In the business world this week, news broke that business sales rose unexpectedly in August, that the Iconic Foster’s and VB brands have been sold into foreign hands and that the world’s largest crowdsourcing marketplace, 99designs, has opened locally.
Bank satisfaction slides
Business customers have showed the highest level of dissatisfaction with their banks since the end of last year, with NAB and ANZ customers reporting they’re the least happy with their banks.
Average business customer satisfaction in DBM’s Business Financial Services Monitor decreased from a record high of 7.2 in July to 7.1 in August across all businesses in the survey.
Qantas strike affects 6,000 passengers
A four-hour planned strike by members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) forced Qantas to cancel 30 domestic flights on Tuesday, with over 6,000 passengers impacted.
The strike took place over the busy morning and afternoon peak periods, with 3,800 baggage handlers, ground staff, catering, freight and other employees stopping work.
Court gives Metcash green light in Franklins takeover
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had an interim application to block Metcash from proceeding with its acquisition of Franklins rejected by the Federal Court.
On Tuesday, Justice Peter Jacobsen dismissed the ACCC’s application to hold the Franklins purchase until its appeal has been heard between 24 and 27 October.
Business sales see unexpected jump in August
Business sales edged upwards in August and recorded their strongest result for four months, with experts suggesting that whilst it isn’t a strong result, it’s a good start in the right direction.
The Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI), which tracks the value of credit and debit card transactions via CBA point-of-sales terminals, fell 0.1 percent last month, up from a decline of 0.3 percent in July and an 0.5 percent fall in June.
CatchOfTheDay entrepreneurs take on grocery giants with new site
Gabby Leibovich, Co-Founder of CatchOfTheDay and Scoopon, unveiled a discounted grocery site on Wednesday, that looks set to take on the big supermarket chains.
Groceryrun.com.au will deliver average savings of up to 50 percent on big name grocery, cleaning, health, beauty and pharmaceutical brands, with some products to be up to 80 percent off.
Google+ opens doors to sign-ups
Google officially opened the doors of its new social networking site to the general public earlier this week, after running an invite only field trial for the past 12 weeks.
Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra made the announcement on the company’s official blog, saying it’s listened and learned a great deal about the site during the 12 week trial.
Iconic Foster’s brand sold into foreign hands
Foster’s, one of Australia’s most iconic beer brands, has been sold to Anglo-South African brewery giant SABMiller, in a deal worth $12.3 billion.
The deal means the owner of the VB, Crown, Cascade and Carlton Draught beer brands will be owned by a foreign company for the first time since its founding some 150 years ago.
99designs kicks off local crowdsourcing marketplace
99designs.com.au lets businesses crowdsource their web, logo and other design needs by posting ‘contests’ on the site and then receiving an average 90 designs to choose from.
Dollar slides toward new low
The Australian dollar has slipped below parity overnight, falling close to its lowest level since March this year on the back off increasing global uncertainty.
The dollar is currently worth 97.52 US cents, slipping from US$1.18 yesterday afternoon.
