Austal Limited (ASB):
European ship builder Lurssen and Australian ship builder Austal are reported to be big winners in the deal to build the Navy’s new offshore patrol vessels. An announcement to be made today is expected to confirm Lurssen will work with Austal to build 10 of the 12 ships in West Australia, according to reports in the WA media overnight. Austal, which had partnered with German company Fassmer in a bid, put its shares into a trading halt on Wednesday. Federal Cabinet’s national security team met on Tuesday to decide which of the three short-listed contenders would be the winner of contract to build the 12 ships. Designs from European shipbuilders Fassmer, Lurssen and Damen had been short-listed for the bid process. Fassmer a family owned and operated German company had teamed with Austal. Both Lurssen and Damen had partnered with a subsidiary of engineering firm Civmec and government owned Australian ship builder ASC on their bids. The vessels are required to be mostly to be used for policing type missions but must also to be on call for primary defence force maritime patrol and response duties. Their build is due to start in Adelaide from 2018 and then transfer to Western Australian when the Future Frigates construction starts in Adelaide in 2020.
AMP Limited (AMP):
Wealth giant AMP is quietly pushing ahead with a potential sale of its life insurance operations. Street Talk can reveal AMP has opened a dataroom for the $2.25 billion life business but is said to have restricted access to a select group of largely offshore based players. Expect some of the usual suspects to be crunching the numbers and weighing a tilt at the AMP division including US company American International Group. Large Japanese players would also be in the mix. That comes after AMP's advisers Macquarie Capital and UBS led a fact finding tour through Asia and other offshore markets to test buyer interest for its life insurance operations. The investment banks are conducting an extensive AMP portfolio review as chief executive Craig Meller looks to focus on growth areas and steady the ship AMP's latest accounts put the embedded value of the local life business at about $2.25 billion but it will be interesting to see what suitors are prepared to pay for it. Investors will be closely monitoring the process as the AMP portfolio review is expected to lead to a number of divestments. The opening of an AMP dataroom for its life insurance arm is, however, not welcome news for rivals ANZ Banking Group and Suncorp.
Crown Resorts Limited (CWN):
Crown Resorts has stoked market speculation about consolidation among online bookies after confirming it is in talks about its corporate bookmaker CrownBet. The James Packer-backed company said in a statement to the Australian market today that it evaluates opportunities regarding its investments from “time to time”. Its statement followed a report in The Australian’s DataRoom that CrownBet was believed to have held talks on a potential deal with rival William Hill. “Crown confirms that it is in discussions concerning its interest in CrownBet,” Crown (CWN), which has a 62 per cent stake in CrownBet, said. “There is no certainty as to whether any transaction will eventuate.” The company said in its market announcement that it noted media speculation about consolidation in the online wagering industry. Speculation had focused on a potential tie-up between CrownBet and UK giant William Hill’s Australian arm following a JPMorgan report flagging the potential merger. The companies are yet to address the market rumour but it is understood that CrownBet is not in talks with William Hill about a takeover deal.
Mirvac Group (MGR):
Property giant Mirvac has offered a bullish outlook for new office projects in Melbourne based on its strong population growth and relatively affordable housing. Office tenants have been drawn from inner suburbs to the Melbourne CBD, which is only slightly more expensive, unlike Sydney where a move to the city can involve hefty imposts. Technology companies had been setting up shop in the inner city as the war for talent heats up, Mirvac head of office and industrial Campbell Hanan said. The group yesterday launched its Olderfleet office development at 477 Collins Street in Melbourne, where construction began in May and completion is set for 2020. Melbourne’s office market has been tight but the western end of Collins Street is a hive of activity. Mirvac is on track to complete another office tower at No. 664 in the first quarter of next year, while Cbus Property’s Collins Arch project is at No. 433 and Lendlease’s Melbourne Quarter is at No. 699.
Myer Holdings Limited (MYR):
The activist investor has dispatched two of his trusted lieutenants to represent his interests at Myer's annual meeting as chairman Paul McClintock asked shareholders to give the board a mandate for the future and warned ongoing conflict could damage the company. Rather than attend the meeting in person, Mr Lew, who has waged a three-month war of words against Myer, sent Jeremy Liebler and Jeremy Lanzer from Arnold Bloch Liebler to grill the Myer board. There were scenes of organised chaos before the meeting as excited children visiting Santa Land on the sixth floor of Myer's Melbourne CBD store mixed with shareholders, bankers and Myer executives. Kicking off the meeting, Mr McClintock acknowledged Myer's poor share price performance - the stock is down almost 50 per cent this year - but said Myer was making progress against its five-year turnaround plan and urged shareholders to vote in favour of all resolutions.
Myer Holdings Limited (MYR):
Solomon Lew, Myer’s biggest shareholder and for the last few months its savage critic, has won round one in his bid to reject all resolutions at the retailer’s annual general meeting after it was revealed to shareholders that 29.33 per cent had voted against the first resolution to adopt the remuneration report. A 25 per cent vote against the remuneration report has earned Myer a “first strike”, with a “second strike” next year at the AGM triggering a full spill of the board. But Mr Lew has failed in his bid to vote down re-election of three Myer directors. Votes against the election of JoAnne Stephenson came in at 29.99 per cent; against Garry Hounsell 29.34 per cent and against Julie Ann Morrison at 28.73 per cent. There were also strong votes against granting of performance rights to Richard Umbers — with 30.15 per cent of shareholders opposing the move. There was also a 28.03 per cent vote against amending the constitution in relation to the holding of hybrid AGMs and 27.8 per cent voted against the renewal of takeover provisions in the constitution Given these last two were “special resolutions” and required 75 per cent shareholder approval to get through, they have failed to pass and thus Mr Lew has won these two battles in addition to the “first strike” against the remuneration report.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Rio Tinto has again extended an agreement to sell its Pilbara iron ore to Chinese state-owned steel company Sinosteel. The two businesses will sign a new deal to extend their Channar Mining joint venture in WA, under which Rio will supply an additional 10 million tonnes of iron ore in return for an upfront payment of $US15 million ($A19.7 million) as well as production royalties linked to the iron ore price. This is the third extension for the joint venture, which was first formed in 1987 for the joint development of the Channar mine in the Pilbara and is 60 per cent owned by Rio and 40 per cent by Sinosteel. The mine is managed by Rio Tinto and the JV agreement provides off-take rights to Sinosteel for volumes equal to the Channar production. The two companies in 2016 signed agreements for Rio to supply iron ore to the Chinese steelmaker until 2021. The joint venture has so far delivered around 250 million tonnes of iron ore and the current agreement will take production over the life of the asset to 290 million tonnes, Rio said.
South32 Limited (S32):
South32 chief executive Graham Kerr says the miner’s window of opportunity for large-scale mergers and acquisitions is all but shut due to rising asset values across the sector. Perth-based South32, which has one of the strongest balance sheets in the Australian mining industry, has long been linked to M&A rumours since its spin-off from BHP just over two years ago. But the company has taken a conservative approach to dealmaking to date, and Mr Kerr said the mining industry’s wider recovery in recent years meant South32 was unlikely to make any dramatic moves any time soon. “The reality is, with a high price environment and limited quality assets in the marketplace, it’s probably an unlikely place that you’ll see us appear,” he told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in Perth yesterday. Mr Kerr said the slump in metals prices that coincided with South32’s spin-off in 2015 had proved insufficiently long to drive a sharp increase in mining deals. “There’d certainly be a degree of anxiety in most major companies driven by their shareholders, who would be reiterating the point that they haven’t been great allocators of capital.” South32 back in April abandoned plans to buy the Metropolitan coalmine in NSW from Peabody Energy for $200 million, after the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission expressed concerns the acquisition could substantially lessen competition in the supply of coking coal to Australian steelmakers. Since then, it has struck a procession of smaller deals with early exploration joint ventures and investments with the likes of ASX-listed AusQuest and North American duo Northern Shield and Arizona Mining. Mr Kerr said the company was still expecting to execute some more similar exploration-focused deals in the coming months.
Sunland Group Limited (SDG):
Listed developer Sunland Group expects residential prices in southeast Queensland to rise in the coming year, despite offering earnings guidance below the company’s profit in the 2017 financial year. The group’s annual general meeting in Brisbane yesterday heard it expected a net profit of between $27 million and $30m for the current year, down from $35.3m. In 2018, Sunland planned to deliver eight new residential and retail projects worth $1.4 billion, mainly in southeast Queensland. They included Marina Concourse at Royal Pines, with 60 per cent pre-sales of the 110 residential apartments, and The Lakes Residences at Mermaid Waters, where all 67 homes had sold. As cities such as Sydney and Melbourne become more unaffordable for housing, Mr Abedian said “that will be a profound catalyst to move up north. Of course, that has to be coupled with government policy for job creation because people will only move based on the security and certainty that they have a future job to go to.” To counter the cyclical housing market, Sunland will consider retaining retail precincts linked to its residential developments to “provide us with a continuity of our earnings profile”. The board announced an increase in the dividend for the current financial year to 11c a share, up from 8c, with a later 2c dividend the previous year. Sunland’s shares closed yesterday at $1.70, down 0.5 per cent.
Telstra Corporation Limited (TLS):
Telstra is partnering with outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux to turn its inner-city payphones into “community technology hubs” with premium ad space and hi-tech features aimed at reigniting their appeal to young and old, The Australian can reveal. “Telstra takes our role as a technology company seriously and we want to challenge the notion of what a payphone can be in the future and how we use technology in public places,” the company’s head of media and marketing Joe Pollard said. Telstra this week launched the first phase of its upgrade of 1860 payphones in high-density areas of five capital cities, starting with Melbourne and Perth. Switching from analog to digital advertising space will offer greater cut-through to marketers, said Pollard, while the technology would open up new possibilities in the realm of location-based marketing. “Audience in high-density areas is hard to find,” she said. The move will also give Telstra access to a growing source of revenue, with outdoor advertising’s transition from old-style mechanical or static to digital billboards driving an increase in ad spend in the sector, according to the Outdoor Media Association.
Village Roadshow Limited (VRL):
The company (VRL), at its annual general meeting today, said Gold Coast theme park attendance to October 31 was 5.4 per cent behind the prior corresponding period, which was largely before four people were killed when a Dreamworld ride malfunctioned. But it expects to see a pickup in attendance during the Christmas and summer holidays and forecasts its theme parks division will deliver a “substantial improvement” in 2018 full-year earnings, compared to the prior year. So far in the 2018 financial year, Village Roadshow’s cinema exhibition division’s performance has been significantly below the same period last year, due to a decline in the number of people going to the cinema and an underperformance in a number of films. The theme parks and cinemas operator expects the second half of FY2018 to be better. Chairman Robert Kirby said 2017 had been the toughest trading year on record for Village Roadshow following the impact of the fatal accident at Ardent’s Dreamworld and worldwide box office angst. “However, we remain confident the tide is turning and our divisions are poised to return to their previous profitability,” Mr Kirby said. He said the recent $165 million sale of the Singapore cinema business, along with the sale and long-term leaseback of the Oxenford land, would help correct the company’s balance sheet and gearing. Given this, Mr Kirby said, the board was “confident of being able to recommend a return to dividends before the end of FY18”, adding that the timing and level of any payout would depend on the actual trading results.
Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC):
Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted yesterday gave a stout defence of his bank’s refusal to settle with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over allegations that Westpac manipulated the bank bill swap rate. “We don’t think we are guilty,” Mr Maxsted said when asked by The Australian’s columnist John Durie why he had not settled when National Australia Bank and ANZ had agreed to do so. Mr Maxsted indicated Westpac was not happy with the potential terms of settlement ASIC wanted. “The ask in terms of settlement discussions with ASIC was to admit that we were guilty in a certain way,” he said. “We don’t think we are.” Westpac has been defending itself in the Federal Court in Melbourne against the ASIC allegations that it was involved in rigging the benchmark bank bill swap rate 16 times between 2010 and 2012. ASIC launched the BBSW case against Westpac on the eve of a celebration of its 199th birthday early last year that involved former senior executives and people receiving scholarships as part of the bank’s celebrations.
Woolworths Limited (WOW):
Woolworths will not sit back and let Amazon peel away its customers and suppliers, with chairman Gordon Cairns issuing a thinly veiled threat to grocery manufacturers that retailers could replace their products with private label offers or remove them from the shelves if Amazon commandeered their brands to start a price war. Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said the supermarket group would keep a close watch on the prices offered by Amazon for the brands and goods it also stocked. “We will track it as we go and look at the full cost of getting the product into customers’ hands,” Mr Banducci said. “We track prices against all competitors and make sure our customers get a good deal every time they shop at Woolworths.” Addressing shareholders at the annual meeting, Mr Banducci also confirmed that the positive sales momentum for its supermarket chains, as well as most of its other retail businesses, recorded in the first quarter had continued into November. Turning to the bulk of the Woolworths business, Mr Banducci said fiscal 2018 sales had - remained “solid”. “I am pleased to report that our sales performance has remained solid so far this financial year,” he said. “A few weeks ago we reported our sales for the first quarter of the 2018 financial year with good trading momentum and progress against our strategic priorities in all of our businesses.”
(Source: AIMS)
European ship builder Lurssen and Australian ship builder Austal are reported to be big winners in the deal to build the Navy’s new offshore patrol vessels. An announcement to be made today is expected to confirm Lurssen will work with Austal to build 10 of the 12 ships in West Australia, according to reports in the WA media overnight. Austal, which had partnered with German company Fassmer in a bid, put its shares into a trading halt on Wednesday. Federal Cabinet’s national security team met on Tuesday to decide which of the three short-listed contenders would be the winner of contract to build the 12 ships. Designs from European shipbuilders Fassmer, Lurssen and Damen had been short-listed for the bid process. Fassmer a family owned and operated German company had teamed with Austal. Both Lurssen and Damen had partnered with a subsidiary of engineering firm Civmec and government owned Australian ship builder ASC on their bids. The vessels are required to be mostly to be used for policing type missions but must also to be on call for primary defence force maritime patrol and response duties. Their build is due to start in Adelaide from 2018 and then transfer to Western Australian when the Future Frigates construction starts in Adelaide in 2020.
AMP Limited (AMP):
Wealth giant AMP is quietly pushing ahead with a potential sale of its life insurance operations. Street Talk can reveal AMP has opened a dataroom for the $2.25 billion life business but is said to have restricted access to a select group of largely offshore based players. Expect some of the usual suspects to be crunching the numbers and weighing a tilt at the AMP division including US company American International Group. Large Japanese players would also be in the mix. That comes after AMP's advisers Macquarie Capital and UBS led a fact finding tour through Asia and other offshore markets to test buyer interest for its life insurance operations. The investment banks are conducting an extensive AMP portfolio review as chief executive Craig Meller looks to focus on growth areas and steady the ship AMP's latest accounts put the embedded value of the local life business at about $2.25 billion but it will be interesting to see what suitors are prepared to pay for it. Investors will be closely monitoring the process as the AMP portfolio review is expected to lead to a number of divestments. The opening of an AMP dataroom for its life insurance arm is, however, not welcome news for rivals ANZ Banking Group and Suncorp.
Crown Resorts Limited (CWN):
Crown Resorts has stoked market speculation about consolidation among online bookies after confirming it is in talks about its corporate bookmaker CrownBet. The James Packer-backed company said in a statement to the Australian market today that it evaluates opportunities regarding its investments from “time to time”. Its statement followed a report in The Australian’s DataRoom that CrownBet was believed to have held talks on a potential deal with rival William Hill. “Crown confirms that it is in discussions concerning its interest in CrownBet,” Crown (CWN), which has a 62 per cent stake in CrownBet, said. “There is no certainty as to whether any transaction will eventuate.” The company said in its market announcement that it noted media speculation about consolidation in the online wagering industry. Speculation had focused on a potential tie-up between CrownBet and UK giant William Hill’s Australian arm following a JPMorgan report flagging the potential merger. The companies are yet to address the market rumour but it is understood that CrownBet is not in talks with William Hill about a takeover deal.
Mirvac Group (MGR):
Property giant Mirvac has offered a bullish outlook for new office projects in Melbourne based on its strong population growth and relatively affordable housing. Office tenants have been drawn from inner suburbs to the Melbourne CBD, which is only slightly more expensive, unlike Sydney where a move to the city can involve hefty imposts. Technology companies had been setting up shop in the inner city as the war for talent heats up, Mirvac head of office and industrial Campbell Hanan said. The group yesterday launched its Olderfleet office development at 477 Collins Street in Melbourne, where construction began in May and completion is set for 2020. Melbourne’s office market has been tight but the western end of Collins Street is a hive of activity. Mirvac is on track to complete another office tower at No. 664 in the first quarter of next year, while Cbus Property’s Collins Arch project is at No. 433 and Lendlease’s Melbourne Quarter is at No. 699.
Myer Holdings Limited (MYR):
The activist investor has dispatched two of his trusted lieutenants to represent his interests at Myer's annual meeting as chairman Paul McClintock asked shareholders to give the board a mandate for the future and warned ongoing conflict could damage the company. Rather than attend the meeting in person, Mr Lew, who has waged a three-month war of words against Myer, sent Jeremy Liebler and Jeremy Lanzer from Arnold Bloch Liebler to grill the Myer board. There were scenes of organised chaos before the meeting as excited children visiting Santa Land on the sixth floor of Myer's Melbourne CBD store mixed with shareholders, bankers and Myer executives. Kicking off the meeting, Mr McClintock acknowledged Myer's poor share price performance - the stock is down almost 50 per cent this year - but said Myer was making progress against its five-year turnaround plan and urged shareholders to vote in favour of all resolutions.
Myer Holdings Limited (MYR):
Solomon Lew, Myer’s biggest shareholder and for the last few months its savage critic, has won round one in his bid to reject all resolutions at the retailer’s annual general meeting after it was revealed to shareholders that 29.33 per cent had voted against the first resolution to adopt the remuneration report. A 25 per cent vote against the remuneration report has earned Myer a “first strike”, with a “second strike” next year at the AGM triggering a full spill of the board. But Mr Lew has failed in his bid to vote down re-election of three Myer directors. Votes against the election of JoAnne Stephenson came in at 29.99 per cent; against Garry Hounsell 29.34 per cent and against Julie Ann Morrison at 28.73 per cent. There were also strong votes against granting of performance rights to Richard Umbers — with 30.15 per cent of shareholders opposing the move. There was also a 28.03 per cent vote against amending the constitution in relation to the holding of hybrid AGMs and 27.8 per cent voted against the renewal of takeover provisions in the constitution Given these last two were “special resolutions” and required 75 per cent shareholder approval to get through, they have failed to pass and thus Mr Lew has won these two battles in addition to the “first strike” against the remuneration report.
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO):
Rio Tinto has again extended an agreement to sell its Pilbara iron ore to Chinese state-owned steel company Sinosteel. The two businesses will sign a new deal to extend their Channar Mining joint venture in WA, under which Rio will supply an additional 10 million tonnes of iron ore in return for an upfront payment of $US15 million ($A19.7 million) as well as production royalties linked to the iron ore price. This is the third extension for the joint venture, which was first formed in 1987 for the joint development of the Channar mine in the Pilbara and is 60 per cent owned by Rio and 40 per cent by Sinosteel. The mine is managed by Rio Tinto and the JV agreement provides off-take rights to Sinosteel for volumes equal to the Channar production. The two companies in 2016 signed agreements for Rio to supply iron ore to the Chinese steelmaker until 2021. The joint venture has so far delivered around 250 million tonnes of iron ore and the current agreement will take production over the life of the asset to 290 million tonnes, Rio said.
South32 Limited (S32):
South32 chief executive Graham Kerr says the miner’s window of opportunity for large-scale mergers and acquisitions is all but shut due to rising asset values across the sector. Perth-based South32, which has one of the strongest balance sheets in the Australian mining industry, has long been linked to M&A rumours since its spin-off from BHP just over two years ago. But the company has taken a conservative approach to dealmaking to date, and Mr Kerr said the mining industry’s wider recovery in recent years meant South32 was unlikely to make any dramatic moves any time soon. “The reality is, with a high price environment and limited quality assets in the marketplace, it’s probably an unlikely place that you’ll see us appear,” he told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in Perth yesterday. Mr Kerr said the slump in metals prices that coincided with South32’s spin-off in 2015 had proved insufficiently long to drive a sharp increase in mining deals. “There’d certainly be a degree of anxiety in most major companies driven by their shareholders, who would be reiterating the point that they haven’t been great allocators of capital.” South32 back in April abandoned plans to buy the Metropolitan coalmine in NSW from Peabody Energy for $200 million, after the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission expressed concerns the acquisition could substantially lessen competition in the supply of coking coal to Australian steelmakers. Since then, it has struck a procession of smaller deals with early exploration joint ventures and investments with the likes of ASX-listed AusQuest and North American duo Northern Shield and Arizona Mining. Mr Kerr said the company was still expecting to execute some more similar exploration-focused deals in the coming months.
Sunland Group Limited (SDG):
Listed developer Sunland Group expects residential prices in southeast Queensland to rise in the coming year, despite offering earnings guidance below the company’s profit in the 2017 financial year. The group’s annual general meeting in Brisbane yesterday heard it expected a net profit of between $27 million and $30m for the current year, down from $35.3m. In 2018, Sunland planned to deliver eight new residential and retail projects worth $1.4 billion, mainly in southeast Queensland. They included Marina Concourse at Royal Pines, with 60 per cent pre-sales of the 110 residential apartments, and The Lakes Residences at Mermaid Waters, where all 67 homes had sold. As cities such as Sydney and Melbourne become more unaffordable for housing, Mr Abedian said “that will be a profound catalyst to move up north. Of course, that has to be coupled with government policy for job creation because people will only move based on the security and certainty that they have a future job to go to.” To counter the cyclical housing market, Sunland will consider retaining retail precincts linked to its residential developments to “provide us with a continuity of our earnings profile”. The board announced an increase in the dividend for the current financial year to 11c a share, up from 8c, with a later 2c dividend the previous year. Sunland’s shares closed yesterday at $1.70, down 0.5 per cent.
Telstra Corporation Limited (TLS):
Telstra is partnering with outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux to turn its inner-city payphones into “community technology hubs” with premium ad space and hi-tech features aimed at reigniting their appeal to young and old, The Australian can reveal. “Telstra takes our role as a technology company seriously and we want to challenge the notion of what a payphone can be in the future and how we use technology in public places,” the company’s head of media and marketing Joe Pollard said. Telstra this week launched the first phase of its upgrade of 1860 payphones in high-density areas of five capital cities, starting with Melbourne and Perth. Switching from analog to digital advertising space will offer greater cut-through to marketers, said Pollard, while the technology would open up new possibilities in the realm of location-based marketing. “Audience in high-density areas is hard to find,” she said. The move will also give Telstra access to a growing source of revenue, with outdoor advertising’s transition from old-style mechanical or static to digital billboards driving an increase in ad spend in the sector, according to the Outdoor Media Association.
Village Roadshow Limited (VRL):
The company (VRL), at its annual general meeting today, said Gold Coast theme park attendance to October 31 was 5.4 per cent behind the prior corresponding period, which was largely before four people were killed when a Dreamworld ride malfunctioned. But it expects to see a pickup in attendance during the Christmas and summer holidays and forecasts its theme parks division will deliver a “substantial improvement” in 2018 full-year earnings, compared to the prior year. So far in the 2018 financial year, Village Roadshow’s cinema exhibition division’s performance has been significantly below the same period last year, due to a decline in the number of people going to the cinema and an underperformance in a number of films. The theme parks and cinemas operator expects the second half of FY2018 to be better. Chairman Robert Kirby said 2017 had been the toughest trading year on record for Village Roadshow following the impact of the fatal accident at Ardent’s Dreamworld and worldwide box office angst. “However, we remain confident the tide is turning and our divisions are poised to return to their previous profitability,” Mr Kirby said. He said the recent $165 million sale of the Singapore cinema business, along with the sale and long-term leaseback of the Oxenford land, would help correct the company’s balance sheet and gearing. Given this, Mr Kirby said, the board was “confident of being able to recommend a return to dividends before the end of FY18”, adding that the timing and level of any payout would depend on the actual trading results.
Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC):
Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted yesterday gave a stout defence of his bank’s refusal to settle with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over allegations that Westpac manipulated the bank bill swap rate. “We don’t think we are guilty,” Mr Maxsted said when asked by The Australian’s columnist John Durie why he had not settled when National Australia Bank and ANZ had agreed to do so. Mr Maxsted indicated Westpac was not happy with the potential terms of settlement ASIC wanted. “The ask in terms of settlement discussions with ASIC was to admit that we were guilty in a certain way,” he said. “We don’t think we are.” Westpac has been defending itself in the Federal Court in Melbourne against the ASIC allegations that it was involved in rigging the benchmark bank bill swap rate 16 times between 2010 and 2012. ASIC launched the BBSW case against Westpac on the eve of a celebration of its 199th birthday early last year that involved former senior executives and people receiving scholarships as part of the bank’s celebrations.
Woolworths Limited (WOW):
Woolworths will not sit back and let Amazon peel away its customers and suppliers, with chairman Gordon Cairns issuing a thinly veiled threat to grocery manufacturers that retailers could replace their products with private label offers or remove them from the shelves if Amazon commandeered their brands to start a price war. Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said the supermarket group would keep a close watch on the prices offered by Amazon for the brands and goods it also stocked. “We will track it as we go and look at the full cost of getting the product into customers’ hands,” Mr Banducci said. “We track prices against all competitors and make sure our customers get a good deal every time they shop at Woolworths.” Addressing shareholders at the annual meeting, Mr Banducci also confirmed that the positive sales momentum for its supermarket chains, as well as most of its other retail businesses, recorded in the first quarter had continued into November. Turning to the bulk of the Woolworths business, Mr Banducci said fiscal 2018 sales had - remained “solid”. “I am pleased to report that our sales performance has remained solid so far this financial year,” he said. “A few weeks ago we reported our sales for the first quarter of the 2018 financial year with good trading momentum and progress against our strategic priorities in all of our businesses.”
(Source: AIMS)
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