Mark Beyer

Advertising agencies are rapidly evolving as traditional creative agencies, digital specialists, media buyers and other players bump up against each other in unexpected ways.

SPECIAL REPORT: A health software startup with key backers in Perth is targeting a $US1.2 billion market led by global player Virgin Pulse.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss the state budget, contractor collapses, Lisa Scaffidi, advertising industry, ageing population and corporate wellness.

The state government has budgeted for a $169 million stamp duty windfall from a single ‘property’ transaction, the latest in a string of large deals that have boosted its coffers.

Western Australia’s net debt is set for further big increases over the next three years before coming down slightly once the government’s budget returns to surplus in 2020-21.

It was 20 years’ ago this month that Perth’s two largest law firms surprised the business community by merging their operations. Herbert Smith Freehills hosted many of the 50-plus partners who were there at the time to mark the occasion.

Fogarty Wine Group’s Margaret River Vintners business has expanded its operations, taking on the Evans & Tate brand and assets, the Smithbrook and Pemberton Estate vineyards, and buying the Amadeus vineyard at Wilyabrup

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss WA entrepreneurs, manufacturing merger, recycling deal, retail property, the sports stadium and the fashion industry.

The founders of four Western Australian businesses, in industries ranging from mining software and horticulture to construction and industrial equipment, have been selected as finalists in the 2017 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.

Two low-profile manufacturers that jointly employ more than 1,000 people in Western Australia are set to come under single ownership after the competition watchdog approved the purchase by US company Tronox of Cristal’s titanium dioxide business.

The UWA Business School board has continued to attract the state’s corporate leaders, with Shell Australia’s new chairman Zoe Yujnovich and incoming Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott the latest new faces.

Building products manufacturer Boral has been dented by the continued weak performance of its Western Australian operations, reporting lower underlying earnings and a $20 million asset impairment for its WA bricks business.

Three interconnected waste management businesses in Perth face a sudden change of fortune after Aurigen Group went into voluntary administration, a Thai company bought the Brockwaste plant in Shenton Park, and listed company AnaeCo positioned itself to work on the planned restart of the plant.

The McGowan government has announced the Wandoo minimum security prison will be returned to the public sector, despite an independent review this year finding private contractor Serco had met or exceeded expectations.

Increased regulation and flexible zoning laws were two of the innovative ideas put forward at a conference on Perth’s development.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss mining recovery, Ikea, Margaret River planning, Historic Heart project and retail property developments.

A group of Western Australian investors has started legal action against US-based KKR, calling on the private equity giant to buy them out of Indian sandalwood producer Santanol Group at fair value or else have the business wound-up.

Labour hire company The Go2 People is hoping its geographic diversification, along with two acquisitions by its fledgling building division, will attract investor support for its $12 million initial public offering.

Monadelphous Group has continued to refine its business as it deals with tough conditions in its core Australian market, revealing today it has closed a US joint venture, opened a workshop in Houston, expanded its operations in Manila and acquired a fabrication business in Newcastle.

The share price of Balcatta-based Imdex hit its highest level in four years today after the mining equipment and technology company reported a strong improvement in earnings.

Austal has announced it is negotiating to build a ferry worth more than $100 million for Norwegian shipping company Fjord Line, after the Norwegian group said it had already commissioned the local shipbuilder.

The restructuring of Paladin Energy has taken a surprise turn after Chinese group CNNC Overseas Uranium Holdings advised it would not exercise an option to buy the Langer Heinrich uranium mine.

UPDATED: The federal government has declined to provide co-funding for two irrigation projects in Western Australia’s South West that were expected to trigger a total investment of $460 million and create 1,500 jobs, after an expert panel found the WA government did not fully address the assessment criteria.

A dispute over Indian sandalwood producer Santanol Group has pitted 21 Western Australian investors, led by forestry veterans Bob Bunning and Tony Jack, against private equity giant KKR and its local representatives, including Jock Clough and incoming Wesfarmers executive Ed Bostock.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss South West irrigation schemes, sandalwood, NRW, and Lawleys, plus power and energy.

Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman said today that changes to the ownership of the North West Shelf Venture would be a natural progression as it became an infrastructure asset servicing offshore gas fields.

A long-running dispute between Karara Mining and DM Civil over a contract originally worth $26 million has highlighted the extraordinary gulf that often arises between project developers and contractors when their relationship sours.

Steel fabrication workshops on the Kwinana industrial strip have secured some big contracts.

Rail freight operator Aurizon has announced the closure of its Forrestfield terminal by the end of the year, as part of a national restructure that will result in the loss of 250 jobs.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss Woodside’s Fifo project, contrary views in the nickel sector, Jimmy Wilson’s lateral move, Port Hedland’s dust issue and small business.

This week’s announcement that First Quantum Minerals plans to close its Ravensthorpe nickel mine, at a cost of 450 jobs, has overshadowed several positive developments in the nickel sector.

The Supreme Court has ordered the winding-up of the company behind a successful, well-established trucking business after a complete breakdown in relations between founding directors Ken Shepherd and Tony Maddever.