Mark Beyer

Perth-born technology company Alphawest is enjoying a period of solid business growth but it also has a soft share price and a corporate raider on its share register. Mark Beyer reports.

Nearly one quarter of all small businesses are planning to change banks in the next six months, a national survey has found.

Perth company Comet Ridge has reported positive results from its Tipton West coal seam methane gas project in Queensland, adding to hopes it may join the ranks of gas producers in the region.

The Australian stockmarket has experienced a mild correction over the past two months but for many smaller industrial stocks it has been a rout. Mark Beyer goes looking for value.

When a company goes from a standing start to nearly 400 staff in the space of three years, you might think it would be time to take stock and consolidate.

A corporate regulation forum in Perth last week was told that companies should turn regulation into an asset by highlighting the high standards of corporate governance and legal compliance in Australia.

Three major Western Australian businesses have changed hands in the past month, with Heatley Sales receiving an injection of private equity and Pioneer Water Tanks and Summit Storage Products passing to new owners.

The competitive landscape facing Western Australian businesses will become a lot clearer over the next few weeks after the state and federal governments release plans for tax and industrial relations reforms.

The State Government has initiated a major review of its $4 billion capital works program to assess the impact of rapidly escalating building and construction costs.

The Paino family, owners of prominent South Fremantle business Sealanes, provides a telling case study of a management succession that has not run according to plan.

Western Australia has a generation of highly driven business entrepreneurs who have been with us for decades and continue running their companies well past retirement age.

The term ‘family business’ is typically associated with private companies, yet people like Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Frank Lowy have proven it to have a much wider import.

The Fremantle Port Authority is planning a major expansion of its port facilities in Cockburn Sound to accommodate the anticipated needs of Rio Tinto’s HIsmelt pig iron plant.

Sydney law firm Dennis & Co is organising a class action for shareholders in failed mining company Sons of Gwalia, in the process attracting the ire of listed litigation funding company and competitor, IMF (Australia).

If winning the big jobs is a measure of success, then Freehills gets top billing in the insolvency market this year after being appointed as legal adviser to the administrators of failed mining company Sons of Gwalia.

A distinctive feature of the corporate law market in Perth is the prominence of boutique firms, which consistently give the big national firms a run for their money.

An upsurge in strike activity and the prospect of major Federal Government reforms has placed industrial relations front and centre as a business issue in Western Australia.

The State Government has pledged to focus next year’s budget on increased community spending and infrastructure investment ahead of the tax cuts demanded by Federal Treasurer Peter Costello.

Ingot Capital Management, the Sydney-based fund manager that backed the 2003 rescue of ERG Limited, has emerged as a major shareholder in another troubled Perth technology company, Intellect Holdings.

The spread of community banks in Western Australia is continuing apace, with a prominent former Perth-based Citibank manager the surprise force behind the latest proposal.

Western Power chief executive Tony Iannello has foreshadowed a series of major changes, including his own planned departure and the creation of new corporate brands, as the utility prepares for a four-way break-up next year.

Smorgan Steel Group and OneSteel, the two dominant steel producers in Australia, have benefited from the strong demand and rising prices for steel products.

The flip side of Australia’s resources boom has been a sharp increase in the cost of steel and other business inputs. Mark Beyer reports.

The shortage of skilled labour is not the only difficulty facing the timber plantation industry in Western Australia.

Prominent tax accountant Frank Cooper is planning to establish a boutique advisory practice after he leaves his current position at Ernst & Young in July.

Premier Geoff Gallop named the ‘Broome pearl’ as a Western Australian icon last June and, as he lauded the contribution of the industry, said it generated $200 million in annual exports.

The Australian pearl industry has responded to the weakness in the global market over the past five to six years by lifting its focus on marketing and branding.

Industrial infrastructure is normally an arcane subject that only technocrats worry about, yet this year it has become one of the nation’s hottest political topics.

The State Government’s capital works program in the current financial year has risen to a record $3.9 billion, with social infrastructure accounting for most of the spending.

The State Government has delayed and potentially halted the development of Len Buckeridge’s cargo port proposal at Kwinana after deciding that a competing Fremantle port authority project should be given priority.

The triangle bounded by Kwinana, Fremantle and Kewdale is home to the bulk of manufacturing and heavy industry in Western Australia, so it is not surprising that’s where some of the State Government’s most difficult infrastructure issues are located.

Norwegian fertiliser company Yara International has acquired a 30 per cent shareholding in the $630 million Burrup Fertilisers ammonia plant and confirmed work is proceeding on a second possible plant on the Burrup Peninsula.