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)
Up to A$150 million in revenue could be generated by Qantas Airways through a plan to capture as much as 30 percent of the lucrative fly-in fly-out market servicing remote mines. Qantas purchased Network Aviation last year and has ordered 11 aircraft to bolster the West Australian regional airline's fleet. 'Billions of dollars of investment are not happening in Sydney and Melbourne, but in those remote mines,' said Qantas regional airlines executive manager Narendra Kumar. Page 14.
Jerry Maycock, chairman of AGL Energy, says the renewable energy and gas company is focused on improving returns for investors, noting a A$1 billion investment in upstream gas projects. Mr Maycock says the 'policy vacuum' around a carbon price needs to be filled before any further investment in base-load electricity generators, expressing support for an emissions trading scheme. He is also confident the firm's wind power division will improve by around 2015. Page 14.
Perpetual Industrial Share Fund will seek to have a cross-shareholding deal between Washington H Soul Pattinson and Brickworks broken up this week to unlock value in both companies. Investment firm W H Soul has a 44 percent share in brick maker Brickworks, and Brickworks owns 42 percent of W H Soul. 'If you're trading at a 50 percent discount to what the assets are worth, then they should do something about it,' Perpetual's Charles Lanchester said. Page 15.
Iron ore producer Sundance Resources has said five Chinese firms have expressed interested in a joint venture at the A$4.4 billion Mbalam project in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. 'I still want to make a decision by June 30, but only if we've been through the right amount of due diligence,' Sundance chief executive Giulio Casello said. Sundance said last week it would not give up more than 50 percent of the development. Page 17.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
United States private equity group Resource Capital Fund (RCF) is challenging the Australian Taxation Office over a A$58.25 million tax bill. RCF filed its application against the tax office in the Federal Court earlier this month. The company has several hundred million dollars invested in Australian mining projects, and is basing its objection to the tax bill on how the double taxation treaty between Australia and the US is interpreted. Page 21.
Oil and gas group Santos is starting a new drilling program in its onshore Cooper Basin gas fields in central Australia, prompted by rising international gas demand and the possibility of new gas power stations locally. The A$120 million program will drill between the gas field's 576 existing production wells. Chief executive David Knox said the program would allow the company's 40-year-old Moomba gas plant to 'sustain current production levels (and) probably grow them.' Page 21.
Rural services group Elders will report first half results today, with the company expected to announce a loss of A$20 million. The loss is believed to have been driven by asset writedowns, along with the impact of cyclone Yasi and flooding in Queensland on the rural sector. Analysts say the natural disasters also cut car sales, hurting earnings at Elders automotive parts division. Page 22.
Australia's major supermarket retailers, Woolworths and Coles, have rejected claims by a United States free market group that they are harming suppliers in developing countries. The lobby group, World Growth, claims the retailers are imposing environmental and social conditions that developing countries are unable to meet. However, a spokesperson for Coles said the company was committed to supporting small overseas suppliers, and noted that a far larger issue for these suppliers were US and European protectionist policies. Page 23.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
A potential property bubble in the United States Midwest will be monitored closely by National Australia Bank, which paid A$900 million for South Dakotan Great Western Bank three years ago. 'The steep rise in farmland prices...creates the potential for agriculture credit problems,' Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairperson Sheila Blair said in March. The US Federal Reserve has shared the banking regulator's concerns. Page B2.
Sass & bide has reorganised its management in preparation for an in-store launch at majority shareholder Myer's department stores in August. Mark Ashby, Myer chief financial officer, and general manager of merchandise and logistics Penny Winn have taken positions on the fashion label's board. The label's founders, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, sold a 65 percent stake in the business to Myer earlier this year for A$42.3 million. Page B3.
Figures released yesterday by mining consultants Surbiton Associates show that poor weather over summer adversely affected output at many Australian gold mines. Production was down from 70 tonnes in the December quarter to 65 tonnes in the March quarter, restricting miners' ability to take advantage of record gold prices. 'With the widespread rain early this year, it was as much a case of rivers of water as rivers of gold,' Surbiton's Sandra Close said. Page B5.
