Mark Beyer

TWO Perth engineers are in the midst of building a new consultancy business after securing a major contract on the giant $US1.8 billion ($A2.5 billion) Goro nickel project, located in the Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

On the eve of the State election, Opposition leader Colin Barnett spoke to Mark Beyer about his plans for government.

The State Government signed Western Australia’s largest public private partnership two days before Christmas. Mark Beyer dissects the deal.

ADVANCED Nanotechnology, arguably the biggest commercial spin-out from a Western Australian university, has launched a $9 million initial public offering. The IPO values the eight-year old company at $33 million.

OIL and gas giant ChevronTexaco has become the third major backer of the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance, which aims to become a world leader in oil and gas research.

CHEVRONTEXACO and Woodside have selected engineering contractors for two of the biggest resource projects coming up in Western Australia.

THE $1.86 billion sale of the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline has been judged by WA Business News to be the top business deal in Western Australia in 2004.

THE Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline generates monthly income of about $23 million and gross profits of more than $16 million a month, a report by former receiver and manager Korda-Mentha has disclosed.

The Japanese banking group that agreed last week to back ailing biotech company Chemeq has an old Perth connection. Mark Beyer reports.

ALINTA managing director Bob Browning has accused the banking syndicate that controlled the protracted sale of the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline of “holding the State to ransom”.

SOME of Western Australia’s best-known companies were fundamentally changed as a result of the big corporate deals of 2004.

ENERGY reform is likely to be a key issue for Neil Hamilton in 2005, whichever party wins the State election.

SPORT is rarely far from business in the world of Neil Hamilton, who is a huge fan of Australian Rules and Rugby Union football.

Neil Hamilton unexpectedly found himself at the centre of two of the biggest business crises of 2004. He spoke to Mark Beyer about the year that was and his plans for the future.

OUTSOURCING by the booming mining industry has been good news for fast-growing Hazelmere company Action Mining Services, which opened new and expanded premises this month.

A NEW scheme designed to help Western Australian farmers gain international recognition for sustainable practices has been endorsed by one of the world’s largest grocery groups.

GROCERY wholesaler Metcash Trading has pledged to sell all of the Action supermarkets across Australia to independent owners should it succeed in its

ACHIEVING early success is one of the key ingredients in Mark Barnaba’s business formula and one he has certainly lived up to at his new merchant bank,

EMERGING technology company Advanced Powder Technologies has adopted a new name and rejigged its ownership as it moves toward an Australian Stock Excha

THE Water Corporation could be forced to modify aspects of its $350 million desalination plant at Kwinana to take account of a new port project planned by Fremantle Ports.

Nanotechnology company pSivida has emerged this year as Western Australia’s largest biotechnology stock. Mark Beyer reports on its global progress.

ACCOUNTING firm Ernst & Young will cap off another year of growth this month by moving into new premises that are 40 per cent larger than its current Central Park offices.

PERTH investors with an appetite for risk and a taste for something totally different are being offered an opportunity to back the development of a new kind of ‘less lethal’ ammunition.

Share option schemes made a big difference to the total remuneration of more than 20 chief executives last year.

A commercial port at Kwinana, backed by BGC boss Len Buckeridge, has finally gained environmental approval from the State Government, four years after the project company signed a contract with the government of Richard Court.

In Western Australia’s most comprehensive executive salary survey, Mark Beyer looks behind the headline numbers to find the State’s best value chief executives.

The private Perth company that owns the Red Rooster and Chicken Treat brands across Australia plans extensive national growth ahead of an eventual stock market float.

One of the hottest topics at the skills shortage forum was the negative attitude of students and parents towards traditional trades such as metalwork and mechanics.