The outlook for Australian residential property platforms; the online shopping surge; NAB's forecasts for minerals and energy; and shareholder strikes.
-Bright outlook for Australian residential property platforms
-Are you embracing the trend towards online shopping?
-The outlook for Minerals and Energy in 2024
-Shareholders strike-out against executive remuneration
Bright outlook for Australian residential property platforms
This week,
Both companies benefit from strong pricing power, given the duopolistic nature of the residential real estate platform market in
The broker anticipates a positive near-term environment for both platforms, with market listings projected to rise in 2024 and 2025 from the cyclical lows experienced in 2023. 'Buy' yields, which are impacted by geographic mix, price increases and depth penetration, are also expected to increase.
In the longer-term, the analysts prefer
Note: the broker's
Domain is assigned a Buy rating (target
The analysts anticipate REA will plough increasing cash flows back into software/platform development and adjacencies. Both REA and Domain are exposed to adjacent and supplementary revenue streams such as rentals, commercial, data services and mortgage broking.
Another significant potential value driver for
Are you getting with the strength and shopping online?
The number of people using ecommerce is expected to reach over 3.4bn this year, or 42% of the world's population, according to Altindex.com. As shoppers continue to peruse shopping apps and visit online shops, the global ecommerce industry is set to increase by nearly 16% compared to 2023.
Due to improvements in artificial intelligence, voice search, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)-enhanced shopping, along with personalised customer service, customers are increasingly seen turning to ecommerce in preference to bricks-and-mortar stores.
In the five years from 2018 to 2023, ecommerce revenue jumped by 108% to
The US lags far behind in ecommerce usage by comparison to
Statista forecasts US sales will hit
The outlook for Minerals and Energy
Global economic growth is set to slow in 2024, according to
Consequently, demand conditions are expected to ease for most commodities, despite the bank's forecast for interest rate cuts of -100 basis points by both the US Federal Reserve and the
NAB believes growth will slow in the country considered key for commodity demand,
Property demand has remained subdued in
Emerging Markets (EMs) -including
As a result of the property construction slump in
When comparisons are made to current metals prices, NAB points out copper is notably stronger, with prices remaining above
According to Citi, fading hopes for rate cuts from the
This broker expects cyclical copper consumption will contract further in 2024, with rising debt-service burdens to act as a growing headwind to developed market growth.
While Citi is bullish near-term on anticipation of further incremental policy support in
NAB notes various international study groups forecast market surpluses for most metals in 2024, which should add downward pressure to spot prices for both copper and aluminium.
The bank forecasts copper and aluminium prices will average
Gold prices are projected to average
Shareholders strike-out against executive remuneration
In the latest AGM season for the 300 largest companies on the ASX, shareholder strikes against executive remuneration reports nearly doubled compared to the prior year, according to a recent report.
A strike occurs when 25% or more of shareholder votes are cast against the adoption of the board's remuneration report. When a second strike occurs, a successful spill resolution triggers a meeting where the company's directors are required to stand for re-election.
The AGM Intelligence Report 2024, prepared by global consulting firm Georgeson, notes the number of ASX300 companies narrowly avoiding a strike against their remuneration reports grew by 36% to 15 in 2023.
This uptick in strikes provides a significant barometer of investor sentiment toward Australian companies, suggests
Although investors typically do not unseat non-executive directors after a second strike, Murphy notes "companies can face other consequences, including negative media coverage, higher public scrutiny, and the potential for investors to 'vote with their feet' by removing their investments."
The report also revealed ASX300 companies experienced a significant yearly increase in the volume of shareholder opposition to board-endorsed candidates up for election or re-election.
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