SkyNews – Michmutters

Tag: SkyNews

Categories
Business

Australia’s tourism woes as visitors drop by 65 per cent since pre-Covid

Australia's tourism woes as visitors drop by 65 per cent since pre-Covid

The number of international tourists visiting Australia since the country’s borders opened back up is way down on pre-pandemic levels, according to new data.

Much of the decrease is due to international conflicts and a dip in the number of Chinese nationals choosing to holiday Down Under.

Chief executive officer of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Margy Osmond, said getting tourists back to the country’s landmarks is “not as easy as turning on a switch”.

“There is international conflict going on at the moment, but in the middle of it there are people,” she told Today.

“China was our number one visitor previously.

“And also, most importantly, not just by numbers, but by the amount of money they spent when they got here.”

Overall, just 131,000 international tourists visited Australia in May – down 65 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.

Ms Osmond said regional areas which had economies propped up largely by tourist visitors were still far from fully recovering.

“This is a really big issue for many businesses, particularly places like Far North Queensland, which rely almost entirely on international travellers,” she said.

“So we really need those travellers.”

The revelation comes after data revealed the dire state of Melbourne and Sydney’s CBDs almost a year after the cities’ crippling Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ended.

The figures, released by the Property Council, indicate just one in five workers are showing up to the office during the course of a typical working week.

Overall, the average office occupancy has dipped from 49 per cent in June to just 38 per cent in July, with the drop coinciding with continually spiking Covid cases, resulting in tens of thousands of new infections each week.

Elsewhere in the country, workers’ attendance in CBD offices in Sydney dropped from 55 to 52 per cent, Brisbane dipped from 64 to 53 per cent and Adelaide’s changed from 71 to 64 per cent.

.

Categories
Business

Evergrande investor Lin Ho Man takes collapsing company to court over $158m debt

Evergrande investor Lin Ho Man takes collapsing company to court over $158m debt

A young millennial is threatening the existence of a multi-billion dollar Chinese property developer.

In 2021, real estate heavyweight Evergrande earned the unwelcome title of the world’s most indebted real estate firm after racking up staggering debts of around $A408 billion.

Evergrande’s share price tanked and the firm missed a string of payment deadlines, which eventually saw it officially declared in default for the first time in December.

And now a young 30-year-old investor — who Bloomberg reported is “politically connected” — is taking the conglomerate on in the High Court of Hong Kong.

Lin Ho Man claims Evergrande owes him HK$862.5 million ($158 million) because of money he invested through his business.

He has applied for a winding up order, calling for the company to be wound up unless they cough up the funds to pay him back.

In order for Evergrande’s shares to be able to trade, Mr Lin’s lawsuit has to be resolved, either by being mediated to lead to dismissal, or for him to withdraw the case.

Although Evergrande has been in hot water with creditors and customers in recent months, nobody has reportedly gone as far as demanding the company be liquidated.

Mr Lin runs a fintech company called Top ShineGlobal which invested millions for a 0.46 per cent stake in Fangchebao, Evergrande’s automobile and real estate arm in March 2021.

Then Triumph Roc International, another one of Lin’s investment holding companies which he acted as guarantor for, invested the same amount for a separate 0.46 per cent stake.

Just a few months later, the extent of Evergrande’s financial woes became well-known.

Evergrande said it will oppose the legal case “vigorously” and added that this shouldn’t impact the company’s restructuring plans or timetable.

Mr Lin’s case has already had a preliminary hearing earlier in August and the next court session is happening later this month.

Evergrande, one of China’s biggest developers, has scrambled to offload assets in recent months, with chairman Hui Ka Yan paying off some of its debts using his personal wealth.

Its troubles are emblematic of the problems rippling across China’s massive property sector, with smaller companies also defaulting on loans and others struggling to raise cash.

Chinese creditors have sued Evergrande for more than $US13 billion in allegedly overdue payments, the Financial Times reports.

According to documents seen by the publication, a Chinese court has accepted a whopping 367 cases against Evergrande.

Insiders claiming it is one of the biggest indicators yet that local creditors have lost confidence in the firm’s ability to handle the ongoing crisis.

Shares in the company have been halted since March.

— With Alexis Carey

.

Categories
Business

CBA boss warns of ‘short sharp contraction’ headed for Australian economy

CBA boss warns of 'short sharp contraction' headed for Australian economy

The boss of Australia’s largest bank has warned that the economy is already declining and that a “short, sharp contraction” is on the way.

