Mark Beyer

THE three remaining directors of financial planning firm Smith Martis Cork & Rajan have been ordered to pay ousted managing director Joseph Martis $737,000 plus interest for his stake in the business.

Dozens of Western Australian small business owners have completed Curtin Business School's growth program. Mark Beyer spoke to two graduates about the lessons they have learned.

DEMAND for Western Australian commercial property remained strong throughout 2003 and, despite the tightly held nature of this sector, the year was notable for a number of record-breaking deals,

PATERSONS Securities and Euroz Securities have strengthened their position as the top Western Australian broking firms in equity capital raisings.

2003 was a stellar year for large and innovative business deals in Western Australia. Mark Beyer, Tracey Cook and Noel Dyson detail the year's best.

WHEN Kerbing West director Brian Kennewell enrolled in Curtin Business School’s growth program, he had more than 20 years of business success behind him.

MARKETFORCE emerged as the big winner among those competing to do business with the Western Australian government, signing a $134 million advertising contract.

OCKERBY Real Estate, one of Western Australia’s largest residential real estate firms, is switching its banking business from BankWest to Challenge Bank.

WA Business News subscribers have voted on the State’s top business people. Mark Beyer reports.    

FORMER Ernst & Young tax partners Dan Fogarty and Ian Crisp have joined forces to establish a specialist tax practice targeting the corporate and resource sectors.

WINEMAKER Palandri is seeking to bolster its balance sheet by raising $7.5 million through an issue of convertible notes.

THE State Government has confirmed that three types of stamp duty will be abolished on January 1.

WHEN the nominations for the Business Elite survey started to roll in, we thought many people had already switched to holiday mode.

THE Port of Albany is looking forward to an investment boom next year with major exporters due to spend about $100 million.

WOODSIDE has pledged to maximise local content on its next big project, the $1.5 billion Enfield project, despite choosing to send a key component of the work overseas.

IT’S something a breath of fresh air when all the talk around town is focused on the likelihood of a pre-election tax cut.

PERTH’S three existing law schools will face added competition in 2005, with Edith Cowan University and Curtin University planning to expand their legal studies programs.

Western Australia’s exports of processed food have doubled in value over the past decade and are now worth more than $1 billion. Mark Beyer reports on a WA success story.

THE latest round of changes to State Government taxes could lead to a significant shift in the way businesses are bought and sold.

KAILIS & France Foods has gone to extraordinary lengths to build its food export business, recently investing $15 million to upgrade its Osborne Park factories to meet the exacting demands of its export customers.

THE vast majority of small and mid-sized companies in Australia expect to grow at a much faster rate than the economy as a whole next year, a new survey has found.

PLANS by listed tech company Natural Intelligence to reinvent itself as a telco have raised the hackles of investors concerned about less-than-fulsome disclosure.

OSBORNE Park-based finance broker Connaught Capital has become Centrepoint Finance after linking up with the national commercial finance group of the same name.

PB Foods, the parent of dairy manufacturer Peters & Brownes, has agreed to invest $7 million to expand production of super premium ice cream for the Japanese market.

MYAREE company Tasman Oil Tools changed its bank last year – a move that makes it an exception among small and medium sized companies.

THE first definitive study of freight movements in the metropolitan area has found that nearly one third of all container movements are empty.

THE looming concern about property prices, particularly investment-based apartments, is starting to focus attention on the perceived culprits – real estate investment spruikers.

THE Federal Government has warned there is just four months until the end of the transition to the Financial Services Reform Act.

SUBDUED trading in Multiplex Group shares this week left brokers pondering the prospects for the numerous other floats coming to market.

LEGISLATION to establish a new economic regulation authority passed State Parliament with only minor amendments last week despite generating heated debate earlier in the year.

WOODSIDE’S Train Four expansion project and Rio Tinto’s HIsmelt project are the inaugural recipients of commendation certificates for their efforts to maximise local industry participation.

THE St John of God Foundation’s Lighthouse project will open its second house in Western Australia this week.