AACS: GETTING HONEST MIGHT BE BETTER THAN GETTING SERIOUS
MEDIA RELEASE July 31, 2013 The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) today vented its frustration over the Government’s constant attempts to plug its budget hole with yet another increase in tobacco excise. AACS Chief Executive Officer Jeff Rogut said that while the health issues around smoking were well recognised, the government was simply using this as a cynical smokescreen for revenue-raising. “Raising tobacco excise has become a default answer to filling budget shortfalls and that it not only represents short sighted, lazy and uninspired economic management, it’s also having zero impact on improving health outcomes and a very negative impact on small business,†said Mr Rogut. Then there are the consequences for small retailers as well as those consumers who choose to smoke to consider. “The negative impacts these constant tax hikes are having on a small section of the community, most notably those consumers who choose to smoke…
Read MoreWoolworths sales top $59 billion
Glenda Kwek July 30, 2013 The Age Woolworths’ sales for the year to June 30 have risen 4.3 per cent to $59.16 billion, despite weak consumer confidence and low inflation. The supermarket chain said its transformation program had been “rewarded with a strong sales result”. “Momentum continues to increase in Australian Food and Liquor with comparable sales growth for the second half higher than the first half and the prior year,” Woolworths chief executive Grant O’Brien said. Woolworths shares fell as much as 4 per cent on the release of the sales result. The shares dipped to $32.41 before recovering to a loss of 2.9 per cent, or $32.78. The firm said Australian food and liquor sales increased 6.6 per cent for the 2013 financial year to $40.03 billion. It’s New Zealand supermarkets division lifted by 6.9 per cent, while its petrol division rose by 1.2 per cent. Big W…
Read MorePay at pump survey from him!
Jeff Rogut Some interesting results from a him! UK survey recently conducted on paying for petrol at the pump. Click here to see the results
Read MoreWhy do conferences suck?
Michael Baker July 31, 2013 The Age Sleeping badly? Think about attending a nearby conference, it will be sure to knock you out. Hardly had I taken my seat on the express from Washington, D.C. to New York last week when a businesswoman rocked up and sat down next to me. She wore full blue pinstripe battledress and talked loudly into a mobile phone. I gathered the person on the other end of the phone was a friend who was terrified because she’d been buttonholed into presenting at a conference, something she had evidently never done before. My pinstriped travelling companion at first tried to coach and reassure, but then after a few minutes she became exasperated: “Look, honey,†she purred, “most conference presentations are completely [expletive] boring. How can yours possibly be any [expletive] worse?!†Most conference presentations are completely [expletive] boring. How can yours possibly be any [expletive]…
Read MoreSupermarket price war here to stay: Woolies chief Grant O’Brien
Blair Speedy July 31, 2013 The Australian WOOLWORTHS chief Grant O’Brien has signalled there will be no let-up in the price war with rival supermarket giant Coles, as worsening economic conditions continue to undermine consumer sentiment. The company’s Australian food and liquor division slashed its average prices by 2.9 per cent over the past financial year, accelerating to 3.5 per cent during the June quarter as the slowing economy started to crimp household budgets. “We’re continuing to invest in pricing . . . our objective is to have the cheapest basket in the marketplace and we haven’t erred from that and we continue to invest to ensure we maintain that position,” Mr O’Brien said. The price-cutting coincided with what Mr O’Brien described as “challenging retail conditions and an economic environment underpinned by consumer uncertainty and low growth in disposable income”. The economic slowdown was “particularly evident as the quarter progressed”,…
Read MoreAustralia Business Council wants GST extended to tax-free goods
Stephen McMahon July 31, 2013 News Limited Network HOUSEHOLDS face thousands of dollars in higher bills for fresh food, health and education payments under hard line plans to lift and extend GST payments. In a recipe to recession-proof the nation’s economy, the Business Council of Australia is calling for the next government to undertake a major overhaul of the tax system to get the nation’s balance sheet back into the black. And part of their plan is to have consumers paying GST on previously tax-free items such as fresh fruit, bread and milk. The report has also called for union friendly laws and middle class welfare such as family tax benefits to be reviewed as the nation is at the crossroads after 22-years of consecutive growth. The lobby group’s 10-year plan also calls for infrastructure spending to lifted to around $55 billion a year or 4 per cent of GDP…
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