STRATEGIC PLANNING – AUSTRALIA

Target boss reckons there’s room for two

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 21-May-15

Target MD Stuart Machin has outlined plans to revive the discount retailer’s fortunes. He has told Wesfarmers’ annual strategy presentation that up to 10 new stores will be opened each year, while 30 stores will be closed. He has also downplayed concerns that a turnaround by Target could be at the expense of Kmart, noting that there is a lot of scope to gain market share from rival retailers such as Myer and David Jones.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, HARRIS SCARFE HOLDINGS LIMITED

Revived Vodafone sets its sights on small business growth

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Original article by David Ramli
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 22 : 20-May-15

Vodafone Hutchison Australia increased its revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, which is the first time since 2010 that the telco’s revenue has risen. CFO James Marsh is upbeat about Vodafone’s outlook, forecasting that revenue and customer numbers will continue to increase. He says the telco will seek to build a greater share of the small and medium enterprise market, while it also hopes to re-enter the wholesale mobile services sector.

CORPORATES
VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, VODAFONE GROUP PLC, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, HUTCHISON WHAMPOA LIMITED, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, STAN, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, SPOTIFY LIMITED

Cheese revamp aimed at Asia

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Original article by Tim Binsted
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 20-May-15

Japanese-owned dairy products group Lion will officially open its expanded specialty cheese plant in the Tasmanian city of Burnie on 20 May 2015. The four-year project cost $A150m, and Lion CEO Stuart Irvine says it will allow the group to tap into the growing Asian market for premium dairy products. He has also flagged a greater push into the domestic market, noting that just 25 per cent of Australian households consume specialty cheeses.

CORPORATES
LION-DAIRY AND DRINKS PTY LTD, KIRIN HOLDINGS COMPANY LIMITED, BERRI LIMITED, DAIRY FARMERS LIMITED, TOOHEYS BREWING COMPANY PTY LTD, CASTLEMAINE PERKINS LIMITED, KING ISLAND DAIRY PTY LTD, SOUTH CAPE PTY LTD, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, WARRNAMBOOL CHEESE AND BUTTER FACTORY COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX WCB, FONTERRA BRANDS (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, JAPAN POST, TOLL HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TOL

LNG barge resurfaces

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 20-May-15

Santos and Engie dropped plans to use floating LNG technology for the Bonaparte gas project in mid-2015, as it was deemed to be unviable. However, the two groups may revisit the proposal by placing an FLNG plant on a barge just off the coast of the Northern Territory. It is estimated that this would reduce the cost of using FLNG technology from $US4bn to around $US2bn. It would also cut the Bonaparte project’s annual production from 2.6 million tonnes of LNG to two million tonnes.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ENGIE SA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Fortnum drops commissions for life advice

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Original article by Ruth Liew
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 18-May-15

Fortnum Financial Advisers will abolish upfront commissions on the sale of life insurance policies from 1 July 2015. Its financial planners will instead use either a fee-for-service or hybrid commission model, and executive chairman Ray Miles says there was widespread support for the change among its advisors. Centrepoint Alliance and AMP are among the other groups that have abolished upfront commissions.

CORPORATES
FORTNUM FINANCIAL ADVISERS PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, CENTREPOINT ALLIANCE LIMITED – ASX CAF

Santos seeks bigger chunk of LNG pie

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 18-May-15

Australian-listed Santos may acquire a stake in Papua New Guinea’s P’nyang gas field, which would be used to expand the PNG LNG venture in which the group is already a partner. A final investment decision on the proposed expansion will be made in 2017. Meanwhile, Santos and its partners in a Malaysian oil project have had encouraging results from a drilling program. Santo’s Caldita-Barossa venture is also in the running to supply gas to the Darwin LNG plant if a proposed expansion of the facility proceeds.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, JX NIPPON OIL AND ENERGY CORPORATION, CONOCOPHILLIPS, SK GROUP, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CHEVRON CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, HESS CORPORATION, AWE LIMITED – ASX AWE

Optus gears up for mobile war against Telstra

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Original article by David Ramli
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 15-May-15

Singtel Optus has posted a net profit of $A841m for the year to 31 March, which is 0.7 per cent higher than previously. The telco’s revenue increased by 3.8 per cent to $A8.79bn. Meanwhile, Optus will significantly increase investment in its telecommunications infrastructure. Optus intends to upgrade its mobile network in a bid to take market share from Telstra, while it will also upgrade its fixed-line network amid strong competition from TPG Telecom and iiNet.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NOMURA SECURITIES COMPANY LIMITED, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD

Westpac banks on cloud push to rein in costs

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 12-May-15

Westpac anticipates significant cost savings from a proposal to shift many of its IT systems to a hybrid cloud environment. Chief information officer Dave Curran says the banking major aims to capitalise on the efficiencies that can be derived from shifting to cloud technology. Westpac also aims to reduce its cost-to-income ratio, which rose from 41.6 per cent to 42.5 per cent in the first half of 2014-15.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AMAZON WEB SERVICES LLC, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Telstra has no plans to charge Netflix

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 11-May-15

Telstra spokesman Steve Carey notes that video now comprises around 50 per cent of the telco’s traffic, but he says it has ruled out charges streaming video providers to access its network. Singtel Optus CEO Allan Lew recently said such fees could be an option for providing higher-quality service to companies such as Netflix. Meanwhile, Telstra is pursuing a deal with Netflix to undertake joint marketing campaigns and promotions.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, IINET LIMITED – ASX IIN

OZ Minerals CEO sees bright copper future

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Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 14-Apr-15

Australian-listed copper miner OZ Minerals will consider acquisitions, but CEO Andrew Cole has ruled capitalising on low valuations to expand into iron ore. He is upbeat about the outlook for copper, forecasting that demand will remain strong. OZ Minerals will release the results of a review of its operations on 20 April 2015. Its shares closed 0.8 per cent lower at $A3.80 on 13 April

CORPORATES
OZ MINERALS LIMITED – ASX OZL, TORO ENERGY LIMITED – ASX TOE, SANDFIRE RESOURCES NL – ASX SFR