Mark Pownall

AS the 10th anniversary of his decision to sell Growth Equities Mutual approaches, WA property investment legend Dick Lester is again contemplating the handover of a business he has founded and grown.

AUSTRALIA’S relationship with Indonesia is on a strong footing, despite the turmoil of recent years as South-East Asia’s most populous nation makes the transition to democracy.

THE Federal Budget contained some interesting news for those readers, and there are a lot of you, who own investment properties – and my call is to watch out.

IT’S budget time again, and this year it’s the rare double – two electioneering budgets for the long-suffering citizens of Western Australia to analyse.

BANKWEST may not have a replacement for Terry Budge this financial year, as the bank’s offshore owner restructures its local operations

One of WA’s longest serving CEOs, Terry Budge’s seven-year tenure at BankWest largely overlapped the bank’s time as a listed company and was constantly overshadowed by takeover talk. Mark Pownall talks to the outgoing group managing director.

IN the political world it’s called being ‘on message’, and few people have managed to be as singularly focused on such an objective as Denis Horgan, arguably WA’s leading wine entrepreneur, who has unfailingly hammered

WATER, the ageing population, energy and global trade are all issues regularly touched on by WA Business News.

I DON’T mean to bore regular readers with an endless repetition of my views on a select group of topics but I have to write a brief note to reiterate a point I have made several times about immigration.

RESEARCH and development are the lifeblood of a business’s future.

AFTER a false start our Legal Elite is up and running and the first few nomination forms came trickling in

MARGARET River-based winemaker Palandri has confirmed a May 13 listing on London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, which will result in new investors taking up to 30

I’VE noticed there’s a lot of talk about marginal tax rates suddenly.

BankWest chief executive Terry Budge is preparing to leave the job after seven years at the top, but he remains concerned about overzealous corporate regulation, as Mark Pownall reports.

Attorney-General Jim McGinty’s proposed magistrates court reform legislation has prompted concern for those chasing small debts.  

AFTER seven years at the helm of BankWest, Terry Budge is entering his last month in what was one of WA’s highest profile corporate roles.

NO matter what anyone says about young people today or the litigious nature of our society, every now and then something turns all that sour stuff on its head.

I WAS quite staggered this week to find that Alinta’s general manager of corporate communications David Franklyn had quit over his former employer’s $1.69 billion bid to buy the Australian and New Zealand assets of Duke Energy.

A VITAL component in the establishment of export markets is promoting products and services at overseas exhibitions – but the heavy price of this process has led one Perth-based company to offer a way to make this investment more cost effective. Previous

FAITH was a big word washing around investor circles following the $1.69 billion deal by Alinta to take over the Australian and New Zealand assets of the US-based Duke Energy Group.

IT’S easy when you spend a short time away from Perth to find the grass is greener elsewhere, especially when you are on holidays.

I HAVE been doing as much analysis of the free trade agreement with the US as possible and I simply can’t understand the objections that are arising from vested interests around the country, led by sugar growers.

HOW things change in a week.

PERHAPS growing a wine business is a bit like consuming a good red – you have to take the time to savour the taste.

ERIC Ripper should resign. At least that’s the call made by numerous people during the past week as the State’s Energy Minister has copped the full brunt of our displeasure at being deprived of air-conditioning, among other power services.

DARREN Haunold’s story of personal courage, tenacity and vision shone out among this year’s collection of 40under40 nominees.

Time for a little political transparency THE superannuation debate that flared up and lit a spot fire, until Prime Minister John Howard doused it with an opportunistic sprinkling of cynical politics, is worth a brief discussion.

THE article below is as complicated as a business story can get. The man at the centre of it is at the helm of a public company, yet his private business dealings raise many questions.

The judges’ job is getting tougher each year, according to Mark Pownall, who says the problem’s not a dearth of talent, but rather its abundance.

SWIFTEL chief executive Chris Gale looked like a man with a clear conscience as he mingled with the corporate crowd at the weekend’s Leeuwin Concert.

THE free trade agreement with the US is obviously the talking point this week.

WORKERS’ compensation is such a minefield that it rarely raises a wrinkle on the public’s brow until there is a major catastrophe.