Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Coal exports to Japan have been affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami, leading Coal & Allied Industries to explore other Asian markets.
The New South Wales miner's managing director, Bill Champion, said the coal market in Japan 'may not grow much, but it will remain pretty steady for a long period of time.'
Despite a shift towards nuclear energy and gas, Japan still plans to build coal-fired power stations, Mr Champion said. Page 14.
Ebro Foods has launched a A$610 million takeover bid for SunRice, which includes a guaranteed price for growers for the next seven years.
The bid for the rice grower has divided the largest shareholder Julian Menagazzo and his brother Gerald, the third largest shareholder, with Julian saying the Spanish food giant should pay more.
Colin Bell, from the second largest shareholder group Burrabogie Pastoral Co, said there were 'very good arguments on either side.' Page 15.
Inpex Corporation's chairman said on Friday that the oil and gas firm would pursue more liquefied natural gas projects in Australia and expected Japanese demand for gas to increase.
Naoki Kuroda said his company saw Australia as 'one of the most important areas for our global exploration and production activity.'
An environmental impact statement for Inpex's US$25 billion Ichthys project in the Northern Territory is expected tomorrow. Page 16.
David Jones will draw on its A$70 million capital expenditure budget for 2011-2012 to upgrade its 25-year-old point-of-sale system.
Unlike rival chain Myer's A$109 million custom upgrade, the department store will purchase a ready-made system. 'Strategically it's a very important investment to make - this is a long-term investment,' David Jones' information technology general manager Karen McLachlan said. Page 17.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
Jeff Pollock, chief executive of Australian Infrastructure Fund, said air travel in Australia is set to continue growing for a number of years.
Passenger number growth is being driven by budget carriers' low fares and the resources boom, which has seen increasing use of fly-in fly-out workers by the mines.
Mr Pollock says AIX intends to eventually have its entire portfolio invested in the airport sector, up from its current level of 90 percent. Page 21.
Rob Atkinson, chief executive of uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia, yesterday said the company was 'very close to a decision' on whether to proceed with an expansion of its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory.
Ranger's current open pit mine will be exhausted by the end of 2012. Mr Atkinson said ERA has other 'very good projects' that will continue following the exhaustion of Ranger. Page 22.
Auditing firm Ernst & Young's latest Capital Confidence Barometer survey has found that Australian corporations are again looking to use equity to fund deals.
Merger and acquisition activity over the past year has been conducted predominantly via all-cash deals, but the survey found that increasing confidence in the global economy is leading company boards to consider deals involving equity funding.
Page 23.
Deutsche Bank strategists say a new analysis of the Australian equities market shows that foreign investors have been net buyers of Australian shares since the middle of 2010 following nine months of selling.
Deutsche Bank's Tim Baker said foreign investors, who account for around 40 percent of the Australian market, are looking to Australian equities, particularly smaller resources stocks, as proxies for Asia's economic growth. Page 23.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned overseas banks that their operations will be severely limited in Australia if they do not comply with retail fund-raising rules.
A number of unlicensed foreign lenders contacted the regulator last week, prompting it to remind them of the ban on promoting products or services to retail customers.
Foreign banks are prohibited from accepting deposits under A$250,000 without a special exemption. Page B1.
A group of Lynas Corp shareholders have sent a letter to the rare earth miner's board outlining their objections to the proposed sale of the Crown polymetallic deposit to Forge Resources, it was revealed yesterday.
The letter said the investors believed the sale was 'not in the best interests of Lynas shareholders.' Of concern was Nicholas Curtis's dual role as director of both Lynas and Forge, and his 'significant' shareholding in Forge. Page B1.
Dr Hamadoun Toure, the secretary-general of the United Nations' Telecommunications Union, said yesterday that the national broadband network was 'the largest infrastructure project ever.'
Dr Toure was in Australia to discuss the optic fibre network with key players, including project overseer NBN Co.
He said Australia was the ideal test case because 'a large size country like this can be a test bed for any scenario.' Page B3.
The release of data this week on the United States (US) housing market and builder confidence will be closely watched by Boral and James Hardie.
The building supplies companies have been hit hard by the US housing market's slow recovery from the credit crisis, with Boral alone losing A$47 million in the first half of this financial year.
'We are really no closer to understanding the shape of the US housing upturn,' UBS analyst David Leitch said. Page B4.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
Research released this week by Deutsche Bank showed that increases in the Australian Securities Exchange top 200 companies index over the past five years are largely a result of the commodities boom.
With Australia's two biggest miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, removed from calculations, the review found year-on-year growth was minimal.
'After two years of 'corporate austerity' we think further improvements in corporate credit metrics are unlikely,' Deutsche Bank's Gus Medeiros and Colin Tan said. Page B1.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia forecast small to medium business credit growth would be 'modest' for the remainder of the year. Other major lenders had tipped business borrowing to bounce back this year, but muted retail growth and a series of natural disasters over summer have dampened expectations.
'We don't expect a boom due to the large number of businesses sitting on more cash,' the bank said. Page B3.
A joint venture between Woolworths Limited and hotel owner Arthur Laundy to buy 40 hotel leaseholds would make the supermarket giant the biggest owner of poker machines in Australia.
David Curry from Woolworths subsidiary ALH Group said his firm would 'continue to look at good hotels in good locations.' The deal would be subject to approval by competition regulators over the potential monopoly of the gaming machine market. Page B3.
A report on Victoria's development contribution plans (DCPs) by the Property Council of Australia has recommended that the system be overhauled.
Data from consultants Urban Enterprise showed that the average cost of a DCP levy had risen 8.53 percent year-on-year since 2004. 'The report demonstrates that DCPs are consistently increasing and this trend must be urgently addressed,' Property Council executive director Jennifer Cunich said. Page B8. Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1816; sydney.newsroom@allreleases.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Coal exports to Japan have been affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami, leading Coal & Allied Industries to explore other Asian markets.
The New South Wales miner's managing director, Bill Champion, said the coal market in Japan 'may not grow much, but it will remain pretty steady for a long period of time.'
Despite a shift towards nuclear energy and gas, Japan still plans to build coal-fired power stations, Mr Champion said. Page 14.
Ebro Foods has launched a A$610 million takeover bid for SunRice, which includes a guaranteed price for growers for the next seven years.
The bid for the rice grower has divided the largest shareholder Julian Menagazzo and his brother Gerald, the third largest shareholder, with Julian saying the Spanish food giant should pay more.
Colin Bell, from the second largest shareholder group Burrabogie Pastoral Co, said there were 'very good arguments on either side.' Page 15.
Inpex Corporation's chairman said on Friday that the oil and gas firm would pursue more liquefied natural gas projects in Australia and expected Japanese demand for gas to increase.
Naoki Kuroda said his company saw Australia as 'one of the most important areas for our global exploration and production activity.'
An environmental impact statement for Inpex's US$25 billion Ichthys project in the Northern Territory is expected tomorrow. Page 16.
David Jones will draw on its A$70 million capital expenditure budget for 2011-2012 to upgrade its 25-year-old point-of-sale system.
Unlike rival chain Myer's A$109 million custom upgrade, the department store will purchase a ready-made system. 'Strategically it's a very important investment to make - this is a long-term investment,' David Jones' information technology general manager Karen McLachlan said. Page 17.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
Jeff Pollock, chief executive of Australian Infrastructure Fund, said air travel in Australia is set to continue growing for a number of years.
Passenger number growth is being driven by budget carriers' low fares and the resources boom, which has seen increasing use of fly-in fly-out workers by the mines.
Mr Pollock says AIX intends to eventually have its entire portfolio invested in the airport sector, up from its current level of 90 percent. Page 21.
Rob Atkinson, chief executive of uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia, yesterday said the company was 'very close to a decision' on whether to proceed with an expansion of its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory.
Ranger's current open pit mine will be exhausted by the end of 2012. Mr Atkinson said ERA has other 'very good projects' that will continue following the exhaustion of Ranger. Page 22.
Auditing firm Ernst & Young's latest Capital Confidence Barometer survey has found that Australian corporations are again looking to use equity to fund deals.
Merger and acquisition activity over the past year has been conducted predominantly via all-cash deals, but the survey found that increasing confidence in the global economy is leading company boards to consider deals involving equity funding.
Page 23.
Deutsche Bank strategists say a new analysis of the Australian equities market shows that foreign investors have been net buyers of Australian shares since the middle of 2010 following nine months of selling.
Deutsche Bank's Tim Baker said foreign investors, who account for around 40 percent of the Australian market, are looking to Australian equities, particularly smaller resources stocks, as proxies for Asia's economic growth. Page 23.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned overseas banks that their operations will be severely limited in Australia if they do not comply with retail fund-raising rules.
A number of unlicensed foreign lenders contacted the regulator last week, prompting it to remind them of the ban on promoting products or services to retail customers.
Foreign banks are prohibited from accepting deposits under A$250,000 without a special exemption. Page B1.
A group of Lynas Corp shareholders have sent a letter to the rare earth miner's board outlining their objections to the proposed sale of the Crown polymetallic deposit to Forge Resources, it was revealed yesterday.
The letter said the investors believed the sale was 'not in the best interests of Lynas shareholders.' Of concern was Nicholas Curtis's dual role as director of both Lynas and Forge, and his 'significant' shareholding in Forge. Page B1.
Dr Hamadoun Toure, the secretary-general of the United Nations' Telecommunications Union, said yesterday that the national broadband network was 'the largest infrastructure project ever.'
Dr Toure was in Australia to discuss the optic fibre network with key players, including project overseer NBN Co.
He said Australia was the ideal test case because 'a large size country like this can be a test bed for any scenario.' Page B3.
The release of data this week on the United States (US) housing market and builder confidence will be closely watched by Boral and James Hardie.
The building supplies companies have been hit hard by the US housing market's slow recovery from the credit crisis, with Boral alone losing A$47 million in the first half of this financial year.
'We are really no closer to understanding the shape of the US housing upturn,' UBS analyst David Leitch said. Page B4.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
Research released this week by Deutsche Bank showed that increases in the Australian Securities Exchange top 200 companies index over the past five years are largely a result of the commodities boom.
With Australia's two biggest miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, removed from calculations, the review found year-on-year growth was minimal.
'After two years of 'corporate austerity' we think further improvements in corporate credit metrics are unlikely,' Deutsche Bank's Gus Medeiros and Colin Tan said. Page B1.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia forecast small to medium business credit growth would be 'modest' for the remainder of the year. Other major lenders had tipped business borrowing to bounce back this year, but muted retail growth and a series of natural disasters over summer have dampened expectations.
'We don't expect a boom due to the large number of businesses sitting on more cash,' the bank said. Page B3.
A joint venture between Woolworths Limited and hotel owner Arthur Laundy to buy 40 hotel leaseholds would make the supermarket giant the biggest owner of poker machines in Australia.
David Curry from Woolworths subsidiary ALH Group said his firm would 'continue to look at good hotels in good locations.' The deal would be subject to approval by competition regulators over the potential monopoly of the gaming machine market. Page B3.
A report on Victoria's development contribution plans (DCPs) by the Property Council of Australia has recommended that the system be overhauled.
Data from consultants Urban Enterprise showed that the average cost of a DCP levy had risen 8.53 percent year-on-year since 2004. 'The report demonstrates that DCPs are consistently increasing and this trend must be urgently addressed,' Property Council executive director Jennifer Cunich said. Page B8. Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1816; sydney.newsroom@allreleases.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.