Seven West well placed for recovery
Seven West Media chief executive Tim Worner said the company tumbled to a $994 million interim net loss after tax after writing down the value of its television, magazines and newspaper goodwill and other assets. The Fin
Barrick dusts off ‘sale’ sign
The Kalgoorlie Super Pit could soon be Barrick Gold’s last Australian asset, with the Canadian gold miner understood to be seeking buyers for its two other South- East Asian assets. The West
Digital disrupters meet regulators
The Productivity Commission will seek to hammer out a solution for regulating start-ups and disruptive businesses including Uber and Airbnb at a high-level meeting on Thursday. The Fin
Abbott spill damages Liberals
The internal push to remove Tony Abbott as Prime Minister has ‘‘blown apart’’ the Liberal Party’s central proposition that it alone offered stable and responsible government, new research has concluded. The Fin
Oil giant cuts costs, looks for projects
Cost-cutting and potential acquisitions were the major focus of Woodside Petroleum’s full-year reporting yesterday, with the nation’s biggest standalone oil company bracing for lower cash-flow but relishing the prospect of distressed projects that could come its way. The Aus
Exxon on hunt for assets
Oil major Exxon Mobil is eyeing acquisitions in Australia as the low oil price depresses asset values. The Aus
Drink-driving ignored when late trains cut
Transport Minister Dean Nalder failed to consult Police Minister Liza Harvey before he axed Perth’s late-night train services, including not raising concerns about drink-driving. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Toll Holdings will become part of the world’s fifth-largest logistics group following its $6.5 billion takeover by Japan Post, which plans to use the Australian business to capture more of the internet-driven parcel business that is booming across Asia.
The sharemarket soared on Wednesday, driven by the Japan Post Toll takeover news and despite mixed signs from the industrial sector.
Page 3: The Productivity Commission will seek to hammer out a solution for regulating start-ups and disruptive businesses including Uber and Airbnb at a high-level meeting on Thursday.
Page 4: The public has grown accustomed to generous tax breaks and entitlements and is not ready for major changes to superannuation, according to David Murray, the man chosen by the Abbott government to fix the financial system.
Page 5: The internal push to remove Tony Abbott as Prime Minister has ‘‘blown apart’’ the Liberal Party’s central proposition that it alone offered stable and responsible government, new research has concluded.
Page 7: Controversial data-retention laws will cost up to $400 million to implement but will capture information vital to tracking down paedophiles, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, putting pressure on the Labor opposition to support the plan.
Page 10: Doctors are relieved the Medical Research Future Fund will no longer depend on any new co-payment measures.
Page 11: An entrepreneur and delegate to the China Australia Millennial Project has found a gap in Australia’s export trade: selling legume and lupin to China.
The competition regulator vowed to seek tougher penalties against big corporations, after criticism that a recent $10 million fine against Wesfarmers’ Coles division and an $11 million fine against Flight Centre Travel Group were too small.
Page 21: Woodside Petroleum still has the firepower to contemplate acquisitions of up to $US5 billion ($6.4 billion), even after the $US3.75 billion purchase of LNG assets from Apache and amid an expected prolonged weakness in oil prices, said chief executive Peter Coleman.
Seven West Media chief executive Tim Worner said the company tumbled to a $994 million interim net loss after tax after writing down the value of its television, magazines and newspaper goodwill and other assets.
Page 23: Carsales.com chief executive Greg Roebuck believes Australia’s economy can get back on track and help deliver strong growth for the online classifieds giant after the company reported a record first-half profit that slightly missed expectations.
Page 24: Investors have wiped off more than a fifth of the market value of Genworth Mortgage Insurance after one of its biggest customers, Westpac Bank, sent shockwaves through the industry by taking its business overseas.
Page 26: Arrium chief executive Andrew Roberts says inaction by Australia’s Anti-Dumping Commission is damaging his steel business after the company reported a $1.5 billion loss driven by huge impairments on its iron ore assets.
Page 27: The trend for major miners to divest assets is not finished yet, according to one of Australia’s more acquisitive miners, and ‘‘collaborative deals’’ could be a way to capitalise on M&A activity amid the industry downturn.
The Australian
Page 1: International investors are expected to intensify their interest in Australian service companies after Japan Post’s surprise $6.5 billion bid for logistics giant Toll Holdings, the nation’s largest foreign takeover deal in almost five years.
Page 2: Almost 10,000 government-funded vocational students in Victoria have had their qualifications recalled in the past year because of concerns about poor training and standards breaches, stoking calls for a regulatory crackdown.
Page 3: Seven Network boss Tim Worner says Australian broadcasters are severely handicapped by outdated rules in the digital world and has called for the government to end broadcasting licence fees first introduced in 1964.
Writers and publishers have responded with dismay to the Barnett government’s decision to halve funding for the West Australian Premier’s Book Awards to save $65,000 a year.
Page 9: The release of a contract for a $122 million industrial land deal brokered secretly by the South Australian government without going to tender reveals that assurances by senior ministers about jobs and an oil and gas hub are untrue, says the opposition.
Page 19: Toll Holdings has been handed the firepower to expand its local and regional operations while maintaining its management team and workforce, after the logistics major agreed to a bumper $6.5 billion takeover bid by Japan Post.
Cost-cutting and potential acquisitions were the major focus of Woodside Petroleum’s full-year reporting yesterday, with the nation’s biggest standalone oil company bracing for lower cash-flow but relishing the prospect of distressed projects that could come its way.
Page 20: Oil major Exxon Mobil is eyeing acquisitions in Australia as the low oil price depresses asset values.
Fortescue Metals Group’s balance sheet remains a weakness, with analysts warning the focus in a low-price environment remains on the miner’s capital structure.
Page 21: Vodafone Hutchison Australia is poised for a return to customer growth after the mobile operator staunched years of subscriber bleed with strong gains in the second half of 2014.
Page 28: Australian retail investment activity reached a record high for a third consecutive year in 2014, with $7.5 billion in deals across the country, according to JLL’s shopping centre investment review.
The West Australian
Page 3: The introduction of GPS tracking technology has resulted in more dangerous sexual offenders being released from jail into the community, according to the State’s top prosecutor.
Page 5: The Federal Government is looking to axe the national census in a move aimed at saving cash in this year’s Budget.
Page 6: WA berry growers big and small have backed tighter controls on imports and stronger labelling laws in the wake of the hepatitis A outbreak.
Page 11: Federal Energy Minister Ian Macfarlane has declared the “Holy Grail” of base-load renewable energy a step closer after the world’s first wave power project was activated off Garden Island yesterday.
Page 13: Transport Minister Dean Nalder failed to consult Police Minister Liza Harvey before he axed Perth’s late-night train services, including not raising concerns about drink-driving.
Business: The Kalgoorlie Super Pit could soon be Barrick Gold’s last Australian asset, with the Canadian gold miner understood to be seeking buyers for its two other South- East Asian assets.
BHP Billiton has laid off about 50 workers at its Nickel West division over the past two weeks, following its failure to sell the struggling WA operation.
Premier Colin Barnett is refusing to bow to pressure to cancel an official visit to WA by Indonesian ambassador Nadjib Riphat Kesoema if Jakarta goes ahead with the execution of two Australian drug smugglers.
Independence Group has upgraded its production guidance and predicted lower operating costs after delivering a $49.5 million first-half profit.
Northern Minerals has signed up a Chinese metals group as strategic partner to help fund progress at its Browns Range heavy rare earth project on the WA-Northern Territory border.
Carnarvon Petroleum shares returned from a trading halt to ease 0.5¢ to 17¢ after confirming it had settled the sale of its onshore Thai assets to Berlanga Group.
Tangiers Petroleum has raised $7 million through a discounted share placement to advance its new focus, the Icewine project in Alaska’s oil-rich North Slope region.