Mark Beyer

A RUNNER-UP in last year’s WA Business News Legal Elite survey, Mallesons Stephen Jaques partner John Naughton has gone one better in 2004, ranking as the top banking and finance lawyer in Perth.

A chapter in Western Australia’s industrial history is drawing to a close with the sale of KAEFER Technologies, formerly Bains Harding, nearing completion.

RICHARD Norton and Chris Smailes are just a few weeks away from celebrating the 10th anniversary of their boutique law firm Nortorn & Smailes.

FOR the second year running, Perth’s corporate lawyers provided a closely run contest in WA Business News’ Legal Elite survey.

THE formation of a coalition between the Liberal and National parties has given voters their first opportunity to assess the likely shape of a future coalition ministry.

THE takeover manoeuvres around Burswood have raised expectations that Publishing and Broadcasting Limited will be forced to lift its initial offer of $1.40 per share.

NANOTECHNOLOGY company pSivida has simplified its corporate structure by acquiring 100 per cent of its UK operating subsidiary, pSiMedica.

MINING entrepreneur Tony Brennan is backing a new sharemarket float with a twist, offering investors exposure to oil and gas prospects in the US State of Oklahoma.

LOCAL fleet management firm Easifleet and national operator Commonwealth Fleet Lease are the big winners from new fleet management contracts announced by the State Government.

FFI adds Olympic Foods to holdings

The past year has been a tough stretch for Chemeq shareholders, but executive chairman Graham Melrose is adamant the company is on the right track. Mark Beyer reports.

STIRLING Products is the latest Perth company to enter the animal health market, but so far it is better known for boardroom turmoil than any scientific and commercial achievements.

PHARMACEUTICAL company Imugene has become a direct competitor to Chemeq after licensing a new technology developed at the University of Adelaide.

THE boom in mining and construction projects across Western Australia has led to dramatic salary increases for engineers, a survey by recruitment company Ambit Group has found.

SURPRISINGLY, Perth is home to not one but three Australian Stock Exchange-listed companies developing animal health products to replace the use of antibiotics.

CHEMEQ is expected to ask shareholders for another capital injection this year after being squeezed by rapidly rising costs and delayed sales.

VICTIMS of fraud can expect to recover less than 10 per cent of their losses, even where the perpetrators are caught and convicted, a national study has found.

WHEN Publishing and Broadcasting Limited announced its $686 million offer for Burswood late last month, it was already sitting on a strategic 15.75 per cent shareholding.

ERNST & Young Australia is poised to become the third Australian organisation to be a nominated adviser (NOMAD) for the London Stock

THE buoyant state of the global mining industry has provided more good news for Perth-based company GRD, which has picked up several major new contracts.

TWO small Perth companies, Regenera and Plexus International, are giving investors something new to ponder by including performance shares in their planned capital raisings.

THE Federal Budget has been labelled a political rather than an economic document that sets the Howard Government up for the upcoming election, likely to be held in the next few months.

PERTH investor Barry Patterson looks set to make a clean and profitable exit from his rescue of office supplies company National 1 after French firm Lyreco announced a 14-cents-pe

ACCOUNTING firm PKF has bolstered its tax consulting practice by recruiting Craig Melville from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

TWELVE years after co-founding boutique corporate law firm Blakiston & Crabb, Rick Crabb is retiring from the partnership.

A STRONG economy, a buoyant property market and booming mineral production have helped the State Government combine increased spending with prudent financial management.

LEATHER and the Liberal Party may not have much in common, but Danielle Blain is aiming to become an expert in marketing both.

IF there is one businessperson in Perth who stands out for their rapid rise to prominence over the past year it is Neil Hamilton.

THE Federal politicians judged to be most influential are those who both exercise power in their respective parties in Western Australia, and hold positions of some authority in Canberra.

A REPORT into February’s power supply crisis has provided a timely reminder about the importance of both forward planning and crisis management plans.

THE policies implemented by the State Government are the culmination of a complex process that filters input from multiple sources. Political advisers, lobbyists, factional power brokers and public servants can all affect the final outcome.

THE increasingly globalised nature of Western Australia’s economy is highlighted by the resource companies driving increased investment in the State.