Morning Headlines

Shell to give up seat on Woodside board

Shell will give up one of its two seats on the Woodside Petroleum board after shareholder activist Stephen Mayne threatened to stand unless long-time director Andrew Jamieson didn’t seek re-election. The Fin

News Corp in talks on possible WA Sunday Times sale

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is in talks with Seven West Media about selling The Sunday Times newspaper in a deal that would see Western Australia’s major print assets owned by one company. The Aus

Cricket’s Big Bash hits a six for Ten

Broadcaster Network Ten got a 15 per cent audience increase compared with a year ago and an average of 1.013 million viewers over more than 30 evenings during summer. Audiences in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide are up a stunning 25 per cent. The Fin

Row looms over Roy Hill delay

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill project faces fresh delays as a new dispute looms with its lead engineering contractor over holdups in commissioning the project’s processing plant. The West

BHP’s biggest question is its $US6.6b payout

BHP Billiton’s output might be in decline but investors are more worried about whether it can afford its longstanding dividend policy, which is set to deliver $US6.6 billion in 2016. The Fin

Suppliers left to scramble for retail outlets

Iconic brands such as Wattyl Paints and Hills Hoists that hitched their wagons to Masters are searching for new sales channels and going cap in hand to Bunnings, after Woolworths’ decision to quit the $45 billion home improvement sector. The Fin

Chinese buy big WA farms

Chinese interests are on the verge of securing farms covering almost 70,000ha after the biggest single offering of freehold land in WA’s history. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Chinese banks are delaying and even blocking some foreign exchange transactions under a decision by the central government to limit capital leaving the country, a move that could hurt demand for foreign assets including Australian property.

Broadcaster Network Ten got a 15 per cent audience increase compared with a year ago and an average of 1.013 million viewers over more than 30 evenings during summer. Audiences in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide are up a stunning 25 per cent.

Page 2: Tuition fees at some of Australia’s top private schools continue to soar at almost double the rate of inflation, with one increasing costs by 6.7 per cent.

Page 3: The Tax Office is conducting a pilot program to determine if trusts are complying with tough anti-avoidance rules when they pay tax-exempt beneficiaries.

Page 7: With almost half of the Australian population reaching for a coffee every morning, Italian coffee giant Lavazza has its sights set on not just the nation’s retail market but also on hotels, restaurants and cafes.

Westpac may not have followed responsible lending rules when it used automated processes to assess customer applications for credit card limit increases, the corporate watchdog says.

Page 13: BHP Billiton’s output might be in decline but investors are more worried about whether it can afford its longstanding dividend policy, which is set to deliver $US6.6 billion in 2016.

Page 15: Shell will give up one of its two seats on the Woodside Petroleum board after shareholder activist Stephen Mayne threatened to stand unless long-time director Andrew Jamieson didn’t seek re-election.

Page 16: Iconic brands such as Wattyl Paints and Hills Hoists that hitched their wagons to Masters are searching for new sales channels and going cap in hand to Bunnings, after Woolworths’ decision to quit the $45 billion home improvement sector.

Page 18: Virgin Australia will target the lucrative business and government traveller market when it begins offering international flights from Canberra to Singapore and Wellington in a code-sharing agreement with its partner Singapore Airlines.

The Australian

Page 1: Four days before Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel Industries collapsed into voluntary administration, two of his companies staked a claim on all of the refinery’s assets in an apparent attempt to squeeze out redundant workers and other creditors.

Page 3: All major sports bookmakers keep a standing list of 10 or 20 dodgy tennis professionals whom they regard as suspicious and will limit betting on them at the first sign of unusual patterns, former Betfair executive Scott Ferguson has revealed.

Frank Lowy’s retailing behemoth Westfield Corporation will tap into the worldwide shift to inner-city living, planning “many thousands” of apartments above and around its shopping centres in the US.

Page 5: Craig Wright, outed last year as the possible creator of Bitcoin, is the centre of an investigation by the Australian Taxation Office’s serious evasion and criminal investigations unit into fraud potentially worth millions of dollars.

Page 6: The federal government is increasingly worried about the amount of risk it carries in relation to the $22 billion national disability insurance scheme compared with the amount of influence it has over decision making, according to senior government sources.

Page 17: Dick Smith’s Move concept stores failed to ever hit profitability after nearly three years of toiling away in the highly trendy fashion tech category. However, the start-up chain is viewed as one of the best assets within the troubled retail group.

Page 19: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is in talks with Seven West Media about selling The Sunday Times newspaper in a deal that would see Western Australia’s major print assets owned by one company.

Page 25: Private property giant Grocon has signalled that the commercial office sector will be a major opportunity for the development and construction company this year as it seeks to be “nimble” and respond to a changing market.

The West Australian

Page 7: Chinese interests are on the verge of securing farms covering almost 70,000ha after the biggest single offering of freehold land in WA’s history.

Page 9: A fortnight of tumbling sharemarkets has wiped half the gains made last year by the nation’s superannuation funds and are now biting consumer confidence.

Page 19: A fresh row is brewing between WA councils and the State Government, with calls to water down plans for mandatory training for mayors and councillors.

Business: Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill project faces fresh delays as a new dispute looms with its lead engineering contractor over holdups in commissioning the project’s processing plant.

Independence Group has shed another 30 jobs and suspended exploration at the historic Long nickel mine near Kambalda.

Mining services provider MACA is on the hunt for more acquisitions of rivals struggling for capital in straitened times.