APN Outdoor Group Ltd (APO):
APN Outdoor chief financial officer Wayne Castle will step down from his role effective immediately upon resigning from the billboard company. David Watkins, general manager finance, will be acting CFO until a successor is named. James Warburton will commence as CEO on January 22, and in the short intervening period, Andrew Hines, chief operating officer, will have overall leadership responsibility.
Brambles Limited (BXB):
Brambles has inked a deal to sell North American whitewood pallets business CHEP Recycled to private equity firm Grey Mountain Partners for $US115 million ($A161 million). Grey Mountain Partners will receive 73 total pallet management sites and 2,400 employees from CHEP Recycled, which supplies and recycles more than 90 million pallets annually in the USA and Canada. The company recognised CHEP Recycled as a discontinued operation in its 2017 full-year results in August and expects the sale, which is subject to regulatory approval, to be completed within 45 days.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (DMP):
Domino's Pizza workers appear set to be paid default award rates, at least temporarily, after the workplace tribunal delayed their vote on a new pay offer. Domino's employees were due to start voting on the new enterprise agreement negotiated with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) from Tuesday. But on Monday the Fair Work Commission ordered that the ballot be delayed by at least one week because the company it had failed to negotiate in good faith with the rival Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. Domino's will have to meet with the RAFFWU this week to discuss the union's outstanding concerns about the wage deal. That includes that part-time workers will sacrifice fixed start and finish times on their regular shifts in exchange for a base wage that is only 2¢ an hour above the award rate, and claims that the structure of allowances for delivery drivers could result in them earning less than the award. Domino's intended to have a new wage deal in place by that deadline, but with the week-long worker ballot delayed until January 16, that now appears unlikely. If the EBA is passed by staff, it still needs to approved by the Fair Work Commission, which could take weeks.
Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (KCN):
Kingsgate Consolidated executive chairman Ross Smyth-Kirk appears to have survived a board spill. Proxy votes displayed at an extraordinary general meeting in Sydney this morning showed 61.7 million shares were voted against his removal and 44.3 million shares for it. The numbers were reversed, 44.3 million for and 61.7 million against, on the appointment of Mr Warburton, a former Caltex and David Jones chairman. However, proxy votes were only cast for about half the company’s shares on issue, so a slight chance remains that the board spill could be successful.
Noni B Limited (NBL):
Noni B says it expects first-half FY18 earnings (EBITDA) of $22 million and notes this is 50 per cent higher than the same figure a year prior on an underlying basis. Underlying earnings accounts for one-off material items such as acquisitions or write-downs in the accounting period. The group’s total first-half sales of $190m represented an increase of 3 per cent on a like-for-like store basis, while its network grew to 642 stores from 614 throughout the period. Noni B attributes growth to its sales performance leading up to and through the key Christmas trading period, at the same time reminding shareholders of seasonal strength in sales and earnings over the first-half. The group posted $22.9m in total underlying earnings (EBITDA) in the fiscal-year 2017.
Queensland Bauxite Ltd (QBL）:
Queensland Bauxite-owned VitaCann has signed an exclusive joint venture agreement with Canadian company Canntab for a world first medical cannabis “extended release pill”.The joint venture will give VitaCann, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Cannabis Limited, the right to exclusively manufacture, distribute and sell Canntab products in Australia, with a first right to distribute in Asia. Medical Cannabis Limited is a subsidiary of Queensland Bauxite.The deal follows last week’s decision by the federal government to allow Australian companies to export cannabis products for medicinal purposes. Queensland Bauxite (QBL) told the ASX the Canntab product should qualify for approval as it should meet all the medical standard requirements.”
Retail Food Group Limited (RFG):
Retail Food Group has executed back-to-back profit downgrades, saying it now expects first-half FY18 profit (statutory NPAT) under its previous downgrade to $22m given late last year. The Donut King, KFC and Gloria Jeans Australia operator says it now expected revenue from new masters licences, finalised after previous guidance, to arrive in the second-half FY18. Retail Food Group and its securities came under pressure late last year following media scrutiny of its franchisee practices to which it attributed a material impact to sales in its profit downgrade on December 19 last year.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Hundreds of thousands of households are expected to adopt a silent home phone number as Telstra announced it is ditching its fee for the service. The telco giant will axe the unpopular $2.93-per-month charge for an unlisted number from February 18. Telstra has faced calls to dump the fee for many years, with critics arguing people were being penalised for wanting privacy. Telstra has 3.9 million fixed phone line customers. It does not disclose how many already have silent numbers. Spokesman Steve Carey noted that while an unlisted number may help reduce unsolicited telemarketing calls, it would not stop the practice as some companies or individuals used “autodial” technology. Customers wanting to reduce unsolicited approaches were still encouraged to sign up to the federal government’s Do Not Call Register, even if they had a silent number.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Telstra is heading up a consortium of large energy users including ANZ and Coca-Cola Amatil that has inked an agreement to buy renewable energy from a huge new wind farm to be built in western Victoria in a move that helps protects them from rising power prices. The multi-year deal with the developers of the wind farm, RES Australia and Macquarie Capital, will allow construction to go ahead on the 226- megawatt first stage of the Murra Warra project near Horsham. The University of Melbourne is also in the consortium. The agreement is similar to the one Telstra signed in May to underpin construction of the 70 MW Emerald solar project in Queensland. It reflects the trend among large energy users to take action to try to relieve spiralling energy costs by signing direct deals with renewables developers. Telstra is also using the deal as an opportunity to use its in-house capabilities to help some key corporate customers on energy supply and "make a sizeable dint in their power costs," Mr Burge added. Construction is due to kick off in 201 and the first stage should be fully operational by mid-2019, reducing carbon emissions by 900,000 tonnes a year. It should power the equivalent of more than 220,000 Victorian homes.
TPG Telecom Ltd (TPM):
National Broadband Network retail service provider TPG has joined Telstra and Optus in admitting it misled customers about the potential speed of their internet connections and will pay compensation to nearly 8000 customers, who were sold plans for speeds they couldn't achieve. In a statement from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, it said TPG sold customers a plan with top advertised speeds of 100 Mbps download and 40 Mbps upload, describing it as "Seriously Fast Internet. Up to 100Mbps". However 62 per cent of the customers (totalling 7509) who signed up had home connections that TPG knew could not reach those speeds. Of those customers, 2088 could not even receive 50/20 Mbps.
Vocus Group Ltd (VOC):
Telecommunications company Vocus Group has appointed the founder and chief investment officer of Hong Kong's Janchor Partners, John Ho, as a non-executive director, as the company looks to bounce back from a tough 12 months. The company has issued guidance for 2018 of revenue between $1.9 billion and $2 billion and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $370-390 million.
(Source: AIMS)
APN Outdoor chief financial officer Wayne Castle will step down from his role effective immediately upon resigning from the billboard company. David Watkins, general manager finance, will be acting CFO until a successor is named. James Warburton will commence as CEO on January 22, and in the short intervening period, Andrew Hines, chief operating officer, will have overall leadership responsibility.
Brambles Limited (BXB):
Brambles has inked a deal to sell North American whitewood pallets business CHEP Recycled to private equity firm Grey Mountain Partners for $US115 million ($A161 million). Grey Mountain Partners will receive 73 total pallet management sites and 2,400 employees from CHEP Recycled, which supplies and recycles more than 90 million pallets annually in the USA and Canada. The company recognised CHEP Recycled as a discontinued operation in its 2017 full-year results in August and expects the sale, which is subject to regulatory approval, to be completed within 45 days.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (DMP):
Domino's Pizza workers appear set to be paid default award rates, at least temporarily, after the workplace tribunal delayed their vote on a new pay offer. Domino's employees were due to start voting on the new enterprise agreement negotiated with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) from Tuesday. But on Monday the Fair Work Commission ordered that the ballot be delayed by at least one week because the company it had failed to negotiate in good faith with the rival Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. Domino's will have to meet with the RAFFWU this week to discuss the union's outstanding concerns about the wage deal. That includes that part-time workers will sacrifice fixed start and finish times on their regular shifts in exchange for a base wage that is only 2¢ an hour above the award rate, and claims that the structure of allowances for delivery drivers could result in them earning less than the award. Domino's intended to have a new wage deal in place by that deadline, but with the week-long worker ballot delayed until January 16, that now appears unlikely. If the EBA is passed by staff, it still needs to approved by the Fair Work Commission, which could take weeks.
Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (KCN):
Kingsgate Consolidated executive chairman Ross Smyth-Kirk appears to have survived a board spill. Proxy votes displayed at an extraordinary general meeting in Sydney this morning showed 61.7 million shares were voted against his removal and 44.3 million shares for it. The numbers were reversed, 44.3 million for and 61.7 million against, on the appointment of Mr Warburton, a former Caltex and David Jones chairman. However, proxy votes were only cast for about half the company’s shares on issue, so a slight chance remains that the board spill could be successful.
Noni B Limited (NBL):
Noni B says it expects first-half FY18 earnings (EBITDA) of $22 million and notes this is 50 per cent higher than the same figure a year prior on an underlying basis. Underlying earnings accounts for one-off material items such as acquisitions or write-downs in the accounting period. The group’s total first-half sales of $190m represented an increase of 3 per cent on a like-for-like store basis, while its network grew to 642 stores from 614 throughout the period. Noni B attributes growth to its sales performance leading up to and through the key Christmas trading period, at the same time reminding shareholders of seasonal strength in sales and earnings over the first-half. The group posted $22.9m in total underlying earnings (EBITDA) in the fiscal-year 2017.
Queensland Bauxite Ltd (QBL）:
Queensland Bauxite-owned VitaCann has signed an exclusive joint venture agreement with Canadian company Canntab for a world first medical cannabis “extended release pill”.The joint venture will give VitaCann, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Cannabis Limited, the right to exclusively manufacture, distribute and sell Canntab products in Australia, with a first right to distribute in Asia. Medical Cannabis Limited is a subsidiary of Queensland Bauxite.The deal follows last week’s decision by the federal government to allow Australian companies to export cannabis products for medicinal purposes. Queensland Bauxite (QBL) told the ASX the Canntab product should qualify for approval as it should meet all the medical standard requirements.”
Retail Food Group Limited (RFG):
Retail Food Group has executed back-to-back profit downgrades, saying it now expects first-half FY18 profit (statutory NPAT) under its previous downgrade to $22m given late last year. The Donut King, KFC and Gloria Jeans Australia operator says it now expected revenue from new masters licences, finalised after previous guidance, to arrive in the second-half FY18. Retail Food Group and its securities came under pressure late last year following media scrutiny of its franchisee practices to which it attributed a material impact to sales in its profit downgrade on December 19 last year.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Hundreds of thousands of households are expected to adopt a silent home phone number as Telstra announced it is ditching its fee for the service. The telco giant will axe the unpopular $2.93-per-month charge for an unlisted number from February 18. Telstra has faced calls to dump the fee for many years, with critics arguing people were being penalised for wanting privacy. Telstra has 3.9 million fixed phone line customers. It does not disclose how many already have silent numbers. Spokesman Steve Carey noted that while an unlisted number may help reduce unsolicited telemarketing calls, it would not stop the practice as some companies or individuals used “autodial” technology. Customers wanting to reduce unsolicited approaches were still encouraged to sign up to the federal government’s Do Not Call Register, even if they had a silent number.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (TLS):
Telstra is heading up a consortium of large energy users including ANZ and Coca-Cola Amatil that has inked an agreement to buy renewable energy from a huge new wind farm to be built in western Victoria in a move that helps protects them from rising power prices. The multi-year deal with the developers of the wind farm, RES Australia and Macquarie Capital, will allow construction to go ahead on the 226- megawatt first stage of the Murra Warra project near Horsham. The University of Melbourne is also in the consortium. The agreement is similar to the one Telstra signed in May to underpin construction of the 70 MW Emerald solar project in Queensland. It reflects the trend among large energy users to take action to try to relieve spiralling energy costs by signing direct deals with renewables developers. Telstra is also using the deal as an opportunity to use its in-house capabilities to help some key corporate customers on energy supply and "make a sizeable dint in their power costs," Mr Burge added. Construction is due to kick off in 201 and the first stage should be fully operational by mid-2019, reducing carbon emissions by 900,000 tonnes a year. It should power the equivalent of more than 220,000 Victorian homes.
TPG Telecom Ltd (TPM):
National Broadband Network retail service provider TPG has joined Telstra and Optus in admitting it misled customers about the potential speed of their internet connections and will pay compensation to nearly 8000 customers, who were sold plans for speeds they couldn't achieve. In a statement from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, it said TPG sold customers a plan with top advertised speeds of 100 Mbps download and 40 Mbps upload, describing it as "Seriously Fast Internet. Up to 100Mbps". However 62 per cent of the customers (totalling 7509) who signed up had home connections that TPG knew could not reach those speeds. Of those customers, 2088 could not even receive 50/20 Mbps.
Vocus Group Ltd (VOC):
Telecommunications company Vocus Group has appointed the founder and chief investment officer of Hong Kong's Janchor Partners, John Ho, as a non-executive director, as the company looks to bounce back from a tough 12 months. The company has issued guidance for 2018 of revenue between $1.9 billion and $2 billion and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $370-390 million.
(Source: AIMS)
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