Late on Wednesday, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Matt Comyn, delivered the company’s annual results.

Although the CBA made an eye-watering $9.6 billion in profit over the last financial year, Mr Comyn warned that tougher times were on the horizon.

He told the Australian Financial Review that he predicted “a short, sharp contraction in the Australian economy.”

“We are definitely expecting a more challenging year ahead than we have seen in the last 12 months,” he added.

However, in some good news, the banking CEO believes a contraction is almost a certainty but a full-blown recession is less likely.

Australia is in the throes of an economic crisis as inflation rose to 6.1 per cent last month, the highest level it’s been for 20 years.

And for the first time in more than a decade, Australia’s central bank has had no choice but to increase the cash rate in a bid to stop rampant inflation.

For the last four consecutive months, the Reserve Bank of Australia has increased interest rates by 1.75 percentage points and Mr Comyn more rate increases will come.

Mr Comyn told the publication his bank predicts the cash rate to increase by another 75 basis points to sit at 2.6 per cent.

The cash rate is currently 1.85 per cent.

Once the cash rate hits 2.6 per cent, Mr Comyn said the economy would experience a contraction of 1.5 per cent.

He said he “hoped” that once the cash rate reached this point it would be enough to curb spending, adding “We need to see a slowdown in demand.”

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Comyn said “We do forecast recessions in the US, UK and Europe. We don’t believe that that’s the likely outcome in Australia.”

Already there are signs that Australians are splashing their cash less.

Mr Comyn said their customer data shows that spending is falling for both debit and credit cards.

This was significantly more for customers who had mortgages.

“It’s quite early post the immediate rate rises, [but] we are already seeing a downturn in spending across our customer base, both from a debt and credit perspective,” he said.

“Of course, that’s more pronounced with customers who have a home loan, and we expect that it will continue throughout the course of the calendar year.”

.

Categories
Business

Simple act of submitting meter read wipes $365 off women’s AGL gas bill

Simple act of submitting meter read wipes $365 off women's AGL gas bill

As Australians continue to deal with the rising cost of living, they are reminded to check the charges on their energy bills are actually accurate.

A Melbourne resident, who lives in a new-build town house with her partner, said she was “astounded” to get a $430 gas bill recently, despite her two previous bills being under $100.

She said it made “no sense” and that her heating was electric, meaning “hardly anything is on gas”.

“Once I inspected the bill I realized it was actually an estimate,” she told news.com.au.

“Lucky for me AGL allows you to run a meter read to receive an actual bill so that’s what I did.”

The simple act wiped hundreds off her bill, bringing it down to the markedly different cost of $65.

Stream more finance news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends October 31, 2022 >

According to the Australian Energy Market Commission, a small customer is entitled to request that their energy retailer adjust their bill by providing their own reading of the meter if they believe the electricity or gas bill given was based on an inaccurate estimate.

If your meter is a “basic meter” rather than a “smart meter” it means someone must physically attend the property to read it, which is when estimates are sometimes used.

Whether or not your bill is based on an estimate is indicated by an A (actual) or E (estimate) on the bill.

AGL said it there were “a range of factors” that resulted in customers getting an estimated read.

“When we’re unable to get an actual read of a meter, we send an estimated bill based on a number of factors including past energy usage and the average usage of similar customers,” a spokesperson said.

The company said customers were able to submit their own read directly via the AGL App or over the phone and their bill would be adjusted accordingly.

“As one of Australia’s largest energy retailers, AGL is committed to keeping energy prices competitive and affordable for customers,” the spokesperson said, adding that anyone with concerns should contact them.

Read related topics:melbourne

.

Categories
Business

Real estate: Eleven suburbs reach $1m median house price in Perth

Real estate: Eleven suburbs reach $1m median house price in Perth

Eleven suburbs have joined the $1m median house price club as values ​​continue to climb in Perth.

While other states are seeing house prices fall, Perth has lagged behind most of the other capitals.

It means despite rising interest rates and cost of living pressures, the housing market in WA has soared in the past year.

Six of the 11 suburbs recorded more than 20 per cent price growth during the 2021-22 financial year, according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia.

Marmion, Mount Hawthorn, North Perth, Fremantle and Kensington had their median house prices tip above $1.1m at the end of June.

Gwelup, Booragoon, Karrinyup, Leederville, Iluka and Como reached $1m or more.

The top suburb is Marmion, which now has a median price of $1.27m — an increase of 32 per cent in the past year.

REIWA president Damian Collins said people had started to gain confidence in WA’s strong economy and property market, which had translated into more sales at the top end.

“All of these suburbs have had medians hovering below $1m for quite some time,” he said.

“It is impressive to see the demand for houses in these suburbs hold strong throughout the 2021-22 financial year, now placing them in Perth’s luxury market.”

Mr Collins said Perth’s premium market was attracting a lot of interest from buyers leading to strong price growth.

“If you are considering selling in one of these suburbs, now would be an opportunistic time to capitalize on this demand,” he said.

REIWA predicts house prices will continue to rise in Perth for some time.

“Given Perth has a housing shortage, the cheapest median house price of any capital city in the country, a growing population and strong economy, we anticipate house prices to continue to rise as we enter the back end of 2022,” Mr Collins said.

“As more suburbs reap the benefits of our strong market conditions, Perth’s million-dollar club is likely to continue to grow over the next 12 months.”

Read related topics:Perth

.

Categories
Business

Why Canva boss, Cliff Obrecht isn’t bothered by $20 billion loss

Why Canva boss, Cliff Obrecht isn't bothered by $20 billion loss

Despite a $20 billion fall in its evaluation, a tumultuous economic landscape and a sudden string of tech companies announcing staff cuts and sharp declines, Australia’s start up golden child is not worried.

speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Canva’s co-founder Cliff Obrecht believed the bearish market would provide the company with lots of opportunities.

“These times of market uncertainty provide a lot of opportunity and other than the external valuation noise, it’s a huge opportunity for us to grow our business,” he said.

This comes as Australia’s largest venture capital firm Blackbird announced they had reduced the holding value of Canva by 36 per cent. Listed as Canva’s largest investor, with around a 14 per cent stake in Canva, this indicated a drop of about US$14 billion or A$20 billion, in the tech company’s estimated value.

“This holding value of Canva is the result of an independent valuation process that was completed by a big four accounting firm and adopted by Blackbird’s valuation committee, in consultation with our auditors,” the company shared in a statement to news.com.au.

Before this, Canva managed to more than double its worth in 2021. After acquiring a valuation of $19 billion in April 2021, the company skyrocketed to $54.5 billion just five months later.

In internal emails reported by Nine newspapers, chief executive Melanie Perkins said the company was set to mark its sixth year of being profitable. She also assured staff and said the company was still hiring, unlike some other technology companies.

“We had planned to dip out of profitability this year to invest in further accelerating growth,” she wrote.

“However, we changed course as soon as we noticed the macroeconomic environment changing and are now back to being profitable again this year, for the sixth year in a row.”

Founded in 2013, by Perth couple Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht, and Tasmanian developer Cameron Adams, Canva is a free-to-use design tool that allows users to create social media posts, graphics, videos and presentations.

Since then, it’s become Australia’s most successful start-up – a title it continues to hold. For scale, Australia’s second largest start-up, online payments company Airwallex was valued at $5.5 billion in November 2021.

It’s believed Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht hold a 30 per cent stake in the company, which given the most recent evaluation is close to $6 billion.

According to its website, Canva has more than 2000 employees and operates in 100 languages ​​and across 190 countries.

.

Categories
Business

Why Canva boss, Cliff Obrecht isn’t bothered by $20 billion loss

Why Canva boss, Cliff Obrecht isn't bothered by $20 billion loss

Despite a $20 billion fall in its evaluation, a tumultuous economic landscape and a sudden string of tech companies announcing staff cuts and sharp declines, Australia’s start up golden child is not worried.

speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Canva’s co-founder Cliff Obrecht believed the bearish market would provide the company with lots of opportunities.

“These times of market uncertainty provide a lot of opportunity and other than the external valuation noise, it’s a huge opportunity for us to grow our business,” he said.

This comes as Australia’s largest venture capital firm Blackbird announced they had reduced the holding value of Canva by 36 per cent. Listed as Canva’s largest investor, with around a 14 per cent stake in Canva, this indicated a drop of about US$14 billion or A$20 billion, in the tech company’s estimated value.

“This holding value of Canva is the result of an independent valuation process that was completed by a big four accounting firm and adopted by Blackbird’s valuation committee, in consultation with our auditors,” the company shared in a statement to news.com.au.

