Special Reports

THE Woodside Building and the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre are two of the biggest recent commercial construction projects in Perth – and Blackadder Group supplied scaffo

AT age 26, and with limited skills in IT, Patrick Ng, the founder of telecommunications carrier Global Dial, saw an opportunity to create his own business.

THE rapid growth in housing lending has been great news for Australian Finance Group, which has a hand in nearly 10 per cent of all new housing loans across the country.

HAVING enjoyed a a string of success since its conception in 1993, Commtech Wireless is poised for further international growth.

THE Rising Stars survey is a platform to showcase private enterprises and unlisted public companies in Western Australia that have sustained high rates of growth over the past two financial years ending June 30 2003.

THE Rising Stars survey provides unique insights into the strategies and outlook of fast-growing Western Australian

A FEW big players have dominated the agribusiness investment market in Australia but Rewards Group has defied the odds to carve a successful niche.

KYM Illman is one of those people for whom success breeds success.

BOTH Western Australia’s wine and tourism industries are emerging as big winners from the Australia US Free Trade Agreement negotiations.

IN a an unprecedented move the Heritage Council last month offered to make up a $150,000 profit shortfall to the developer of the controversial Court Hotel project if part of the Beaufort Street building was retained in the planned residential and retail

Both sides of the heritage argument are passionate in their views. WA Business News recently gathered some of the key heritage players together to discuss a raft of heritage issues, and maybe find some solutions. Tracey Cook reports.

MANY of the participants in the recent WA Business News heritage forum considered the State Government’s implementation of planning authorities to be a double-edged sword.

ALTHOUGH some fairly significant hurdles remain, the Free Trade Agreement with the US is anticipated to come into force by the beginning of 2005.

A HANDFUL of well-known deal makers, including Farooq Khan, Reg Gillard and Tony Trevisan, cropped up with some regularity in WA Business News’ review of serial name changers.

APOLLO Gold Mining is an up-and-coming mining company while Clearview Capital is a ‘shell company’ with no activities, so at first glance they don’t seem to have much in common.

WHEN companies change their name, investors usually just see the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

WHILE serial name changers tend to be small companies, some of Western Australia’s biggest blue chip companies have also changed their names.

Three quarters of listed Western Australian companies have changed their name over the years. Matthew Hooper and Mark Beyer have delved into the archives to review the changed identities of listed stocks.

GERALDTON is on the cusp of benefiting from more than $500 million in investment, rebounding strongly after several years of sluggish activity.

LONG overlooked by local investors, the seaside town of Geraldton is attracting the attention of investors around Australia.

A SIGNIFICANT number of large mining and oil and gas developments are under way in and around Geraldton as the sector emerges from the shadow of the failed $2 billion Kingstream iron and steel project.

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.

ONE of the Western Australian Government’s major aims is to see local industries involved in the defence sector export their expertise.

A PROPOSAL to consolidate the number of defence contractors from four to one or two could pose major concerns for the subcontractors that service the industry.

Almost $8 billion worth of defence spending is coming up in the next 10 years and WA appears ideally positioned to secure a large portion of that, as Noel Dyson reports.

An informal WA Business News survey has found widespread concern about the aggressive tactics of the Office of State Revenue. Mark Beyer reports.

MARKET forces may be driving the swath of residential developments under way in Fremantle but the push to reinvigorate the city into a thriving and vibrant commercial centre has come from within the City of Fremantle.

THE businesses that suffered from last week’s electricity crisis covered the full spectrum, from manufacturers and lawyers through to restaurants and retailers.

TOURISM icon the Esplanade Hotel Fremantle has undergone a massive $16 million expansion in response to the city’s growing profile as a leisure and business function destination.

After a decade of little to no growth, Western Australia’s unique port city, Fremantle, has become the darling of developers and is poised to strengthen its position as an alternative regional centre to Perth.

THE two men now in charge of Western Power are among the busiest directors in Perth, but Neil Hamilton and Harvey Collins both recognise they need to cut back some of their work duties.

LOCAL and State governments are the main contributors to the approximately $500 million being invested in the City of Fremantle and surrounds.