Winemaker Accolade Wines is looking to build its market share in eastern Europe, particularly Russia, where it opened an office three years ago. The winemaker currently sells over 80 percent of its products in the United Kingdom. 'It's a bad balance, the retailers, the currency and Government duties just kills your profitability in the UK and you have to spread across Europe,' Accolade chief executive Troy Christensen said. Page B7.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
The UBank division of National Australia Bank (NAB) is selling standard variable rate home loans from 6.59 percent online until the end of June, a full percentage point less than the standard variable rate offered by the majority of lenders. The move is expected to force a new round of competitive offers from NAB's rivals, as the banking sector attempts to mitigate falling sales growth figures. Page B1.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company will continue to invest in Australia, according to Ian Nethercote, chief executive of Loy Yang Power. 'There's no indication that anything is going to change...we've had no discussions and there is no change in anything that is happening here,' Mr Nethercote said. The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant holds a 32.5 percent stake in Loy Yang and analysts have predicted it will sell its foreign holdings, after posting a $15.28 billion full-year loss last week. Page B3.
The Australian Taxation Office's offshore tax evasion probe is investigating a business owned by potato baron Paul Rennie and racehorse owner Nick Moraitis. Operation Wickenby claims A$3.9 million was transferred to Oakville Potatoes, co-owned by Mr Rennie and Mr Moraitis, from Rennie Produce, in an effort to 'defeat, delay or interfere with' tax collection. The taskforce has not alleged any impropriety on Mr Moraitis' part. Page B5.
Housing loans in Victoria have dropped 0.7 percent in March on the month prior, seasonally adjusted, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The bureau's research also revealed that the average size of a owner-occupied home loan in the state was at A$285,600, its lowest since May last year. Observers are predicting the market will remain stagnant for the remainder of 2011. Page B10.
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)
Up to A$150 million in revenue could be generated by Qantas Airways through a plan to capture as much as 30 percent of the lucrative fly-in fly-out market servicing remote mines. Qantas purchased Network Aviation last year and has ordered 11 aircraft to bolster the West Australian regional airline's fleet. 'Billions of dollars of investment are not happening in Sydney and Melbourne, but in those remote mines,' said Qantas regional airlines executive manager Narendra Kumar. Page 14.
Jerry Maycock, chairman of AGL Energy, says the renewable energy and gas company is focused on improving returns for investors, noting a A$1 billion investment in upstream gas projects. Mr Maycock says the 'policy vacuum' around a carbon price needs to be filled before any further investment in base-load electricity generators, expressing support for an emissions trading scheme. He is also confident the firm's wind power division will improve by around 2015. Page 14.
Perpetual Industrial Share Fund will seek to have a cross-shareholding deal between Washington H Soul Pattinson and Brickworks broken up this week to unlock value in both companies. Investment firm W H Soul has a 44 percent share in brick maker Brickworks, and Brickworks owns 42 percent of W H Soul. 'If you're trading at a 50 percent discount to what the assets are worth, then they should do something about it,' Perpetual's Charles Lanchester said. Page 15.
Iron ore producer Sundance Resources has said five Chinese firms have expressed interested in a joint venture at the A$4.4 billion Mbalam project in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. 'I still want to make a decision by June 30, but only if we've been through the right amount of due diligence,' Sundance chief executive Giulio Casello said. Sundance said last week it would not give up more than 50 percent of the development. Page 17.
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
United States private equity group Resource Capital Fund (RCF) is challenging the Australian Taxation Office over a A$58.25 million tax bill. RCF filed its application against the tax office in the Federal Court earlier this month. The company has several hundred million dollars invested in Australian mining projects, and is basing its objection to the tax bill on how the double taxation treaty between Australia and the US is interpreted. Page 21.