Before this, Canva managed to more than double its worth in 2021. After acquiring a valuation of $19 billion in April 2021, the company skyrocketed to $54.5 billion just five months later.

In internal emails reported by Nine newspapers, chief executive Melanie Perkins said the company was set to mark its sixth year of being profitable. She also assured staff and said the company was still hiring, unlike some other technology companies.

“We had planned to dip out of profitability this year to invest in further accelerating growth,” she wrote.

“However, we changed course as soon as we noticed the macroeconomic environment changing and are now back to being profitable again this year, for the sixth year in a row.”

Founded in 2013, by Perth couple Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht, and Tasmanian developer Cameron Adams, Canva is a free-to-use design tool that allows users to create social media posts, graphics, videos and presentations.

Since then, it’s become Australia’s most successful start-up – a title it continues to hold. For scale, Australia’s second largest start-up, online payments company Airwallex was valued at $5.5 billion in November 2021.

It’s believed Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht hold a 30 per cent stake in the company, which given the most recent evaluation is close to $6 billion.

According to its website, Canva has more than 2000 employees and operates in 100 languages ​​and across 190 countries.

.

Categories
Business

Australian tech company Appen’s future uncertain as shares plunge by 27 per cent

Australian tech company Appen's future uncertain as shares plunge by 27 per cent

Shares for an Australian tech company have plunged after their earnings were 69 per cent lower than expected.

On Tuesday, Sydney-based artificial intelligence firm Appen posted its results for the first half of 2022, but that had a detrimental impact on its share price.

The company, which provides important data to tech giants around the world including Facebook, Google and Amazon, has been struggling in recent months.

According to The Australian, when its earnings were taken into account before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization, it had made 69 per cent less than the same period the year before.

Appen generated $8.5 million in net profit over the last six months compared to $12.5 million in the same like period in 2021.

To top that off, the Aussie firm also posted a net loss of $3.8 million.

In total, it suffered a revenue drop of seven per cent to $182.9 million.

As a result, Appen’s share price dropped 27.3 per cent to $4.15 on Tuesday. At time of writing on Wednesday morning, it had recovered slightly, up by two per cent to come in at $4.24.

Appen’s CEO Mark Brayan blamed the poor performance on global market conditions as well as a weaker appetite for digital advertising.

During the earnings call, Mr Brayan said, per the Sydney Morning Herald: “With no improvement in July trading, there remains uncertainty about a continued slowdown of spending from our global customers and their exposure to weaker digital advertising demand.

“As a result, the conversion of forward orders to sales is less certain this year compared to prior years.”

Mr Brayan added in a statement to the ASX that conditions were “challenging” and that they were seeing a “flow-on effect” as customers spent less on advertising.

With lessening demand for their services, Appen also revealed that costs had blown out as the day to day running of the business became more expensive.

It cited investment in product and technology, heightened employee expenses, recruitment, and IT costs as another avenue where money was lost.

Like many other tech companies around the world, Appen has taken a dive, as its share price has fallen 62 per cent this year following massive gains at the height of the pandemic.

At their peak, Appen’s shares were worth around $43.50, back in August 2020. It is now trading at $4.24.

Appen first started on a downward trend in June, after its rival, Canadian IT firm Telus, scuppered a takeover deal.

The Canadian business had proposed a $9.50-per-share takeover bid for Appen, which would have made the Australian company worth $1.2 billion.

It’s unknown why Telus canned the deal.

News.com.au has contacted Appen for comment.

.

Categories
Sports

Anthony Albanese victorious in pollies’ annual State of Origin match

Anthony Albanese victorious in pollies' annual State of Origin match

Anthony Albanese has been caught in a fresh parliamentary scandal after questions were raised about the legitimacy of his moves on the footy field.

The Prime Minister joined the Parliamentary Friends of Rugby League on Tuesday morning for their fourth annual State of Origin touch football match.

Just before half time in the clash against Queensland, Mr Albanese dived to plant the ball on the try line to give NSW the upper hand.

Sports Minister Anika Wells protested, claiming she had tagged Mr Albanese before he scored.

The referee ultimately gave Mr Albanese the benefit of the doubt, awarding NSW what would turn out to be the final try of the day.

The parliamentary Blues ended up taking home bragging rights, winning 3-1.

Asked about the dubious try later in the day, Ms Wells laughed off the controversy.

“I think we can all agree that the referee is going to be the next governor-general based on that decision and I think we can say ultimately, glory to Queensland,” she said.

On if the Prime Minister could be trusted given his shady moves on the footy field, Ms Wells left that question unanswered.

But she joked NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo should take the inquiry straight to the league’s commission as a “top priority”.

Speaking earlier, Mr Albanese took issue with former Wallaby turned Senator David Pocock joining the Queenslanders for the grudge match.

“I can report the greatest scandal since (Greg Inglis) playing for Queensland. David Pocock from the ACT pulling on a Queensland jumper,” Mr Albanese told Nine.

“They will stop at nothing.”

He also complained about former deputy prime minister and NSW MP Barnaby Joyce also donning the Queensland jersey.

“Barnaby has very short stints on the field. Even though he represents the NSW seat, he has a Maroons jersey on as well,” Mr Albanese said.

“Look, there should be an inquiry into some of these players and where they are playing for, I tell you.”

Read related topics:Anthony Albanese

.

Categories
Business

Melbourne single mum struggling to pay extra $360 a month after RBA interest hike

Melbourne single mum struggling to pay extra $360 a month after RBA interest hike

A single mum’s “dream” of becoming a homeowner has become more like a nightmare as she struggles to survive amid the rising cost of living.

Jodi Cameron, 40, from Melbourne, currently has nothing in her bank account after building her house cost more than expected. She can’t even afford to complete the house, with her driveway unfinished because she ran out of cash.

On Tuesday afternoon, she was hit with more bad news; the Reserve Bank of Australia had increased interest rates again, for the fourth month in a row.

It means the single mum, with two daughters aged four and eight, must now fork out an extra $140 every month to pay back her mortgage.

In total, since the central bank started increasing interest rates in May, the family is now paying back an extra $360 a month — money it desperately needs.

“It’s just horrible,” Ms Cameron told news.com.au.

“I do find myself in a situation where paying rent and a mortgage and daycare fees, there’s nothing left.”

Currently, her savings account stands at $0, she said.

The mum worked throughout the Covid pandemic as a disability support worker and blames her current predicament on one thing — missing out on a government grant.

She had factored in receiving a $15,000 grant to help her build her own home but missed out, leaving her financially wrecked.

“I just wanted to own my own home,” Ms Cameron explained.

“It’s just disgusting, it’s so frustrating, I work my guts out, all I wanted was the great Australian dream.”

Her variable interest rate has gone up from 2.79 per cent to 4.5 per cent in the past three months, and is set to go up even further after the rate hike on Tuesday.

“I’m not on a fixed mortgage, I don’t know how I’m going to do it,” Ms Cameron said.

“I’m probably going to have to pull my [youngest] daughter out of daycare because I can’t afford daycare. That also means, how am I meant to work from home with a child?”

As a single mum with no family to fall back on, Ms Cameron had resigned herself to renting but in 2020, she was given hope that she might be able to break into the property market.

The federal government announced the HomeBuilder grant scheme in a bid to increase the disruption to the economy and the building sector during Covids, where eligible homeowners received $15,000 to form part of the payment for a building project for their primary residence.

Ms Cameron met all the criteria for the grant so bought a $263,000 block of land in Lang Lang, a regional town southeast of Melbourne, in August 2020 in the hopes of setting herself up financially for the future.

“I got on the low deposit scheme, I didn’t need a massive deposit,” she explained.

Then in March the following year, she signed a build contract which cost $300,000 for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home.

She only needed a 5 per cent down payment for the land and the build contracts and was expecting the extra $15,000 from the grant to provide a helpful buffer to afford the progress payments.

But then she logged back onto the HomeBuilder online portal and was devastated to discover she had missed a key due date — which her broker and bank had never mentioned to her.

“I missed a portal cut off date that was never shown or advertised anywhere,” Ms Cameron lamented.

As a result, she was not able to be part of the scheme.

Near the end of her build, the mum ran out of funds and couldn’t afford to pay for a driveway.

“I’ve got no driveway, it’s just mud, I can’t afford it, it’s not nice to have that money you relied on ripped away from you,” she added.

“I owe the real estate the last month’s rent which I can’t pay.

“I assumed I would have this $15,000 to help me out, I don’t have it. This grant meant a lot.”

The mum is now waiting with bated breath as the Reserve Bank is expected to keep hiking interest rates till the end of the year.

[email protected]

.