The Business News annual export review has the latest data on 33 businesses representing $122 billion in outgoing trade. It also shows that while iron ore continues to dominate, the emergence of LNG, agriculture and services will benefit from a lower dollar.
It has been a tough quarter for dealmakers as commodity and share prices slump but some players see promise in the market shake-out. This Special Report includes a fully updated database with 146 deals for the quarter and an updated stockbrokers list.
A joint project between Woodside Petroleum and Curtin University is aiming to boost productivity in the construction of liquefied natural gas projects in Western Australia.
Scientists and engineers in Perth have begun quietly setting up a centre which could encourage more floating gas projects off Western Australia's coast and create local jobs.
Last month’s huge oil discovery off the Pilbara coast, which could be the largest local find in 30 years, has already provided West Perth junior Carnarvon Petroleum with a significant boost to its share price.
FEATURE: Les Davis and Bill Beament are two of the Western Australian gold industry’s most influential people, but the person who has infinitely more power over gold in WA than the chief executives of Silver Lake and Northern Star doesn’t live here.
FEATURE: If the adage ‘three strikes and you’re out’ applied to the gold mining industry, the curtains would already have been drawn; but some determined locals are fighting on.
FEATURE: Architecture and planning professionals have some innovative solutions to the challenges Perth faces in reaching the world's top five most liveable cities.
FEATURE: Having gained notoriety in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, the phrase ‘show me the money’ will be heard often, and loudly, in business in Western Australia in coming years as capital inflows become capital outflows and funds become harder-than-ever to raise.
FEATURE: Two Perth-based organisations – one well established and one relatively new – are taking giant strides towards normalising and encouraging more women in mining workforces.
FEATURE: A stubbornly high dollar, falling prices and high operating costs are combining to exert real pressure on smaller players in the iron ore sector.
FEATURE: Industrial uncertainty and an urgent need for more infrastructure are putting the squeeze on iron ore exports through Port Hedland, while productivity increases and transshipment options are also being mulled over statewide.
FEATURE: Mining sector players are creating innovative solutions – particularly in the iron ore, uranium, and base metals areas, and the graduate labour market – to deal with the changing economic environment.
FEATURE: Established wineries are setting their sights on longer-term goals as the sector recovers from the issues of the past decade, and faces new challenges.
FEATURE: A Perth migration services business has found an innovative way to overcome the uncertainty often associated with the visa application process.
FEATURE: Biotech and IT companies are enjoying renewed investor interest, but these innovative businesses are facing a changing capital raising market featuring less government support and, in Perth, a drastic shift in the venture capital sector.
Western Australia is increasingly on the radar of Chinese property investors, with commercial agents and developers hoping to replicate the success of their Sydney and Melbourne counterparts in sourcing significant capital from this cashed-up cohort.
Western Australian businesses are having to work harder to secure investment from China as high net-worth Chinese seek opportunities outside of the resources sector.
