CORPORATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Profits today, penalties tomorrow: The real cost of distrust

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Original article by Michele Levine
Mumbrella – Page: Online : 8-Oct-25

Former marketing professor, brand consultant and columnist Mark Ritson recently commented on Roy Morgan’s finding that Qantas has become one of Australia’s five most distrusted brands. Ritson contended that "brand trust needs to be taken with a massive dose of salt". However, distrust affects more than just a company’s reputation; Medibank, AMP, Facebook and Qantas itself are amongst the companies whose market capitalisation fell sharply in the wake of scandals that damaged their brand in recent years. Distrust spreads faster than trust accrues, and it changes behaviour long after headlines about a scandal fade; a business can report solid earnings yet be just one incident away from value destruction.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, FACEBOOK

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine: Woolworths and Coles have gone from the Most Trusted to Most Distrusted in just over a year

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Jan-25

In a dramatic shift in consumer sentiment, Woolworths and Coles have recorded the highest distrust since Roy Morgan began tracking brand trust in late 2017. Woolworths now replaces Optus as the most distrusted brand in Australia, while Coles has followed closely, recording the second-highest level of distrust on record. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine commented that "Distrust has a far more potent impact on consumer behaviour than trust. While trust creates loyalty, distrust can drive customers into the welcoming arms of more trusted brands. The reputational fall of Woolworths and Coles is a powerful reminder of the fragility of trust in today’s environment. The pandemic placed the major supermarkets at the centre of Australian lives. But the goodwill they built during that period has been reversed by perceptions of too profit-motivated and unaffordable pricing".

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD

Bunnings is Australia’s most trusted brand again ahead of Aldi, Kmart and Toyota, while Big W and NRMA improve

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Dec-24

Bunnings is the most trusted brand in the 12 months to September 2024. The hardware chain has held top spot as Australia’s most trusted brand for four consecutive quarters, since taking top spot at the end of last year from previous leader Woolworths. Filling out the top three most trusted brands for a third consecutive quarter are supermarket Aldi followed by discount department store Kmart. Toyota in fourth, Apple in fifth and Australia Post in sixth were all unchanged from last quarter. Meanwhile, Optus remains the most distrusted brand for a sixth straight quarter. The telco is followed by major supermarkets Woolworths and Coles; they held the top two spots as Australia’s most trusted brands in mid-2023, but they have since fallen completely out of favour, having lost well over 200 places in the trust rankings compared to a year ago.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION AUSTRALIA LIMITED, APPLE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA POST, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL

Bunnings, Aldi and Kmart are Australia’s three most trusted brands, while Toyota, Bendigo Bank and Nike are on the up

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Sep-24

Bunnings has again been crowned Australia’s most trusted brand in the 12 months to June 2024, retaining top spot ahead of supermarket Aldi and discount department store Kmart in third place. The hardware chain has now held top spot as the nation’s most trusted brand for three consecutive quarters, after previous leaders Woolworths and Coles fell down Roy Morgan’s rankings earlier this year. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the rapid slide down the rankings for both major supermarkets shows how quickly distrust can gain momentum and devalue a brand’s reputation. Meanwhile, Optus is once again the most distrusted brand in Australia, ahead of Qantas and Facebook/Meta.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK

Distrust in corporate Australia soars after huge profits and successive scandals but who’s responsible?

