Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ):
ANZ Banking Group is preparing to be outed by the corporate regulator as being among lenders with lax lending standards, sources told Street Talk. This column understands the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s review of responsible lending practices uncovered issues within ANZ’s consumer finance arm. That includes areas such as personal loans and credit cards and comes after ASIC examined the lending procedures of 11 companies.
Cochlear Limited (COH):
Shanghai | Hearing implant maker Cochlear has failed to win any part of a $37 million Chinese government tender, signalling its rivals are discounting heavily as they seek to erode the Australian company’s market dominance. Documents published on the website of China’s Ministry of Finance late on Friday showed 4800 units from the latest central government tender were split almost equally between Advanced Bionics of the US, Med-El of Austria and Chinese upstart Nurotron. The lowest price per unit in this latest round was $US5490 ($7230) by Med-El, which is 31 per cent lower than Cochlear achieved while tendering three years ago.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
National Australia Bank has warned that interest rates for small businesses would rise if it was forced to remove a legal right allowing the bank to default customers if the value of the property securing a loan declines sharply. Big banks are also seeking to limit the impact of additional protections for business borrowers suggested by Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell’s recent inquiry into SME lending, arguing the definition of small business should be lower than the definition of $5 million of borrowings suggested by Ms Carnell. Her report, published in February, said banks should not be able to default a small business customer who has made all their loan repayments just because the value of their security – typically their home – had fallen. So called ‘‘non-monetary default’’ clauses in lending contracts give banks this power.
QBE insurance Group Limited (QBE):
QBE Insurance Group will plough at least $50 million into partnerships with insurtech companies across four countries as it seeks to make pricing improvements and gain better insights into customer buying habits. Speaking at an analyst briefing last week, where he unveiled the $17 billion global insurer’s best full-year profit in recent years, chief executive John Neal said the company would focus on data analytics projects that supported its ongoing ‘‘remediation plans and claims initiatives’’. ‘‘Our planning is well advanced to deliver $150 million of expense savings by the end of 2018, and some of these further savings will be invested in technology,’’ Mr Neal said. ‘‘And for the first time in 2017 we will be investing a minimum of $50 million in partnering with insurtech companies that have a particular focus in data analytics.’
REA Group Limited (REA):
Property advertising monolith REA Group has used three different accounting treatments in the past two years, with changes in each case providing a favourable comparison with industry rival Domain. The most dramatic changes came days before REA began court action against Domain and Fairfax Media in February last year for what it called false and misleading claims about its marketing app. The changes, which appear in investor and analyst presentation documents that REA releases with its earnings results, relate to how its Australian revenue is allocated.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Former Chief Executive, Walsh, said to be befuddled by the lack of professional courtesy offered by his former employer through their time of shared crisis and thoroughly mystified by the logic that had the Rio Tinto board force a ‘‘deed of deferral’’ on the present and future benefits Walsh is owed by the company. The deed, revealed in Rio Tinto’s annual report, puts a two-step delay on Walsh owning the full weight of deferred shares awarded under short and long-term incentive plans that would be worth about $20 million at current prices. The Rio Tinto board willing, Walsh will get half of his short and long-term entitlements on December 31 next year and the balance on December 31, 2020. If it is unwilling, Walsh will lose the equivalent to his earnings over his final two years at Rio.
Sydney Airport (SYD):
Sydney Airport is making record profits from car parking and has overtaken Melbourne to have the highest profit margin at 73¢ for every dollar gained. The competition regulator’s annual report on the country’s four biggest airports, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, showed Sydney made $97.8 million in profit from car parking in the past financial year, the largest since privatisation in 2002. The result was driven by a decade high increase in profits per car parking space, up 9.1 per cent over the year, and from a 6.9 per cent rise in revenue. Profit margins also rose from 71.5 per cent to 73.1 per cen.
Woolworths Limited (WOW):
Woolworths has rolled out an internal app to all its meat and fresh food departments that allows store managers to reject products that don’t look good enough to sit on the shelf, or that might spoil quickly, as part of a wider crackdown on wastage. Pressing home the renewed focus on tightening Woolworths’ supply line to deliver the freshest food possible to consumers, the nation’s biggest retailer under chief executive Brad Banducci has also introduced a new daily ritual where key managers in every store meet at the dumpster to inspect what has been thrown out. Known in Woolworths as the ‘‘dump huddle’’, the daily inspection of the dumpster together with the new app has delivered an immediate profit kick in the December half as improving wastage rates as a proportion of sales heads straight to the bottom line.
