Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNG):
Reports that India has negotiated a price cut for the LNG it is getting from ExxonMobil from the Gorgon project in Western Australia has further fuelled worries about mounting downward pressure on prices for gas exports over the next few years. LNG importer Petronet LNG is reported to have negotiated to buy Gorgon LNG under its 20-year deal with the US major at a price that is 13.9 per cent of the Brent oil price, down from an original agreement for 14.5 per cent. It also secured an agreement to have the LNG delivered by ExxonMobil, rather than having to take care of the shipping itself. The price cut will give Petronet a cost saving of more than $US1.6 billion over the life of the contract, Bloomberg reported.
Lendlease Group (LLC):
Climate change-induced warmer weather made occupants of Lendlease's office towers use their air conditioners more, hampering the landlord's ability to cut energy consumption last year. While Lendlease's Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial topped the latest GRESB global ranking of unlisted commercial real estate funds for sustainability across a range of environmental, social and governance measures, the landlord – like many of its regional peers – found hotter weather made it harder to cut power usage, said Josh McHutchison, managing director of Lendlease's Australian Investment Management business. "If you have a particularly warm summer the air conditioners use more energy," Mr McHutchison told The Australian Financial Review. "About 50 per cent of our energy usage is from air-conditioning units across the portfolio." Mr McHutchison said the 1 per cent reduction in power usage, less than the reduction of previous years, also reflected the fact a fund such as the 18-property wholesale office fund had already banked the easier and larger reductions of previous years and was subject to diminishing returns.
Moelis Australia Limited (MOE):
Moelis Australia is looking to take advantage of its surging share price to raise $59.7 million and build up its growth war chest. The advisory and funds management firm, which has seen its share price rise from an offer price of $2.35 to as high as $5.75 since listing in February, will raise the funds via a non-underwritten institutional placement of new securities, priced at $5.00 apiece. According to a term sheet sent to fund managers, the offer price reflects a 12.9 per cent discount to the last close and a 9.7 per cent discount to the five-day volume weighted average price. Moelis also announced the launch of an unsecured bond issue to raise up to $35 million. The first tranche of notes will have a fixed coupon rate of 5.25 per cent per annum and a term of three years.
Macquarie Group Limited (MQG):
Macquarie Group will post strong underlying revenue growth in its 2018 year as well as higher performance fees of about $456 million, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. The analysts led by Richard Wiles also increased their price target for the stock to $91 from $85. That came after Macquarie on Monday upgraded its earnings guidance for the six months ended September 30. "As a result of stronger performance fees now anticipated to be recognized in the first half, the 1H18 result is expected to be up on 1H17 and broadly in line with 2H17," the presentation to be delivered by finance chief Patrick Upfold said. Macquarie posted an interim profit last year of $1.1 billion and in the latter half of its year posted income of $1.2 billion. That suggests that 2018 profit will likely exceed the company's often conservative guidance of a result "broadly in line" with 2017's $2.2 billion. Morgan Stanley now expects profit for Macquarie's 2018 year, ended March 31, to print at a record $2.3 billion.
Myer Holdings Limited (MYR):
For nearly a year now, Myer's chief executive Richard Umbers has been acrobatically evading a demolition ball called reality. In retrospect, what utter madness it was to upgrade FY17 guidance in November, a call that sent the stock rocketing 14.4 per cent to $1.19. Because after a deathly January clearance sale, that new forecast looked right at home on the tougher side of impossible. Yet Umbers persisted on his interim earnings call in March, arguing that guidance would be met because "our result for the full year is not just simply driven by a revenue number. There are many other levers in the result. We have the grip of those levers, if you like, to make sure that we can manage all aspects of the business to deliver on the outlook statement that we've made".
QBE Insurance Group Limited (QBE):
The head of QBE Insurance Group's Australian and New Zealand operations Pat Regan will replace chief executive John Neal, who will depart at the end of the year after five years of patchy performance. QBE chairman Marty Becker told the market he was "delighted" to appoint the $14 billion insurer's former chief financial officer Mr Regan to the role. QBE shares were up 2.64 per cent to $10.51 at 930 AEST.