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Jul-24

A special Roy Morgan End of Financial Year webinar with Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, and Nine Network Finance Editor Chris Kohler, explored views of corporate Australia including the rising level of distrust across the economy. Distrust of any organisation or sector has increased significantly since the beginning of the pandemic; when there was more trust than distrust. Now 66% of Australians distrust any organisation or sector compared to 41% that trust – a net result of -25% points, down from -17% points a year ago – a decline of 8% points. A quarter of respondents (26%) mentioned greed and companies too motivated by profit or commercial interests as a reason for their distrust compared to 9% who said this when the pandemic began – up 17% points. In comparison fewer than 1% of respondents mentioned they trust organisations because they are not motivated by profit – a net rating of -25% points. When asked directly, 54% of Australians say they distrust corporate Australia more than they used to, compared to only 10% who trust corporate Australia more than they used to. Over a third of Australians (36%) say there has been no change in the trustworthiness of corporate Australia.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

BHP’s monster dividend to lead a record week of returns

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 33 : 20-Sep-22

Australian investor will receive more than $18bn worth of dividend payments in coming days. Bell Potter strategist Richard Coppleson says BHP’s $12.5bn final dividend will be the biggest payout on record by an Australian-listed company. Rio Tinto’s local shareholders will in turn receive some $1.4bn worth of dividends. Telstra and Santos are among the other companies that will pay their dividends in coming days, while Fortescue Metals Group will pay $3.7bn worth of dividends next week. Listed companies will pay out a total of $33.5bn in dividends during September, and a further $9.6bn in October.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP,{SPAC}BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED,{SPAC}RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO,{SPAC}TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS,{SPAC}SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO,{SPAC}FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

BHP’s monster dividend to lead a record week of returns

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 33 : 20-Sep-22

Australian investor will receive more than $18bn worth of dividend payments in coming days. Bell Potter strategist Richard Coppleson says BHP’s $12.5bn final dividend will be the biggest payout on record by an Australian-listed company. Rio Tinto’s local shareholders will in turn receive some $1.4bn worth of dividends. Telstra and Santos are among the other companies that will pay their dividends in coming days, while Fortescue Metals Group will pay $3.7bn worth of dividends next week. Listed companies will pay out a total of $33.5bn in dividends during September, and a further $9.6bn in October.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP,{SPAC}BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED,{SPAC}RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO,{SPAC}TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS,{SPAC}SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO,{SPAC}FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG

Tabcorp split follows trend showing spike in demerger share prices

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Original article by Richard Henderson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 26-May-22

The Lottery Corporation has a market capitalisation of $10bn following its demerger from Tabcorp. UBS estimates that the combined share price movements of the two stocks since the split has added about 7.5 per cent to the market value of both companies. AGL Energy and Incitec Pivot are among other listed companies that are pursuing demerger plans. Nick Alexander of UBS says demergers often prompt mergers and acquisitions activity, while Macquarie Group’s analysis shows that spin-offs typically underperform for the first six months but tend to outperform in the long-term.

CORPORATES
THE LOTTERY CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLC, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Net zero pledges soar after earnings season

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Original article by Richard Henderson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 7-Sep-21

Macquarie Group data indicates that 34 companies in the S&P/ASX 300 have made a commitment to net zero emissions in the first eight months of 2021, compared to 38 for the whole of 2020. Companies that have made net zero emission pledges so far in 2021 include Boral, Ampol and JB Hi-Fi. Their commitments follow a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which concluded that temperatures could exceed the 1.5 degree increase above pre-industrialised levels within 10 years.

CORPORATES
JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, AMPOL LIMITED – ALD, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

It’s official: Bunnings is Australia’s most trusted brand, with Coles the big mover

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 1-Jun-20

Over the 12 months to 30 April 2020, Bunnings, ALDI, Woolworths and Coles were selected by Australians as the country’s most trusted brands. The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor reveals that year-on-year Coles lifted three trust rankings. According to Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, "Coles was the fastest mover over the 12 months, to be neck and neck with Woolworths for the first time". NRMA emerged as Australia’s most trusted insurer – and its most trusted financial services brand. The ABC emerged as the most trusted media brand in the country. Unsurprisingly given the top-4 most trusted brands, the retail sector emerged as Australia’s most trusted industry, with the supermarket sector 2nd and consumer products 3rd. On the flipside, Facebook, Telstra and AMP were revealed as the most distrusted brands in Australia during April 2020.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, WOOLY BULLY, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, NRMA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP