Australian Foundation Investment Company Limited (AFI):
The nation’s largest and oldest listed investment company, the $7.4 billion Australian Foundation Investment Company, has warned that Labor’s proposal to axe franking credit cash refunds will hit low-income retirees hardest and could trigger an exodus from self-managed super funds as retirees defend against the attack on their savings. Labor’s policy, which would ban cash tax refunds for excess franking credits, has not been well thought out, AFIC managing director Mark Freeman said. He warned it would come to a head this year as retirees started to make more noise about the issue. “Our shareholders are really quite disillusioned by the whole thing,” Mr Freeman said. “There are a lot of retirees out there that are going to see a significant chunk of their income taken away from them, which goes against the whole theory of the franking credit system.
Iluka Resources Limited (ILU):
Iluka Resources said first-half mineral-sands output fell by 18 per cent as the company stopped mining at one site in Western Australia and downgraded expectations for 2018 rutile output after operational difficulties in Sierra Leone. Iluka on Tuesday reported secondquarter production of 281,400 metric tonnes, taking half-year output to 561,800 tonnes. Volumes were weaker on a year ago after the Tutunup South mine finished mining in early March because reserves were depleted and heavy mineral concentrate processing through the Narngulu mineral separation plant, also in Australia’s west, ran at a reduced rate to optimize mineral recoveries, it said. Iluka also reported lower output of rutile, a mineral used in to make pigments for paints, paper and plastics, because of mechanical and other issues and said it now expects full-year production of 185,000 tons, from an earlier target of 200,000 tons. “Production has improved early in this second half and the mines are now operating as expected... however, due to the lower run-times in the first half, full-year rutile production has been reduced,” the miner said. Still, first-half revenue was up 21% at 606.9 million, aided by rising prices of commodities such as zircon, used in ceramics like tiles and wash basins.
Investa Office Fund (IOF):
Private equity group Blackstone’s $3.1 billion takeover play for the Investa Office Fund has been deemed not fair but reasonable by independent expert KPMG, setting the scene for a proxy battle as it seeks to win support for the deal. The NSW Supreme Court was told today that KPMG had found the deal was in the best interests of IOF unit holders in the absence of a superior proposal. The marathon battle for the fund is coming to a head and Blackstone is chasing ownership of the IOF portfolio, which is worth $4.3bn, and spans 20 office buildings in cities across Australia, including a slice of Sydney’s Deutsche Bank Place, at time when office rents and values re surging. The scheme was judged as not fair but reasonable by KPMG which relied on an assessment of fairness based on a net asset valuation methodology. This produced a valuation range of $5.38- $5.41 per unit, against the firm’s assessment of the value of the bid at $5.14 per unit.
Kogan.com Ltd (KGN):
Online retailer Kogan.com has flagged a full-year revenue hike, ahead of its formal results announcement. Based on unaudited figures, the company (KGN) said it expects to book revenue 40 per cent higher than the $289.5 million posted last year. Kogan estimates earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will be up 90 per cent on the prior year, based on unaudited accounts. The company reports its audited full-year results next month. Kogan.com said it had nearly 1.4 million active customers at June 30 this year, compared to 955,000 at the same time last year. “Kogan.com finished the financial year with a strong quarter of continued growth, as we execute our long term strategy,” said Kogan cofounder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan. At about 10.25am (AEST), Kogan.com shares were trading 2.57 per cent lower at $6.45. The announcement follows a near-25 per cent slip in the Kogan.com share price to below $7.50 last month, after Kogan’s co-founders offloaded a major stake in the company.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
National Australia Bank has ushered in a new era for relations with farming finance customers and banking customers in the bush, as the nation’s largest agribusiness lender looks to soothe community outrage about its withdrawal from regional Australia. After a bruising round of hearings at the royal commission which probed a range of misconduct towards farming customers, NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn has used a visit to the NSW town of Wagga Wagga to outline how the lender will take a better approach to its rural customers. Earlier this year, National Australia Bank confirmed it was closing several branches around the Riverina region — in Ardlethan, Lockhart, Grenfell, Culcairn and Barham in NSW, and at Boort and Euroa in Victoria, in June. The big four banks had closed more than 100 branches over the past year, as the profitability of the bank branch model comes under pressure from technological disruption and the digitisation of financial services.
Transurban Group (TCL):
The Transurban-led consortium has edged its way back into the reckoning to land a $5 billion majority stake in Sydney motorway WestConnex with the NSW government considering delaying naming a winner until after the competition watchdog hands down its own ruling on the bid. The toll road giant submitted an offer for a 51 per cent stake of the project before yesterday’s deadline, pitting it against a rival bid led by infrastructure heavyweight IFM Investors and giving the state a dose of competitive tension for the latest leg of its $40bn asset sell-off. Unless the IFM group delivers a knockout bid, the government will resist any pressure to make a premature decision on a winner for the deal, sources close to the process said. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission was due to deliver its ruling last week on whether Transurban could bid for a stake in the toll road ahead of yesterday’s bid deadline. Instead, it requested a further seven weeks, until September 6, to better understand the competition -issues involved.
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd(TWE):
A thirst for premium Australian wine has driven growth in the value of wine exports to the fastest rate in 15 years, new figures show. Overseas sales jumped 20 per cent to $2.76 billion in 2017/18, with China, where 40 per cent of exports are bought, the biggest contributor, according to data from industry body Wine Australia. The sector also recorded its highest average value of wine since 2009 with an increase of nine per cent per cent to $3.24 per litre. Treasury Wines, maker of Penfolds, shot up as much as 5.2 per cent on the figures, settling up 4.36pc at $19.13 at 12.45pm.
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Former HSBC Hong Kong boss Anita Fung has been appointed to the Westpac board. Ms Fung, a former chairwoman of HSBC Global Asset Management in Hong Kong and former chair of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, will become a member of Westpac’s Risk and Compliance Committee, as well as a member of the bank’s Asia Advisory Board. She has formerly served as non-executive director of HSBC Bank China, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of Communications Co. “Anita is a highly-respected figure in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted. “She has extensive experience in wholesale and retail banking and alongside her active promotion of the development of the Asian financial landscape, provides diversity of experience and skills to the board of Australia’s first bank. Westpac said in a statement to the market this morning that it expects Ms Fung to join the company’s board on October 1, following the completion of regulatory and visa requirements.
(Source: AIMS)
The nation’s largest and oldest listed investment company, the $7.4 billion Australian Foundation Investment Company, has warned that Labor’s proposal to axe franking credit cash refunds will hit low-income retirees hardest and could trigger an exodus from self-managed super funds as retirees defend against the attack on their savings. Labor’s policy, which would ban cash tax refunds for excess franking credits, has not been well thought out, AFIC managing director Mark Freeman said. He warned it would come to a head this year as retirees started to make more noise about the issue. “Our shareholders are really quite disillusioned by the whole thing,” Mr Freeman said. “There are a lot of retirees out there that are going to see a significant chunk of their income taken away from them, which goes against the whole theory of the franking credit system.
Iluka Resources Limited (ILU):
Iluka Resources said first-half mineral-sands output fell by 18 per cent as the company stopped mining at one site in Western Australia and downgraded expectations for 2018 rutile output after operational difficulties in Sierra Leone. Iluka on Tuesday reported secondquarter production of 281,400 metric tonnes, taking half-year output to 561,800 tonnes. Volumes were weaker on a year ago after the Tutunup South mine finished mining in early March because reserves were depleted and heavy mineral concentrate processing through the Narngulu mineral separation plant, also in Australia’s west, ran at a reduced rate to optimize mineral recoveries, it said. Iluka also reported lower output of rutile, a mineral used in to make pigments for paints, paper and plastics, because of mechanical and other issues and said it now expects full-year production of 185,000 tons, from an earlier target of 200,000 tons. “Production has improved early in this second half and the mines are now operating as expected... however, due to the lower run-times in the first half, full-year rutile production has been reduced,” the miner said. Still, first-half revenue was up 21% at 606.9 million, aided by rising prices of commodities such as zircon, used in ceramics like tiles and wash basins.
Investa Office Fund (IOF):
Private equity group Blackstone’s $3.1 billion takeover play for the Investa Office Fund has been deemed not fair but reasonable by independent expert KPMG, setting the scene for a proxy battle as it seeks to win support for the deal. The NSW Supreme Court was told today that KPMG had found the deal was in the best interests of IOF unit holders in the absence of a superior proposal. The marathon battle for the fund is coming to a head and Blackstone is chasing ownership of the IOF portfolio, which is worth $4.3bn, and spans 20 office buildings in cities across Australia, including a slice of Sydney’s Deutsche Bank Place, at time when office rents and values re surging. The scheme was judged as not fair but reasonable by KPMG which relied on an assessment of fairness based on a net asset valuation methodology. This produced a valuation range of $5.38- $5.41 per unit, against the firm’s assessment of the value of the bid at $5.14 per unit.
Kogan.com Ltd (KGN):
Online retailer Kogan.com has flagged a full-year revenue hike, ahead of its formal results announcement. Based on unaudited figures, the company (KGN) said it expects to book revenue 40 per cent higher than the $289.5 million posted last year. Kogan estimates earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will be up 90 per cent on the prior year, based on unaudited accounts. The company reports its audited full-year results next month. Kogan.com said it had nearly 1.4 million active customers at June 30 this year, compared to 955,000 at the same time last year. “Kogan.com finished the financial year with a strong quarter of continued growth, as we execute our long term strategy,” said Kogan cofounder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan. At about 10.25am (AEST), Kogan.com shares were trading 2.57 per cent lower at $6.45. The announcement follows a near-25 per cent slip in the Kogan.com share price to below $7.50 last month, after Kogan’s co-founders offloaded a major stake in the company.
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB):
National Australia Bank has ushered in a new era for relations with farming finance customers and banking customers in the bush, as the nation’s largest agribusiness lender looks to soothe community outrage about its withdrawal from regional Australia. After a bruising round of hearings at the royal commission which probed a range of misconduct towards farming customers, NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn has used a visit to the NSW town of Wagga Wagga to outline how the lender will take a better approach to its rural customers. Earlier this year, National Australia Bank confirmed it was closing several branches around the Riverina region — in Ardlethan, Lockhart, Grenfell, Culcairn and Barham in NSW, and at Boort and Euroa in Victoria, in June. The big four banks had closed more than 100 branches over the past year, as the profitability of the bank branch model comes under pressure from technological disruption and the digitisation of financial services.
Transurban Group (TCL):
The Transurban-led consortium has edged its way back into the reckoning to land a $5 billion majority stake in Sydney motorway WestConnex with the NSW government considering delaying naming a winner until after the competition watchdog hands down its own ruling on the bid. The toll road giant submitted an offer for a 51 per cent stake of the project before yesterday’s deadline, pitting it against a rival bid led by infrastructure heavyweight IFM Investors and giving the state a dose of competitive tension for the latest leg of its $40bn asset sell-off. Unless the IFM group delivers a knockout bid, the government will resist any pressure to make a premature decision on a winner for the deal, sources close to the process said. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission was due to deliver its ruling last week on whether Transurban could bid for a stake in the toll road ahead of yesterday’s bid deadline. Instead, it requested a further seven weeks, until September 6, to better understand the competition -issues involved.
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd(TWE):
A thirst for premium Australian wine has driven growth in the value of wine exports to the fastest rate in 15 years, new figures show. Overseas sales jumped 20 per cent to $2.76 billion in 2017/18, with China, where 40 per cent of exports are bought, the biggest contributor, according to data from industry body Wine Australia. The sector also recorded its highest average value of wine since 2009 with an increase of nine per cent per cent to $3.24 per litre. Treasury Wines, maker of Penfolds, shot up as much as 5.2 per cent on the figures, settling up 4.36pc at $19.13 at 12.45pm.
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Former HSBC Hong Kong boss Anita Fung has been appointed to the Westpac board. Ms Fung, a former chairwoman of HSBC Global Asset Management in Hong Kong and former chair of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, will become a member of Westpac’s Risk and Compliance Committee, as well as a member of the bank’s Asia Advisory Board. She has formerly served as non-executive director of HSBC Bank China, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of Communications Co. “Anita is a highly-respected figure in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted. “She has extensive experience in wholesale and retail banking and alongside her active promotion of the development of the Asian financial landscape, provides diversity of experience and skills to the board of Australia’s first bank. Westpac said in a statement to the market this morning that it expects Ms Fung to join the company’s board on October 1, following the completion of regulatory and visa requirements.
(Source: AIMS)
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