K: Financial and Insurance Services

Roy Morgan Research – 75 Years collecting, analysing and interpreting accurate information!

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Dec-16

Roy Morgan Research Ltd Directors are pleased to report the company has returned to profitability during 2016, both in Australia and overseas, and the start of 2017 is continuing in the same way. Shareholders have been advised that the consolidated profit for the financial year to June 30, 2016 was $3,045,000 compared with a loss for the year ended June 30, 2015 of $2,337,000 and a loss of $7,858,000 for 2014. EBITDA (Earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation, and amortisation) for the financial year to June 30, 2016 was $3,946,000 compared with a negative EBITDA of $1,784,000 for 2015 and a negative EBITDA of $6,644,000 for 2014. Directors expect Roy Morgan Research Ltd profit for the full year to June 30, 2017 to be near $5.5 million with EBITDA in excess of $6 million.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Perennial pair target ‘unloved, undervalued’ bunch of five

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 31 : 2-Dec-16

Value investing has fallen out of favour in recent years, but the August 2016 reporting season was a catalyst for renewed interest in value stocks. Stephen Bruce, a portfolio manager at Perennial, says stocks that have been dubbed "expensive defensives" began to be sold down in the wake of the reporting season, while value stocks received support due to financial results that were better than expected. Bruce and colleague John Murray identify BHP Billiton, QBE Insurance Group, AMP, Lend Lease and Macquarie Group as their top picks among value stocks.

CORPORATES
PERENNIAL VALUE MANAGEMENT LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QBE INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX QBE, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL

Australia is a key market, says Bank of Tokyo

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 1-Dec-16

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi intends to expand its presence in Australia. Randy Chafetz, the managing executive officer of the bank, says stagnant conditions in Japan will continue to result in pressure on Japanese companies to seek more promising markets in other countries, including Australia. Earlier in 2016, the bank appointed ex-ANZ executive Drew Riethmuller as head of corporate finance operations for Oceania.

CORPORATES
BANK OF TOKYO-MITSUBISHI (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, DAI-ICHI LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Australia is a key market, says Bank of Tokyo

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 1-Dec-16

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi intends to expand its presence in Australia. Randy Chafetz, the managing executive officer of the bank, says stagnant conditions in Japan will continue to result in pressure on Japanese companies to seek more promising markets in other countries, including Australia. Earlier in 2016, the bank appointed ex-ANZ executive Drew Riethmuller as head of corporate finance operations for Oceania.

CORPORATES
BANK OF TOKYO-MITSUBISHI (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, DAI-ICHI LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Foreign banks fill lending void

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Scott Murdoch
The Australian – Page: 23 : 30-Nov-16

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that the average mortgage balance has risen from $A244,000 in 2015 to $A255,000. However, the value of new home loans grew by only 0.1 per cent year-on-year in the September 2016 quarter. A recent move by Australia’s major banks to reduce their lending to residential developers has also seen the value of offshore banks’ lending to local developers rise from $A1.49bn to $A2.65bn in the last year. Meanwhile, data from the Housing Industry Association shows that sales of new detached homes and apartments fell by 8.2 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively in October.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD

Santa rally looking strong after ‘great escape’

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 30-Nov-16

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 has gained 2.6 per cent so far in November 2016, and it seems poised to achieve its best performance for the month since 2005. Meanwhile, Macquarie Group is upbeat about the outlook for the benchmark index in 2017, forecasting that it will rise by 7.5 per cent to around the 5,875-point level. However, Macquarie notes that the local market could potentially be affected by a number of overseas factors in 2017.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Iron, coal rebound to lift rates

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers, Barry FitzGerald
The Australian – Page: 19 & 22 : 29-Nov-16

Coal and iron ore are currently trading at prices that are significantly above the forecasts made in the Australian Government’s May 2016 Budget. Based on current prices, the nation’s export earnings in 2016 will be about $A80bn higher than in 2015. Tim Toohey of Goldman Sachs says this should be sufficient to avert the risk of Australia’s credit rating being downgraded. Financial markets believe that there is also now a better-than-even chance of an increase in the cash rate by the end of 2017.

CORPORATES
GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BLOOMBERG LP

Goldman upbeat on local M&A activity

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 28-Nov-16

Data from Dealogic shows that $US98.54bn ($A132.44bn) worth of mergers and acquisitions have been announced in Australia so far in 2016. Olivia Brown and Marissa Freund of Goldman Sachs are bullish about the outlook for M&A deals, and forecast strong activity in sectors such as healthcare, technology and retail. Freund expects strong interest in local companies from suitors in Asia, North America and Europe. Brown anticipates that Chinese companies will continue to be attracted to sectors that have export potential, such as consumer products and healthcare.

CORPORATES
DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSGRID PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, HEADWATERS INCORPORATED, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, PACIFIC BRANDS LIMITED, HANESBRANDS, UGL LIMITED – ASX UGL, CIMIC GROUP LIMITED – ASX CIM, KATHMANDU HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX KMD, BRISCOE GROUP LIMITED, LAZARD ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Rally in local bank shares won’t last: CLSA

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 30 : 25-Nov-16

The share prices of Australia’s four major banks have risen by an average of nearly seven per cent since Donald Trump’s presidential election win. However, Brian Johnson of CLSA does not expect this to be sustained, noting that local and international banks are facing a number of headwinds. He adds that Australian bank stocks are expensive compared with their overseas peers, while their common-equity tier-one capital must be increased by some $A27bn.

CORPORATES
CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Get your next home loan by video session

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 24-Nov-16

Hashching is conducting a pilot program for a biometric identity verification service which is to be used in processing mortgage applications. As the program complies with "know your client" banking regulations, it eliminates the need for the presence of the applicant in the bank branch. Hashching co-founder Mandeep Sodhi says he will meet with representatives of the banks to persuade them to make mortgage applications fully digital.

CORPORATES
HASHCHING PTY LTD, ISELECT LIMITED – ASX ISU, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, TYRO PAYMENTS