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Brickworks sees new strength in housing nationwide

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 20-Sep-19

Brickworks released its results for the year ending 31 July on 19 September, with Australia’s biggest brickmaker reporting a net profit of $154.6 million, down 12 per cent. Brickworks’ Australian business recorded EBIT of $57 million, down 27 per cent, while it declared a final dividend of $0.38 per share, up six per cent, with payment of the dividend to be made on 27 November. Brickworks MD Lindsay Partridge says the housing market is starting to improve, while he called for greater regulation and tighter control of poor-quality building products and sub-standard construction practices.

CORPORATES
BRICKWORKS LIMITED – ASX BKW

Former Silverchair frontman sues Sunday Tele

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 20-Sep-19

Former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns is suing ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ for defamation over an article that appeared in its 11 August edition. The article alleged Johns frequently attended an infamous brothel called The Kastle in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale. Johns, who has commenced proceedings against the newspaper, its editor and the journalist who wrote the story in the Supreme Court of Victoria, says the article is "simply untrue" and that he had not been aware of the brothel’s existence until he saw the story.

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Retailers warn tax cut stimulus effect is months away

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 19-Sep-19

Lower interest rates do not seem to be having a positive impact on retail sales, according to Peter Allen, the CEO of shopping centre owner Scentre Group. Allen told an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce retail forum in Sydney on 18 September that consumers are seeing rate cuts as a sign the economy is slowing, and that they may need to be more careful with their spending. Daniel Agostinelli, the CEO of footwear retailer Accent Group, said that tax offset payments have not had any positive impact on its sales as yet, while Erica Berthold, the CEO of online fashion retailer The Iconic, said stimulus on its own was not enough to lift sales. Meanwhile, the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Index has revealed that consumer confidence declined 3.5 per cent to a two-year low of 109.3 points.

CORPORATES
SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG

The challengers to China’s rare earth monopoly

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Original article by
rt.com – Page: Online : 12-Sep-19

China houses around 85 per cent of the world’s rare earths production capacity, with rare earths used in the making of products such as magnets and batteries, as well as having defence industry applications. The US imports around 75 per cent of its rare earths needs from China, and there is concern China could use this dominance as a weapon in the current China-US trade war. The Australian government recently flagged 15 rare earths mining projects that it will back as part of a combined effort with the US to combat China’s market dominance; the projects involve funding of $US$3.9 billion ($5.7 billion).

CORPORATES
LYNAS CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX LYC,{SHARE}AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE

Bunnings hammers competitors with twenty straight satisfaction awards

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Sep-19

New customer satisfaction data from Roy Morgan shows Bunnings to be the winner of the Hardware Store of the Month Award for July 2019, with a customer satisfaction rating of 91%. Bunnings has now won an impressive twenty monthly awards in a row, with July’s win putting it into an unbeatable position for the 2019 Hardware Store of the Year. Bunnings’ customer satisfaction rating of 91% in July was followed by Mitre 10 (90%), Home Timber & Hardware (87%) and True Value (73%). Home Timber & Hardware, which won its last monthly customer satisfaction award in November 2017, has experienced a slight drop in customer satisfaction (-1%) since July 2018. True Value has also slipped 3% over the same period. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week in their homes and over 50,000 each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED,{SHARE}BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED,{SHARE}ROY MORGAN LIMITED,{SHARE}MITRE 10 LIMITED,{SHARE}HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE,{SHARE}TRUE VALUE HARDWARE LIMITED

A Foxtel IPO still the goal for News Corp

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 13-Sep-19

News Corp global chief financial officer Susan Panuccio says the media company remains committed to spinning off Foxtel over the long term. News Corp owns 65 per cent of the pay television operator, with the remaining 35 per cent owned by Telstra. Foxtel has 2.4 million residential and commercial subscribers, with its residential customers had an average revenue per user of $78 as of the end of June. News Corp has indicated it sees Foxtel’s future growth coming from streaming rather than broadcasting.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

ABC chair Ita Buttrose calls for press freedom campaign

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: Online : 11-Sep-19

ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose says that the media’s ability to report on corruption or maladministration should not be viewed as a threat to national security. Buttrose has told the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties annual dinner on 10 September that the media needs the backing of the general community to ensure it can do its job properly. The ABC, Nine Entertainment and News Corp Australia have been lobbying the government to amend legislation that impacts the work of journalists, following recent AFP raids on the ABC’s Sydney headquarters and the home of a News Corp Australia journalist.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEW SOUTH WALES COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Coles, Woolies strike out on beauty boom

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 10-Sep-19

Sales of non-food groceries in supermarkets fell by 0.7 per cent in the 12 months to May, according to IRI, while sales of packaged food rose by 2.3 per cent in the same period. Health and beauty sales in supermarkets were down 0.1 per cent, while sales of general merchandise products fell 4.6 per cent. Alistair Leathwood from IRI says consumers are making more informed decisions about purchases because of the amount of information they are getting online, allowing them to buy items that they would normally buy in supermarkets at other outlets for a cheaper price.

CORPORATES
IRI COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW

Ten scraps Rove’s new show after two weeks

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 23 : 9-Sep-19

Beverley McGarvey has defended the axing of ‘Saturday Night Rove’ after it was on air for just two weeks. McGarvey, who is Ten Network’s chief programming officer, says the program, which was hosted by three-time Gold Logie winner Rove McManus, had not been able to attract a decent audience. McGarvey notes that Saturday night is a very challenging timeslot, and that there were a number of factors that had led Ten to decide that audience figures for ‘Saturday Night Rove’ were unlikely to improve.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Lynas may build processing, waste storage site on BHP’s doorstep

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 7-Sep-19

Lynas Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder regarding sites for a rare earths cracking and leaching plant. Lynas must build and have the plant up and running within four years, so as to continue conducting part of its rare earths processing in Malaysia. The MOU provides Lynas with exclusivity on two sites, including one adjacent to BHP’s nickel smelter. The cracking and leaching plant is tipped to cost around $500 million to construct.

CORPORATES
LYNAS CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX LYC, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP