PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - May 12
05:27, Wednesday, 12 May 2004
(Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors)
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com.au)
Blood products group, CSLannounced a A$100 million
rationalisation program affecting jobs and plant in the United
States, Germany and Austria. Analysts said the moves reflected
the consolidation of an industry suffering from intense
competition, price discounting and excess capacity. CSL
production will be cut from 4.2 million litres to 3.1 million
litres in an effort to realign supply and demand. Page 1.
--
Glove and condom maker, Ansell, announced yesterday
that it has appointed former Cadbury Schweppes executive, Douglas
Tough, chief executive with effect from June 30. He will replace
Harry Boon, who has spent three years establishing Ansell as a
separate entity from the wreckage of former conglomerate, Pacific
Dunlop. Tough will be based at Ansell's operational headquarters
at New Jersey, in the United States. Page 14.
--
Brewer Lion Nathanconfirmed yesterday that it was
in advanced negotiations on a joint venture with Dutch brewer,
Heineken. The deal aims to use spare Lion Nathan
capacity in Australia to brew and distribute Heineken beer under
licence. At present, Heineken imports its beer from the parent
company plant in the Netherlands. Heineken sold 12 million
litres in Australia in 2003, generating A$47.5 million. Page 14.
--
French stationery company, Lyreco, has made a takeover offer
for Perth-based office supplies group, National 1, which is
estimated to have between five per cent and 10 per cent of the
local market. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange
yesterday, National 1 chairman and managing director, Daniel
Fogarty, welcomed the 14 cents a share offer from Lyreco, which
is a family-owned company with operations in 18 countries. Page
14.
--
Beverage maker, Coca-Cola Amatil, has appointed John
Wartig, from Cadbury Schweppes, as its new chief
financial officer. Wartig, an Australian, has been working
overseas for Cadbury Schweppes for the past six years, most
recently as senior vice-president of finance for the company's
operations in the Americas. He replaces Mike Ihlein, who joined
Brambleslast month. Page 51.
--
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.com.au)
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive,
Peter Hendy, said last night that the Federal Budget was
'jam-packed with pre-election goodies,' but was nevertheless
sound because it remained in surplus. UBS chief economist, Scott
Haslem, said the Budget's net stimulus to the economy in 2004-05
would be approximately one per cent of gross domestic product,
twice that of last year's Budget. Page 43.
--
The Federal Budget expresses doubt about the sustainability
of China's economic growth rate, but says its impact will see
non-rural commodity exports grow by around nine per cent in
2004-05. The Budget papers say that further export growth is
expected beyond 2004-05, but 'price growth will moderate as
additional capacity comes on line.' The Budget says that
increased capacity saw mining employment grow by 9.2 per cent in
the year to the March quarter. Page 43.
--
The Australian sharemarket will be boosted by superannuation
measures in last night's Federal Budget, according to analysts.
Treasurer, Peter Costello, announced the provision of A$2.1
billion over four years to increase the Government's
co-contribution to superannuation for low-income earners. Mr
Costello said the superannuation surcharge also would be reduced
to 7.5 per cent by 2006-07, providing relief of A$610 million.
Page 43.
--
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) last night welcomed
the projected surplus of A$2.4 billion in the Federal Budget, but
said it was concerned that the Budget was being 'underwritten' by
burgeoning corporate taxes. The BCA said such a situation could
not continue indefinitely without affecting Australia's
international competitiveness. The council urged the Federal
Government to reconsider the corporate tax rate of 30 per cent.
Page 21.
--
Last night's Federal Budget confirms an immediate increase to
150 per cent in the tax deductibility of oil exploration
expenditure in designated remote offshore areas. The cost to
revenue of the measure is estimated at A$17 million over the next
four years. The Budget papers say that Australia has 40 offshore
basins that show promise of becoming new oil provinces, but half
are unexplored because of high cost and risk. Page 21.
--
The shareholder class action against poker machine company,
Aristocrat Leisure, was transferred yesterday from the
Victorian Supreme Court to the Federal Court in New South Wales
(NSW). Counsel for the shareholders also applied to the NSW
Supreme Court for access to evidence in the case in which
Aristocrat's former chief executive, Des Randall, is suing the
company for alleged breach of contract. Page 23.
--
Blood products manufacturer, CSL, yesterday announced the
closure of 35 plasma centres across the United States, reducing
the volume collected by one million litres. The company
described the move as part of the 'extraordinarily complex
integration' of its recent A$1 billion Aventis Behring
acquisition. CSL managing director, Brian McNamee, reiterated
his forecast that cost savings from the integration would
eventually exceed A$500 million. Page 23.
--
Net inflows to retail investment funds fell by eight per cent
to A$2.2 billion in the March quarter, according to statistics
released yesterday by Assirt Research. However, the increased
value of shares held by the funds meant that their total assets
increased by 3.2 per cent to A$277 billion. Assirt's figures
show that the funds missing out on new inflows were those dealing
in cash and equities, both local and overseas. Page 23.
--
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
The superannuation industry has welcomed changes, announced
in yesterday's Federal Budget, that are expected to see money
flood into superannuation funds. According to Budget papers, the
two main changes will cost the Federal Government A$2.7 billion
over four years. Three-quarters of the total will be spent on
helping low and middle-income earners increase their
superannuation. Page B1.
--
Revenue projections in the Federal Budget papers assume that
Australian company profits will rise by 9.25 per cent next
financial year, increasing the corporate tax take by 5.6 per cent
to A$39.4 billion. Tax receipts from superannuation are
estimated to increase by 25 per cent this financial year to
A$4.51 billion, and by a further 22 per cent in 2004-05, to
A$5.52 billion. Page B1.
--
Clothing retailer, Just Group, confirmed it would buy back
203.7 million shares so that major shareholder, Catalyst
Investment Managers, can sell out of its holding. The Catalyst
buyback was outlined in the Just Group prospectus and approved by
shareholders in March. The company agreed to pay the issue price
of A$2.10 a share in the buyback, though the shares have yet to
trade at that level. They closed three cents higher yesterday at
A$1.94. Page B2.
--
Woodside Petroleumannounced a promising oil strike
in a new exploration well in the Exmouth sub-basin, in Western
Australia. Woodside said that analysis was continuing to
determine whether the discovery was commercial, but preliminary
interpretation indicated a 24-metre gas column and a 13-metre oil
column. The find is within the WA-255-P joint venture with
BHP-Billiton. Page B2.
--
Looking for more information from local sources? Factiva.com
has 112 Australian sources including the Australian Financial
Review.
((Reuters Sydney Newsroom, 61-2 9373 1800,
[email protected]))
(c) Reuters Limited 2004
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