(Source: AIMS)
ANZ Banking Group is preparing to be outed by the corporate regulator as being among lenders with lax lending standards, sources told Street Talk. This column understands the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s review of responsible lending practices uncovered issues within ANZ’s consumer finance arm. That includes areas such as personal loans and credit cards and comes after ASIC examined the lending procedures of 11 companies.
Cochlear Limited (COH):
Shanghai | Hearing implant maker Cochlear has failed to win any part of a $37 million Chinese government tender, signalling its rivals are discounting heavily as they seek to erode the Australian company’s market dominance. Documents published on the website of China’s Ministry of Finance late on Friday showed 4800 units from the latest central government tender were split almost equally between Advanced Bionics of the US, Med-El of Austria and Chinese upstart Nurotron. The lowest price per unit in this latest round was $US5490 ($7230) by Med-El, which is 31 per cent lower than Cochlear achieved while tendering three years ago.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
National Australia Bank has warned that interest rates for small businesses would rise if it was forced to remove a legal right allowing the bank to default customers if the value of the property securing a loan declines sharply. Big banks are also seeking to limit the impact of additional protections for business borrowers suggested by Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell’s recent inquiry into SME lending, arguing the definition of small business should be lower than the definition of $5 million of borrowings suggested by Ms Carnell. Her report, published in February, said banks should not be able to default a small business customer who has made all their loan repayments just because the value of their security – typically their home – had fallen. So called ‘‘non-monetary default’’ clauses in lending contracts give banks this power.
QBE insurance Group Limited (QBE):
QBE Insurance Group will plough at least $50 million into partnerships with insurtech companies across four countries as it seeks to make pricing improvements and gain better insights into customer buying habits. Speaking at an analyst briefing last week, where he unveiled the $17 billion global insurer’s best full-year profit in recent years, chief executive John Neal said the company would focus on data analytics projects that supported its ongoing ‘‘remediation plans and claims initiatives’’. ‘‘Our planning is well advanced to deliver $150 million of expense savings by the end of 2018, and some of these further savings will be invested in technology,’’ Mr Neal said. ‘‘And for the first time in 2017 we will be investing a minimum of $50 million in partnering with insurtech companies that have a particular focus in data analytics.’
REA Group Limited (REA):
Property advertising monolith REA Group has used three different accounting treatments in the past two years, with changes in each case providing a favourable comparison with industry rival Domain. The most dramatic changes came days before REA began court action against Domain and Fairfax Media in February last year for what it called false and misleading claims about its marketing app. The changes, which appear in investor and analyst presentation documents that REA releases with its earnings results, relate to how its Australian revenue is allocated.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Former Chief Executive, Walsh, said to be befuddled by the lack of professional courtesy offered by his former employer through their time of shared crisis and thoroughly mystified by the logic that had the Rio Tinto board force a ‘‘deed of deferral’’ on the present and future benefits Walsh is owed by the company. The deed, revealed in Rio Tinto’s annual report, puts a two-step delay on Walsh owning the full weight of deferred shares awarded under short and long-term incentive plans that would be worth about $20 million at current prices. The Rio Tinto board willing, Walsh will get half of his short and long-term entitlements on December 31 next year and the balance on December 31, 2020. If it is unwilling, Walsh will lose the equivalent to his earnings over his final two years at Rio.
Sydney Airport (SYD):
Sydney Airport is making record profits from car parking and has overtaken Melbourne to have the highest profit margin at 73¢ for every dollar gained. The competition regulator’s annual report on the country’s four biggest airports, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, showed Sydney made $97.8 million in profit from car parking in the past financial year, the largest since privatisation in 2002. The result was driven by a decade high increase in profits per car parking space, up 9.1 per cent over the year, and from a 6.9 per cent rise in revenue. Profit margins also rose from 71.5 per cent to 73.1 per cen.
Woolworths Limited (WOW):
Woolworths has rolled out an internal app to all its meat and fresh food departments that allows store managers to reject products that don’t look good enough to sit on the shelf, or that might spoil quickly, as part of a wider crackdown on wastage. Pressing home the renewed focus on tightening Woolworths’ supply line to deliver the freshest food possible to consumers, the nation’s biggest retailer under chief executive Brad Banducci has also introduced a new daily ritual where key managers in every store meet at the dumpster to inspect what has been thrown out. Known in Woolworths as the ‘‘dump huddle’’, the daily inspection of the dumpster together with the new app has delivered an immediate profit kick in the December half as improving wastage rates as a proportion of sales heads straight to the bottom line.
(Source: AIMS)
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