presently drafted, such protection would still only apply if they had gone public about an "imminent risk" of danger to public health or safety or to the financial system. Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance CEO Paul Murphy has also questioned the merits of the proposed laws.

CORPORATES
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, SECURENCY INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD

Banks discuss new standards council option

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Original article by James Frost, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 16-Apr-18

The second week of the banking royal commission’s public hearings will commence on 16 April, with financial planning to be the initial focus. AMP executive Anthony Jack Regan and Australian Securities & Investments Commission deputy chairman Peter Kell are both expected to appear before the commission on 16 April. Meanwhile, talks involving the formation of a Professional Banking Council are continuing, with banks, regulators and industry associations involved in the discussions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, FINANCIAL SERVICES INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALASIA, AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

It’s official: Majority of fresh meat now bought at Coles & Woolworths

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that Australia’s two largest supermarkets captured more than 50% of the $13bn+ fresh meat market for the first time in 2017. Woolworths Group had a 26.5% market share, up 1.1% since 2016, while Coles Group’s share rose 2% to 24.3%; their combined share of the fresh meat market was larger than all other retail outlets, including rival supermarkets Aldi and IGA, butchers, markets, other supermarkets and other non-supermarkets combined. Both Australian supermarket giants have enjoyed stronger growth in the fresh meat market over the past year than rival Aldi, which now has a 9.6% share of the fresh meat market, up 0.9% in a year – although all three have clearly taken substantial market share from traditional butchers. Ten years ago butchers and markets had 32% of Australia’s fresh meat market; today this is just under a quarter (24%). In the last 12 months fresh meat market share for butchers and markets dropped 3% points. This is the steepest drop of any time period in the last decade.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, IGA

Qantas flies with high customer satisfaction early in 2018

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that Qantas has built on a successful 2017 by again being rated Australia’s most satisfying domestic airline in February 2018, with a customer satisfaction rating of 86.4%. This is just ahead of stablemate Qantaslink on 86.1% and clearly ahead of key rival Virgin Australia on 83.2%. All three are well ahead of smaller carrier REX (Regional Express) with a customer satisfaction rating in February of 77.1% and budget airlines Jetstar on 64.1% and Tigerair on 61.4%. Qantas also leads the way for domestic business travellers with a customer satisfaction rating of 85.2%, ahead of Virgin Australia on 81.5% and well ahead of Jetstar on 65.5%. Qantas won the Annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards for both the Domestic Airline and Domestic Business Airline of the year for the fourth straight year in 2017.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, QANTASLINK, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, REGIONAL EXPRESS AIRLINES, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD, TIGERAIR

Consumer Confidence & Business Confidence start 2018 on a high

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-18

Roy Morgan Business Confidence and ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence have both begun 2018 on a high, recording their highest ratings for the March quarter in several years. Roy Morgan Business Confidence for the March quarter 2018 was recorded at 119.7, up 5.7pts on a year ago. This is the highest Business Confidence rating for the March quarter since 2014, when Business Confidence was an impressive 123.2 for the opening months of 2014. ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has almost matched its fellow confidence measure, recording a confidence rating of 119.4 for the March quarter 2018, up 3.2pts on a year ago. This makes 2018 the best start to a year for Consumer Confidence since the March quarter 2013, when Consumer Confidence averaged 120.6 for the first three months of that year. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the improved political performance of the Turnbull Government in the two latest Morgan Polls and the positive start to 2018 for both Roy Morgan Business Confidence and ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence mean next month’s Federal Budget presents a clear opportunity for Treasurer Scott Morrison to set the Government on the path to a strong performance at the next Federal election.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Catalogues the media most useful for alcoholic beverages

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that 7,702,000 Australians (38%) find catalogues the media most useful when purchasing alcoholic beverages, ahead of Internet search (22%), other websites (10%), newspapers (4.2%), television (3.4%), magazines (1.7%), radio and the Yellow Pages. More women agree catalogues are the media most useful for purchasing alcohol, with 43% of women choosing catalogues compared to 34% of men. Older age groups are also more likely to view catalogues as the most useful media for purchasing alcohol, with 47% of 50-64 year olds and 41% of 35-49 year olds choosing catalogues as the media most useful. The survey also shows that Aldi is the most read catalogue in an average seven-day period across both liquor store and supermarket catalogues; 28.8% of Australians read an Aldi catalogue in an average seven-days in 2017. This rivals the Big Two supermarkets of Coles and Woolworths at 28% and 26.6% respectively. More than half of Aldi catalogue readers in a seven-day period find catalogues the media most useful for purchasing alcoholic beverages.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW

Victoria top state for holidays over New South Wales

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Apr-18

The latest Roy Morgan Holiday Tracking Survey has found that 11.6 million Australians aged 14+ reported in 2017 that they would like to spend a holiday within Australia in the next two years. Some 3,779,000 Australians intended to take a holiday to Victoria in the next two years (up 55,000), beating New South Wales at 3,624,000 (down 274,000 from 2015). Tasmania was the only state other than Victoria that experienced tourism growth on 2015 figures, up from 515,000 in 2015 to 542,000 in 2017. Meanwhile, Melbourne has retained top spot as the capital city Australians would most like to visit, a position the southern capital has now held for well over a decade. In 2017, some 1,558,000 Australians indicated that they would like to visit Melbourne, up slightly from 1,526,000 in 2015. Sydney is comfortably in second position with 877,000 would-be visitors in 2017, down from 913,000 in 2015, while Brisbane and Adelaide have increased in tourism intention over the last two years.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Boards appoint more women than men

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Original article by Sally Patten
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 13-Apr-18

Fifty-two per cent of directors appointed to the boards of S&P/ASX 200 companies in the first three months of 2018 were female, according to the Australian Institute of Company Directors. This compares to 36 per cent for the same period in 2017, and 44 per cent for the same period in 2016. Companies that appointed female directors in the March 2018 quarter include Whitehaven Coal, Beach Energy and Flight Centre. AICD chair Elizabeth Proust suggests that one reason for the growing number of female directors is research which suggests that diversity is good for a company’s bottom line.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF COMPANY DIRECTORS, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, DAVID JONES LIMITED, PREMIER INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX PMV, PACIFIC BRANDS LIMITED, ARGO INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX ARG, ARGO GLOBAL LISTED INFRASTUCTURE LIMITED – ASX ALI, INVOCARE LIMITED – ASX IVC, THORN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TGA, NONI B LIMITED – ASX NBL, COMPUTERSHARE LIMITED – ASX CPU, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, VOCUS GROUP LIMITED – ASX VOC, ACSI INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD