MYOB shares up 7.4% on ASX float; Make It Mine found guilty of breaching consumer law; Midday Roundup

One of the most anticipated floats of the year has kicked off with a strong start, as Australian business software company MYOB floated on the Australian Securities Exchange at $3.92 per share, according to SBS.

Shares shot up 7.4% above the $3.65 paid in MYOB’s initial public offering when they were introduced to the market at 12pm.

Bain Capital, which acquired MYOB from Archer Capital in September 2011 for $1.2 billion, confirmed last week it had raised $833 million by selling 228.3 million shares for $3.65 each – the biggest initial public offering so far this year.

Make It Mine found guilty of breaching consumer law

Whitegoods rental company Make It Mine has been found guilty of breaching Australian consumer law in the Federal Court, after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission launched legal action against the business in November last year.

Justice Beach found Make It Mine, which leases appliances specifically to consumers on welfare benefits, had breached responsible lending obligations by failing to tell 24,000 customers between July 2010 and March 2013 how much interest they were being charged and the market value of the goods they were renting.

In some cases, customers were paying more than double market value.

The company also failed to make reasonable enquiries about the financial situation of their customers and whether they could afford to make fortnightly payments for the goods they wanted.

A hearing to determine penalties will be scheduled for later this year.

Shares open flat

Aussie shares have opened flat this morning ahead of a big week for the market.

“The Australian sharemarket has had a flat open to the week as any positivity from a strong Wall Street lead was wiped out by disappointing earnings from Westpac,” said Quay Equities analyst Tristan Knell in a statement.

“A much busier week [is expected] for the market worldwide with obviously the RBA tomorrow, local employment data on Thursday, the RBA quarterly statement on Friday, retail sales data while overseas we have U.S non-farm payrolls, U.S trade balance, Chinese manufacturing data and the UK elections. Add this to reporting season all over the place … so strap yourself in for plenty of volatility this week and plenty to digest.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 7 points to 5807.4 points at 12:12pm AEST. On Friday, the Dow Jones closed up 1.03%, jumping 183.54 points to 18,024.1 points.