27 Mar DIVIDENDS UP IN THE AIR; HARD DECISIONS TO COME
Posted at 12:30h
in Uncategorised
International news
- Interesting commentary in Medium, raising questions about the ethical, economic and structural problems associated with “corporate socialism”. Also noting that the pandemic is not a Black Swan event, rather a White Swan: something that could have been predicted or expected.
- Bloomberg is reporting on ticker confusion as investors piled into ZOOM Technologies (Ticker: ZOOM) instead of the popular virtual meeting company Zoom Video Communications (ticker: ZM). Shares of the now halted ZOOM Technologies – which had a market cap of USD31.3 million compared with Zoom Video’s $40 billion market value – more than tripled over the past five weeks. Read more here. (Subscriber access)
- On a lighter note, The Economist writes about working from home etiquette: “Never have so many ceilings been broadcast to so many for so long.” Read the article here.
- And seemingly insatiable demand for “new” news and commentary by media outlets continues to grow, the search for “experts” is becoming a little desperate, as the (tongue in cheek) image below demonstrates.
Australian company news
- Dividends up in the air as ASX300 companies cancel or defer dividends totalling $17.6 billion
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- Ownership Matters reports on the amount of announced but unpaid dividends of ASX300 companies, which now totals $404 million of dividends cancelled, and $384 million deferred. Another $16.7 billion remain payable but seems in jeopardy. Read the report here.
Australian markets
- ASIC revises AGM guidelines for companies with a 31 December 2020 balance date
- What do the revised AGM guidelines mean for your next AGM? Cannings summarises the changes and discusses pros and cons of using technology to facilitate AGMs in this blog post.
- Hard decisions to come
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- The Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Angus Armour says many company directors will need to make hard decisions on their future in the next eight weeks. Armour added that companies with strong balance sheets and reserves are best positioned to survive, and forecasts that there won’t be a big rush to take on new credit. Read The Australian article here. (Subscriber access)
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