13 September 2012: Japan to abandon nuclear power and Google shares

Difference between Woolworth’s Masters Home Improvement and Bunnings: Article title “A bit pristine for ‘dirty’ tradies. Quotes include: “It’s a little too feminine” and “range adequate for the average DIYer but the [Masters] did not cater for trade”.  Home improvement is a $42 billion industry. Bunnings accounts for 16 percent of the industry. Article states Woolworth’s has made the stores more “female friendly”, with higher levels of customer service, brighter lighting, polished floors, better finishings and fittings and a wide range of decor items such as mirrors and wall art. Woolworths accusing some suppliers of not dealing with Masters due to supplier relationship with Bunnings. [CR: So is customer service now considered “feminine”?]

Cigarettes going clean-skin: From October 1, cigarette manufacturers in Australia will be prohibited from producing branded cigarettes. Retailers will have until December 1 to get rid of stock. Leftover stock will be destroyed. After 1 December, cigarettes will appear in plain olive green packaging. Estimated 80 sites to destroy 540 million cigarettes. [CR: Be interesting to see if there will be an emergence of a temporary black market.]

Domestic tourism up: Spending on overnight stays up 9 percent to $50.8 billion in FY2012 compared to FY2011. Australians made 4.2 million more overnight trips. Qld, QA and NT strongest increase at more than 15 percent. Spending on day trips increased 15.9 percent. Domestic tourism accounts for 75 percent of the $35 billion contribution of tourism to Australia’s GDP. [CR: How does this compare to the overseas spend? Is this just an indicator of a cautious consumer spending dollars closer to home?]

Japan to abandon nuclear power by 2030s. Joins Germany, which has said it will wean itself off nuclear by 2022. [CR: An entire technology platform where people look at it and say “oops, that was a mistake”.]

Vodafone switching on 3G to compete with Telstra’s 4G: Vodafone number three player behind Optus and Telstra, turned on $1.7 billion 3G network upgrade, 4G rollout planned for Q1 2013. Telstra announced in August a $400 million expansion of its 4G network, Optus extended 4G network to retail customers last week. Australia has largest per capita iPhone penetration (around 48%), second only to Switzerland.  As many as 1.7 million customers are expected to upgrade handsets over the next few months. [CR: almost every other person has an iPhone? That’s big numbers, winner takes all.]

Google shares: passed $US700 last week for the first time since last-2007. Shares returned 6 percent for the past five years. Increased free cash flow an average of nearly 50 percent a year between 2007 and 2011. Has $43 billion in cash, earns 20 percent cash return on invested capital. Google added eight times more advertising revenue in the latest quarter than Facebook. Shares trade at 14 times next year’s estimated earnings. [CR: I have $43 in cash. What’s a few zeros?]