Mark Beyer

In the first of a six-part series on mergers and acquisitions, Mark Beyer looks at who can help with buying and selling of businesses, large and small.

ONE sixth of Western Australian farmers are planning to shift some or all of their business from their main bank over the next 12 months, a new study has found.

ELEVEN years ago, a small group of WA farmers shook up the State’s fertiliser market when they started undercutting the big players with cheap imports.

FARMERS adversely affected by drought conditions will benefit from planned changes to the Farm Management Deposit (FMD) scheme.

UNITED Farmers Cooperative has finalised a multi-million dollar contract with Anaconda Nickel to supply feedstock for a new fertiliser processing plant.

MUCKINBUDIN wheat farmer Allan Watson and Morawa wheat farmer Chris Moffet should have a lot in common. But their common interest in the future of WA’s grains industry is divided by their off-farm roles.

CRICKET fans will learn all about the virtues of chartered accountants when they watch the finals of the World Cup next month.

SPECIALIST rural bank Rabobank plans further growth in Western Australia following the decision to trade under one brand name in future.

Getting the right advice and using it well are essential when dealing with financial institutions, as Mark Beyer reports.

THREE months after WA’s Commissioner of State Revenue announced a payroll tax amnesty in relation to ‘contractor’ payments, the issue is still causing disquiet in the business community.

THE State Government has taken key steps toward implementing its electricity market reforms with the appointment of a steering committee and two international consulting firms.

AUTOMOTIVE Holdings Group (AHG) has taken the extraordinary step of offering a $20,000 reward to try and halt a spate of truck thefts and burglaries.

THERE are at least eight common law tests that can be used by the courts to decide if a worker is a contractor or an employee, according to law firm Deacons.

Warwick Kent is one of Perth’s most respected company directors.

THE past few weeks have brought good news to about 20 steel fabricators around Perth. Engineering firm Monadelphous has been progressively sub-contracting $30 million worth of work for BHP Billiton’s Area C iron ore mine and port expansion projects.

THE Australian Tax Office has expressed concern about schemes designed to avoid tax by shifting business profits into superannuation.

Our series on business lending this week turns its attention to cash flow lending, or debtor finance as it is also known. Mark Beyer reports.

OVER the past two years, Western Australian companies have been awarded contracts worth more than $1.7 billion on big mining and resource processing projects.

THE Western Australian Government is finalising a new buy local scheme in partnership with independent supermarkets and WA food producers. The scheme, to be branded Buy WA First, is scheduled to be launched in early May.

THE Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) has launched a ‘compo kit’ to help its members lodge claims for defective administration by the Australian Tax Office.

BASSENDEAN firm Specialised Welding is one of many local firms to have worked on Woodside’s $1.6 billion Train Four project. However, its client was not Woodside. Instead it was the Japanese pump manufacturer Nikisso.

COMPANIES hoping to win big contracts from the Western Australian Government are now required to prepare Australian Industry Participation (AIP) plans.

BUSINESSES have been warned to start preparing for new payment and reporting rules for superannuation.

The State Government announced its long awaited water strategy this week. Mark Beyer spoke to the new chairman of the Water Corporation, who will be a key driver of the strategy.

THE $437 million railcar contract for the planned Mandurah railway highlights the wide gap between rhetoric and reality that sometimes muddies the local content

THE centrepiece of the new local content incentive scheme, which formally commenced on January 1, is Australian Industry Participation (AIP) plans.

A new scheme to maximise local content on major projects formally took effect on January 1. Mark Beyer takes a close look at how major Western Australian projects are performing.

In the third of a six-part series on business lending, Mark Beyer looks at the equipment finance market. THE equipment finance market has witnessed substantial change over the past couple of years, led by the growing popularity of chattel mortgages.

BURRUP Fertilisers has pledged its commitment to maximising local content on its $630 million ammonia project, amid rumours that the company has failed to prepare adequately for local participation.

IF there was an award for companies achieving high local content on Western Australian projects, BHP Billiton would take line honours, while Woodside would be a

AUSTRALIAN businesses are renowned for being unhappy with their banks but not doing much about it.

PERTH Glory chairman Nick Tana has agreed to personally guarantee a multi-million dollar loan by the Town of Vincent as a bargaining chip in negotiations over the $11.5 million redevelopment of Perth Oval.