CLASSIFIED – AUSTRALIA

Fairfax investors back Domain spin-off, but want more of it

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Original article by James Thomson, John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 & 16 : 22-Feb-17

Shares in Fairfax Media were placed in a trading halt on 21 February 2017, pending an announcement by the group. It follows media reports which suggested that Fairfax may demerge its Domain property listings business but retain a stake of 60-70 per cent. Allan Gray Australia’s Simon Mawhinney and Fairfax shareholder Alex Waislitz support the demerger, although the latter says Fairfax should have acted much sooner. Fraser McLeish of Credit Suisse recently valued Domain at about $A2.2bn, based on its earnings forecast for 2018.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, DOMAIN.COM.AU, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY MONITORS PTY LTD, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, RSVP, WEATHERZONE, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TRADE ME GROUP LIMITED – ASX TME

REA spends $70m on passage to India’s vast property market

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Original article by Daniel Palmer
The Australian – Page: 17 : 11-Jan-17

Australian-listed property listings company REA Group will lift its stake in PropTiger to 21 per cent after agreeing to pay $US50m ($A68m) for an additional 14.7 per cent stake in the company. PropTiger is one of India’s largest property listings groups, and its websites include proptiger.com and housing.com. REA, which owns realestate.com.au, recently flagged plans to focus on markets in Australia, Asia and North America.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, PROPTIGER, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Real estate group retreats on ad rate bargaining

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 29-Sep-16

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission recently blocked a proposal by Property Media Group to engage in collective bargaining with REA Group and Domain regarding advertising rates for property listings. Property Media Group, which comprises a consortium of 170 real estate agents, has agreed to withdraw its proposal in response to the ACCC’s draft determination in late August. REA Group CEO Tracey Fellows says the listed group supports the ACCC’s ruling.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, DOMAIN.COM.AU, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, PROPERTY MEDIA GROUP, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

SEEK flags aggressive reinvestment, acquisitions

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 23-Aug-16

Australian-listed SEEK has posted a 2015-16 net profit of $A357m, which is 27 per cent higher than previously. However, this was boosted by the sale of a 50 per cent stake in IDP Education, and SEEK’s underlying profit rose by three per cent to $A198.1m. EBITDA was five per cent higher than previously at $A366.7, and group revenue increased by 11 per cent to $A950.4m. Shareholders will receive a final dividend of $A0.19 per share.

CORPORATES
SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, IDP EDUCATION LIMITED – ASX IEL, HYPERION ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, SIDEKICKER, WORKANA, NIMBLE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, JORA, JOBADDER, ZHAOPIN LIMITED

REA banks on property snoops to fuel global push

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 10-Aug-16

Australian-listed REA Group has posted a 2015-16 net profit of $A214m, which is 16 per cent higher than previously. The real estate listings business recorded revenue growth of 20 per cent, to $A629.8m, while EBITDA rose by 22 per cent to $A347.3m. CEO Tracey Fellows expects a plan to combine the property listings of REA’s realestate.com.au with those of Move to boost the group’s revenue.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, MOVE INCORPORATED, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, DOMAIN.COM.AU

Fairfax suffers another $1bn newspaper cut

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 19 : 2-Aug-16

Australian-listed Fairfax Media has announced a $A989m writedown in the value of its publishing assets. This includes a $A484.9m writedown of Metro Media and a $A408.8m writedown of its newspapers in regional and rural areas. Fairfax has also begun reporting the revenue of its Domain property listings business separately from the Metro Media division. However, Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood has downplayed speculation about an IPO for Domain.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, METRO MEDIA PUBLISHING PTY LTD, DOMAIN.COM.AU, NZME LIMITED – ASX NZM, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT

Realestate.com.au still leads with 4.5m visitors vs 3.2m going to Domain – but 2.2m Australians use both

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Jul-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 28 per cent of Australians aged 14+ (or 5.5 million people) used the website or app of Domain or Realestate.com.au in an average four weeks during the year to March 2016. About 4.5 million visited Realestate.com.au via website or app and 3.2 million visited Domain, while almost 2.2 million (11 per cent) accessed both property sites. The survey also shows that the Realestate.com.au website gets 4.3 million unique visitors in an average four weeks, ahead of almost 3.1 million for Domain. Meanwhile, a combined 1.5 million Australians use the app for either or both, including 1.2 million tapping into Realestate.com.au and 700,000 into Domain on their mobiles or tablets.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, REALESTATE.COM.AU, DOMAIN.COM.AU, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ

SEEK invests in online sidekick for temp staff

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 4-Jul-16

Australian-listed SEEK has acquired a stake in Sidekicker, a start-up that enables businesses to hire temporary staff at short notice. The online marketplace was founded in 2012, and now offers a database of some 3,000 temporary workers. SEEK’s Michael Ilczynski stresses that the types of positions that are advertised on Sidekicker are rarely advertised on his company’s website.

CORPORATES
SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, SIDEKICKER, NIMBLE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

‘Fairfax news business can survive’

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 11-May-16

Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood has stressed that the group is still primarily a media company rather than a digital real estate business. He is also confident that Fairfax’s news operations would be able to survive without the revenue contribution of the Domain property division. Fairfax’s revenue from its publishing operations has fallen by six per cent so far in the second half of 2015-16, while Domain’s revenue has grown by nine per cent.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, DOMAIN.COM.AU, THE NEWSPAPER WORKS LIMITED, NEWSMEDIAWORKS, SMI MEDIA INCORPORATED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, APN NEWS AND MEDIA LIMITED – ASX APN, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD

Expert called upon to settle REA, Domain fight

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Original article by Andrew Jefferson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 9-Mar-16

The legal dispute between Australian-listed REA Group and Fairfax Media-owned Domain will return to court on 21 March 2016, after the case was adjourned on 8 March. The case centres on allegations by REA that an advertising campaign by Domain was misleading and deceptive, by claiming that it boasts the nation’s leading property app. Justice Bernard Murphy proposed that the two parties hire an independent expert to determine which property app has the most listings.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, DOMAIN.COM.AU, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS