Aurizon Holdings Ltd (AZJ):
Aurizon will sell its loss-making Queensland intermodal business to Linfox for $7.3 million after a previous deal to sell it to the trucking group and rival Pacific National was blocked by the competition watchdog. The sale depends on the Federal Court giving Aurizon permission to sell the intermodal business to Linfox because the rail group has to comply with an injunction to keep operating it while a lawsuit against Aurizon and Pacific National proceeds.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ):
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott has told parliament he was “embarrassed” to read banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s scathing interim report into the scandal-ridden financial services industry. Appearing before the House of Representatives economics committee this morning, Mr Elliott apologised for the bank’s misconduct and said it had not done enough to hold executives accountable for wrongdoing. He said that last year ANZ has fired 200 employees for misconduct, but not all the terminations were related to the royal commission. Mr Elliott, who has been CEO since 2016 and before that was chief financial officer under former boss Mike Smith, told the committee that “in the past, ANZ has not focused sufficiently on formally holding executives to account for failures that harm customers”. He slammed ANZ’s previous “matrix management” structure for blurring lines of responsibility and said the bank had moved towards a simpler command structure. Matrix management is a management fad in which workers have multiple lines of reporting because employees are a shared resource between divisions.
Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ):
Fairfax Media has reported a 5 per cent drop in revenues for FY19 ahead of the commencement of the formalities of its merger with Nine. In a trading update to the market this morning, Fairfax said its Australian Community Media segment had been the biggest drag locally, and New Zealand Media was tracking down 16pc including currency impact. It said Metro Media was down around 1pc, and its Metro publishing was flat. The Fairfax/Nine merger scheme process and lodgement of the scheme booklet is expected to commence shortly.
Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (HVN):
A Harvey Norman franchisee bailed out at a cost of almost $8 million – dragging down Harvey Norman's Australian earnings and raising new questions about the independence of franchisees – had a troubled history. Harvey Norman revealed at its full-year results it had paid $7.8 million in "tactical support" in the June quarter to restructure one of its franchisees, a B2B business selling computers and electronics to schools, corporates and government bodies.
Lendlease Group (LLC):
Office buildings in the major east coast capitals are fully priced as a wave of capital seeks assets with long-term leases in place, according to Lendlease chief executive Steve McCann. But the residential sector in Melbourne is taking a breather before coming back to life in two or three years, although some -developers of suburban projects may struggle to secure funding and could sell distressed sites. Lendlease yesterday opened a new Melbourne headquarters in the first tower of its $2 billion -Melbourne Quarter project, complete with an elevated Wi-Fi--enabled park accessed via a spiral staircase and open to the public during the -daytime. Mr McCann emphasised the importance of looking for tenant precommitments in the group’s new commercial projects despite the buoyancy of the major office markets, with the Melbourne tower 50 per cent taken up before construction began.
Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (NEC):
Broadcaster Nine Entertainment has affirmed its full-year earnings target after a rise in digital revenue but steady advertising revenue in metropolitan areas. The company (NEC), which is working toward finalising an agreed merger with newspaper publisher Fairfax Media, said it continued to expect earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of between $280 million and $300 million, before specific items, in the year through June. Since the end of the last fiscal year, the metro free-to-air television advertising market has been slightly softer than expected yet Nine’s share has been ahead, the company said. As a result, its first-quarter metro advertising revenue was broadly flat year-over-year after adjusting for one less week in the current year. It added its digital revenue was about 10 per cent ahead for the recent quarter. Nine swung back to a profit in the last fiscal year after writedowns the year before weren’t repeated. EBITDA for the year was up 25 per cent at $257 million, excluding certain items.
Propertylink Group (PLG):
Propertylink is urging it investors to reject the bid by Centuria to roll its board and replace its directors, as the companies remain at the centre of a complicated takeover battle. Propertylink made a $755 million hostile bid for its major rival Centuria Industrial REIT (CIP) in mid September before it became a takeover target itself. The Asian group ESR has teamed up with Warburg Pincus and pitched a $1.15 per unit bid for Propertylink which valued the fund manager at $693 million. The situation is further complicated by each of the companies owning a stake in each other. Centuria Capital (CNI), which is the head stock of CIP, owns 12.52 per cent of Propertylink. Propertylink owns an 18.1 per cent stake in CIP, while ESR owns a 14.9 per cent in CNI. As a result of recent buying, ESR now owns 19.9 per cent of Propertylink and is pushing ahead with its bid for a full takeover.
Rio Tinto Limited Fully Paid Ord. Shrs (RIO):
Rio Tinto has warned of a $US500 million hit to full-year pre-tax operating profits from more expensive aluminium raw materials and coal and, according to analysts briefed by the company, has shelved plans to sell its Australian and New Zealand aluminium business. The cost warning and Pacific Aluminium plans were revealed in North American investor presentations by aluminium boss Alf Barrios. The guidance boosts a $US229m ($320m) earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation hit revealed in its first half results. It was part of $US500m of group-wide raw material and energy first-half cost increases that saw Rio shares slide when they were announced.
