Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ):
ANZ chief Shayne Elliott will be the next chair of the Australian Bankers’ Association replacing NAB chief Andrew Thorburn who steps down after two years. The chair is rotated among the big banks and, while CBA was next in line, the imminent departure of that banks chief executive, Ian Narev, has prompted a change in plans. Mr. Elliott was considered a potential outsider given he has tried to run a campaign independent of the big banks but has since decided to lead the charge. The ABA met this morning and the change will take place at its annual meeting in December.
Bank of Queensland Limited (BOQ):
Bank of Queensland has surprised investors with a special dividend of 8¢ per share and is exploring other capital management options after benefiting from the prudential regulator’s rules over how much capital it must hold to be ‘‘unquestionably strong’’. The decision to reward shareholders came as chief executive Jon Sutton pledged to keep a ‘‘laser-like, forensic focus on costs to create the headroom to grow this business’’. He said the nation’s fifth biggest bank was facing pressure on banking fees and the challenges of low housing credit growth, low interest rates and increased scrutiny of conduct and culture.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (BEN):
Regional lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has kicked off a $300 million hybrid debt raising to replace maturing securities and bolster its regulatory capital. The bank's Converting Preference Share 4 offer, flagged by the The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column is set to pay investors a margin of between 3.75 and 3.95 percentage points over the bank bill rate of 1.7 per cent. That will result in an initial yield between 5.45 and 5.65 per cent. The 3.75 per cent to 3.95 per cent margin range compares to a 3.50 per cent trading spread on the existing BENPF securities that re due to be called in June 2021. The notes have a call date set in June 2024 and will refinance an existing issue of $269 million of preference shares issued five years ago that are due to be called by the bank in December.
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton is moving to mimic Rio Tinto's capital-heavy and long-delayed effort to introduce driverless locomotives to its Pilbara rail network. But the Big Thinking Australian is going to do it in reverse. BHP has designed a three-track path to rail automation that has started with a new 4G communications system that links train drivers to leading edge scheduling technology that will enable them to reduce gaps between individual long-haul train runs. The second step in the process could see automation of logistics across BHP's Port Hedland rail yards, where the trains meet the boats. And the final move would be Rio's first – that is, running driverless long-haul trains. But that may or may not happen with BHP's supply chain people still working out whether the pay day in efficiencies of running robot trains would justify its investment and risk.
Evolution Mining Limited (EVN):
Gold miner Evolution is trading higher by 2.2 per cent today. It told the market today that it lifted production and cut costs in the September quarter, helped by a strong performance at its Cowal mine in NSW and Ernest Henry and Mt Carlton mines in Queensland. Australia's second largest gold miner produced 220,971 ounces in the three months to September 30, up 1.3 per cent from the preceding quarter. All-in sustaining cost dropped to a record low of $786 an ounce from $825 an ounce in the prior quarter. The company said its operating mine cash flow during the September quarter rose nearly five per cent to $210.4 million, despite a 2.8 per cent decrease in the gold price it realised.
Medibank Private Limited (MPL):
Healthcare’s hopes of sustainably lower private policy premiums on $1bn Federal government industry reforms face a considerable consumer hurdle, according to Deutsche Bank, the investment house arbitrating with a downgrade on Medibank Private shares to “hold” from “buy” after recent share price performance. The Federal government delivered its healthcare reform agenda last week including the planned reduction in price benchmarks on the nation’s prostheses list, a measure insurers have singled out as a significant cost saving to be passed on to consumers Whether or not Australians are listening is another story.
OZ Minerals Limited (OZL):
Big power consumers are delaying new power supply agreements in the belief that better prices will be obtained in 2018 and 2019, with OZ Minerals revealing that it would wait before striking deals for its two copper mines. The power supply deal for OZ's flagship Prominent Hill mine expires in 15 months time and the company will also need to strike a power deal within two years for the Carrapateena project which is under development. But OZ chief executive Andrew Cole said on Monday he would not be signing either deal any time soon, given the rapidly changing energy landscape. "We are in the middle of a transition in power pricing and supply in South Australia and indeed Australia." he told investors on Monday.
