Businesses trading offshore will capitalise on ‘sweet spot’

Original article by Timna Jacks, Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 12-Mar-15

The Australian dollar reached a low of $US0.7588 on 11 March 2015. Anthony Halas, the CEO of swimwear group Seafolly, says his company’s domestic margins have been affected by the falling currency, but notes that the business has benefited from its international expansion. Hybrid Electronics proprietor Walter Berryman says his firm has also benefited from the lower dollar, as its purchasing and sales are in US dollars and its manufacturing costs are in the domestic currency

CORPORATES
SEAFOLLY PTY LTD, HYBRID ELECTRONICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ASCIANO LIMITED – ASX AIO, McLACHLAN TOURS

Business confidence weaker in February despite interest rate cut

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Mar-15

A Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey has found that Australian business confidence fell by eight per cent to 105.7 in February 2015. Business confidence is now well below pre-election levels and 22.5 per cent lower than its peak of 136.3 in October 2013, immediately following the federal election. The decline in business confidence occurred across all components of the index, but it was mainly due to a deterioration in the outlook for the Australian economy over the next five years

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Westpac leads big four in business customer satisfaction and advocacy

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Feb-15

A Roy Morgan Research Business Single Source survey has found that the overall satisfaction level of the business customers of Australia’s four major banks fell to 65.6 per cent in January 2015. This compares with 68.6 per cent in September 2014. Westpac retained the highest satisfaction rating at 70.5 per cent, ahead of the Commonwealth Bank on 66.4 per cent. However, smaller banks continue to outperform the "big four" in terms of business customer satisfaction, increasing their satisfaction level from 69.4 per cent to 70.6 per cent

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN

Business confidence rebounds in January prior to the February RBA decision to drop rates

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Feb-15

A Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey has found that Australian business confidence rose by 8.3 per cent to 114.9 in January 2015, compared with 105.3 in December 2014. This improvement was well above the average gain of 3.5 per cent for the month of January over the last four years. However, business confidence remains below the five-year average of 117.9. It is also well below the peak of 136.3 in October 2013, which followed the election of the Federal Government

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Budget deficit saps confidence

Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 19 : 20-Jan-15

Roy Morgan Research’s business confidence index has fallen to its lowest level since August 2011. The index fell to 105.3 in December 2014, compared with 123 in November. Roy Morgan’s Norman Morris says business confidence was adversely affected by the Australian Government’s forecast of a $A40bn Budget deficit for 2014-15. A survey by the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry also shows that there has been a sharp fall in business conditions

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, TD SECURITIES, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Business confidence weakens in October – lowest since June

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Nov-14

The latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey has found that Australian business confidence fell by eight points to 114.9 in October 2014. Business confidence is now at its lowest level since June 2014, and below the four-year average. It is also 21.4 points below the peak of 136.3 in October 2013. Roy Morgan Research’s Norman Morris notes that the proportion of businesses that expect to be better off financially in the next 12 months has fallen to 33 per cent, compared with 47 per cent in January

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Odds against joint ventures

Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 5-Aug-14

A survey of CEOs by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows that 43 per cent of the Australian respondents intend to establish a strategic alliance or joint venture in 2014, compared with 28 per cent in 2013. Mike Sum of PwC notes that strategic alliances are becoming more popular in the business sector. However, he notes that such alliances often fail during the implementation stage

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SNP SECURITY SERVICES PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, VISA INTERNATIONAL, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, GE CAPITAL AUSTRALIA, AURIZON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX AZJ, SHANGHAI BAOSTEEL GROUP CORPORATION, AQUILA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX AQA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WOOLWORTHS EZY BANKING, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BBY LIMITED, VIRGIN MONEY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

ACCC chases carbon levies

Original article by Phillip Coorey, Joanna Heath
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 30-Jul-14

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) will crack down on about 120 organisations that fail to recompense consumers following the abolition of the carbon tax. This includes companies such as airlines and waste management groups, as well as local councils. They had generally increased prices when the tax was introduced, and the ACCC is concerned that they may try to avoid passing on savings to consumers now that tax has been scrapped

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, AUSTRALIAN LANDFILL OWNERS ASSOCIATION LIMITED, VEOLIA ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Firms urged to ride $10bn internal tech wave

Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 23 : 18-Jul-14

A new report argues that Australian companies could generate about $A9.3bn worth of extra value each year via greater use of "collaborative" technologies. These include popular social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The survey, which was undertaken by Deloitte Access Economics on behalf of Google, shows that 50 per cent of respondents have yet to implement a collaborative strategy

CORPORATES
DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, XERO LIMITED – ASX XRO, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, KOGAN TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, TWITTER INCORPORATED