STRATEGIC PLANNING – AUSTRALIA

Woolworths needs to fix more than its Homebrands

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 30-Mar-16

Marketing Focus’s Barry Urquhart says Woolworths will need to market a change in branding for its entry-level private-label products in the same way it markets national brands. Woolworths intends to phase out the Homebrand name in favour of Essentials, in a bid to counter perceptions that the private-label products of rival grocery chains are of better quality. Melbourne Business School’s Mark Ritson says Woolworths should also seek to reposition its other private-label brands.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MARKETING FOCUS PTY LTD, MELBOURNE BUSINESS SCHOOL, PRINCIPALS, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD

Woolworths turns back on Homebrand

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 29-Mar-16

Australian-listed Woolworths will drop the Homebrand name for its entry-level range of private label products. The branding will be phased out in favour of the similarly-priced Essentials brand, in order to counter the widely-held view that the generic products of rivals Coles and Aldi offer better quality. Homebrand was launched in 1983, and currently features a much broader range of products than the Essentials range. About $A1.4bn worth of Homebrand products are sold each year.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CAPILANO HONEY LIMITED – ASX CZZ, BEECHWORTH HONEY

Quantity is not quality in media revamp

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Original article by Greg Hywood
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 39 : 29-Mar-16

Fairfax Media’s latest round of redundancies will not affect its commitment to quality journalism. Fairfax currently boasts more than 700 journalists across its publications, including 520 at its three flagship newspapers. In contrast, "The Australian Financial Review" boasted just 25 journalists in 1976. Analysis shows that many articles published by Fairfax are read by only a handful of people, so the media group will use its editorial restructure to focus on stories that are of most interest to consumers.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, MELBOURNE PRESS CLUB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION, ESSENDON FOOTBALL CLUB

Woodside shelves $50bn Browse

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 19 & 22 : 24-Mar-16

Woodside Petroleum and its partners will not proceed with the Browse floating LNG project due to the downturn in the crude oil price, which is currently trading at around $US40 a barrel. It is estimated that the project would cost $A50bn to develop, and Woodside CEO Peter Coleman says crude oil would have to be trading at between $US50 to $US60 per barrel for Browse to break even. Coleman adds that other options will be considered for developing the Browse project.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BP PLC, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, PETROCHINA COMPANY LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP

Healthy Sigma set for acquisitions

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Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Mar-16

Australian-listed Sigma Pharmaceuticals has posted a 2015 net profit of $A50.5m, which is 4.3 per cent lower than previously, although revenue rose by 10 per cent to $A3.5bn. CEO Mark Hooper notes that the proportion of Sigma’s revenue from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has fallen in recent years due to the group’s push to diversify its sources of income. He has flagged acquisitions and identified expansion into the hospital pharmacy sector as a key growth strategy.

CORPORATES
SIGMA PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED – ASX SIP

Rio chief-in-waiting downplays expansion

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Original article by James Chessell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 21-Mar-16

Jean-Sebastien Jacques has indicated that reducing costs, balance sheet strength and industrial safety will be among Rio Tinto’s priorities when he succeeds Sam Walsh as CEO in July 2016. There had been speculation that Rio Tinto will ramp up its growth strategy under Jacques, following several years of cost-cutting. He is currently the head of Rio Tinto’s copper and coal division.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, SANFORD C BERNSTEIN AND COMPANY, BARCLAYS BANK PLC, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED

Hywood has ‘no plan’ says ex-Fairfax exec

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 21-Mar-16

A former editor-in-chief of "The Australian Financial Review", Glenn Burge, says Fairfax Media directors have not sufficiently questioned the strategy of CEO Greg Hywood. Burge says Fairfax lacks a plan to maintain its standards of journalism, and he has criticised Hywood for saying the latest round of job losses is necessary for the media group to keep delivering "high quality journalism". He also says Fairfax is too reliant on advice from consultants.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, BAIN AND COMPANY, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, PAGEMASTERS PTY LTD, DOMAIN.COM.AU

News, Telstra discuss Foxtel and Fox Sports merger

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 21-Mar-16

Foxtel’s joint owners Telstra and News Corp may merge the pay-TV group with News Corp’s fully-owned Fox Sports. Telstra recently flagged plans to list 60 per cent of its stake in Foxtel on the sharemarket, and merging it with Fox Sports would make the IPO more attractive to investors. Foxtel’s EBITDA and revenue fell in 2015, while Fox Sports posted EBITDA and revenue of $US135m and $US500m respectively in 2014-15.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED

Telstra mulls Foxtel IPO

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1&8 : 18-Mar-16

Telstra is believed to be considering a sharemarket float or sale of its stake in pay TV Foxtel. As Foxtel is worth between $A8 billion and $A9 billion in total, Telstra could receive $A4.5 billion for its 50 per cent stake in the company. Foxtel announced on 17 March 2016 that its CEO Richard Freudenstein will be replaced by News Corporation Australia CEO Peter Tonagh.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD

Penn sticks to $1.3b Asia growth plan

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Original article by David Ramli
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 15-Mar-16

Shares in Telstra closed 2.33 per cent higher at $A5.28 on 14 March 2016, after the telco advised that negotiations for a mobile network joint venture in the Philippines have been terminated. Telstra had been prepared to invest about $US1bn ($A1.3bn) in the venture with San Miguel, and CEO Andy Penn says the telco is still interested in making an investment of a similar size in Asia. However, institutional investors says Telstra should carefully consider risk factors in any future investments in the region.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FOUNDATION INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED – ASX AFI, NIKKO ASSET MANAGEMENT GROUP, GLOBE TELECOM INCORPORATED, PHILIPPINE LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE COMPANY, QATAR TELECOM