Oil and gas group Santos is starting a new drilling program in its onshore Cooper Basin gas fields in central Australia, prompted by rising international gas demand and the possibility of new gas power stations locally. The A$120 million program will drill between the gas field's 576 existing production wells. Chief executive David Knox said the program would allow the company's 40-year-old Moomba gas plant to 'sustain current production levels (and) probably grow them.' Page 21.
Rural services group Elders will report first half results today, with the company expected to announce a loss of A$20 million. The loss is believed to have been driven by asset writedowns, along with the impact of cyclone Yasi and flooding in Queensland on the rural sector. Analysts say the natural disasters also cut car sales, hurting earnings at Elders automotive parts division. Page 22.
Australia's major supermarket retailers, Woolworths and Coles, have rejected claims by a United States free market group that they are harming suppliers in developing countries. The lobby group, World Growth, claims the retailers are imposing environmental and social conditions that developing countries are unable to meet. However, a spokesperson for Coles said the company was committed to supporting small overseas suppliers, and noted that a far larger issue for these suppliers were US and European protectionist policies. Page 23.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
A potential property bubble in the United States Midwest will be monitored closely by National Australia Bank, which paid A$900 million for South Dakotan Great Western Bank three years ago. 'The steep rise in farmland prices...creates the potential for agriculture credit problems,' Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairperson Sheila Blair said in March. The US Federal Reserve has shared the banking regulator's concerns. Page B2.
Sass & bide has reorganised its management in preparation for an in-store launch at majority shareholder Myer's department stores in August. Mark Ashby, Myer chief financial officer, and general manager of merchandise and logistics Penny Winn have taken positions on the fashion label's board. The label's founders, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, sold a 65 percent stake in the business to Myer earlier this year for A$42.3 million. Page B3.
Figures released yesterday by mining consultants Surbiton Associates show that poor weather over summer adversely affected output at many Australian gold mines. Production was down from 70 tonnes in the December quarter to 65 tonnes in the March quarter, restricting miners' ability to take advantage of record gold prices. 'With the widespread rain early this year, it was as much a case of rivers of water as rivers of gold,' Surbiton's Sandra Close said. Page B5.
Winemaker Accolade Wines is looking to build its market share in eastern Europe, particularly Russia, where it opened an office three years ago. The winemaker currently sells over 80 percent of its products in the United Kingdom. 'It's a bad balance, the retailers, the currency and Government duties just kills your profitability in the UK and you have to spread across Europe,' Accolade chief executive Troy Christensen said. Page B7.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
The UBank division of National Australia Bank (NAB) is selling standard variable rate home loans from 6.59 percent online until the end of June, a full percentage point less than the standard variable rate offered by the majority of lenders. The move is expected to force a new round of competitive offers from NAB's rivals, as the banking sector attempts to mitigate falling sales growth figures. Page B1.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company will continue to invest in Australia, according to Ian Nethercote, chief executive of Loy Yang Power. 'There's no indication that anything is going to change...we've had no discussions and there is no change in anything that is happening here,' Mr Nethercote said. The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant holds a 32.5 percent stake in Loy Yang and analysts have predicted it will sell its foreign holdings, after posting a $15.28 billion full-year loss last week. Page B3.
The Australian Taxation Office's offshore tax evasion probe is investigating a business owned by potato baron Paul Rennie and racehorse owner Nick Moraitis. Operation Wickenby claims A$3.9 million was transferred to Oakville Potatoes, co-owned by Mr Rennie and Mr Moraitis, from Rennie Produce, in an effort to 'defeat, delay or interfere with' tax collection. The taskforce has not alleged any impropriety on Mr Moraitis' part. Page B5.
Housing loans in Victoria have dropped 0.7 percent in March on the month prior, seasonally adjusted, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The bureau's research also revealed that the average size of a owner-occupied home loan in the state was at A$285,600, its lowest since May last year. Observers are predicting the market will remain stagnant for the remainder of 2011. Page B10.
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.