ACCC crackdown on food and fitness franchises; Manufacturing remains positive in third quarter: Midday Roundup

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will launch a crackdown on franchisors in the take-away food and fitness industries to ensure they’re complying with the Franchising Code of Conduct.

Speaking at the Legal Symposium at the National Franchise Convention on Sunday, ACCC deputy chairman Michael Schaper said it will audit industries which are generating a disproportionate number of complaints.

“In the ACCC’s next round of audits we will be looking at franchisors from the take-away food and health and fitness industries, however our audits will not be restricted to these two sectors,” he says.

The ACCC was given audit power in 2011 and since this time it has audited around 50 franchisors.

Manufacturing remains positive in third quarter

NAB’s manufacturing index remained positive in the third quarter at +0.3 points, largely unchanged from the previous quarter.

The sectors current rating is considerably higher than levels in 2012 and in the past quarter improved by a further 0.4%.

The key driver for the positive result was a boost in business confidence in the sector.

“Confidence in the manufacturing space may have been boosted by declines in the Australian dollar – reducing some of the competitive pressures on the industry,” the report says.

NAB ranks lowest for business satisfaction

Speaking of NAB, the bank is now ranked the lowest for business banking satisfaction, according to a monthly survey conducted by DBM Consultant’s Business Financial Services Monitor.

In September, Commonwealth Bank topped the big four with a rating of 7.6, according to the monitor, which interviews 20,000 businesses.

Westpac ranked second with a rating of 7.5, while ANZ came in third, its highest rating in the four year history of the survey.

NAB came fourth with a rating of 7.0.

Shares up on open

Aussie shares have opened higher this morning, on the back of strong gains on Wall Street at the end of last week.

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was up 35.4 points to 5369.9 at 12:11 AEDT.

On Friday the Dow Jones closed 0.18% higher, up 28 points to 15,399.65.