COMPETITION – AUSTRALIA

Bank profits to slow, says Fitch

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Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 13-Jan-15

Fitch Ratings notes that a decline in bad debts has contributed to the growth of Australian banks’ profits in recent years. However, a new report from Fitch warns that the banks are likely to face a rise in bad debts in 2015, which will result in lower profit growth. Factor such as rising competition in the home loans sector will also adversely affect growth in earnings

CORPORATES
FITCH RATINGS LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Gazal woos tribal tradies in Wesfarmers workwear fight

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 23-Oct-14

Gazal Corporation will ramp up its marketing of the Bisley workwear brand. It will also launch new products in the Bisley range as it prepares to face competition from conglomerate Wesfarmers, which has bought the King Gee and Hard Yakka brands from Pacific Brands. DS WorkWear & Safety’s Shaun Spencer says tradespeople have a high level of loyalty to workwear brands

CORPORATES
GAZAL CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX GZL, BISLEY WORKWEAR, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, KING GEE CLOTHING COMPANY, HARD YAKKA INDUSTRIES PTY LTD, DS WORKWEAR AND SAFETY, VAN HEUSEN, MIDFORD, PACIFIC BRANDS LIMITED – ASX PBG, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, DAVID JONES LIMITED, WORKIN’ GEAR PTY LTD, FXD, GLOBE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED – ASX GLB, JUST JEANS PTY LTD, PREMIER INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX PMV, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

TPG enters ring with Foxtel, FetchTV

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Original article by David Ramli
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 25-Sep-14

Internet service provider TPG Telecom will launch a premium TV service in early 2015. Craig Levy, of TPG, said that the company has provided internet-protocol TV (IPTV) for more than five years, but lacks content. TPG will compete against Foxtel, whose products are bundled with Telstra, and with internet service providers that use FetchTV. TPG posted a net profit of $A172 million for 2013-14, a rise of 15 per cent

CORPORATES
TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FETCHTV PTY LTD, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, AAPT LIMITED, PIPE NETWORKS LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ

‘Heretic’ flags break-up of Australia’s big four banks

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Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 17 : 19-Sep-14

Investment banker Alastair Walton has warned that Australia’s four major banks will be vulnerable in the event of another financial crisis. He says that rather than imposing stricter capital requirements, it may be better to look at forcing the "AA-"-rated banks to demerge and be broken up into 8-10 smaller banks with "A" credit ratings. The BKK Partners chairman notes that the four major banks rate among the 20 biggest in the world

CORPORATES
BKK PARTNERS PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA. COUNCIL OF FINANCIAL REGULATORS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION

Who’s afraid of the big bad Netflix?

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 8-Sep-14

Australian media groups are ramping up their presence in the video-on-demand sector in response to expectations that US-based Netflix will enter the local market. Pay-TV operator Foxtel has introduced a new channel that allows subscribers to watch whole seasons of TV shows, while it has also reduced the cost of its basic package. CEO Richard Freudenstein is hopeful that people who take up this package will upgrade to get additional channels

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Labour laws behind drop in global rank

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Original article by Rowan Callick
The Australian – Page: 20 : 5-Sep-14

The World Economic Forum has issued the 2014 version of its index of global competitiveness. Australia has lost one place to now be ranked 22nd, leap-frogged by Malaysia at number 20. The leaders are Switzerland, Singapore, US, Finland, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong. Australia is being held back chiefly by its low score of 4.3 points out of seven in the area of labour market flexibility. Meanwhile commercial lawyer Andrew Thomson warns that over-regulation in Australia is likely to erode much of the benefit gained from the new free trade agreement with Japan

CORPORATES
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, BM ALLIANCE COAL OPERATIONS PTY LTD, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, ASAHI BREWERIES LIMITED, SCHWEPPES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Popular Aldi threatens Woolworths, Coles duopoly

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 12 : 15-Aug-14

Aldi currently boasts annual sales of about $A5.3bn in Australia. A UBS report estimates that Aldi could potentially lift its sales to $A9.3bn in the next five year. The firm forecasts that the annual sales of Coles, Woolworths and Metcash could be slashed by $A250m to $A350m by 2019 due to the growth of Aldi. Ben Gilbert of UBS notes that Aldi could achieve even stronger growth if it addresses issues such as the quality of its fresh food and long queues at checkouts, which are negatively affecting consumer sentiment toward the group

CORPORATES
ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, TESCO PLC, J SAINSBURY PLC, ASDA GROUP PLC, MORRISONS, LIDL GMBH & CO KG, ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Expedia buyout spares shareholders of ‘lucky’ Wotif

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 13-Aug-14

Wotif.com has posted a 2013-14 net profit of $A43.2m, which is 15.4 per cent lower than previously, while booked room nights were down by 10.8 per cent. CEO Scott Blume expects the decline in room bookings to continue as a result of competition in the sector, and he concedes that Wotif.com would find it challenging to turn this around if the takeover bid from US-based Expedia does not succeed

CORPORATES
WOTIF.COM HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX WTF, EXPEDIA INCORPORATED, PRICELINE.COM, BOOKING.COM BV

Banks count on trust to fend off new players

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Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 21 : 12-Aug-14

Bendigo & Adelaide Bank CEO Mike Hirst has commented on the new competition posed to the banking sector in Australia and globally by electronic payment services providers such as PayPal. He noted that these challengers lack the trust consumers still have in the established banks, which also command larger holdings in their accounts. Hirst argued that the main threat to the industry was a potential serious data breach by computer hackers, which would erode the confidence customers have in the institutions

CORPORATES
BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, PAYPAL INCORPORATED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Capacity war rages between budget airlines Jetstar, Tigerair

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Original article by Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 3-Jul-14

Competition between Qantas Airways’ and Virgin Australia’s respective low-cost businesses is intensifying. Virgin has reported that Tiger Airways recorded a 46.8 per cent increase in available seat kilometres in May 2014, compared to the same month in 2013. At Qantas’s Jetstar Airways, domestic capacity increased 11.1 per cent compared to May 2013. Its international capacity rose 8.6 per cent

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD