Asaleo Care Limited(AHY):
Investors are punishing Asaleo Care after the personal care company provided a disappointing market update. Shares are down 12 per cent to $1.40. According to management, the company's Feminine Care category has underperformed expectations due to extensive competitive pricing. This has impacted sales volumes and led to a full-year guidance downgrade. According to the release, competitors' increasingly aggressive price activity has led to Asaleo Care's Feminine Care range becoming uncompetitively priced as a result of being locked into fixed every day pricing in major retail accounts. As a result, FY 2018 underlying EBITDA is now expected to be between $124 million and $125 million. This will be a decline of between 4.3 per cent and 5.1 per cent on FY 2017's $130.7 million and compares to previous guidance of "low single digit growth". The story becomes worse on the bottom line. Full-year underlying net profit after tax is now expected to between $59 million and $60 million, down between 7.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent year-on-year. Once again, management had previously forecast for low single digit growth. Finally, free cash flow is now forecast to be between $70 million and $75 million compared to previous guidance of $85 million and $95 million.
Australia And New Zealand Banking Group Limited(ANZ):
ANZ Banking Group is set to become the third major bank to join the Australian life insurance sell-off this week, as it consummates a deal with Swiss giant Zurich. Street Talk understands a deal to divest the $2.5 billion unit is imminent, barring any unforseen events, and is said to include a 20-year distribution agreement between ANZ and Zurich. That would mirror the tenure of a commercial relationship formed between Commonwealth Bank of Australia and its life insurance suitor AIA Group. New York-listed American International Group is no longer around the ANZ auction but is keeping its options for ramping up its Australian presence open. US group MetLife Insurance dropped away from the ANZ process after interest from head office wavered. Zurich is said to have re-engaged with ANZ about a month ago, well after final bids for the life and wealth divisions in their entirety were lobbed in mid-September. The ultimate ANZ sale price will depend on how much of the book is reinsured but Morgan Stanley analysts have put a book value on the bank's life business at $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
Cokal Limited(CKA): Cokal surged 32 per cent today after telling shareholders it has made the first sale of coal from its mine in Indonesia. The firm said it had sold 10,000 tonnes of the commodity from its BBM Anak mine in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The company also said it had entered into a $400 million deal to supply Shanghai trader Renjian with 2.5 million tonnes of coal in shipments of 50,000 tonnes per month.
Cleanaway Waste Management Limited (CWY) & Tox Free Solution Limited(TOX):
Listed waste disposal company Cleanaway has called on ANZ and Westpac to help fund its $665 million takeover of rival Tox Free Solutions. The banks provided an $875m underwritten facility as part of an overall refinancing in which its debt levels will lift by $285m. Reports have surfaced among corporate deal makers that financing packages on offer are proving favourable for takeover activity, as Australian banks lend at competitive rates at a time that the US debt market remains particularly strong. With respect to investment banks capitalizing on takeover activity fees ahead of bonus time, though, the front runner appears to be Macquarie Capital. Macquarie advised Cleanaway on its acquisition of Tox Free for $3.425 per share — along with former Credit Suisse banker Max Billingham, who now runs Blackpeak Capital — and Macquarie is also advising Mineral Resources on its bid for listed oil and gas producer AWE.
Digitalx Limited (DCC):
Bitcoin fever has spilled over to the ASX, with shares in DigitalX rocketing nearly 25 per cent higher this morning to 28¢. Invesors are overjoyed at the blockchain technology company's decision to return to the cryptocurrency market place as a market maker on approved cryptocurrency exchanges. According to an announcement out of the company this morning, its board has approved the use of up to $1 million to provide liquidity to both sides of the cryptocurrency market while maintaining a small new open position in the asset being traded. As such, DigitalX will maintain bid and ask limit orders below and above the spot price. Management expects this to produce its best results for DigitalX when price volatility is high. At present DigitalX holds $18 million in liquid assets, this includes $5 million in cash, over $10 million in Bitcoin, and approximately $2 million in Ether.
Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ):
Fairfax Media has signed a deal with Google in a major shake-up of its advertising sales arrangements that will see the search giant sell the publisher’s digital ads. A deal between Fairfax’s Australian Metro Publishing business unit, publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, also includes a partnership in technology and product development. In a statement to the stock market, Fairfax said Google would sell and market programmatic advertising across all its newspapers and sites, including WA today, Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, and lifestyle properties. The deal builds on an existing arrangement whereby Fairfax sells some online inventory through Google’s Ad Exchange program. Fairfax did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether the deal will result in job cuts to the publisher’s sales teams. Since spinning off real estate business Domain last month, the company has come under more pressure to cut costs. Ad spending on programmatic deals, where online ads are bought using automated systems, is accelerating quickly.
Kogan.com Ltd (KGN):
Online retailer Kogan.com will start selling budget health insurance policies under a new brand dubbed Kogan Health, after signing a deal with private health insurer Medibank Group. The deal is set out for an initial three-year period and will be administered via Medibankowned Australian Health Management Group, Kogan said in a statement to the ASX. The e-commerce platform will be in charge of providing online branding, marketing and customers, and will earn commissions on sales of all insurance policies, while Medibank will provide an underwriting to raise investment capital from investors. “Kogan Health will bring healthy competition to the health insurance industry, ultimately making it more affordable to take control of your health.” Kogan expects to launch its health insurance business in the second half of the current financial year.
Seven West Media Limited (SWM):
Fresh speculation has emerged about a merger deal between Seven West Media and Fairfax, with some questioning what role Greg Hywood would play in any prospective tie-up. The official response from a Fairfax spokesman yesterday appears to be a strong denial. “Any suggestion that anyone is looking at anything, or anything is in front of anyone, is wrong,” the Fairfax spokesman said. Seven West Media declined to comment. However, talk in the market about a tie-up has been around for some time and has resurfaced in recent weeks. Investment banks involved in the discussions are said to be UBS on the Seven side and Macquarie Capital in the Fairfax corner. Seven West Media’s market value is $927.4 million whereas Fairfax is worth $1.8bn. Stokes’s Seven Media Group owns 40 per cent of the listed Seven West Media, according to Bloomberg data
Transurban Group (TCL):
Transurban will carry out one of the largest capital raisings in Australia this year when it taps shareholders for $1.9 billion to help fund its share of Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project. Financial markets have been on standby for at least a week expecting the transaction, which will be steered by Macquarie, UBS and Morgan Stanley. Transurban (TCL) shares will be in a trading halt for at least the next two days while it raises $1.9 billion through a renounceable right offer which will also have a retail component. In an announcement today, Transurban said the renounceable rights offer would be three for 37 shares to eligible shareholders at $11.40. The offer price is a 4.6 per cent discount to the theoretical ex-rights trading price. The company will also drawn down a new $550 million loan that will operate alongside its current $1.1 billion bank facility. Transurban’s contribution to the West Gate Tunnel project is $4 billion and the company has come to an agreement with the Victorian government to build and operate the tunnel until 2045.
TPG Telecom Limited (TPM):
TPG Telecom has been threatened with court action if it does not follow the lead of Optus and Telstra in compensating NBN customers who were overcharged for internet packages that failed to achieve promised speeds. Optus yesterday promised to compensate 8700 households, adding to the 42,000 customers Telstra last month said it had overcharged. That leaves TPG Telecom as the only major holdout in the market, prompting a warning from Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims that telcos unwilling to sign up to an enforceable undertaking could end up in court. “What we are saying is that either you come forward with an undertaking or you end up in court,” he told The Australian. TPG, the second biggest player in the NBN market with 690,000 customers, is yet to indicate whether it will follow Telstra and Optus, and Mr. Sims said that it was running out of time.
The Reject Shop Limited (TRS):
The $2.2 billion discount variety sector in retail is full of bustle in the weeks leading up to Christmas but the major players aren't giving Amazon much thought. The "bottom feeders" simply don't offer any online shopping options because the cost of their everyday items is too low to make the economics stack up for delivery to customers. ASX-listed The Reject Shop is the dominant player with 350 stores and had flat annual sales of $794 million in 2016-17. It has just revamped the capabilities of its website with a more powerful search component, the opportunity for product reviews and more prominence to entice browsers to sign up for regular promotional emails. But it has stopped short of setting up an online delivery service. Cheap as Chips runs 42 discount variety stores in South Australia, Victoria and NSW, with its latest store having opened in Geelong in Victoria in October.
Westfield Corporation (WFD):
The Frank Lowy-led shopping mall giant Westfield Corporation says it is in talks about a potentially significant corporate transaction, as merger activity in the global shopping centre market picks up pace. Westfield (WFD), which owns malls in the United States and Britain, today went into a trading halt pending an announcement to the market which it expects to make prior to trading on December 14. The corporate play is Westfield’s first major move since its 2014 separation from the Scentre Group, which owns malls in Australasia, and could see it participate in the wave of mergers that have swept the shopping centre sector internationally. A number of major malls empires are in play. In the US, General Growth has rejected Brookfield’s offer to acquire the 66 per cent of shares it doesn’t already own in the company. But Brookfield remains optimistic about its $US14.8 billion bid to acquire the stake it doesn’t already hold in the US mall owner and the pair are still in talks.
(Source: AIMS)
Investors are punishing Asaleo Care after the personal care company provided a disappointing market update. Shares are down 12 per cent to $1.40. According to management, the company's Feminine Care category has underperformed expectations due to extensive competitive pricing. This has impacted sales volumes and led to a full-year guidance downgrade. According to the release, competitors' increasingly aggressive price activity has led to Asaleo Care's Feminine Care range becoming uncompetitively priced as a result of being locked into fixed every day pricing in major retail accounts. As a result, FY 2018 underlying EBITDA is now expected to be between $124 million and $125 million. This will be a decline of between 4.3 per cent and 5.1 per cent on FY 2017's $130.7 million and compares to previous guidance of "low single digit growth". The story becomes worse on the bottom line. Full-year underlying net profit after tax is now expected to between $59 million and $60 million, down between 7.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent year-on-year. Once again, management had previously forecast for low single digit growth. Finally, free cash flow is now forecast to be between $70 million and $75 million compared to previous guidance of $85 million and $95 million.
Australia And New Zealand Banking Group Limited(ANZ):
ANZ Banking Group is set to become the third major bank to join the Australian life insurance sell-off this week, as it consummates a deal with Swiss giant Zurich. Street Talk understands a deal to divest the $2.5 billion unit is imminent, barring any unforseen events, and is said to include a 20-year distribution agreement between ANZ and Zurich. That would mirror the tenure of a commercial relationship formed between Commonwealth Bank of Australia and its life insurance suitor AIA Group. New York-listed American International Group is no longer around the ANZ auction but is keeping its options for ramping up its Australian presence open. US group MetLife Insurance dropped away from the ANZ process after interest from head office wavered. Zurich is said to have re-engaged with ANZ about a month ago, well after final bids for the life and wealth divisions in their entirety were lobbed in mid-September. The ultimate ANZ sale price will depend on how much of the book is reinsured but Morgan Stanley analysts have put a book value on the bank's life business at $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
Cokal Limited(CKA): Cokal surged 32 per cent today after telling shareholders it has made the first sale of coal from its mine in Indonesia. The firm said it had sold 10,000 tonnes of the commodity from its BBM Anak mine in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The company also said it had entered into a $400 million deal to supply Shanghai trader Renjian with 2.5 million tonnes of coal in shipments of 50,000 tonnes per month.
Cleanaway Waste Management Limited (CWY) & Tox Free Solution Limited(TOX):
Listed waste disposal company Cleanaway has called on ANZ and Westpac to help fund its $665 million takeover of rival Tox Free Solutions. The banks provided an $875m underwritten facility as part of an overall refinancing in which its debt levels will lift by $285m. Reports have surfaced among corporate deal makers that financing packages on offer are proving favourable for takeover activity, as Australian banks lend at competitive rates at a time that the US debt market remains particularly strong. With respect to investment banks capitalizing on takeover activity fees ahead of bonus time, though, the front runner appears to be Macquarie Capital. Macquarie advised Cleanaway on its acquisition of Tox Free for $3.425 per share — along with former Credit Suisse banker Max Billingham, who now runs Blackpeak Capital — and Macquarie is also advising Mineral Resources on its bid for listed oil and gas producer AWE.
Digitalx Limited (DCC):
Bitcoin fever has spilled over to the ASX, with shares in DigitalX rocketing nearly 25 per cent higher this morning to 28¢. Invesors are overjoyed at the blockchain technology company's decision to return to the cryptocurrency market place as a market maker on approved cryptocurrency exchanges. According to an announcement out of the company this morning, its board has approved the use of up to $1 million to provide liquidity to both sides of the cryptocurrency market while maintaining a small new open position in the asset being traded. As such, DigitalX will maintain bid and ask limit orders below and above the spot price. Management expects this to produce its best results for DigitalX when price volatility is high. At present DigitalX holds $18 million in liquid assets, this includes $5 million in cash, over $10 million in Bitcoin, and approximately $2 million in Ether.
Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ):
Fairfax Media has signed a deal with Google in a major shake-up of its advertising sales arrangements that will see the search giant sell the publisher’s digital ads. A deal between Fairfax’s Australian Metro Publishing business unit, publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, also includes a partnership in technology and product development. In a statement to the stock market, Fairfax said Google would sell and market programmatic advertising across all its newspapers and sites, including WA today, Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, and lifestyle properties. The deal builds on an existing arrangement whereby Fairfax sells some online inventory through Google’s Ad Exchange program. Fairfax did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether the deal will result in job cuts to the publisher’s sales teams. Since spinning off real estate business Domain last month, the company has come under more pressure to cut costs. Ad spending on programmatic deals, where online ads are bought using automated systems, is accelerating quickly.
Kogan.com Ltd (KGN):
Online retailer Kogan.com will start selling budget health insurance policies under a new brand dubbed Kogan Health, after signing a deal with private health insurer Medibank Group. The deal is set out for an initial three-year period and will be administered via Medibankowned Australian Health Management Group, Kogan said in a statement to the ASX. The e-commerce platform will be in charge of providing online branding, marketing and customers, and will earn commissions on sales of all insurance policies, while Medibank will provide an underwriting to raise investment capital from investors. “Kogan Health will bring healthy competition to the health insurance industry, ultimately making it more affordable to take control of your health.” Kogan expects to launch its health insurance business in the second half of the current financial year.
Seven West Media Limited (SWM):
Fresh speculation has emerged about a merger deal between Seven West Media and Fairfax, with some questioning what role Greg Hywood would play in any prospective tie-up. The official response from a Fairfax spokesman yesterday appears to be a strong denial. “Any suggestion that anyone is looking at anything, or anything is in front of anyone, is wrong,” the Fairfax spokesman said. Seven West Media declined to comment. However, talk in the market about a tie-up has been around for some time and has resurfaced in recent weeks. Investment banks involved in the discussions are said to be UBS on the Seven side and Macquarie Capital in the Fairfax corner. Seven West Media’s market value is $927.4 million whereas Fairfax is worth $1.8bn. Stokes’s Seven Media Group owns 40 per cent of the listed Seven West Media, according to Bloomberg data
Transurban Group (TCL):
Transurban will carry out one of the largest capital raisings in Australia this year when it taps shareholders for $1.9 billion to help fund its share of Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project. Financial markets have been on standby for at least a week expecting the transaction, which will be steered by Macquarie, UBS and Morgan Stanley. Transurban (TCL) shares will be in a trading halt for at least the next two days while it raises $1.9 billion through a renounceable right offer which will also have a retail component. In an announcement today, Transurban said the renounceable rights offer would be three for 37 shares to eligible shareholders at $11.40. The offer price is a 4.6 per cent discount to the theoretical ex-rights trading price. The company will also drawn down a new $550 million loan that will operate alongside its current $1.1 billion bank facility. Transurban’s contribution to the West Gate Tunnel project is $4 billion and the company has come to an agreement with the Victorian government to build and operate the tunnel until 2045.
TPG Telecom Limited (TPM):
TPG Telecom has been threatened with court action if it does not follow the lead of Optus and Telstra in compensating NBN customers who were overcharged for internet packages that failed to achieve promised speeds. Optus yesterday promised to compensate 8700 households, adding to the 42,000 customers Telstra last month said it had overcharged. That leaves TPG Telecom as the only major holdout in the market, prompting a warning from Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims that telcos unwilling to sign up to an enforceable undertaking could end up in court. “What we are saying is that either you come forward with an undertaking or you end up in court,” he told The Australian. TPG, the second biggest player in the NBN market with 690,000 customers, is yet to indicate whether it will follow Telstra and Optus, and Mr. Sims said that it was running out of time.
The Reject Shop Limited (TRS):
The $2.2 billion discount variety sector in retail is full of bustle in the weeks leading up to Christmas but the major players aren't giving Amazon much thought. The "bottom feeders" simply don't offer any online shopping options because the cost of their everyday items is too low to make the economics stack up for delivery to customers. ASX-listed The Reject Shop is the dominant player with 350 stores and had flat annual sales of $794 million in 2016-17. It has just revamped the capabilities of its website with a more powerful search component, the opportunity for product reviews and more prominence to entice browsers to sign up for regular promotional emails. But it has stopped short of setting up an online delivery service. Cheap as Chips runs 42 discount variety stores in South Australia, Victoria and NSW, with its latest store having opened in Geelong in Victoria in October.
Westfield Corporation (WFD):
The Frank Lowy-led shopping mall giant Westfield Corporation says it is in talks about a potentially significant corporate transaction, as merger activity in the global shopping centre market picks up pace. Westfield (WFD), which owns malls in the United States and Britain, today went into a trading halt pending an announcement to the market which it expects to make prior to trading on December 14. The corporate play is Westfield’s first major move since its 2014 separation from the Scentre Group, which owns malls in Australasia, and could see it participate in the wave of mergers that have swept the shopping centre sector internationally. A number of major malls empires are in play. In the US, General Growth has rejected Brookfield’s offer to acquire the 66 per cent of shares it doesn’t already own in the company. But Brookfield remains optimistic about its $US14.8 billion bid to acquire the stake it doesn’t already hold in the US mall owner and the pair are still in talks.
(Source: AIMS)
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