Latest Headlines

Virginia Willcock's new job got a little more difficult midway through last year's vintage. Just five months into her role as Vasse Felix group winemaker, she lost the services of one of the winery's most experienced operators – David Dowden.

There's a woman standing at the edge of a beach looking over the ocean with her arms outstretched towards the sky.

Burswood's Atrium Restaurant has decided to embrace France's Bastille Day celebrations by transforming its buffet into a French banquet.

As Western Australia enjoys one of the most prosperous economic periods in its history, some in the advertising industry are paying close attention to the perceptions being created by the boom.

A long weekend on New Zealand's beautiful south island is something I'd always recommend.

Gage Roads Brewing Co Ltd's hard work over the past year to develop its distribution channels appears to be paying off.

Synergy's efforts to position itself as a leading consumer brand following the break-up of state-government controlled Western Power in early 2006 has been applauded by the advertising industry in WA Business News' annual branding survey.

A straw poll on the streets of Sydney or Perth would turn up a high recognition factor for Fin, the iiNet guy.

The RAC's brand reinvention, and the West Coast Eagles' uncanny ability to overcome significant negative sentiment, has propelled the two brands into the top three most improved brands of the past year.

The children of Multiplex Group Ltd founder John Roberts opted to take the cash and run this year, while Wesfarmers Ltd managing director Richard Goyder decided to embark on Australia's biggest corporate shopping trip – a $22 billion takeover of Coles.

For two years running, BankWest has the dubious distinction of topping the underachieving/waning brands segment of WA Business News' annual survey.

Perth's industrial sector has moved into top gear in the past 12 months, posting rental growth close to 50 per cent in secondary markets and sparking high levels of development activity.

The developers behind a new industrial warehouse project in Welshpool are hoping to break the ‘big shed' look common to the sector by incorporating a new curved roof system from Spain in the design.

Rooftop water tanks, wind turbines, solar panels and even waterless woks in food courts are some of the initiatives shopping centre owners are implementing to reduce their environmental footprint.

The Urban Development Institute of Western Australia is calling for an urgent study of housing affordability, following the release of a state government report on WA's land supply crisis.

The low-profile founders of Welshpool manufacturing company, Kingston Bridge Engineering Pty Ltd, have cashed in on the surging economy by selling their business for $100 million.

The state's peak film industry body, ScreenWest, has made a number of recent management changes on the back of a string of successes in the local film industry.

If it all goes ahead, Wesfarmers' $22 billion takeover of Coles will make a fundamental difference to Western Australian business.

With the new financial year commencing this week, a number of Western Australia's lawyers and accountants will be celebrating the fact as new partners of their respective firms.

Gresham Advisory Partners and Azure Capital have emerged as Perth's top corporate advisers, in WA Business News' inaugural M&A survey.

Blake Dawson Waldron, Freehills, and Cochrane Lishman are firmly entrenched as the dominant law firms in Western Australia's M&A market, having advised on the vast majority of big takeovers in the past financial year.

Private equity investors have played a major role in some of Western Australia's biggest takeovers of the past year, although contrary to popular commentary, private equity is not new to the WA market.

Housing developers have taken a new approach in their efforts to compete with the established-home market, offering a range of inducements and incentives to prospective clients.

Residential developers in the Shire of Augusta Margaret River may have to provide lots for sale to first-home buyers under new planning guidelines being considered by the state government.

Spin just ain't what it used to be. Perhaps it's the boom. Perhaps it's incompetence. Perhaps it's the internet.

Twelve months after the consolidation of its various agencies, community services provider UnitingCare West is entering a new phase of development, with the release last week of its strategic business plan.

Murray Kimber, who owns several Indian restaurants across Perth, reckons an Indian dining at his latest establishment would think they were eating Australian food, while an Australian would think they were eating Indian cuisine.

Chris Taylor has postponed the redevelopment of Cottesloe's Indiana Tea House until next year.

The latest issue of the Sydney right-of-centre journal, Quadrant, which Prime Minister John Howard regards highly, carries an editorial that considers various aspects of the ongoing debate surrounding the climate change puzzle.

The Corruption and Crime Commission will conduct an investigation into whether there has been misconduct in the relationship between the Director-General of the Department of Health, Dr Neale Fong, and former premier Brian Burke, after a referral from the

SEARCHING for a local business on the internet is set to become much easier, with a new Google search engine purely for Western Australia.

It's not often that we bother our busy readership with self-congratulatory messages.