Qantas Airways Limited (QAN):
On the back of Qantas' Perth-to-London nonstop Dreamliner route from March, chief executive Alan Joyce has indicated the airline will look to acquire yet more Dreamliner 787s - and that it will fly a 787 Brisbane to New York via Los Angeles by the second half of 2018. Mr Joyce also signaled a possible new Brisbane to Chicago direct route later next year, while saying a number of 20-hour nonstop flights could be operating by 2022 from eastern seaboard cities Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to New York, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town. Speaking at Boeing's Everett factory in Seattle, Mr Joyce said Qantas will be looking to increase its current US$1 billion order for eight 787s, with Qantas enjoying three consecutive years of record profits now.
Skydive the Beach Group Limited (SKB):
Shares in the listed sky diving group Skydive the Beach Group have been hit hard in the wake of a triple fatality on Friday at its Mission Beach operation. Mission beach resident Kerri Pike, 54, was in a tandem skydiving pair above Mission Beach, about 110 kilometres south-east of Cairns, about 3pm on Friday, when it is believed a mid-air collision with another skydiver occurred. The collision is thought to have damaged the parachutes. The bodies of Mrs Pike and the experienced skydiving instructors Peter Dawson, 35, and Toby Turner, 34, were subsequently found near Alexander Drive. The company has issued a statement to the ASX this morning saying the Australian Parachute Federation was conducting an "extensive investigation into the cause of the accident and the company is fully assisting it and the authorities".
Thorn Group Limited (TGA):
Shares in consumer finance firm Thorn Group have crashed 21 per cent to 92 cents after the company warned that profits this financial year would be 30 per cent below the prior period. In an ASX release, the firm said it expects its half-year net profit to be around $11 million and its full year profit to be between $17 million and $20 million. "This guidance primarily reflects a decline in trading conditions in the group's Radio Rentals division and a poor month of trading in September which has continued into this month," the company said.
(Source: AIMS)
ANZ chief Shayne Elliott will be the next chair of the Australian Bankers’ Association replacing NAB chief Andrew Thorburn who steps down after two years. The chair is rotated among the big banks and, while CBA was next in line, the imminent departure of that banks chief executive, Ian Narev, has prompted a change in plans. Mr. Elliott was considered a potential outsider given he has tried to run a campaign independent of the big banks but has since decided to lead the charge. The ABA met this morning and the change will take place at its annual meeting in December.
Bank of Queensland Limited (BOQ):
Bank of Queensland has surprised investors with a special dividend of 8¢ per share and is exploring other capital management options after benefiting from the prudential regulator’s rules over how much capital it must hold to be ‘‘unquestionably strong’’. The decision to reward shareholders came as chief executive Jon Sutton pledged to keep a ‘‘laser-like, forensic focus on costs to create the headroom to grow this business’’. He said the nation’s fifth biggest bank was facing pressure on banking fees and the challenges of low housing credit growth, low interest rates and increased scrutiny of conduct and culture.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (BEN):
Regional lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has kicked off a $300 million hybrid debt raising to replace maturing securities and bolster its regulatory capital. The bank's Converting Preference Share 4 offer, flagged by the The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column is set to pay investors a margin of between 3.75 and 3.95 percentage points over the bank bill rate of 1.7 per cent. That will result in an initial yield between 5.45 and 5.65 per cent. The 3.75 per cent to 3.95 per cent margin range compares to a 3.50 per cent trading spread on the existing BENPF securities that re due to be called in June 2021. The notes have a call date set in June 2024 and will refinance an existing issue of $269 million of preference shares issued five years ago that are due to be called by the bank in December.
BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton is moving to mimic Rio Tinto's capital-heavy and long-delayed effort to introduce driverless locomotives to its Pilbara rail network. But the Big Thinking Australian is going to do it in reverse. BHP has designed a three-track path to rail automation that has started with a new 4G communications system that links train drivers to leading edge scheduling technology that will enable them to reduce gaps between individual long-haul train runs. The second step in the process could see automation of logistics across BHP's Port Hedland rail yards, where the trains meet the boats. And the final move would be Rio's first – that is, running driverless long-haul trains. But that may or may not happen with BHP's supply chain people still working out whether the pay day in efficiencies of running robot trains would justify its investment and risk.
Evolution Mining Limited (EVN):
Gold miner Evolution is trading higher by 2.2 per cent today. It told the market today that it lifted production and cut costs in the September quarter, helped by a strong performance at its Cowal mine in NSW and Ernest Henry and Mt Carlton mines in Queensland. Australia's second largest gold miner produced 220,971 ounces in the three months to September 30, up 1.3 per cent from the preceding quarter. All-in sustaining cost dropped to a record low of $786 an ounce from $825 an ounce in the prior quarter. The company said its operating mine cash flow during the September quarter rose nearly five per cent to $210.4 million, despite a 2.8 per cent decrease in the gold price it realised.
Medibank Private Limited (MPL):
Healthcare’s hopes of sustainably lower private policy premiums on $1bn Federal government industry reforms face a considerable consumer hurdle, according to Deutsche Bank, the investment house arbitrating with a downgrade on Medibank Private shares to “hold” from “buy” after recent share price performance. The Federal government delivered its healthcare reform agenda last week including the planned reduction in price benchmarks on the nation’s prostheses list, a measure insurers have singled out as a significant cost saving to be passed on to consumers Whether or not Australians are listening is another story.
OZ Minerals Limited (OZL):
Big power consumers are delaying new power supply agreements in the belief that better prices will be obtained in 2018 and 2019, with OZ Minerals revealing that it would wait before striking deals for its two copper mines. The power supply deal for OZ's flagship Prominent Hill mine expires in 15 months time and the company will also need to strike a power deal within two years for the Carrapateena project which is under development. But OZ chief executive Andrew Cole said on Monday he would not be signing either deal any time soon, given the rapidly changing energy landscape. "We are in the middle of a transition in power pricing and supply in South Australia and indeed Australia." he told investors on Monday.
Qantas Airways Limited (QAN):
On the back of Qantas' Perth-to-London nonstop Dreamliner route from March, chief executive Alan Joyce has indicated the airline will look to acquire yet more Dreamliner 787s - and that it will fly a 787 Brisbane to New York via Los Angeles by the second half of 2018. Mr Joyce also signaled a possible new Brisbane to Chicago direct route later next year, while saying a number of 20-hour nonstop flights could be operating by 2022 from eastern seaboard cities Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to New York, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town. Speaking at Boeing's Everett factory in Seattle, Mr Joyce said Qantas will be looking to increase its current US$1 billion order for eight 787s, with Qantas enjoying three consecutive years of record profits now.
Skydive the Beach Group Limited (SKB):
Shares in the listed sky diving group Skydive the Beach Group have been hit hard in the wake of a triple fatality on Friday at its Mission Beach operation. Mission beach resident Kerri Pike, 54, was in a tandem skydiving pair above Mission Beach, about 110 kilometres south-east of Cairns, about 3pm on Friday, when it is believed a mid-air collision with another skydiver occurred. The collision is thought to have damaged the parachutes. The bodies of Mrs Pike and the experienced skydiving instructors Peter Dawson, 35, and Toby Turner, 34, were subsequently found near Alexander Drive. The company has issued a statement to the ASX this morning saying the Australian Parachute Federation was conducting an "extensive investigation into the cause of the accident and the company is fully assisting it and the authorities".
Thorn Group Limited (TGA):
Shares in consumer finance firm Thorn Group have crashed 21 per cent to 92 cents after the company warned that profits this financial year would be 30 per cent below the prior period. In an ASX release, the firm said it expects its half-year net profit to be around $11 million and its full year profit to be between $17 million and $20 million. "This guidance primarily reflects a decline in trading conditions in the group's Radio Rentals division and a poor month of trading in September which has continued into this month," the company said.
(Source: AIMS)
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