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South Australian Business Confidence above national average since mid-2016

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South Australian Business Confidence has been consistently above the national figure over the past year despite a sharp drop earlier in 2017 following extensive blackouts in the State that briefly sent the State’s Business Confidence plunging.

South Australia’s six month average Business Confidence of 122.9 in July is clearly above the national six month average of 114.4 and South Australian businesses have consistently been more confident than their peers Australia-wide over the last year since exceeding the national average in August 2016.

Business Confidence – Australia v South Australia

7325-Business-Confidence-South-Australia-July-2017.jpgSource: Roy Morgan Business Single Source, Dec 2010–Jul 2017. Average six-monthly sample is 9,800 for Australia. All figures are 6 monthly moving averages.

The latest monthly Roy Morgan Business Confidence for July of 117.0 is the highest monthly figure since June 2016 (119.5) with a strong boost in July partly driven by South Australia’s strong rebound in Business Confidence.

Analysing by industry shows the rise in the national figure was driven by strong increases in several industries including Agriculture, forestry & fishing, Construction, and Information, media and telecommunications which reached a record high.

Monthly Business Confidence — Australia

7302-Business-Confidence-Chart-July-2017.jpgSource: Roy Morgan Business Single Source, Dec 2010–Jul 2017. Average monthly sample over the last 12 months=1,000.

Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan Research, Gary Morgan, Executive Chairman, Roy Morgan Research, and Julian McCrann, Morgan Poll Manager, Roy Morgan Research say despite claims to the contrary South Australian businesses are more confident than businesses elsewhere:

“The latest Roy Morgan Business Confidence results show that South Australian businesses retain their strong Business Confidence despite the claims made by the Australian Banking Association over the weekend in their effort to ‘torpedo’ the proposed South Australian bank levy.

“Business Confidence in South Australia has been consistently above the national average since August 2016 after bottoming in late 2015 when Malcolm Turnbull claimed the Prime Ministership from Tony Abbott.

“The only dip in Business Confidence in South Australia came earlier this year when
extensive blackouts throughout the State briefly dented confidence – but the South
Australian Government’s decision to reach out to well-known Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk to assist in building the world’s largest battery in South Australia appears to have convinced South Australian businesses that the Weatherill Government does have a plan to deal with the issues confronting the local electricity grid.”

 

Wipeout as SurfStitch into administration

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 25-Aug-17

Online skate and surfwear retailer Surfstitch has appointed FTI Consulting as administrators. Chairman Sam Weiss cited a number of reasons for the decision, including ongoing litigation with major shareholder Crown Financial. The first meeting of Surfstitch’s creditors is due to take place on 5 September. Surfstitch listed on the sharemarket in late 2014 with an issue price of $A1.00, and its shares peaked at $A2.12 in November 2015. However, the stock was trading at just $A0.068 when it was suspended in May 2017.

CORPORATES
SURFSTITCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX SRF, FTI CONSULTING PTY LTD, CROWN FINANCIAL PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, SURFSTITCH AUSTRALIA, STAB, SURFDOME, SWELL, MAGICSEAWEED, 333 CAPITAL PTY LTD, GADENS LAWYERS, QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART AND SULLIVAN LP, AMAZON PRIME, SURF HARDWARE INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD, GARAGE ENTERTAINMENT, DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

Ten’s fate hinges on reform of media law

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 25-Aug-17

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has ruled that the acquisition of Ten Network by Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon would not result in a substantial lessening of competition. The ACCC took into account factors such as the growing use of streaming video-on-demand services and competition from rival free-to-air networks. However, Murdoch and Gordon cannot acquire Ten without cross-media ownership law reforms, although one option may be for them to each have a low voting stake in Ten but a high economic interest in the network.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC, PPB ADVISORY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED

Nine proceeds with caution on cricket rights

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 25-Aug-17

Write-downs resulted in Nine Entertainment Company reporting a 2016-17 net loss of $A203.4m, although its underlying profit was 2.7 per cent higher at $A123.6m. Revenue of $1.24bn was three per cent lower. CEO Hugh Marks says Nine is keen to acquire the rights to the Big Bash League as well as renew its existing cricket broadcasting rights, and he hopes for a swift conclusion to negotiations with Cricket Australia. However, he has cautioned that the subdued advertising market means Nine cannot afford to pay much more than at present for sports broadcasting rights.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, TWITTER INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, BIG BASH LEAGUE

