CORPORATE PROFITS – AUSTRALIA

CCA sheds 260 jobs to help cut costs by $100m

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 &20 : 9-Dec-14

Australia-listed Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has advised that its EBIT for the second half of 2014 will be higher than the first-half result of $A316.7m. The group’s underlying EBIT for calendar 2013 was $A833m. Meanwhile, CCA will retrench 260 employees in the finance, human resources and IT departments in 2015 as it seeks to achieve further cost savings. CEO Alison Watkins notes that sales of its new products are performing well

CORPORATES
COCA-COLA AMATIL LIMITED – ASX CCL, GRAINCORP LIMITED – ASX GNC, CIMB SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, PEATS RIDGE WATER PTY LTD, BARISTA BROS

Qantas on course for profit of $350m

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 9-Dec-14

Qantas expects its 2014-15 interim underlying net profit to be within the range of $A300m to $A350m, compared with a loss of $A252m previously. Deutsche Bank has responded by upgrading its full-year forecast from $A364m to $A801.5m. Qantas has benefited from factors such as its $A2bn cost-cutting initiative and lower fuel costs. Reducing debt remains the priority, although CEO Alan Joyce says the carrier could potentially resume paying dividends earlier than forecast

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH

Metcash warns on profit growth

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 & 17 : 2-Dec-14

Listed grocery wholesaler Metcash has reported a 2014-15 interim underlying net profit of $A101.7m, which is nine per cent lower than previously. It has advised that full-year EBIT is likely to be within the range of $A315m to $A330m. CEO Ian Morrice says the initial results of the group’s five-year turnaround plan have been encouraging, but he has indicated that the group may not achieve its goal of resuming profit growth in 2016

CORPORATES
METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, INDEPENDENT GROCERS OF AUSTRALIA, SUPA IGA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, DANKS HOLDINGS LIMITED

Funds predict tough times ahead for local shares

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Original article by Bianca Hartge-Hazelman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 19-Nov-14

Paradice Investment Management founder David Paradice is among the fund managers who forecast lower earnings growth in Australia during 2015. Geoff Wilson of Wilson Asset Management expects the Australian sharemarket to be lower at the end of 2015, while Damien Boey of Credit Suisse says factors such as the weaker Australian economy and the fall in commodity prices will prompt at least one more interest rate cut

CORPORATES
PARADICE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, COCHLEAR LIMITED – ASX COH, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH, INFOMEDIA LIMITED – ASX IFM, ARISTOCRAT LEISURE LIMITED – ASX ALL, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Optus lines up new content bundles

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Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 21 : 14-Nov-14

Second-ranked Australian telco Singtel Optus has posted a rise in underlying net profit of 7.4% to $A417m in the half-year ending 30 September 2014. The mobile telephony division boosted its revenue 1.1% to $A2.7bn. However it suffered a drop of 92,000 in subscriber numbers, while there was also one of 207,000 in the mobile broadband segment. CEO Allen Lew says Optus will soon roll out new bundled deals with content providers, to reverse the under-performance of its fixed-broadband operation

CORPORATES
SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SPOTIFY LIMITED

Murdoch’s bet on newspapers pays off: once silted, the river is flowing again

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 22 : 7-Nov-14

The first quarter 2014-15 net income of Australian-listed media group News Corporation has come in at $US65m ($A75m), up from $US27m previously. Revenue also grew 4% to reach $US2.15bn, and EBITDA rose 21% to $US170m. While the revenue of the print assets across the globe fell 3% to $US1.45bn, this was compensated for by the good performance of new digital ventures. The 62% stake held by News in online real estate classifieds business REA Group was a factor. On 6 November 2014 News stock closed $A1.12 higher at $A18.08

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, MOVE INCORPORATED, HARLEQUIN MILLS AND BOON, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

NAB tells rivals it is ready for a fight

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Original article by James Eyers, Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 31-Oct-14

National Australia Bank (NAB) posted a 4.5 per cent decline in net interest income from business lending in the year to 30 September 2014. CEO Andrew Thorburn says the banking major will pursue a range of measures to ensure that it remains Australia’s leading business bank, including hiring more business bankers. He has ruled out relaxing NAB’s lending standards in the sector. NAB has reported a 2013-14 profit of $A5.18bn

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, ARNHEM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

NAB to step up UK asset sales

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Original article by Clancy Yeates, James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 30-Oct-14

Some analysts believe that National Australia Bank (NAB) will divest the UK’s Clydesdale Bank via an IPO within six months. NAB is likely to reveal its sale options for the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank businesses when its 2013-14 financial results are released on 30 October 2014. NAB is tipped to post a full-year profit within the range of $A5.1bn to $A5.2bn, down from $A5.94bn previously

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CLYDESDALE BANK PLC, YORKSHIRE BANK PLC, GREAT WESTERN BANK, MLC LIMITED, GREAT BRITAIN. FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY

Souths to cash in from victory

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Original article by Joe Aston, Jessica Gardner, John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Oct-14

The South Sydney team on 5 October 2014 won the National Rugby League grand final against Canterbury, its first such victory since 1961. The telecast of the match also brought an all-time high audience figure of close to 2.6 million for free-to-air TV network Nine. Increased merchandise sales and a boost in club membership numbers after the success will mean South Sydney records a net profits of nearly $A2m for 2014. Controversy has engulfed Rowen Craigie, CEO of South Sydney sponsor Crown Resorts, after he allegedly supported Canterbury

CORPORATES
SOUTH SYDNEY RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB, BULLDOGS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED, CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, BRISBANE BRONCOS LIMITED – ASX BBL, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, SYDNEY SWANS FOOTBALL CLUB, HAWTHORN FOOTBALL CLUB

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