Noel Dyson

WA AGRIBUSINESS Rural Traders Com-pany will merge with Peters & Brownes Foods Limited. The deal involves a $20 million transaction to be paid by the issue of 17.9 million shares in RTC Agribusiness and a payment of about $2.5 million cash.

TOP executives are paid too much, a recent survey has found.The Monster.com.au survey found 47 per cent of 1,183 respondents believed executives were overpaid.

THE Australian Securities and Investments Commis-sion’s implementation of the Managed Investments Act has been judged favourably by the managed investments industry.

THE South West’s latest tourist attraction, The Margaret River Chocolate Company, is now open for business.

WA TOURISTS in Bali are being pressured into buying timeshare property worth thousands of dollars, says Commissioner for Fair Trading Patrick Walker.

THE Association of Mining and Exploration Companies believes it has found a solution to the unemployment crisis facing geoscientists.

BGC received three high commendations in the recent Master Builders’ Excellence in Construction Awards.

A BUNBURY District Police plan to reduce crime against local businesses and improve information flow between business and police is to become a statewide program.

MINISTRY for Culture & the Arts director general Ricky Burges has assured the Perth City Council the Perth Theatre Trust did exist.

AD AGENCY JDA has won the first Lion to be awarded to a WA agency at the 1999 Cannes International Advertising Awards. The Keep Australia Beautiful Coun-cil commercial, featuring the devastating effect litter has on wildlife, won a bronze Lion.

AUSTRALIA’S first hands-on management training program for franchised new motor vehicle dealers and their staff has been launched by the Chamber of Automotive Industries of WA.

THE Westralia Airports Corporation is providing $5 million to help develop WA’s economy.

MOVES to abolish the Town Planning Appeals Tribunal has the legal fraternity concerned.

THE Australian Tax Office has disallowed more than $6 billion in losses claimed over the past three years by a variety of entities – some owned by wealthy individuals.

MARKETFORCE and JDA have dominated the winners list in this year’s Perth Art Directors’ Club Awards.

REPRESENTATIVES of the shires of Bridgetown/Greenbushes, Manjimup and Nannup claim the National Party is “betraying” the communities they represent.

A PERTH company has developed a system it claims will maximise returns from sponsorships.

The ten toughest questions asked in an interview have been compiled by recruitment firm Monster.com.au to help interviewees be better prepared.

DESPITE a report recommending shops be allowed to remain open from 6:00am to 9:00pm, with a total deregulation of shopping hours in five years time, it is unlikely trading hours will change.

A 25 year career in the information technology industry has won AlphaWest network services manager Sharon Brown the Telstra Western Australian Business Woman of the Year Award.

ARCHITECTURAL design for a $1 million-plus tourism and community fac-ility in Northcliffe will commence soon.

GAMBLING businesses took more than $11,000 million in 1997-98, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, representing an increase of 42 per cent since 1994-95.

WA’s meetings and exhibitions sector is worth more than $700 million annually to the state economy, the Bur-eau of Tourism Re-search has found.

TWO Perth companies have developed a computer program to help builders and their clients visualise what the finished product will look like.

MOVES are underway to stage the first International Wine Tourism Confer-ence and Expo in Margaret River in 2001.

TRAINING to improve safety on offshore gas and oil rigs is crucial to the industry’s prosperity, says Employment and Training Minister Graham Kierath.

A PLAN to build a three storey office and apartment building at 1010 to 1018 Wellington Street in West Perth has been refused, despite an eleventh hour bid by Councillor Tess Stroud.

A PROGRAM designed to reduce car use and make better use of other means of transport has been introduced in South Perth. The TravelSmart program is a marketing campaign promoting the use of alternative transport.

THE contract to construct and primerseal 51.1 kilometres of the Mt Magnet to Sandstone Road has been awarded to BGC Contracting.

SINGAPORE, Australia’s largest Asian market, has set itself the goal of becoming Asia’s finance and information technology and telecommunications hub.

RETAIL industry employers have been praised for the way they are establishing career paths.

A SOFTWARE package three years in development has won Combinatorics the prize in this year’s Asia-Pacific Information Technology and Telecommuni-cations Awards mining category.