RETAIL TRADE – AUSTRALIA

7-Eleven operators to face court amid wage scandal

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Original article by Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert
The Age – Page: 3 : 12-Oct-15

The Fair Work Ombudsman will prosecute Yiran Gu and Haiyao Xu over allegations that they underpaid staff at a 7-Eleven store in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville. They potentially face fines of up to $10,200 for every breach of workplace laws, while their private company could be fined up to $A51,000 for each offence. The Parkville store and 19 other 7-Eleven outlets were raided by the FWO in September 2014. Gu and Xu are also accused of falsifying payroll records.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, HIYI PTY LTD

Woolworths ‘treasure chest’ ready to open

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Original article by Catie Low
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 9-Oct-15

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst David Errington estimates that Woolworths could unlock about $A3bn worth of capital by streamlining its operations. He argues that Woolworths should focus on its core food and liquor business, while retaining its gaming division and offloading Big W and exiting the loss-making Masters hardware joint venture. The Masters business in particular may come under scrutiny when Woolworths completes its board renewal process.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, LOWE’S COMPANIES INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, TESCO PLC, KELLOGG COMPANY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Supermarkets cut prices in private-label drive

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Original article by Catie Low
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 8-Oct-15

Research by Deutsche Bank shows that Woolworths reduced the cost of its private-label grocery products by nine per cent in the September 2015 quarter. Rival Coles in turn reduced its house brand prices by seven per cent during the period. Meanwhile, the prices of branded products at Woolworths fell by 0.8 per cent and rose by 5.7 per cent at Coles. Woolworths says it has invested some $A250m on price reductions since early 2015.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Woolworths now cheaper than Coles for trolley of groceries: analyst

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Original article by Patrick Hatch
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 6-Oct-15

An analysis of grocery prices in Australian supermarkets shows that Costco has the lowest prices for 36 items. Morgan Stanley analyst Tom Kierath also found that the same items were 29 per cent more expensive at Woolworths. However, Coles’ prices were higher than those of Woolworths on 20 items, while its prices were lower on 13 products and the same on three products.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED, COSTCO WHOLESALE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Chairman, CEO quit 7-Eleven board

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Original article by Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 1-Oct-15

Former Australian Institute of Company directors chairman Michael Smith will succeed Russ Withers as chairman of convenience store group 7-Eleven. Withers and CEO Warren Wilmot resigned on 30 September 2015. Smith believes that the problem of wage fraud is more far-reaching than just at 7-Eleven, and he favours an amnesty for international students who have been caught up in the scandal. He also suggests that visa rules could be changed to allow them to work for more than 20 hours a week.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF COMPANY DIRECTORS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Iain Nairn leaves DJs abruptly, citing personal reasons

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Original article by Matthew Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 1-Oct-15

David Jones CEO Iain Nairn has declined to comment on his resignation after just over 12 months in the role. He will remain at the department store group during a three-month transition to new CEO John Dixon, who was previously an executive at Marks & Spencer in the UK. A spokeswoman for David Jones’s parent company, South Africa-based Woolworths Holdings, has refuted speculation that Nairn’s resignation was linked to an audit of expense accounts.

CORPORATES
DAVID JONES LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS HOLDINGS LIMITED, MARKS AND SPENCER PLC, COUNTRY ROAD LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Metcash plays down threat of Aldi expansion into WA, SA

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 30-Sep-15

Aldi will enter the South Australian and Western Australian markets in 2016, with plans for 120 stores in coming years. IGA stores in the two states typically boast higher profit margins than those on the east coast, and Metcash CEO Ian Morrice believes that IGA stores in SA and WA are in a stronger position to compete with Aldi than IGA stores in Victoria and New South Wales. Morrice has also downplayed the prospect of a price war between Coles and Woolworths.

CORPORATES
METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, IGA, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, FOODLAND AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CELLARBRATION PTY LTD, THE BOTTLE-O, IGA LIQUOR, MITRE 10 LIMITED, TRUE VALUE HARDWARE LIMITED, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Nothing small about the small electrical market

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Sep-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that Australians spend more than $A260m buying almost 1.7 million small electrical items in an average four weeks. The survey, which was carried out in the year to June 2015, also shows that Australian bought 233,500 small electrical goods from The Good Guys during an average four-week period, ahead of Harvey Norman (208,000). Meanwhile, more than one in 10 small electronic items are now purchased online (179,000 during an average four weeks). Of these, some 134,500 items are bought through online-only stores such as Appliances Online and Deals Direct. The remainder are purchased via the online sites of bricks-and-mortar retailers.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, THE GOOD GUYS, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, APPLIANCES ONLINE PTY LTD, DEALSDIRECT.COM.AU PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TARGET COUNTRY, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, GODFREYS GROUP LIMITED – ASX GFY, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, BING LEE ELECTRICS PTY LTD, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, BETTA ELECTRICAL PTY LTD, DICK SMITH HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX DSH, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED

7-Eleven franchisees chose own pay rates

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Original article by Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert, Mikaela Day
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 25-Sep-15

Key executives of 7-Eleven Stores appeared before a Senate hearing on 24 September 2015. CEO Warren Wilmot revealed that until a few years ago franchisees had been able to pay staff what they deemed appropriate without reference to the minimum wage. He stressed that this system is no longer in place. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven executive Natalie Dalbo said there has been a 16 per cent increase in the wages paid to employees of 536 stores that use the group’s centralised payroll system since a media expose on the wage scandal.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN

7-Eleven was warned over worker fraud

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Original article by Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert
The Age – Page: 25 : 24-Sep-15

Consumer advocate Michael Fraser has revealed in a submission to a Senate inquiry into wage exploitation at 7-Eleven that he first warned the convenience store group of the scandal in late 2012. Meanwhile, Stewart Levitt, the principal of law firm Levitt Robinson, has used his submission to urge the Federal Government to hold 7-Eleven’s Melbourne head office accountable for the scandal, rather than franchisees. He says the Government should provide an amnesty for 7-Eleven workers who are on student visas.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, LEVITT ROBINSON, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION