BHP under pressure on uranium business; Canadian to mine WA uranium; Centro directors on notice; Wings clipped on pay; Tax rule change a break for hapless MIS investors
BHP under pressure on uranium business
Pressure is mounting on BHP Billiton to beef up its uranium business after confirming that it would be unable to fulfil commitments to supply international power companies. Courier-Mail
Canadian to mine WA uranium
Western Australia's first uranium mine is one step closer to reality after a mining lease was granted to Canadian venture Mega Uranium in the eastern Goldfields region. The Australian
Centro directors on notice
Court action by the securities regulator against eight former and current directors and executives of Centro property group is expected to put officers of several failed companies on notice that they could also be facing a legal showdown. The Age
Wings clipped on pay
Shareholders have sharply rebuked the Qantas board for the second year in a row over executive pay, delivering a hefty 44 per cent vote against former chief executive Geoff Dixon's massive remuneration. Herald Sun
Tax rule change a break for hapless MIS investors
Up to 19,000 people who invested in forestry schemes promoted by Timbercorp and Great Southern will not have their tax deductions clawed back after the federal government said yesterday it would introduce changes to protect investors. The Fin Review
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 4: The Barnett government closed ranks around embattled Troy Buswell yesterday, backing his explanation that a false accommodation claim worth $240 was a one-off error and refusing to direct the Auditor-General to check all the Treasurer's claims.
Page 7: Hundreds of teaching graduates actively encouraged into the profession by successive governments face the prospect of not getting a job next year because of a potential glut of qualified teachers.
Page 9: Soccer's governing body is warning that Perth will have no chance of hosting a World Cup semi-final unless the state government urgently commits to significantly increasing Subiaco Oval's capacity.
Page 10: Qantas is promising to be more responsive and innovative as the first encouraging signs of a recovery in passenger demand start to appear.
Page 19: A local meat retailer will invest $3 million in a metropolitan beef boning room in an attempt to source 100 per cent of his beef from WA producers.
Business: Court action by the securities regulator against eight former and current directors and executives of Centro Properties Group is expected to put officers of a string of failed companies on notice that they could also be facing a legal showdown.
Perth joint venture partners Nido Petroleum and Kairiki Energy placed their shares in a trading halt last night pending news on their flagship Philippines oil project, which is slated for first production by early next year.
Vince Hyde has stepped back from a clash with one-time associate and WA investor Brett Matich, yesterday resigning as chairman of three listed companies after a group linked to Mr Matich agreed to abandon a series of board spills.
BHP Billiton is yet to reap the benefits of a multi-billion-dollar investment in its iron ore business but a similar heavy outlay in expanding oil production in the Gulf of Mexico worked a treat in the September quarter.
Three former consultants of Arthur Andersen are expected to tell a Victorian court next week how in 2001 they tried to alert AWB that some of its senior managers might have been involved in fraud, bribery or corrupt dealings overseas.
Nomad Building Solutions shares fell 10 per cent yesterday as investors digested a warning the group expected to book a $1 million first-half loss.
Qantas has joined Downer EDI in the sin bin over its payouts to executives, with more than 40 per cent of shareholders voting against the airline's remuneration report for the second year running/
Sexyland's takeover bid for rival AdultShop.com looks to be dead in the water, with the Perth porn chain's directors set to move closer to 50 per cent control of the company through a $1.2 million capital raising.
An unusually quiet October trading day saw Asian sharemarkets close little changes yesterday, with investors looking for good corporate or economic news to fuel further gains.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: The corporate regulator is seeking management bans against the entire 2007 board of Centro Properties Group, including present chairman Paul Cooper, over allegations it breached its duty by approving accounts containing material misstatements.
Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson defended the domestic and export coal industries, arguing energy security and reliability were crucial to "a well-functioning economy".
Telstra is facing a new legal threat to submit to a structural separation as the Rudd government escalates the political row over its $43 billion broadband network despite a push in parliament to defer the reforms.
Page 3: A sharp lift in overtime and rising profits and share prices suggest the recovery is gathering momentum, lending weight to expectations of 4 per cent economic growth and an interest rate rise next month.
Up to 19,000 people who invested in forestry schemes promoted by Timbercorp and Great Southern will not have their tax deductions clawed back after the federal government said yesterday it would introduce changes to protect investors.
Page 4: Telstra is keen to strike a deal with the government on the national broadband network despite the escalating political row over legislation designed to force the former monopoly into an agreement.
Page 6: The federal government has introduced tax changes to employee share schemes that conflict with recommendations by the prudential regulator the Productivity Commission to rein in executive pay, experts have warned.
Page 8: Big emitters caught in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will face collective carbon liabilities of $10 billion a year but few have implemented systems to internally monitor and manage their liabilities.
Page 18: BHP Billiton's iron ore output in the Pilbara was back at record levels in the September quarter but the world's biggest mining house continued to talk down the prospects for economic recovery in the developed world, reiterating the bearish outlook issued last quarter.
Page 19: Woolworths is preparing to put the hard word on suppliers who raised prices when the Australian dollar fell and commodity prices rose but have failed to adjust prices as the dollar reaches 14-month highs.
Page 20: Qantas Airways has narrowly avoided and embarrassing backlash from shareholders, who passed a $10.7 million payout to the airline's former chief executive Geoff Dixon and re-elected key directors despite a significant protest vote.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Directors of Australian companies that foundered during the global financial crisis are squarely in the sights of the corporate regulator after it launched unprecedented legal action over the fall of former blue-chip company Centro Properties.
The federal government will try to claw back more than $1 million in taxpayer grants handed to tiny schools the Queensland government has decided to close at the end of the year.
The government will crack down on eligibility for disability pensions in the wake of a 30 per cent spike in applications during the global financial crisis.
Page 2: Qantas shareholders angry at a $10.7 million payout to former boss Geoff Dixon fuelled a strong push to reject the airline's remuneration report yesterday but could not get up the numbers.
Page 3: The federal government will crack down on eligibility for disability pensions in the wake of a 30 per cent spike in applications during the global financial crisis.
The rising dollar has effectively destroyed Australia's prospects as a location for hosting international films and has put hundreds of jobs at threat, just as our latest success, Where The Wild Things Are, tops the US box office.
Page 4: The agreement between Australia and Indonesia over the fate of 78 asylum-seekers has been described as a diplomatic way of obscuring the fact Indonesia was obliged under international law to allow the asylum-seekers to land.
Treasury secretary Ken Henry says his department has not been given the opportunity to respond to allegations made by former officer Godwin Grech to the Auditor-General.
Australia should take the lead in developing solar energy technology as part of the fight against global warming, the International Energy Agency's chief economist says.
Page 6: The chairman of the Anglican Church's Sydney diocese investment arm has accepted that his board's failure to put in place full risk-management procedures contributed to massive losses on the stockmarket.
Page 7: The rooms of Melbourne's oldest auction house, Leonard Joel, have witnessed the rise and fall of famous Australian families and companies as wealth has waxed and waned and tastes have changed.
Page 8: Medical training in Australia is "haphazard" and will prove incapable of meeting the forecast sharp increase in demand without radical change -- such as drastic cuts to the 16 years it can take to train specialist doctors.
The savings expected to flow from slashing in half the Medicare rebate for cataract surgery would be cancelled out if just one in eight patients seeks to avoid any extra costs by switching to public treatment.
Founding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chief Lowitja O'Donoghue has challenged the money being thrown at establishing a new indigenous representative body, saying ATSIC should have been reformed instead of dismantled.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said opposition attempts to block his reforms, including a plan to force Telstra to separate, would be a blow to consumers but would not derail the government's $43 billion broadband network.
Business: ASIC'S pursuit of the board and former senior management of Centro Properties over fundamental failures of debt disclosure back in 2007 looms as a crucial and necessary test case on directors' duties and liabilities.
Qantas shareholders yesterday delivered a stinging rebuke to the board for approving a $10.7 million payout to former chief executive Geoff Dixon, lodging one of the strongest protest votes against a remuneration report in corporate history.
Australian regulators are considered unlikely to adopt a radical proposal endorsed by Bank of England governor Mervyn King overnight to restrict bank guarantees to bread-and-butter lending activities.
Buoyed by Chinese demand, BHP Billiton has delivered a strong first-quarter production report and set the stage for another quarter of record iron ore production by flagging early production from its latest West Australian iron ore expansion.
China Inc is poised to emerge as the biggest foreign investor in Australia's $2.4 billion-a-year minerals prospecting sector.
BHP Billiton has confirmed that damage to its Olympic Dam underground copper and uranium mine, caused by a plummeting fully loaded ore skip, will keep the operation at one-quarter capacity for up to six months.
Western Australia's first uranium mine is one step closer to reality after a mining lease was granted to Canadian venture Mega Uranium in the eastern Goldfields region.
New Suncorp Group chief executive Patrick Snowball has wasted no time putting his stamp on the bancassurer's senior management team, bidding farewell to personal insurance boss Bernadette Inglis and announcing two new senior appointments.
Beer and wine giant Foster's is the latest company to declare itself a casualty of the strengthening Aussie dollar, which is crimping export earnings at the same time as the domestic business struggles with continued oversupply issues.
Australia's dwindling regional banks face another difficult year of funding pressures, compressed margins and higher bad debts, after pre-tax profit plunged 58 per cent last year to $494 million, according to analyst KPMG.
A spectacular rally in the sharemarket has driven one-year superannuation returns back to positive territory for the first time since the financial crisis.
After years of telling its customers what they should think, with global ad campaigns aimed at carefully managing its message, Microsoft has handed control of its latest Windows launch to consumers.
The new Japanese government appears certain to pump public funds into Japan Airlines to save the national flag carrier from financial collapse under debt of more than Y600 billion ($7.14bn).
Crude oil prices may be showing signs of recovery but natural gas prices will stay depressed for years to come, forcing some energy companies to reconsider investing in new gas projects, according to the head of Italian energy company ENI.
Big companies that sell to corporate customers are growing more bullish about their prospects for next year, in a sign that a revival of business investment could buoy the sluggish US economy in coming quarters.
A victim of Storm Financial had his assets sold from under him by the Commonwealth Bank and only found out a fortnight later, when it was too late, a court has heard.
The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower, with losses among resources and financial stocks.
