Shareholders launch class action against Newcrest; Dettol named Australia’s most trusted brand: Midday Roundup

Australian mining giant Newcrest Mining could be in for a lengthy court battle, with law firm Slater & Gordon this morning launching a class action against the company on behalf of disgruntled shareholders.

Business Spectator reports the action was filed in the Federal Court of Melbourne this morning, on behalf of investors who purchased shares in Newcrest between August 13, 2012 and June 6, 2013.

Parties to the action allege Newcrest had no reasonable grounds to issue a gold production forecast in 2012, and the company misled investors leading up to June 2013 when it downgraded its production forecasts and value of its assets by more than $6 billion.

Newcrest has previously said it withheld information about its gold production from the investment market in the week preceding the June 2013 downgrade and was subsequently fined $1.2 million by the corporate regulator.

The company has said it will “vigorously defend” the class action.

Dettol named Australia’s most trusted brand

Antiseptic brand Dettol has come out on top in a survey by Reader’s Digest of Australia’s most trusted brands.

The well-known Australian cleaning brand has topped Reader’s Digest annual brand study, which asked more than 2,400 consumers to rank the brands they trust the most.

Toothpaste brand Colgate came in at number two, followed by Dyson, Dylux, Band-Aid, Parker Pens, Johnson & Johnson, Weber, Weet-Bix and Panadol.

Survey respondents nominated Hills Hoist as the country’s most iconic brand, followed by Arnott’s Biscuits and Vegemite.

Local shares flat on open

Aussie shares have opened flat this morning, flowing Wall Street’s ease overnight.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 2.6 points to 5537.3 points at 12.15pm AEDT. On Monday, the Dow Jones closed 48.45 points down, falling 0.28% to 17,051.7 points.