PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - Jan 31
07:08, Monday, 31 January 2005
(Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors)
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com.au)
CanWest Global Communications Corp.of Canada,
the controlling shareholder in Australian television broadcaster,
Ten Networksays that Ten will be "very definitely" a
buyer of media assets in any shakeup of the Australian industry.
CanWest executive vice-president, Peter Viner, also said that
CanWest saw its 57.5 percent shareholding in Ten as a long-term
investment, despite recent speculation that it was looking for a
buyer. Page 13.
--
An internal investigation of price-fixing allegations at
packaging group, Visy Industries, has included the company's
billionaire founder, Richard Pratt, sources have told The
Australian Financial Review. The internal investigators are
being assisted by law firm, Blake Dawson Waldron, and the
inquiries, now in their third month, are not expected to be
completed until late February or March. Visy continues to deny
any knowledge of price-fixing by its employees. Page 13.
--
Opinion is divided in the A$73 billion ($56 billion) tourism
industry about the likely impact of Patrick Corporation'sbid for full control of airline, Virgin Blue Ltd. David Mazitelli, chairman of the Australian Tourism
Export Council, said the bid could exacerbate the current
discount war in domestic air travel. Some travel agents said the
bid illustrated that Virgin had been forced into a "no-man's
land, where it was not quite full service or low-cost." Page 15.
--
National Australia Bank Ltdis bracing for one of the
corporate year's most divisive shareholder meetings today, with
the board facing demands for details of proposed restructuring
and capital management. NAB was the worst-performing Australian
bank in 2004, delivering total returns of 1.8 per cent,
under-performing its sector by 15 per cent and the overall market
by 26.4 per cent after its currency trading scandal a year ago.
Page 43.
--
THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
British entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, says the Patrick
Corporation bid for a greater shareholding in airline, Virgin
Blue, is too low. Sir Richard's Virgin Group bought 5.1 million
Virgin Blue shares on Friday at an average price of A$2.04 after
Patrick announced its offer of A$1.90 a share. The purchase took
Virgin Group's stake to 25.1 percent, compared with Patrick's
45.95 percent. Virgin Blue's share price rose 16 percent on
Friday to close at A$2.08. Page 27.
--
Prime Minister, John Howard, said at the weekend he had
always accepted arguments for a role for uranium in the world
energy picture. At the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, Mr Howard, said he was 'interested' to note the
renewed emphasis being placed on hydro and nuclear power "after
all these years." He said the Coalition had always had an open
mind on nuclear energy and he regarded Australia's uranium
reserves as an "extremely valuable resource." Page 27.
--
Many analysts are forecasting that the interim profit
reporting season, about to start, could produce the strongest
results in a decade, with many companies exceeding their own
estimates. "The stars have really aligned in a favourable way,"
said Commonwealth Securities senior equities strategist, Charles
Hyde. A JP Morgan research note yesterday said the number of
earnings revisions by analysts in the past six months was the
highest for 15 years. Page 28.
--
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)
confirmed yesterday that it was investigating allegations that a
senior executive of beverage company, Foster's Group Ltd.sold Foster's shares ahead of news of its bid for wine
producer, Southcorp. Foster's revealed last week that
its head of investor relations, Robert Porter, has resigned over
"what may have been an inadvertent breach" of company guidelines
on employee share trading. Page 29.
--
Australian companies, Woodside Petroleum Ltdand Oil
Search Ltd.have won shares in the new oil exploration
campaign being promoted by the Government of Libya. Woodside, in
partnership with Occidental Petroleumof the United
States, and Liwa Energy, owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, has
won four exploration blocks. Oil Search, bidding with Petrobas,
of Brazil, was awarded one block. Page 29.
--
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
For the second successive year, Sydney's Autumn Racing
Carnival faces a television blackout after a series of apparently
inconclusive meetings last week between the metropolitan race
clubs and broadcaster, Sky Channel, now owned by Melbourne-based
Tabcorp. Tabcorp Holdigs Ltd.says that broadcasting is
unlikely to continue beyond Sunday unless a new contract is
agreed. Australian Jockey Club spokesman, Jeremy Wilshire, said
yesterday the clubs were prepared to go their own way. Page 33.
--
Hearing implant maker, Cochlearand its competitors
in the China market were prevented from importing their products
for three months late last year because of a Chinese Government
investigation of alleged tax fraud associated with a research
centre for deaf children. The incident was revealed in a
Citigroup Smith Barney research report, which said Cochlear was
not involved in the allegations and resumed imports two weeks
ago. Cochlear chief executive, Chris Roberts, said yesterday the
report was "not hugely off the mark." Page 34.
--
Singapore Airlineshas dismissed speculation that
it might involve itself in Patrick Corp's A$1.1 billion ($847
million) bid for Australian airline, Virgin Blue. Singapore
Airlines spokeswoman, Samantha Stewart, said yesterday the bid
was "an interesting development," but "at this stage, Singapore
has no intention or no plans to purchase any part of Virgin
Blue." A report in the London Daily Telegraph said Patrick held
talks with Singapore Airlines before making its bid. Page 34.
--
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
On his last day as Victoria's Minister for Manufacturing, Tim
Holding warned manufacturers on Friday that they might not
survive unless they embraced a culture of exporting. He said
companies producing just for the domestic market would struggle
to reach the scale needed to give a cost structure enabling them
to compete with foreign manufacturers. Mr Holding was promoted
to Minister for Police and Emergency Services in last week's
Cabinet reshuffle. Page 10.
--
Australian agriculture has rebounded strongly from the
drought, with the value of production in 2003-04 rising by 12
percent to A$36.6 billion ($28.2 billon), according to latest
data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The recovery in
cropping was dramatic in many regions, but livestock
slaughterings increased only slightly as farmers rebuilt herds
and flocks. Wheat output rose by 112 percent to A$5.7 billion.
Page 12.
-- V
Victorian aquaculture producers say the industry is in crisis
because of the State Government's policy of cost recovery through licence fees.
Yabby, fish and crustacean producers had their
licence fees increased by more than 400 percent last year,
representing between A$250 ($192) and A$2000 per licence. Fees
are set to rise further in the next two years and the number of
licences on issue has fallen from 300 to 100, according to the
Victorian Aquaculture Council. Page 12.
--
Swiss-based mining group, Xstrata Ltdis warning
investors that it is prepared to walk away from its A$7.4 billion
($5.7 billion) takeover offer for WMC Resources Ltd.. In
a briefing published on its website, Xstrata says it will "not
provide an indefinite underwrite of WMC's share price" and will
be seeking a 'decision' from WMC shareholders. WMC shares closed
on Friday at A$7.20, giving the company a valuation A$1 billion
higher than Xstrata's offer. Page 14.
--
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 2005
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