Insightful Insights

Court finds Coles engaged in unconscionable conduct and orders Coles pay $10 million penalties.

 The Federal Court has today, by consent, made declarations in two proceedings instituted by the ACCC that Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd engaged in unconscionable conduct in 2011 in its dealings with certain suppliers.

 The Court has also ordered Coles pay combined pecuniary penalties of $10 million and costs. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Companies, Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights.

• 1 Comments
• save this article
• POSTED IN Companies, Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights

Macau gaming revenues look set to go from bad to worse. According to reports in The South China Morning Post yesterday, Beijing is giving its Ministry of Public Security powers to crack down on illegal money laundering through Macau, in what is described as an unprecedented move.

Money laundering through Macau has, it is speculated, been a primary channel through which wealthy Chinese channel money out from the mainland. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Foreign Currency, Insightful Insights.

• save this article
• POSTED IN Foreign Currency, Insightful Insights

For those hoping that 2014 will see the end of the mining downturn, the fallout may have only just begun.

A bellwether of the Perth market has released profit guidance that paints a very grim picture of economic conditions in the west. continue…

by Ben MacNevin Posted in Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights.

• 2 Comments
• save this article
• POSTED IN Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights

TPG Telecom Limited (ASX: TPM) has been sold off sharply over the past few days presumably post the Government’s response to the Vertigan Panel’s review of the National Broadband Network & telecommunications industry which you can find here.

The report contains a lot of material, an analysis of which could extend for several pages, so below we attempt a more concise review of some of the changes and their potential implications for TPG as we currently see them. continue…

by Scott Shuttleworth Posted in Insightful Insights, Investing Education, Technology & Telecommunications.

• save this article
• POSTED IN Insightful Insights, Investing Education, Technology & Telecommunications

The Sydney Morning Herald today reported, what appears to be shocking behaviour, by Woolworths (ASX:WOW) and suggests the company is really feeling the pressure at the moment. If the allegations reported by Fairfax are correct, one must wonder how the methods are any different to the stand-over tactics employed by the gangsters of the 50’s and 60’s.  It certainly doesn’t seem to be the behaviour of responsible corporate citizens, rewarded with millions in salaries and bonuses. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights.

• 10 Comments
• save this article
• POSTED IN Consumer discretionary, Insightful Insights

We have watched the share price fall in Sirtex Medical over the past week with some interest, and whilst we don’t take our cues from price action alone, we did a fair amount on enquiry as to what had spooked investors over such a short space of time. continue…

by Russell Muldoon Posted in Health Care, Insightful Insights, Investing Education.

• 3 Comments
• save this article
• POSTED IN Health Care, Insightful Insights, Investing Education

Australia is now facing a commodity bust and the outlook is for lower growth and pressure on public finances with the budget deficit for Fiscal 2015 blowing out to $40 billion. Meanwhile, the Australian Dollar has declined from US$1.05 to $0.82 in the past twenty months and a low of US$0.75 is on the cards. continue…

by David Buckland Posted in Economics, Energy / Resources, Insightful Insights.

• save this article
• POSTED IN Economics, Energy / Resources, Insightful Insights

Commsday ran a test of the various major mobile networks to see which performed best in various environments on their shiny new 4G services. A full copy of the report can be found here.

Telstra took first place with solid results across the board. This wasn’t unexpected result, Telstra owns the most and highest quality mobile spectrum as well as the most expansive network of wireless infrastructure in the country.

Optus was second, whilst Vodafone was third having been weighed down by poor results when the mobiles were streaming from Youtube. continue…

by Scott Shuttleworth Posted in Companies, Insightful Insights, Technology & Telecommunications.

• save this article
• POSTED IN Companies, Insightful Insights, Technology & Telecommunications

No doubt you’re starting to thinking about puddings for Christmas Day, last minute gift buying, present wrapping and packing for the annual holiday.  But spare a thought for the plunging price of oil. There’s a couple of things you need to know, beyond giving the petrol station attendant a smile because fuel is only costing $1.20/litre.

continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Economics, Insightful Insights.

• 2 Comments
• save this article
• POSTED IN Economics, Insightful Insights

Like many things in financial markets, exchange rate movements are very difficult to predict. At Montgomery, we don’t claim to possess unique insight into future exchange rates, and so they typically don’t play much of a role in our investment process.

Having said that, in recent years it has seemed to us – as well as many others, including Glenn Stevens – that the $A was at levels that would be difficult to sustain long term, and in structuring our portfolios we have tended to look a little more kindly on high quality businesses that generate significant revenues offshore. continue…

by Tim Kelley Posted in Insightful Insights.

• 2 Comments
• save this article
• POSTED IN Insightful Insights