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ASB Securities Morning Brief for Friday, 13 August 2010
New Zealand Headlines Meridian Energy expects to report a reduced return on investment in the year ahead as it prepares to tip around A$500 million into the 420 megawatt Macarthur wind farm in southwest Victoria... Read more A billion-dollar wind farm joint-venture in Australia will make Meridian Energy more attractive for investors, if the Government decides to float the company in its second term, an analyst says... Read more Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard is now very unlikely to bump up its official cash rate any more this year, according to Deutsche Bank... Read more Manufacturing new orders have taken a steep dive in July dropping almost 10 index points from June, further indicating bumps ahead in New Zealand’s economic recover... Read more Allied Farmers shares lost almost a third of their value yesterday after the company slashed $81 million from its assets and its finance subsidiary had its credit rating cut... Read more Competition between the supermarket chains is seen as the cause of yet another fall in fruit and vegetable prices.... Read more Surging dairy prices have filtered into the local market with a 5.9% increase in the price of fresh milk combining with high prices for fruit and vegetables to take the price of food higher last month... Read more Kiwibank has undercharged for too long and is reaping the fruits of not being profitable enough, Ralph Norris says... Read more DIYers will get a pre-Christmas present, able to undertake more of their own minor work without red tape... Read more Steel & Tube Holdings, which supplies steel products to the construction industry, posted a 78% slump in full-year profit as a lacklustre construction sector weighed on demand... Read more Allied Nationwide Finance had its credit rating cut to `CC’ from ‘B’ by Standard & Poor’s after withdrawing a prospectus, a rating that means it is “highly vulnerable’ to default.... Read more Marac Finance, CBS Canterbury and Auckland's Southern Cross Building Society are still working on a formal agreement to form a $2.2 billion bank.... Read more Turners & Growers lifted its underlying earnings 10% in the first-half of its financial year, although came up short of analysts’ expectations... Read more TelstraClear, the New Zealand unit of Telstra, posted weaker annual earnings, mirroring the tough environment the Australian company faced across the Tasman... Read more Property investor Kiwi Income Property Trust told investors it is well positioned to capitalise on New Zealand's recovery - when it happens... Read more PGG Wrightson Finance said bondholders have approved an amendment to its trust deed extending the term of its October 2010 bonds by 12 months... Read more Greenstone Energy, the new owner of Shell’s New Zealand retail and distribution assets, has offered a 7.35% interest rate on its inaugural sale of $100 million of bonds... Read more Commerce Minister Simon Power will shut a controversial loophole in takeovers law that was used in 2006 by Waste Management NZ and Transpacific Industries... Read more The New Zealand Venture Investment Fund aims to help fledgling companies get across the so-called ‘Valley of Death’ gap between start-up capital and the levels of funding private equity investors are typically comfortable in making... Read more A report prepared by business researcher Infometrics is predicting house prices will fall 4.1 per cent by next June... Read more Provincial areas look set to prosper in the property market over the next two years, with the export led economy helping economic prospects according to the QBE LMI 2010 Housing Outlook Report... Read more Vacant office space in the capital could double by next year, New Zealand's largest listed property company warns... Read more The wildcat Tuatara-1 oil exploration well off D’Urville Island has almost reached its total depth without further shows of hydrocarbons, well operator AWE reported to the NZX... Read more A2 Corp., the producer of A2 dairy products in New Zealand and Australia, has appointed Geoffrey Babidge as managing director, effective next month... Read more Brian Fallow. Lately there has been little in the economic news to cheer people up. The labour market and housing market are torpid, at best. The cost of living is rising and interest rates are rising too... Read more Daily Sharechat. Opus International Consultants produced better than expected revenue in the six months ended June 30 but its $10.4 million net profit was 14% below his forecast due to weaker margins in New Zealand and Australia, says First NZ Capital analyst Kar Yue Yeo... Read more NZ Market Report. New Zealand stocks fell for a third straight day, broadsided overnight by global markets tumbling precipitously after already-spooked investors fled equities on fears economic growth and corporate earnings will stall... Read more
Australian Headlines Australian Market Report. The Australian sharemarket hit a three-week low yesterday on the back of offshore weakness and a steep fall in Telstra... Read more Telstra faces a possible 9 per cent profit fall this financial year as it cuts margins in a 'transition year' to win back market share... Read more Telstra has downgraded earnings guidance for the fourth time under chief executive David Thodey... Read more The unemployment rate has crept higher to 5.3 per cent as the number of people looking for work rose... Read more Qantas remains confident it is on the road to recovery despite reporting a 4.3 per cent fall in net profit last financial year... Read more It began as as a lure to get people to fly more often. Now Qantas’s frequent-flyer business is the earnings engine of the airline, bringing in substantially more for Australia’s flag carrier than its once core business of flying people around... Read more Qantas and six other airlines, including Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines, will have to fend off accusations they illegally fixed air cargo charges over seven years.... Read more Optus has posted its strongest quarterly earnings growth in five years as it continues to attract mobile phone customers from its competitors... Read more Tim Hughes has left the building, but Photon's shareholders may soon have 1.5 billion new reasons to worry over about the group's prospects.... Read more Beverage major Coca-Cola Amatil has reported a 12 per cent rise in first-half profit.... Read more Myer has upgraded its earnings guidance after reducing theft, streamlining its logistics systems and using promotional sales... Read more AGL Energy has signed an agreement with the New Zealand renewable energy company Meridian Energy to build the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere at Macarthur in south-west Victoria... Read more Business leaders have claimed that Australia and New Zealand could both cut emissions by at least 15 per cent and save money at the same time... Read more Mining major Rio Tinto will push ahead with a share buyback, with the first tranche said to be worth up to $US9.2 billion ($10.2bn)... Read more The airport owner MAp Group will sell its stake in Mexico's largest private airport operator at a $US28 million ($31 million) loss, part of its strategy of offloading non-core investments over the past 18 months... Read more Controversial Transurban chairman David Ryan has resigned, sparing him a showdown with angry shareholders at the annual meeting in October... Read more There are only two of the three in the word Transurban. But for the past 18 months, the letters A, B and C have plagued chairman David Ryan.... Read more Sigma Pharmaceuticals has denied speculation that it has received an improved 65¢-a-share takeover bid from South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings.... Read more TPG Opportunities Partners is spearheading a radical restructuring proposal for Alinta Energy.... Read more The Commonwealth Bank could become the first bank to implement an interest rate rise independent of the Reserve Bank.... Read more The state-owned power company, EnergyAustralia, spent $4.5 million on brand advertising last financial year - more on a single campaign than any government agency - as its customers learnt electricity costs would rise by hundreds of dollars... Read more After believing it had endured the worst of the US housing downturn, the building materials supplier James Hardie says this year could be even worse as building starts stall at lows of almost 50 years... Read more Foxtel's board has taken a conservative approach to dividends after overcoming weak subscriber numbers to post strong earnings growth... Read more Austereo Group remains confident the recovery in radio advertising will continue for the rest of the year... Read more BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi's $4 billion Caval Ridge coking coal joint venture is a step closer after receiving environmental approval from the Queensland government... Read more The residential developer AV Jennings is back in the black after shedding its loss-making contract building division... Read more Australian Vintage expects to increase net earnings over the next year and says there are signs that the supply problems plaguing the wine industry may be easing... Read more A third management reshuffle at Westpac group in 18 months has seen one of Gail Kelly's former proteges at St George Bank emerge as a potential successor to her as chief executive... Read more The $2 billion-a-year Australian magazine industry continued its roller-coaster ride with the latest readership figures, which delivered precipitous highs and lows for publishers who are struggling to second-guess consumers... Read more Mark Korda and Andrew Malarkey of KordaMentha have been appointed receivers and managers to Reflections Group.... Read more Financial products and services will be branded with a Heart Foundation-style tick designed to protect people from losing their savings in dodgy investments... Read more Matthew Stevens. What David Thodey calls "industry inflection" and "transition" the rest of us would describe as crisis and a profit downgrade... Read more Elizabeth Knight. Telstra says it is in a challenging environment in which the biggest challenge is to retain and grow customers. Let the discounts begin... Read more Stephen Bartholomeusz. Telstra's stale result today will disappoint some, but it is a vital chapter in David Thodey's NBN-changeover narrative. By investing in product and services delivery, the telco is hoping to write a happy ending... Read more David Symons. Revelations that David Thodey's strategic tweaking has Telstra heading for a ''high single-digit-percentage decline'' in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation caused the industry giant's shares to slide 9.5 per cent but there is a risk that its sneeze will quickly have most of the telco sector in bed with the flu... Read more Glenda Korporaal. There was a lot of talk yesterday about what is going on in the minds and the wallets of Australian consumers... Read more Malcolm Maiden. Is the global slump returning? Sharemarkets are signalling that fear, and the Australian unemployment rate rose unexpectedly in July, but chief executives are divided... Read more Ian McIlwraith. Transurban's newly promoted chairman, Lindsay Maxsted, should brace himself for a solid ''welcome to the big league'' hip-and-shoulder bump from investors when he runs on to the ground at the annual meeting... Read more Andrew Main. Mexican telecoms titan Carlos Slim Helu will speak at the Forbes Global CEO conference in Sydney on September 28-29... Read more
International Headlines U.S. Market Report. An updated report of the latest action on Wall Street... Read more World Market Report. An updated report of the worlds' latest market movements... Read more The chief executive of the US car giant General Motors announces plans to resign, as the company reports increased profits.... Read more General Motors was winding up a regular quarterly earnings call with securities analysts and reporters Thursday morning when Chairman Ed Whitacre unexpectedly got on the line to announce that he was stepping down as chairman and CEO.... Read more The US Department of Agriculture cuts its outlook for world wheat production after revising down its forecast for Russia... Read more The number of U.S. first-time filers for unemployment insurance rose to the highest level since late February last week, according to a weekly government report released Thursday... Read more Staff at UK airport operator BAA vote three to one in favour of strike action that could close Heathrow and five other UK airports.... Read more Boeing Co. 747 jumbo jets are being brought out of desert storage as surging bookings spur carriers including British Airways Plc and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. to return their biggest planes to traffic.... Read more Insurance group Prudential announces that the cost of failing to buy Asian business AIA was less than it first estimated.... Read more India is expected to make a major decision regarding BlackBerry, which is under serious scrutiny because the highly encrypted messages in the device make it impossible for intelligence agencies to monitor... Read more Shares of MakeMyTrip Ltd. soared 75% on Thursday as the Indian travel agency made its debut on the U.S. market, in another sign of strength for online travel booking services... Read more The yen weakened from a 15-year high against the dollar and fell versus the euro after Japanese officials said they’re closely watching the rise of the currency, fueling concern its surge in strength may be capped.... Read more Rupert Murdoch’s bid for the rest of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc has become $US700 million more expensive after the pound’s 6 percent gain against the dollar... Read more Google Inc.’s Android platform is the most popular smartphone software in the U.S., overtaking Apple Inc.’s iPhone and the BlackBerry from Research In Motion Ltd. , according to Gartner Inc... Read more Cairn Energy is in talks to sell an interest in its India operations to mining group Vedanta Resources.... Read more Paul La Monica. Yes, the economic recovery is losing pace. But based on Wednesday's big sell-off, you would have thought that we were heading for an imminent repeat of a 2008-style crisis... Read more
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