Slight break in August as I finished my Masters. Did you miss me? Welcome back to the FIN Review review...
Aged worker reports and incentives: Deloitte Access Economics report: if participation among workers aged 55 and over boosted by 5 percentage points, GDP would increase by $48 billion (2.4 percent of national income) over the next 12 years. Government to support participation rates through $100 million spending program over next four years. Government announced earlier 2012 a $1000 bonus for hiring long-term unemployed older people. Pension age to raise to 67 by 2023. Report authors state prosperity in 1990s driven by productivity gains, in 2000s by China prices paid for exports, both drivers running on empty. Three out of 10 older workers experience discrimination, Australian Human Rights Commission has seen a 44 percent increase in age-related complaints in the past year. [CR: That means in 15 years, 55 will be the new 40, which means I won't age a day!]
Write-downs at top 50 share-market companies tripled, topped $27 million. Driving factors are global volatility, currency movements, commodity prices. Seen as a positive based on alignment of what business is presenting and shareholder expectations, but stills aid to end careers and will create uncertainty based on questions around who is valuing the business. [CR: Always the balance between telling bad news early versus the charismatic optimistic leader. It is not that we want bad news early... we just don't want bad news.]
China manufacturing falls to lowest level in nine months. Economic growth slowed for sixth straight quarter in June to 7.6 percent. Property prices fell for eight consecutive months. [CR: When China sneezes, Australia...]
Online group buying sector posts third consecutive quarter of decline (Telsyte report). Sector dropped 5 percent to $117 million, follows a 14 percent fall in March quarter, 10 percent fall in December quarter. Sector consumer spending expected to top a record $600 million for 2012, growth will come from second half. First wave of group buying peaked, second wave to come from leveraging technology like mobile deals, customer data segmentation, and real-time push deals through location based services. Declines in revenue said to be from smaller players quitting. 90 percent of the market is controlled by 8 sites, in order of size: Groupon, Scoopon, LivingSocial, Cudo. Spreets, deals.com.au, OurDeal, and Ouffer. Over half of industry sales comes from product, like watches, technology, and travel. [CR: Fascinating to watch a whole industry follow the path from crude customer acquisition to then capitalise on that customer data through segmentation for the next growth cycle.]
Lego building growth: Family-owned company Lego, earnings in first half of 2012 33 percent higher than a year ago, sales were $1.5 billion, equivalent to 12 billion Lego bricks, six for every child on he planet. Performance boosted by sales for girl's toys (Hasbro by example sells four times as many toys for girls as it does toys for boys). Sold twice as many as expected of Lego "Friends" - girls dressed in pink and purple who go riding and shopping, but also are good at map-reading and want to grow up to be engineers. Sales in Asia up more than a quarter. Undertakes constant innovation - 60 percent of products each year are new launches. Sales have grown over 25 percent per annum for the past five years, compared to 1 percent at Mattel, 3 percent at Hasbro. Operating margins consistently 30 percent, double those of its largest peers. [CR: Focus on what you do, and do it well, while expanding to new expressions such as its success in videogame tie-ins. Well done, Lego.]
Yahoo!7 CEO says key areas for revenue growth are mobile devices, video, and social networking. Stu Sayers, 41, holds an MBA from Wharton school of business in the US, worked as consultant at McKinsey, in brand management at Procter and Gamble. [CR: You think? Not much of a story, that.]
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