K64 Auxiliary Finance and Insurance Services

Citi upgrades Australian, Euro stocks

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 10-Jan-23

Citigroup has upgraded its rating on Australian equities to ‘neutral’ and expects the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 to reach 7,400 points in 2023. Citi also cautions that there is downside risk to consensus earnings forecasts of four per cent for the calendar year. Meanwhile, Citi has upgraded its rating for European shares to ‘overweight’, but its recommendation on US shares has been downgraded to ‘underweight’.

CORPORATES
CITIGROUP INCORPORATED,STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX

Jury’s out on where to get best profit growth this year

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 & 16 : 4-Jan-23

The S&P/ASX 200 shed 5.5 per cent in 2022, ending the year at 7,038.7 points. Data from Bloomberg shows that energy, utilities and materials were the only sectors that posted gains for the calendar year. UBS equity strategist Richard Schellbach expects the benchmark index to end 2023 at 7,250 points, while AMP forecasts that it will finish the year at 7,600. In contrast, Credit Suisse expects the S&P/ASX 200 to retreat in 2023, ending the year at just 6,700.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX,BLOOMBERG LP,UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD,AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP,CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

Bankman-Fried arrested in The Bahamas

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Original article by Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 & 18 : 14-Dec-22

The US government is expected to seek an extradition order for the founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Sam Bankman-Fried has been taken into custody in The Bahamas, where FTX was based for tax purposes. Bahamas Attorney-General Ryan Pinder says his nation and the US have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with the collapse of FTX. Media reports have indicated that Bankman-Fried will face a range of criminal charges in the US, including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering; the US Securities & Exchange Commission will also pursue charges against him. Pinder says The Bahamas will undertake its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX.

CORPORATES
FTX, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Economic turmoil to weigh on M&A: Goldman

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 15 : 14-Nov-22

Mark Sorrell of investment bank Goldman Sachs believes that global merger and acquisition activity will remain subdued until at least 2024. He notes that until recently, there had been widespread expectations that sentiment toward M&A deals would improve in the second half of 2023, but factors such as geopolitical tensions and aggressive interest rate increases have pushed back the likely time-frame for any rebound. Data from Refinitiv shows that there has been a 60 per cent decline in announced deals involving Australian companies in 2022, compared with the same time in 2021.

CORPORATES
THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCORPORATED, REFINITIV AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Super giants split over best interests duty

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Original article by Lucy Dean
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 5-Oct-22

Industry Super Australia has used its submission to the Quality of Advice Review to criticise the proposal to water down the ‘best interests duty’. The new duty to provide ‘good advice’ would apply to financial services providers such as superannuation funds and banks. ISA contends that the good advice obligation will materially change how financial advice is offered and regulated, and will most likely result in lower quality of advice. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia and the Financial Services Council have expressed support for the proposed changes.

CORPORATES
INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THE ASSOCIATION OF SUPERANNUATION FUNDS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL

Unprofitable firms worth $60b on ASX

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 21-Sep-22

Research from MST Marquee shows that 50 companies in the S&P/ASX 300 are unprofitable, up from 48 prior to the index’s latest quarterly rebalance. Hasan Tevfik of MST notes that investors continue to back unprofitable companies despite their poor performance, noting that these companies have a combined market capitalisation of about $60bn. He says the continued support for profitless companies may be due to investors’ hopes that they will deliver strong returns, as they did in 2009 and the first year of the pandemic.

CORPORATES
MST MARQUEE, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 300 INDEX

BHP’s monster dividend to lead a record week of returns

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 33 : 20-Sep-22

Australian investor will receive more than $18bn worth of dividend payments in coming days. Bell Potter strategist Richard Coppleson says BHP’s $12.5bn final dividend will be the biggest payout on record by an Australian-listed company. Rio Tinto’s local shareholders will in turn receive some $1.4bn worth of dividends. Telstra and Santos are among the other companies that will pay their dividends in coming days, while Fortescue Metals Group will pay $3.7bn worth of dividends next week. Listed companies will pay out a total of $33.5bn in dividends during September, and a further $9.6bn in October.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP,{SPAC}BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED,{SPAC}RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO,{SPAC}TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS,{SPAC}SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO,{SPAC}FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

BHP’s monster dividend to lead a record week of returns

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 33 : 20-Sep-22

Australian investor will receive more than $18bn worth of dividend payments in coming days. Bell Potter strategist Richard Coppleson says BHP’s $12.5bn final dividend will be the biggest payout on record by an Australian-listed company. Rio Tinto’s local shareholders will in turn receive some $1.4bn worth of dividends. Telstra and Santos are among the other companies that will pay their dividends in coming days, while Fortescue Metals Group will pay $3.7bn worth of dividends next week. Listed companies will pay out a total of $33.5bn in dividends during September, and a further $9.6bn in October.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP,{SPAC}BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED,{SPAC}RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO,{SPAC}TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS,{SPAC}SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO,{SPAC}FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

Tabcorp split follows trend showing spike in demerger share prices

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Original article by Richard Henderson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 26-May-22

The Lottery Corporation has a market capitalisation of $10bn following its demerger from Tabcorp. UBS estimates that the combined share price movements of the two stocks since the split has added about 7.5 per cent to the market value of both companies. AGL Energy and Incitec Pivot are among other listed companies that are pursuing demerger plans. Nick Alexander of UBS says demergers often prompt mergers and acquisitions activity, while Macquarie Group’s analysis shows that spin-offs typically underperform for the first six months but tend to outperform in the long-term.

CORPORATES
THE LOTTERY CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLC, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Labor to regulate buy now, pay later

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Original article by Glenda Korporaal
The Australian – Page: 19 : 27-Apr-22

Shadow financial services minister Stephen Jones has flagged greater regulation of the ‘buy now, pay later’ sector if Labor wins the federal election. Jones says the BNPL sector is operating in an "ambiguous" regulatory space, and he contends that it requires some degree of regulation as it is directly competing with credit providers. He has also indicated that Labor will take action to halt a sharp decline in the number of financial advisers, with many leaving the industry in recent years due to federal government reforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY