AGL not keen to help save Portland
AGL Energy has rejected pressure to offer Alcoa’s Portland aluminium smelter a cut-price deal on power, blaming the breakdown of talks for a new electricity contract on the lack of advance notice about the closure of the giant Hazelwood power station. The Fin
SUV sales about to overtake cars
Sales of new sport utility vehicles will overtake passenger cars by mid-year on current sales trends, marking a momentous and long-term shift in Australians’ driving preferences. The Fin
CEO performance at core of Bellamy’s revolt
A rift among Bellamy’s Australia directors over support for chief executive Laura McBain to remain with the troubled organic babyfood maker has emerged as the core concern in a shareholder revolt lead by Jan Cameron, pictured, to dump the board. The Fin
Festive joy for Myer, JB Hi-Fi
Department store Myer and electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi were the standout performers from a Christmas trading period that otherwise failed to get tills jingling, according to research by Citi analysts. The Fin
Nats in push for oil and gas profits to go bush
Nationals MPs will use their numbers to pressure Scott Morrison to apply a “royalties for regions” approach to the division of future profits from the petroleum resources rent tax in a bid to secure greater investment for rural communities. The Aus
Mining deals set to rebound
Australian mining deals are expected to rebound from a more than 12-year low this year as confidence grows that the worst of the commodities downturn is over and as the big miners continue to hone their portfolios through sales and purchases. The Aus
Greens back Cockburn port
The WA Greens have thrown their weight behind a new port in Cockburn Sound, declaring a belief that it could be built without unacceptable environmental damage. The West
Cormann faces Bell questions
The ALP has accused Finance Minister Mathias Cormann of changing his story after revelations the WA senator had asked for a briefing from the Australian Taxation Office on the Bell Group liquidation in late 2015. The West
ASX a creditor lifeline, Diploma lawyer says
The directors of Diploma Group face an uphill battle to persuade 500-plus creditors owed more than $50 million to back the failed builder’s revival as a listed property developer. The West
The Australia Financial Review
Page 1: Manufacturers fear nothing can save them from the risk of having gas supplies curtailed come mid-year, amid the looming squeeze in the east coast market that has already seen prices surge.
Page 3: Rising interest rates are usually bad news for borrowers but good news for savers. Not over the past two months. More than 200 fixed and variable mortgage rates have been increased on investment and owner-occupier products by up to 65 basis points since the US election triggered a shake-up in global capital markets.
Page 6: AGL Energy has rejected pressure to offer Alcoa’s Portland aluminium smelter a cut-price deal on power, blaming the breakdown of talks for a new electricity contract on the lack of advance notice about the closure of the giant Hazelwood power station.
Page 7: With the September launch of lowcost, high-tech British estate agents Purplebricks in Australia, the country’s real estate sector had its big ‘‘Uber moment’’.
Page 8: Sales of new sport utility vehicles will overtake passenger cars by mid-year on current sales trends, marking a momentous and long-term shift in Australians’ driving preferences.
Page 9: Deutsche Bank is supposed to give relief to subprime mortgage borrowers as part of a $US7.2 billion ($9.9 billion) settlement with the US government. It is considering an unusual approach to meeting that requirement: lending money to private equity firms and hedge funds.
Page 11: When 13 tech bosses, among them some of the world’s richest entrepreneurs, were summoned for a meeting with Donald Trump, one face was conspicuous by its absence.
Page 12: Struggling with sales over another crucial holiday shopping season, Macy’s announced on yesterday that it was eliminating more than 10,000 jobs as part of a continuing plan to cut costs and close 100 stores.
Page 13: A rift among Bellamy’s Australia directors over support for chief executive Laura McBain to remain with the troubled organic babyfood maker has emerged as the core concern in a shareholder revolt lead by Jan Cameron, pictured, to dump the board.
Aram Mirkazemi leads a $1 billion ASX-listed company that has captured the interest of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and is responsible for one of the most successful company transformations in Australia’s recent history, but you’ve probably never heard of him.
Page 14: Department store Myer and electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi were the standout performers from a Christmas trading period that otherwise failed to get tills jingling, according to research by Citi analysts.
Page 15: Strong iron ore prices are luring junior miners to bring more production into the market, with several small Australian operators seeking approval to restart or expand mines.
Controversial Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz has been granted a conditional release from house arrest, according to reports from Israel on Thursday morning.
Page 16: The billionaire family that controls Washington H. Soul Pattinson is poised to make a fresh push into asset management with plans to launch a listed investment company (LIC) that will invest in assets poised to benefit from urban renewal.
