Heytesbury

Gaines first woman on Fortescue boardElizabeth Gaines has been appointed as a non-executive director at WA iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group. Ms Gaines is chief operating officer, chief financial officer and an executive director of the Jetset Travelworld Group.

The energy and education sectors are going through a paradigm shift and businesses must adapt if they want to survive, let alone prosper, some of WA’s most successful entrepreneurs told Business News.

Susan Symmons has been appointed as general counsel and company secretary for Pioneer Credit Limited. Ms Symmons has over 25 years of experience as a company secretary including positions with Heytesbury Pty Ltd, Evans & Tate Ltd, Automotive Holdings Group Limited and Helloworld Limited.

WA business leaders have bemoaned the state government’s failure to plan for life beyond the mining construction boom, but still see opportunities in other sectors.

Perhaps best known these days for her support of the local arts and culture scene, Janet Holmes a Court spoke to Business News over lunch at Julio’s in West Perth about her first career as a teacher, how she was thrust into corporate life following the sudden death of her husband, Robert, and her current projects.

A period of strong cattle prices has boosted Western Australia’s largest pastoral companies, with the state’s four biggest cattle-focused plays increasing revenue about 9 per cent to $1 billion in their most recent annual reports.

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has named non-executive director and former Helloworld and Heytesbury executive, Elizabeth Gaines, as its new chief financial officer.

A Hong Kong-based company has joined the share register of live export business Wellard International just days after Holmes a Court family entity Heytesbury Holdings took a stake.

The major shareholders in Wellard, including China's Fulida Group Holdings and local agribusiness Heytesbury, are expected to lift their stake in the livestock exporter after a big shortfall from its rights issue.

SPECIAL REPORT: Paul Holmes a Court plans for Margaret River’s oldest winery may not come to fruition in his lifetime.

Fremantle-based livestock exporter Wellard has appointed Chinese businessman Kanda Lu as an executive director in an effort to boost the company's expansion into China's beef cattle market. 

Profit at pastoral and winery business Heytesbury Holdings fell more than 57 per cent in the year to December 2016, to $11.7 million, on the back of lower revenue.