(Source: AIMS)
Aurizon will sell its loss-making Queensland intermodal business to Linfox for $7.3 million after a previous deal to sell it to the trucking group and rival Pacific National was blocked by the competition watchdog. The sale depends on the Federal Court giving Aurizon permission to sell the intermodal business to Linfox because the rail group has to comply with an injunction to keep operating it while a lawsuit against Aurizon and Pacific National proceeds.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ):
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott has told parliament he was “embarrassed” to read banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s scathing interim report into the scandal-ridden financial services industry. Appearing before the House of Representatives economics committee this morning, Mr Elliott apologised for the bank’s misconduct and said it had not done enough to hold executives accountable for wrongdoing. He said that last year ANZ has fired 200 employees for misconduct, but not all the terminations were related to the royal commission. Mr Elliott, who has been CEO since 2016 and before that was chief financial officer under former boss Mike Smith, told the committee that “in the past, ANZ has not focused sufficiently on formally holding executives to account for failures that harm customers”. He slammed ANZ’s previous “matrix management” structure for blurring lines of responsibility and said the bank had moved towards a simpler command structure. Matrix management is a management fad in which workers have multiple lines of reporting because employees are a shared resource between divisions.
Fairfax Media Limited (FXJ):
Fairfax Media has reported a 5 per cent drop in revenues for FY19 ahead of the commencement of the formalities of its merger with Nine. In a trading update to the market this morning, Fairfax said its Australian Community Media segment had been the biggest drag locally, and New Zealand Media was tracking down 16pc including currency impact. It said Metro Media was down around 1pc, and its Metro publishing was flat. The Fairfax/Nine merger scheme process and lodgement of the scheme booklet is expected to commence shortly.
Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (HVN):
A Harvey Norman franchisee bailed out at a cost of almost $8 million – dragging down Harvey Norman's Australian earnings and raising new questions about the independence of franchisees – had a troubled history. Harvey Norman revealed at its full-year results it had paid $7.8 million in "tactical support" in the June quarter to restructure one of its franchisees, a B2B business selling computers and electronics to schools, corporates and government bodies.
Lendlease Group (LLC):
Office buildings in the major east coast capitals are fully priced as a wave of capital seeks assets with long-term leases in place, according to Lendlease chief executive Steve McCann. But the residential sector in Melbourne is taking a breather before coming back to life in two or three years, although some -developers of suburban projects may struggle to secure funding and could sell distressed sites. Lendlease yesterday opened a new Melbourne headquarters in the first tower of its $2 billion -Melbourne Quarter project, complete with an elevated Wi-Fi--enabled park accessed via a spiral staircase and open to the public during the -daytime. Mr McCann emphasised the importance of looking for tenant precommitments in the group’s new commercial projects despite the buoyancy of the major office markets, with the Melbourne tower 50 per cent taken up before construction began.
Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (NEC):
Broadcaster Nine Entertainment has affirmed its full-year earnings target after a rise in digital revenue but steady advertising revenue in metropolitan areas. The company (NEC), which is working toward finalising an agreed merger with newspaper publisher Fairfax Media, said it continued to expect earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of between $280 million and $300 million, before specific items, in the year through June. Since the end of the last fiscal year, the metro free-to-air television advertising market has been slightly softer than expected yet Nine’s share has been ahead, the company said. As a result, its first-quarter metro advertising revenue was broadly flat year-over-year after adjusting for one less week in the current year. It added its digital revenue was about 10 per cent ahead for the recent quarter. Nine swung back to a profit in the last fiscal year after writedowns the year before weren’t repeated. EBITDA for the year was up 25 per cent at $257 million, excluding certain items.
Propertylink Group (PLG):
Propertylink is urging it investors to reject the bid by Centuria to roll its board and replace its directors, as the companies remain at the centre of a complicated takeover battle. Propertylink made a $755 million hostile bid for its major rival Centuria Industrial REIT (CIP) in mid September before it became a takeover target itself. The Asian group ESR has teamed up with Warburg Pincus and pitched a $1.15 per unit bid for Propertylink which valued the fund manager at $693 million. The situation is further complicated by each of the companies owning a stake in each other. Centuria Capital (CNI), which is the head stock of CIP, owns 12.52 per cent of Propertylink. Propertylink owns an 18.1 per cent stake in CIP, while ESR owns a 14.9 per cent in CNI. As a result of recent buying, ESR now owns 19.9 per cent of Propertylink and is pushing ahead with its bid for a full takeover.
Rio Tinto Limited Fully Paid Ord. Shrs (RIO):
Rio Tinto has warned of a $US500 million hit to full-year pre-tax operating profits from more expensive aluminium raw materials and coal and, according to analysts briefed by the company, has shelved plans to sell its Australian and New Zealand aluminium business. The cost warning and Pacific Aluminium plans were revealed in North American investor presentations by aluminium boss Alf Barrios. The guidance boosts a $US229m ($320m) earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation hit revealed in its first half results. It was part of $US500m of group-wide raw material and energy first-half cost increases that saw Rio shares slide when they were announced.
(Source: AIMS)
Latest comments