Gordon, Murdoch in Ten seat after Oaktree exit

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Original article by Bridget Carter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 24-Aug-17

A decision by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission on whether it would approve the acquisition of Ten Network by Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon is said to be imminent. They have emerged as the leading contenders to buy Ten following reports that hedge fund Oaktree Capital has withdrawn its offer, which was made jointly with Anchorage Capital Group. Murdoch and Gordon are believed to have offered around $A250m for Ten.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC, ANCHORAGE CAPITAL GROUP LLC, PPB ADVISORY, MOELIS AND COMPANY, KORDA MENTHA AND COLLEAGUES PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD

Costco to float online and watch pennies fly

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 23-Aug-17

Costco will boast nine stores in Australia when its third store in Sydney opens in late August. The discount retailer intends to compete directly with Amazon.com in the local market, with plans to expand into online retailing within the next 18 months. Costco Australia MD Patrick Noone says the online store will enable the company to target consumers in regional and rural areas who do not have ready access to its warehouse-style outlets. Online sales now comprises 5-6 per cent of Costco’s overall sales in the US.

CORPORATES
COSTCO WHOLESALE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, OFFICEWORKS SUPERSTORES PTY LTD, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

News Corp and Fairfax need to take notice of Robert Gottliebsen

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Original article by Michele Levine, Gary Morgan, Julian McCrann, Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Aug-17

Last week the Roy Morgan State of the Nation Media Report showed clearly that although traditional media face considerable challenges, their core product is not broken. In an age of "Fake News" a clear opportunity is available for established media players to exploit the huge "trust" advantages they hold over social media. Many newspaper and magazine publishers have large audiences still engaged with their publications. Advertisers will use "print" as it is a "trusted" media – the print media needs to aggressively "challenge" advertisers using solely digital platforms such as Google and Facebook with now almost 50% of the advertising dollar.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Nick of time: negotiations stalling reform

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 24 : 21-Aug-17

Senator Nick Xenophon remains hopeful that the Federal Government will agree to provide tax breaks for small media companies in return for supporting its cross-media ownership reforms. Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has indicated that it would be inappropriate to extend such tax breaks to foreign-owned publications. The latest stalemate means that the media reform package will not be debated in the Senate for at least another two weeks.

CORPORATES
NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, PRIVATE MEDIA PARTNERS PTY LTD, SCHWARTZ MEDIA PTY LTD, THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

News Corp picks merger deal over Ten

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 21-Aug-17

News Corp will increase its stake in Foxtel from 50 per cent to 65 per cent if a proposed merger between the pay-TV group and Fox Sports proceeds. This would make it harder for the joint venture between Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon to acquire the Ten Network, given that Murdoch is co-chairman of News Corp and the owner of Nova Entertainment. Murdoch and Gordon are said to have submitted a conditional bid for Ten, but they may be thwarted by the Federal Government’s failure to pass its media reform bill in the Senate. Offers to acquire Ten had to be submitted by 18 August.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, NOVA ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC, ANCHORAGE CAPITAL GROUP LLC, SKY NEWS, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, HT&E LIMITED – ASX HT1, MULTI CHANNEL NETWORK PTY LTD, BIRKETU PTY LTD, ILLYRIA NOMINEES TELEVISION PTY LTD, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD

Retailer Godfreys sucks it up and goes back to basics

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 18-Aug-17

Vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys Group has posted a 2016-17 net loss of $A18.4 million. Revenue declined by 2.9 per cent to $A174.1 million, while 22 of its company stores were converted to franchise outlets during the year. Analysts see Godfreys falling behind stores like JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman in the $A1.3 billion Australian vacuum cleaner sector, while the pending arrival of Amazon presents another challenge for the group.

CORPORATES
GODFREYS GROUP LIMITED – ASX GFY, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, WERTHEIM SCHRODER AND COMPANY, HOOVER (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, DYSON INDUSTRIES LIMITED