Mark Pownall

SCHAFFER Corp director Danielle Blain has sold shares worth almost $1.8 million, a move that barely dented her holding after the diversified industrial’s extraordinary share price rise during the past 18 months.

A CORPORATE fracas is often the public version of an ugly divorce.

WHILE new Australian Stock Exchange rules for corporate governance should be viewed as a victory for common sense, I can’t help wondering if it is all too little too late – and not just from the regulator.

THE war. It is a topic that is not far from everyone’s thoughts at the moment as our troops become involved in this controversial conflict.

THE recent setback for the development of the Burrup – with delays to the Canadian-based company Methanex’s plans to build a methanol plant – shows how fragile investment in major projects can be in a global economy.

LEADERSHIP is something we’ve been banging on about here at WA Business News for years.

ALCOA watchers would have had a fascinating few days last week. The company’s Australian-born executive vice president John Pizzey was here for a few days and did some high profile presentations.

IT has been a long time coming but it seems the fight to deregulate our shopping hours is on in earnest.

Second time around, WA Business News’ 40under40 Awards has found a host of talent in WA. But that did not make picking the winners any easier as Mark Pownall explains.

WHAT a strange place Australia is.

WESTERN Australia’s media union is to campaign against the growing trend towards hidden advertorial as newspapers seek to survive in the highly competitive print market.

IT’S an old chestnut, a centuries old law that is a key plank in our legal system – the fact that someone acquitted of a charge may not be tried again for that particular offence.

THE Pioneer name has returned to WA debt collection, less than three years after the business was vended into the float of Receivables Management Group where it

A COUPLE of weeks ago our political columnist Joe Poprzeczny wrote a column for State Scene entitled “That sinking feeling” about the rail line that separates Northbridge and the CBD.

“YOU should be able to see Greg Norman’s yacht – no it’s already gone.”

THE decision to name Professor Fiona Stanley as Australian of the Year is a very important one for WA.

INNOVATION is a strange concept in Australia. I have written before that our innovation is often the bush mechanic style of being able to keep things together with wire and string.

A SAWMILLER in Perth’s southern suburbs has blamed dramatic cutbacks in native forest logging for forcing his fledgling business into liquidation. McLean Recycling Industries Pty Ltd proprietor Gordon McLean said a plan to exploit marri timber

THIS week WA Business News hosted a number of players from the energy industry.It was a challenging occasion, mainly because Western Power declined a place at the discussion.

SOME years ago, probably about 1996 if my memory serves me correctly, Wesfarmers was taking a beating in the press.

GRAHAM Laitt is aiming to build a $100 million WA agribusiness enterprise after taking control of Welshpool-based Milne Feeds and folding it into his pastoral holdings.

GARDEN City Shopping Centre is now home to two Queensland-based surf chains after the complex’s management favoured an interstate retailer ahead of a WA chain to the fill the vacancy left by the failure of Millers Surf.

THE proposed break-up of Western Power has been welcomed by the business community – with the potential for big savings for customers and the opportunity to grab market share for energy players.

THE Bali bombings are a tragedy and I would like to offer my heartfelt sympathy to the many Western Australians who have lost loved ones.

FOR someone whose work involves so many secrets, former financial journalist turned self-styled financial intelligence operative John McGlue is not one to hide in the shadows.

BUSINESS is the big winner from a wide-ranging Electricity Reform Task Force report that recommended the carving up of Western Power into four new State-owned bodies.

AS the insurance crisis continues it is becoming increasingly clear who has the most to win if, as appears apparent, so many professionals fail to get indemnity cover.It is those who always win when there is a crisis – the lawyers and accountants.

The pending merger with Cranswick Premium Wines means a hectic schedule ahead for Evans & Tate’s Franklin Tate, but it’s a challenge he approaches with relish, as Mark Pownall reports.

THE wine industry needs new leadership and government cooperation if it is to overcome the next challenge for growth – cracking the non-English speaking world, according to Evans & Tate’s Franklin Tate.

IT’S hard to believe that it’s that time of year already but the WA Business News 40under40 program is up and running again.

BLUEWAVE Seafood’s re-invention as a public company will take a very decisive step next month with wholesale changes planned for its board of directors.Two of Perth’s best-known business people already have been signed up, with Ray Della-Polina, ex...

TONY Howarth (pictured) is stepping down as Westpac’s chief in WA ending an 11-year reign at the head of the banking operation that was Challenge Bank until the 1995-96 takeover.Mr Howarth said he was informing his staff and colleagues this week of ...