Morning Headlines

Clinton on edge of victory

Democrat Hillary Clinton appeared to be on the verge of narrowly holding out Republican rival Donald Trump for a historic presidential election win, as both candidates barnstormed the country campaigning past midnight to issue last-minute pleas to Americans before final voting. The Fin

Banks stare at low growth at pressures rise

For the first time since the global financial crisis, the combined profits of the four big banks have fallen over a financial year; their cash earnings of $29.6 billion for 2016 are down 2.5 per cent, reflecting tighter net interest margins, lower non-interest income, higher impairments and higher operating costs. And bank watchers say each of these pressures is set to continue throughout 2017. The Fin

CBA faces embarrassing exec pay strike

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is at risk of becoming the first bank in the nation to get a strike against its remuneration report as investors and large super funds allege that executive pay does not reflect performance. The Fin

News Corp flags $40 million cost cuts, including job losses

News Corporation will rip $40 million in costs out of its Australian publishing arm in 2016-17, some of which will come from job cuts, as the Rupert Murdoch-controlled company deals with falling advertising revenue and a shift to digital. The Fin

CBA’s $2.4bn profit belies banking stress

Commonwealth Bank failed to use its muscle as the nation’s biggest lender to shield itself from headwinds lashing the industry, relying on surprisingly low bad debts to hold first-quarter cash profit steady at $2.4 billion despite mounting stress in the mining-related and dairy loans. The Aus

Corrigan urges ABCC as ‘first step’

Former union buster Chris Corrigan believes the Australian Building and Construction Commission should be the Coalition’s “first step” in implementing a tougher industrial relations agenda. The Aus

Palmer still a threat to project, says Sino Iron chief

Mining magnate and former politician Clive Palmer remains a “clear and present danger” to the $12 billion Sino Iron project that is being built on his iron ore ground in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, the project’s Chinese developers say. The Aus

Porter defends Libs’ GST record

Christian Porter says WA’s Federal Liberals have achieved more for the State’s finances than Brendon Grylls’ mining tax ever would. The West

FMG busy in Fraser Ranges

Fortescue Metals Group has joined the renewed land rush in the Fraser Ranges, pegging a swath of new tenements around Windward Resources’ exploration holdings and just south of the Tropicana gold mine. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Democrat Hillary Clinton appeared to be on the verge of narrowly holding out Republican rival Donald Trump for a historic presidential election win, as both candidates barnstormed the country campaigning past midnight to issue last-minute pleas to Americans before final voting.

Page 3: Zoox, the secretive self-driving car start-up co-founded by Australian expat entrepreneur Tim Kentley-Klay, has been valued at $US1.55 billion ($2.01 billion) after it closed a $US50 million funding round from investors keen to see it take on the likes of Uber.

Listed company Genex Power has been buoyed by a feasibility study that found its plans to convert a disused underground gold mine west of Townsville into a hydro storage plant or a ‘‘giant battery’’ was commercially viable, with plans to open the project in 2018.

Page 4: Lawyers have failed in a bid to delay embattled One Nation senator Rod Culleton’s bankruptcy trial – scheduled for November 21 – which could change the way he is replaced in the Senate.

Page 6: The government is facing fresh opposition from business over its backpacker tax laws, with employer groups warning that unions could ‘‘misuse’’ the bill’s little-discussed workplace provisions to ‘‘scare’’ employers from hiring foreign labour.

Page 8: Labor will take its extra cuts to superannuation tax concessions to the next federal election after Treasurer Scott Morrison rejected demands it adopt them as part of its package of super reforms to be legislated this month.

Page 9: The Coalition’s media law changes appear to be even further delayed as crossbenchers mull whether to back Labor and the Greens in blocking a key part of the package, leaving Communications Minister Mitch Fifield back at the negotiation table.

Page 10: The federal Treasury will push ahead with law changes to better protect the funds of individual foreign exchange and derivatives traders.

Page 11: The three major strategy houses are trying to increase the percentage of women in their ranks but are finding that getting results at the highest level is slow going.

Financial services house Findex has moved into profit after bedding down a string of acquisitions, including the $200 million purchase of the Crowe Horwath accountancy group.

Page 14: Crown Resorts has hired a team of crisis counsellors and is looking to change law firms just weeks before the deadline for charges to be laid against its 18 staff detained in China.

Page 15: For the first time since the global financial crisis, the combined profits of the four big banks have fallen over a financial year; their cash earnings of $29.6 billion for 2016 are down 2.5 per cent, reflecting tighter net interest margins, lower non-interest income, higher impairments and higher operating costs. And bank watchers say each of these pressures is set to continue throughout 2017.

Soaring coal prices will stay strong through the Australian summer according to Whitehaven Coal chief executive Paul Flynn, who believes China’s recent supply cuts have signalled a long-term floor in the commodity price.

Australia’s home renovation market should strengthen over the next 12 months because housing ‘‘churn’’ is slowing down and more property owners are choosing to renovate rather than move, the managing director of paint maker Dulux Group said.

Page 17: Commonwealth Bank of Australia is at risk of becoming the first bank in the nation to get a strike against its remuneration report as investors and large super funds allege that executive pay does not reflect performance.

Jeff Bezos will have a good time when he launches amazon.com.au because his local retail competitors are saddled with ‘‘the world’s highest de facto banking tax’’, according to Tyro Payments chief executive Jost Stollmann.

Page 18: Incitec Pivot chief executive James Fazzino says the outlook for commodity prices is more positive than six months ago, but the explosives and fertiliser manufacturer expects challenging conditions to persist in its key markets in 2017.

Sanjeev Gupta runs the $6 billion steel and metals trading group Liberty House, which has already played a significant role in trying to revive the British steel industry, and there is now speculation Liberty may try to replicate a similar turnaround in Australia.

Page 19: News Corporation will rip $40 million in costs out of its Australian publishing arm in 2016-17, some of which will come from job cuts, as the Rupert Murdoch-controlled company deals with falling advertising revenue and a shift to digital.

New Zealand’s competition watchdog says a proposed merger between NZME and Fairfax Media New Zealand is likely to substantially lessen competition in a number of markets.

Page 20: Australia’s major supermarket chains are once again in the sights of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, this time over the way they delist food and grocery manufacturers’ products from shelves.

Shares in SurfStitch remain in a trading halt while the trouble-plagued online retailer considers another approach from spurned suitor Crown Financial.

Page 31: The Charter Hall Long Wale REIT became the largest diversified real estate trust to list on the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday after its second attempt saw the trust take on more debt and give investors a higher yield.

Page 35: Propertylink Group, the $458 million owner and manager of industrial property that listed in August, is ‘‘well on track to meeting its prospectus guidance’’, says chairman Peter Lancken.

A record high amount of vacant office space in Perth has not stopped AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund and Western Australia-based property investor Primewest finding tenants for its Exchange Plaza, which had been more than a third empty earlier this year.

Page 37: To attract the next generation of property consumers, developers have to build ‘‘relaxing’’ offices and much cheaper housing, a CBRE report on Asia Pacific millennials says.

The Australian

Page 2: Victorian farmers have labelled Woolworths “untrustworthy” and a poor corporate citizen for abandoning a high-profile, $70 million, five-year commitment to source of its private Select label processed fruit and tinned tomatoes from Shepparton processor SPC Ardmona.

Page 5: Business trading conditions are becoming more difficult amid falling orders and increased idle capacity, raising concern that the surprising strength of the economy over the past year may be giving way.

Page 6: More than 1500 migrant visa-holders working as cleaners at the Oaks Hotels and Resorts chain were ripped off by almost $2 million in a year and were only back-paid after the national workplace watchdog threatened legal action.

Page 19: Commonwealth Bank failed to use its muscle as the nation’s biggest lender to shield itself from headwinds lashing the industry, relying on surprisingly low bad debts to hold first-quarter cash profit steady at $2.4 billion despite mounting stress in the mining-related and dairy loans.

The advertising market is in turmoil as a lack of transparency and traffic fraud in the online world takes its toll on brands, News Corporation chief executive Robert Thomson has warned.

Former union buster Chris Corrigan believes the Australian Building and Construction Commission should be the Coalition’s “first step” in implementing a tougher industrial relations agenda.

Page 21: REA Group chief executive Tracey Fellows has suggested rival Domain’s problems are largely company-specific after she unveiled a solid set of results despite property listing volume declines in the Sydney and Melbourne markets.

NBN Co is betting that its agnostic approach to technology will help it hit its next set of targets, which seem poised to become a lot tougher over the next six months.

Dulux Group boss Patrick Houlihan believes the upheaval triggered by the planned closure of hardware chain Masters and its $500 million fire sale has largely washed through the sector and that Masters is now sitting on cheap paints and a “compromised range’’ of garden products.

The global aviation industry’s trade body has slammed the government’s decision to increase passenger departure taxes to $60, saying the proposal will reduce the number of international return trips to Australia by 30,000 a year.

Page 22: Australia’s biggest listed gold producer Newcrest is worried that higher eastern seaboard electricity prices flowing from the closure of Victoria’s Hazelwood brown coal-fired power station could affect long-term expansion plans for its Cadia mine near Orange in NSW.

The Takeovers Panel has frozen shares in Merlin Diamonds held by the family of bankrupt mining magnate Joseph Gutnick, New York investment fund Regals and others after allegations of collusion at a shareholder meeting in September.

Mining magnate and former politician Clive Palmer remains a “clear and present danger” to the $12 billion Sino Iron project that is being built on his iron ore ground in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, the project’s Chinese developers say.

The management of gold explorer Cardinal Resources has come under fire after one of the great hopes of the junior West African gold sector had its share price savaged for a second straight day.

Page 23: The major banks cut more than 4000 jobs over the past year as executives follow similar playbooks of controlling costs and shrinking lower-returning businesses to offset muted top-line growth.

Business leaders, including ANZ and Coca-Cola Amatil chairman David Gonski, have lined up to throw their support behind the appointment of former Origin Energy chief Grant King to the Business Council of Australia presidency.

Page 25: Iran planned to sign a preliminary $US6 billion ($7.8bn) deal with France’s Total overnight to help develop an offshore gasfield, an agreement that would mark the first Western energy investment there since international sanctions were lifted this year.

Page 26: Charter Hall Group yesterday signalled plans to grow its specialist $1.25 billion long-leased real estate investment trust after the fund made a quiet debut on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The West Australian

Page 12: Christian Porter says WA’s Federal Liberals have achieved more for the State’s finances than Brendon Grylls’ mining tax ever would.

Page 18: Fremantle is preparing for another record-breaking — and lucrative — cruise ship season, with 60 ships due to arrive, two more than last year.

Page 19: TAFE fees have risen more than 600 per cent in the past three years, prompting fears it will add to WA’s rocketing youth unemployment rate.

Page 26: The State Government has formally ditched its guarantee that the new Perth Children’s Hospital will open this year.

Page 32: Buses, long considered second fiddle to trains and even light rail, could underpin Perth’s public transport system of the future.

Page 83: Fortescue Metals Group has joined the renewed land rush in the Fraser Ranges, pegging a swath of new tenements around Windward Resources’ exploration holdings and just south of the Tropicana gold mine.

Laurance Wines, the Margaret River region winery with a distinctive sculpture that has been part of the South West’s scenery for 10 years, has been sold to an American investor.

Further evidence emerged yesterday that the golden age of Australian bank profits is ending with Commonwealth Bank reporting flat first-quarter earnings.

Page 84: WA’s peak conservation group has Alinta Energy in its crosshairs over moves by the utility to take gas supplies from one of the State’s first planned onshore gas projects.

Page 85: WA has the equal-lowest take-up of the National Broadband Network in the nation, with new figures revealing less than 40 per cent of people with access to the network have actually connected to it.

Private contractor Ertech Holdings is putting more of its eggs in the east-coast basket after buying Queensland’s Moggill Constructions.

Page 86: BHP Billiton shareholders have been left with an ongoing multimillion-dollar bill for unused space in Brookfield Place after delays killed off a sublease deal with Inpex Australia in what would have been the biggest CBD leasing deal of the year.

Page 87: Engineering company Bradken has sold its Welshpool foundry for $7.1 million, simultaneously exiting its old digs and setting a high-water mark for one of the industrial area’s biggest sales in two years.

Limnios Property Group chairman Atha Limnios says the success of the February launch of his Northbridge Attika Hotel project has prompted him to consider reproducing it nearby.

Page 88: Dexus Wholesale Property Fund is working on multimillion-dollar plans to revitalise the multi-level Carillon City retail arcade.

Page 91: Blackburne Property Group managing director Paul Blackburne says he’s perplexed about talk of tough times for Perth’s apartment market.