Alumina Limited (AWC):
Alcoa and Alumina’s energy-hungry refining business has locked in three gas supply deals representing about 5 per cent of Western Australia’s domestic supply, underwriting the future energy security of its refineries and providing a sharp contrast to the situation on the east coast. US giant Alcoa and Australian-listed Alumina, whose Alcoa of Australia business operates two bauxite mines and three alumina refineries in WA, yesterday announced separate deals with gas heavyweights Chevron, Woodside Petroleum and BHP. The business will purchase a combined 140.4 petajoules of gas from the trio over the course of the new contracts, which Alcoa of Australia said would represent almost a quarter of its gas needs. Alcoa of Australia is WA’s single largest user of gas, consuming close to 40 per cent of the gas supplied to the comparatively densely populated southwest region of WA and about a quarter of the state’s total domestic gas supply.
APA Group (APA):
Long-serving APA Group managing director and chief Mick McCormack will retire next year, saying he decided to “call time”. Mr McCormack has been in the role since 2005 and will retire no later than December 31, 2019. Chairman Michael Fraser said during his time he had made the company one of the ASX’s top performing entities. “Mick’s record speaks for itself in terms of his contribution to APA’s success and to the Australian energy industry since taking over as CEO and Managing Director in 2005,” Mr Fraser said. “Mick will leave having established an unrivalled position for APA in gas transmission pipelines across the country and a strong portfolio of growth projects ahead of it.” The board has commenced a selection process for his replacement and will consider external candidates, with Mr McCormack to lead the company until his successor is found.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ):
ANZ has announced this morning that its group executive for Australia, Fred Ohlsson is stepping down from his role while the bank reviews “the best structure for the Australian division”. A 17-year ANZ veteran, Mr Ohlsson heads the bank’s retail and commercial banking operations in Australia. He is taking an extended unpaid career-break in his native Sweden, ANZ says. ANZ says business and private banking group executive Mark Hand will act as group exec for Australia in Mr Ohlsson’s absence, with the two going through a handover in January.
Lendlease Group (LLC):
Lendlease’s investment management arm will back development of new precincts across Australian cities, with the $12 billion office funds platform signalling that its ability to tap into the new wave of projects is a key advantage. The group’s office fund has raised fresh capital, giving it the firepower to acquire key towers, including from the developer’s bulging local pipeline, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. The group’s APPF-Commercial, which had $5.4bn in gross -assets at the end of September, has completed an oversubscribed $560 million equity raising that included $100m from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in keeping with its focus on environmentally leading precincts.
Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited (NEU):
Melbourne-based drug developer Neuren Pharmaceuticals has led the world with its work on a rare genetic condition, which has earned it a $US465 million ($645m) deal, with further financial rewards tipped. The Australian-listed company, which lists billionaire Lang Walker as a major shareholder, has flown under the radar of investors despite recently revealing that it licensed the North American rights of its lead drug, Trofinetide, to US company Acadia Pharmaceuticals. The drug is being developed for two rare neurological genetic conditions, Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. “We have really been leading the way as a small, Australian-New Zealand company, in terms of developing a treatment for Rett syndrome,” Neuren executive chairman Richard Treagus said. The deal with Acadia will see the US company develop, manufacture and commercialise the drug for Rett and Fragile X, while Neuren will be paid milestones and royalties. Acadia gave Neuren $US10m on signing the deal and it also agreed to pay $US105m in developmental milestones, plus a further $US350m for sales milestones.
QBE Insurance Group Limited (QBE):
QBE Insurance has recovered some of its share price losses after a mixed report card from analysts yesterday on the company’s reinsurance renewal and a three-year initiative to boost efficiency. As the stock recovered 3.2 per cent to $10.28, Morgan Stanley concluded that the market’s negative reaction to the QBE update on Tuesday was overdone. “QBE’s business momentum is looking the best we have seen in a decade,” analyst Daniel Toohey said. QBE chief executive Pat Regan announced that the company had completed its simplification agenda with the sale of its insurance operations in Puerto Rico, Indonesia and the Philippines. At the same time, it had fully placed its 2019 reinsurance program and committed to a three-year program to achieve net cost savings of $US130 million ($180m). The group said its expense ratio in 2021 would be 14 per cent. Mr Regan said he had all the ingredients to improve the company’s performance.
Restaurant Brands NZ (RBD):
Dual-listed fast-food franchise operator Restaurant Brands NZ says its Aussie fried chicken profits are on the rise, even as it cooks up a Tex-Mex expansion. The Auckland-based company says third-quarter same-store sales at its Australian KFC outlets rose 2.4 per cent to $A33 million compared to the same period last year. Restaurant Brands, which also added three Australian KFC stores in the three months to December 3 for a total 62, says total same-store year-to-date sales in Australia were up 3.8 per cent to $A100.1 million. Total third-quarter sales at the company's 284 global fast-food stores was $NZ181.5 million ($A172.4 million), an increase of 4.7 per cent on the equivalent period last year. This includes include KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks franchises in NZ, and Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants in Hawaii.
Stanmore Coal Limited (SMR):
Pressure is mounting on Indonesia’s Golden Investments to lift its bid for Stanmore Coal after its $240 million offer was emphatically shot down by Stanmore’s independent experts. A statement released yesterday by Stanmore included an -expert report from BDO that valued the coal miner at between $1.48 and $1.90 a share. That is substantially above the 95c on offer from Golden Investments. Stanmore had already advised shareholders to reject the Golden Investments offer, and the findings by BDO will only bolster the company’s case.
TPG Telecom Limited (TPM):
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is not convinced that the mooted $15 billion merger between TPG Telecom and Vodafone Hutchison Australia should be allowed to proceed, with the regulator worried the tie-up will cut competition in the telco market. While both TPG and Vodafone remained confident the merger will still be approved, ACCC boss Rod Sims warned the tie-up could remove the pressure that has seen all of the telcos compete aggressively on price. “Our preliminary view is that TPG is currently on track to become the fourth mobile network operator in Australia, and as such it’s likely to be an aggressive competitor,” he said in a statement.
Westpac Banking Corp (WBC):
Lindsay Maxsted take a bow — yesterday’s 64.2 per cent vote against the Westpac remuneration report set a record for a widely-held company, underlining the widespread shareholder concern at the lack of management accountability imposed by the board. The 35 per cent vote against returning director and former AMP chief Craig Dunn was further evidence of this anger and underlines the growing shareholder movement against boards who refuse to challenge management. Granted the 66 per cent vote in the 2007 Telstra AGM against Sol Trujillo’s $11 million pay cheque was a bigger vote, but the Future Fund vote was 17 per cent against that year.
(Source: AIMS)
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