Agribusiness

Shares in Warrnambool Cheese and Butter are up 19 cents as they resume trading after the company recommended the latest, higher takeover offer from Canadian dairy giant Saputo.

Agribusiness Elders has reported an annual loss of $505 million due to charges related to restructuring the company, and challenging and seasonal market conditions.

Sandalwood producer TFS Corporation has been hit with a second strike but has survived a board spill after more than a quarter of its shareholders voted against adopting the company's remuneration report for the second consecutive year.

Canadian dairy giant Saputo is set to raise its takeover offer for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter after rival bidders trumped its first offer.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott could intervene to prevent the foreign takeover of Australia's largest agribusiness despite support for the bid by his Liberal colleagues.

Bega Cheese has increased its takeover offer for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, but it doesn't match the $505 million offered by rival Murray Goulburn.

Australia's largest grain handler GrainCorp blames takeover costs and a smaller crop for a 31 per cent slump in its full year profit - and warns of tougher conditions ahead.

The three-way bidding war for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter has escalated, with Murray Goulburn now offering $505 million to trump Canadian bidder Saputo.

Rural services company Elders expects to report a loss of more than $500 million for its recently concluded fiscal year.

The liquidators of timber plantation assets formerly owned by collapsed managed investment scheme Great Southern may have found a buyer for the assets, with an investment trust managed by Sydney-based company New Forests agreeing to purchase the plantations.

Shares in NSW cheese maker Bega have surged to a record high after the world's biggest diary exporter Fonterra bought a six per cent stake in it.

CBH Group says it is bringing in the state’s economic watchdog to mediate the negotiation process with Brookfield Rail over access to grain rail freight lines.

Bega Cheese's takeover play for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory has been given a boost, with the competition regulator greenlighting the bid.

Japanese dairy and beverage company Lion has entered the takeover battle for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, taking a 9.99 per cent stake in the company.

Canadian diary giant Saputo has increased its offer for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter to $449 million, insisting its takeover of the local company would not reduce competition.

Sandalwood producer TFS Corporation has received about $49 million from a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to plant 595 hectares of Indian sandalwood at a new plantation in the Northern Territory.

Things are looking up for WA grain producers, with a bumper crop on the way, but the outlook remains mixed for the state’s live animal exporters.

Less than three years after opening an office in Perth, United States grain giant Gavilon Holdings has decided to exit the Western Australian market.

Divisions within the government over foreign ownership of farmland appear to be deepening, with Labor accusing the coalition of speaking with "two heads" about Chinese investment.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett is "very optimistic" a new trade agreement will see hundreds of thousands of live cattle exported to China.

After welcoming Chinese investors to the Kimberley region, the Western Australian government is pitching the state's agribusiness opportunities to Vietnam and Thailand.

Senior federal government ministers say any proposal by Indonesia to buy Australian farmland for cattle grazing will be under joint venture arrangements.

Agricultural chemicals and seeds supplier Nufarm says its annual profit has been affected by challenging seasonal conditions and a difficult market in Australia.

Pastoralists are being offered $100 for each wild dog scalp they claim under a bounty scheme being trialled in West Australia to reduce attacks on sheep and cattle.

Australia's largest beef cattle producer plans to raise almost $300 million through the sale of new shares.

Struggling rural services company Elders will cut its staff by 10 per cent.Elders said this morning that the job losses would be part of more than $25 million in company cuts.

Global food markets don’t always behave as might be expected, particularly in China, where the government plays such a dominant role.

Sandalwood producer TFS Corporation has announced a record net profit after tax of $55.7 million for the year ended June 30 and appointed a new chairman.

Shareholders have slammed as too lenient the $50,000 fine handed to former Gunns chairman John Gay for insider trading.

Western Australian broadacre farmers only averaged a “fairly miserly” 1.07 per cent return on capital for their 2012 harvests due to variability in grain prices, low rainfall, higher costs and

John Gay, the face of one-time Tasmanian timber giant Gunns, could spend time in jail after pleading guilty to insider trading.

Debt-laden Elders has sold its car interiors business Futuris Automotive to a US private equity firm for $69 million.