Ten Network Holdings Limited (TEN):
Network Ten administrator KordaMentha has unveiled a supplementary report to creditors detailing an underbid by Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon and why it chose the CBS deal. The report, released on Monday morning, details what each class of creditors would have received under the bid lobbed by Illyria and Birketu, the private investment vehicles owned by Mr Murdoch and Mr Gordon, respectively, compared with the CBS proposal. The release comes ahead of a court hearing where WIN Corporation, owned by Mr Gordon, and its chief executive Andrew Lancaster, also a former Ten board member, brought a case against KordaMentha claiming the administrators report to creditors, released last Monday, was missing crucial information, including a comparison with a bid lobbed by Mr Gordon and Mr Murdoch. WIN is also seeking to exclude CBS, Ten's largest creditor, from voting on the deal. "Whilst the form of the Birketu and Illyria bid is in no doubt of general interest, it is not the usual practice of administrators to report details of underbidders," KordaMentha partner Mark Korda said in a statement.
Xero Limited (XRO):
Accounting software provider Xero will track its 500,000 Australian subscribers' cash flows, debtor days and payroll sizes in real time, to produce a monthly business survey it hopes will become a go-to for policymakers. That sample size of half a million business owners is 500 times bigger than that of the hitherto largest survey, Roy Morgan's Business Confidence Index, while National Australia's Bank's 28-year old SME Business Survey interviews roughly 540 business owners. Xero's 'Small Business Insights' will not track sentiment like those two surveys. It will be anonymous and aggregate data from user accounts to track how many are cash-flow positive, how many are hiring and growing payroll, how many are net importers or exporters, how long their invoices are taking to get paid, and how many are moving their accounting software to the cloud. Xero Australia managing director Trent Innes claimed it was the most comprehensive and timely snapshot of activity among Australia's 2.1 million registered businesses ever made available.
(Source: AIMS)
Reports that India has negotiated a price cut for the LNG it is getting from ExxonMobil from the Gorgon project in Western Australia has further fuelled worries about mounting downward pressure on prices for gas exports over the next few years. LNG importer Petronet LNG is reported to have negotiated to buy Gorgon LNG under its 20-year deal with the US major at a price that is 13.9 per cent of the Brent oil price, down from an original agreement for 14.5 per cent. It also secured an agreement to have the LNG delivered by ExxonMobil, rather than having to take care of the shipping itself. The price cut will give Petronet a cost saving of more than $US1.6 billion over the life of the contract, Bloomberg reported.
Lendlease Group (LLC):
Climate change-induced warmer weather made occupants of Lendlease's office towers use their air conditioners more, hampering the landlord's ability to cut energy consumption last year. While Lendlease's Australian Prime Property Fund Commercial topped the latest GRESB global ranking of unlisted commercial real estate funds for sustainability across a range of environmental, social and governance measures, the landlord – like many of its regional peers – found hotter weather made it harder to cut power usage, said Josh McHutchison, managing director of Lendlease's Australian Investment Management business. "If you have a particularly warm summer the air conditioners use more energy," Mr McHutchison told The Australian Financial Review. "About 50 per cent of our energy usage is from air-conditioning units across the portfolio." Mr McHutchison said the 1 per cent reduction in power usage, less than the reduction of previous years, also reflected the fact a fund such as the 18-property wholesale office fund had already banked the easier and larger reductions of previous years and was subject to diminishing returns.
Moelis Australia Limited (MOE):
Moelis Australia is looking to take advantage of its surging share price to raise $59.7 million and build up its growth war chest. The advisory and funds management firm, which has seen its share price rise from an offer price of $2.35 to as high as $5.75 since listing in February, will raise the funds via a non-underwritten institutional placement of new securities, priced at $5.00 apiece. According to a term sheet sent to fund managers, the offer price reflects a 12.9 per cent discount to the last close and a 9.7 per cent discount to the five-day volume weighted average price. Moelis also announced the launch of an unsecured bond issue to raise up to $35 million. The first tranche of notes will have a fixed coupon rate of 5.25 per cent per annum and a term of three years.