Industry super fund-owned bank ME has outsourced part of its core banking capabilities to allow it to focus its limited resources more sharply on the digital products and services demanded by customers.
An independent review has found none of BT Financial Group’s 141 rejected total and permanent disability (TPD) claims over the past three years were incorrectly denied, but Westpac’s wealth management arm has renewed calls for more standardised reporting in the insurance industry.
Page 22: The Gigafactory has been activated. Hidden in the scrubland east of Reno, Nevada, where cowboys gamble and wild horses still roam, a diamond-shaped factory of outlandish proportions is emerging from the sweat and promises of Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.
The worst start to a trading year for British retailer Next since 1991 underscores the plight of mid-tier UK retailers hit by a combination of fierce online competition and higher costs driven by a weaker pound.
The Australian
Page 4: Coalition MPs, including several marginal seat-holders, are overwhelmingly more vulnerable to anger at the Turnbull government’s changes to the Age Pension assets test than their Labor counterparts are.
The federal privacy watchdog has launched an investigation into claims that welfare recipients have been wrongly issued with overpayment bills because of a shoddy data-matching scheme.
Page 5: Nationals MPs will use their numbers to pressure Scott Morrison to apply a “royalties for regions” approach to the division of future profits from the petroleum resources rent tax in a bid to secure greater investment for rural communities.
Page 6: Australia should turn to the next generation of coal-fired power stations to generate more domestic electricity, according to a key federal minister who has gone on the offensive against conservationists who want to end the use of coal.
Page 15: Australian mining deals are expected to rebound from a more than 12-year low this year as confidence grows that the worst of the commodities downturn is over and as the big miners continue to hone their portfolios through sales and purchases.
The study of sleep is fast becoming one of the most critical tools in health diagnosis and Australian company ResMed is leading the global race in the field as it aims to change 20 million lives in the next three years.
Lawyers and politicians have demanded that Westpac’s life insurance arm release a report it commissioned that cleared it of any “systemic” issues related to its high rate of rejected claims to dispel fears it is a whitewash.
Page 16: The ugly stoush that saw the founders of Atrum Coal forfeit shares once worth more than $60 million has also cost the founders hundreds of thousands of dollars in applications for their latest corporate venture.
Page 17: Fund manager Hunter Hall International has been forced to defend its disclosure of a share sale by founder and chief investment officer Peter Hall, telling the ASX that details of the trade were incomplete and confidential.
More than a billion passengers flew with budget airlines last year, helping lift the total number of passengers flown around the world to 3.7 billion, almost half the global population.
Resurgent iron ore miner Atlas Iron could be debt-free by June after healthy iron ore prices powered it to its best quarterly performance since its company-saving restructure last May.
A new high-end TV sound system, a new Blu-ray player, interconnected washing machines and smart fridges that play Spotify music have been unveiled by Samsung at its keynote presentation at the hi-tech Consumer Electronics fair in Las Vegas.
Page 18: Alexion Pharmaceuticals said yesterday that senior management pressured staff to get customers to order its flagship drug earlier than needed to meet financial targets.
The West Australian
Page 6: The WA Greens have thrown their weight behind a new port in Cockburn Sound, declaring a belief that it could be built without unacceptable environmental damage.
Page 7: The death of a teenage worker at an inner-city construction site has triggered renewed calls for a review of safety and training in the industry.
Page 12: Qantas has been named the world’s safest airline for the fourth year running by Airline-Ratings.com — the world’s only airline safety and product rating agency.
Page 18: The ALP has accused Finance Minister Mathias Cormann of changing his story after revelations the WA senator had asked for a briefing from the Australian Taxation Office on the Bell Group liquidation in late 2015.
Page 49: The directors of Diploma Group face an uphill battle to persuade 500-plus creditors owed more than $50 million to back the failed builder’s revival as a listed property developer.
Landgate’s $140 million decision to outsource all of its information technology needs to its own privatised subsidiary on a no-bid basis will save it $580,000 in direct contracting costs over five years, with further savings reliant on deep staffing cuts at the land title registry.
The Lazarus of WA’s mining industry, Atlas Iron, yesterday repaid debt worth $54 million and said it expected its bank balance to exceed its debts by the middle of next year.
Page 50: Gold Fields has pushed the button on plans to extend its 400,000-ounce-a-year St Ives goldmining near Kambalda in WA’s Goldfields to 2028.
Having finalised the return of former uranium explorer Regalpoint Resources to the trading boards as a tech play, the Trevisan family is readying three other investments for launch, including the $300 million solar plant it is proposing for Perth.