Mark Beyer

Financially stricken beef processor EG Green & Sons incurred multi-million dollar losses before a liquidity crisis forced it to cease operations last Friday.

DEVELOPMENT of a $200 million engineered lumber plant at Albany has moved a step closer after project company, Lignor Limited, completed a $5 million capital raising this week.

Western Power’s decision to award its long-term coal supply contract to Wesfarmers’ Premier Coal has sparked speculation about the future of The Griffin Group’s coal mining business.

Western Australia’s social entrepreneur of the year believes she can help tackle one of the state’s main business issues – the skills crisis. Mark Beyer talks to Susan Robertson about disabled workers.

Western Australia’s top politician and its most respected business leader have locked horns over economic and industrial relations reform. Mark Beyer reports.

Listed company JDV is about to join the long list of Perth businesses acquired by bigger interstate competitors, but based on past experience in the financial services sector, all is not lost for Perth.

Investors have been pouring money into uranium companies despite continued political opposition to mining in WA, price uncertainty, and exploration risk. Mark Beyer and Joe Poprzeczny take a closer look at a controversial business.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is pushing for wage increases totalling 12.5 per cent over the next three years, slightly ahead of the wages growth forecast by state Treasury for the same period.

Multiplex has negotiated a new enterprise bargaining agreement with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, and union boss Joe McDonald has claimed it is close to reaching agreement with several other employers.

Two years ago the price of uranium was languishing at around $US10 a pound. Since then the price has shot to almost $US30, spawning a revival in the metal’s prospects.

The sharp spike in the price of uranium this year has led to an equally sharp spike in the number of listed companies professing to be uranium explorers or looking to spin-off their uranium assets through new floats

Eight Western Australian companies will disappear from the Australian Stock Exchange this year if all of the current takeover offers succeed, though unexpected developments in some offers could produce a different result.

Agribusiness investment company Australian Growth crashed and burned in June 2003, going into administration less than 12 months after listing on the stock market.

No substance has sparked as much emotional hype and frenzy as uranium.

Australia's weekly intake of skilled migrant has been set to average nearly 2,000 people, according to Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone.

The recruitment specialists who participated in WA Business News’ skills shortage forum believe the Australian business sector has failed to fully explore migration options.

THE Gallop Government’s plan to appoint former state development minister Clive Brown as head of a new skills development taskforce has met with a muted response from industry, which is seeking tangible and prompt action.

The shortage of skilled labour in Western Australia has worsened significantly over the past three years to record levels, in sharp contrast to the rest of the country where the problem has passed its peak.

The Motor Trade Association is planning to ask the State Government to implement a $5 annual levy on motor vehicle registrations to fund an industry training scheme.

The Federal Government should open Australia to more skilled migrants and do more to help industry utilise existing options for bringing in skilled workers, industry representatives told the WA Business News skills shortage forum.

A WA Business News boardroom forum on Western Australia’s skills shortage has found the problem remains acute and more needs to be done by government and industry. Mark Beyer reports.

Woodside chief executive Don Voelte has defended the limited Australian content on the North-West Shelf venture’s $2 billion train 5 expansion, saying the company had “no option” but to send the work offshore.

The global nature of the mining sector has been reflected in the local audit market, with Paladin Resources the fourth major Western Australian company to appoint a new auditor this year.

Mining companies are changing their focus on tyres from cost to extending their working life as the lack of quality supply looms as another threat to new projects.

Herdsman Fresh Essentials has the rare distinction of being a mid-sized food and grocery market that is able to draw loyal customers from a wide sweep across Perth’s western and northern suburbs.

Architecture firm The Cox Group has beaten international competitors to win a major university project planned for the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

Western Power is hoping to recoup some of the heavy losses from its ill-fated foray into the telecommunications sector by selling its Bright Telecommunications venture.

Norwegian company Dyno Nobel has taken charge of the Dampier Nitrogen project on the Burrup Peninsula, which has been on the drawing boards for several years but has been restructured several times.

The number of companies in Western Australia’s electricity generation market is continuing to grow, with a new report detailing more than a dozen projects currently under way or planned.

A major international review has found no empirical evidence to support the corporate governance ‘best practices’ supported by organisations such as the Australian Stock Exchange and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Clough is looking to move to 100 per cent ownership of its Osborne Park-based subsidiary Covus Corporation, which provides specialist underwater engineering and associated services.

Australia has a long history of entrepreneurial business leaders who stamp their personality on their companies. Mark Beyer and David Gibson examine the role of executive chairmen in light of recent controversies at three prominent WA companies.