Macquarie Group Limited (MQG):
Macquarie Group will post strong underlying revenue growth in its 2018 year as well as higher performance fees of about $456 million, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. The analysts led by Richard Wiles also increased their price target for the stock to $91 from $85. That came after Macquarie on Monday upgraded its earnings guidance for the six months ended September 30. "As a result of stronger performance fees now anticipated to be recognized in the first half, the 1H18 result is expected to be up on 1H17 and broadly in line with 2H17," the presentation to be delivered by finance chief Patrick Upfold said. Macquarie posted an interim profit last year of $1.1 billion and in the latter half of its year posted income of $1.2 billion. That suggests that 2018 profit will likely exceed the company's often conservative guidance of a result "broadly in line" with 2017's $2.2 billion. Morgan Stanley now expects profit for Macquarie's 2018 year, ended March 31, to print at a record $2.3 billion.
Myer Holdings Limited (MYR):
For nearly a year now, Myer's chief executive Richard Umbers has been acrobatically evading a demolition ball called reality. In retrospect, what utter madness it was to upgrade FY17 guidance in November, a call that sent the stock rocketing 14.4 per cent to $1.19. Because after a deathly January clearance sale, that new forecast looked right at home on the tougher side of impossible. Yet Umbers persisted on his interim earnings call in March, arguing that guidance would be met because "our result for the full year is not just simply driven by a revenue number. There are many other levers in the result. We have the grip of those levers, if you like, to make sure that we can manage all aspects of the business to deliver on the outlook statement that we've made".
QBE Insurance Group Limited (QBE):
The head of QBE Insurance Group's Australian and New Zealand operations Pat Regan will replace chief executive John Neal, who will depart at the end of the year after five years of patchy performance. QBE chairman Marty Becker told the market he was "delighted" to appoint the $14 billion insurer's former chief financial officer Mr Regan to the role. QBE shares were up 2.64 per cent to $10.51 at 930 AEST.
Ten Network Holdings Limited (TEN):
Network Ten administrator KordaMentha has unveiled a supplementary report to creditors detailing an underbid by Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon and why it chose the CBS deal. The report, released on Monday morning, details what each class of creditors would have received under the bid lobbed by Illyria and Birketu, the private investment vehicles owned by Mr Murdoch and Mr Gordon, respectively, compared with the CBS proposal. The release comes ahead of a court hearing where WIN Corporation, owned by Mr Gordon, and its chief executive Andrew Lancaster, also a former Ten board member, brought a case against KordaMentha claiming the administrators report to creditors, released last Monday, was missing crucial information, including a comparison with a bid lobbed by Mr Gordon and Mr Murdoch. WIN is also seeking to exclude CBS, Ten's largest creditor, from voting on the deal. "Whilst the form of the Birketu and Illyria bid is in no doubt of general interest, it is not the usual practice of administrators to report details of underbidders," KordaMentha partner Mark Korda said in a statement.
Xero Limited (XRO):
Accounting software provider Xero will track its 500,000 Australian subscribers' cash flows, debtor days and payroll sizes in real time, to produce a monthly business survey it hopes will become a go-to for policymakers. That sample size of half a million business owners is 500 times bigger than that of the hitherto largest survey, Roy Morgan's Business Confidence Index, while National Australia's Bank's 28-year old SME Business Survey interviews roughly 540 business owners. Xero's 'Small Business Insights' will not track sentiment like those two surveys. It will be anonymous and aggregate data from user accounts to track how many are cash-flow positive, how many are hiring and growing payroll, how many are net importers or exporters, how long their invoices are taking to get paid, and how many are moving their accounting software to the cloud. Xero Australia managing director Trent Innes claimed it was the most comprehensive and timely snapshot of activity among Australia's 2.1 million registered businesses ever made available.
(Source: AIMS)
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