Jonathan Barrett

EDUCATORS are preparing for a fall in Indian student numbers amid ongoing negative publicity surrounding recent events in the sector.

CONSTRUCTION companies including industry heavyweight BGC have attacked the state government tendering process used to award hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work upgrading the state's primary schools.

LET'S start with the bad news, delicately described as "improvement opportunities" by the collators of the Best Employer survey.

IT'S a good thing Perth consultancy Modal fared well in the Best Employer Awards, considering the small business makes its money from advising other companies on how to improve their practices.

Job security is key, as employees worry about economic uncertainty, according to this year’s Best Employers survey.

IN a packed room at Fremantle Sailing Club last week, 200 people with a stake in the future of Western Australia's rock lobster industry all agreed further catch restrictions would cause considerable pain.

EMPLOYEES at mid-size companies are neither the most content nor the most frustrated.

INNOVATION is a difficult-to-define and frequently illusive factor hotly pursued by most businesses.

PERTH-BASED property fund manager, Aspen Group, has extended its entitlement offer for its ailing property fund after failing to attract sufficient support from investors.

Twenty-somethings with a pretty face have nothing on the baby boomers, says real estate and recruitment entrepreneur, Kathy Dunlop.

RETIRED farmer Rosston Vince, of Geraldton, will not partake in an entitlement offer for Aspen Group's ailing property fund, scheduled to close this week.

SEVERAL weeks after leaving paint suppliers out-of-pocket at the completion of a Housing NSW project, Riley Shelley has re-emerged under new ownership to win $1.3 million worth of public school contracts in Western Australia.

THE state's iconic rock lobster industry faces a structural overhaul as the state government seeks to sustain future catches in the troubled sector, historically worth $300 million a year.

A LONG-RUNNING pilot pay dispute at Perth-based Skywest Airlines threatens to escalate into industrial action, as strained negotiations continue this week.

SEVEN years ago, Greg Norman taught listed Henderson-based shipbuilder Austal a valuable lesson; and it had nothing to do with backswings or fairways.

FINANCIAL planners are the sole dissenting voice regarding a federal government move to allow superannuation funds to provide members with personal advice.

RECRUITMENT firms able to secure government contracts or tap into areas of resource-fuelled activity are expanding in the face of a broader economic slump.

UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future income of Aspen Group's ailing property fund as the Perth-based company seeks to avoid a fire sale of its portfolio of office, retail and industrial complexes.

PROPERTY funds invested in industrial and commercial property face a challenging future as a series of factors conspire against the sector.

CRAIG Smith-Gander was a regular visitor to the Curtin University library in the early 1990s while completing his masters of commerce, armed with a 20-megabyte hard-disk drive laptop.

TWO Perth financial planning firms are part of a group of 12 adviser groups nationwide that are now trading under the banner Shadforth Financial Group, and will seek a unified listing when market conditions improve.

Who would have thought chocolate could be such hard work? Jonathan Barrett reports.

PERTH accountancy firms are bulking up their businesses, in spite of the market woes, as a handful of new partners enjoy their first week sharing in the risks and rewards of their chosen company.

UP to 100,000 state government employees will continue to have access to a major superannuation tax break, as the rest of the population adheres to strict new laws.

Perth Education City (PEC) has secured a $325,000 grant and "in principle" funding of a further $1 million from the state government to promote Western Australia's international education sector this financial year.

ALL deals during the fiscal year were done, or proposed, at a time of financial crisis, attracting a certain level of admiration from the investment community for the successful combatants.

LISTED Perth-based financial planning firm Plan B Group Holdings is finalising the purchase of Aspire Finance's $240 million mortgage book in its second transaction of the calendar year.

It is not that Perth dealmakers are joining the dole queues, they have just had a little more time on their hands recently.

COMPANY directors will remember the economic downturn as a time of trepidation - and it has nothing to do with falling share prices.

ALMOST six months after 150 workers lost their jobs following the closure of Carrier Air Conditioning's Redcliff factory, the company is overhauling its ownership structure.

PERTH-BASED property investor Aspen Group has warned it will be forced to dispose of properties in one of its unlisted funds at fire sale prices should an attempt to raise money from the already embattled unit-holders fail.

IT requires plenty of upfront capital, has high ongoing costs and, if it fails, the owner is almost certain to be forced into exile in a bid to escape out-of-pocket members.