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BIOTECHNOLOGY firm Ozgene says its aim is to create a large bio-pharmaceutical operation in Western Australia to rival its global multinational competitors.

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.

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

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.

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.

REGULAR State Scene readers will know that new Federal Labor leader Mark Latham was treated sympathetically rather than circumspectly in this column on becoming leader.

A REVIEW of the Australian Stock Exchange’s corporate governance guidelines has recommended changes to assist smaller listed companies.

MOSS Brothers founder and chief executive Jeff Moss has handed over the reigns to the winery’s accountant, Mark Buck

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

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.

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

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

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.

A COLLABORATIVE effort between developers ERBEAC and designer/builder Gavin Constructions has resulted in a unique new regional call centre for Bunbury’s largest employer, Centrelink

FREMANTLE’S Challenger TAFE will use a $7.5 million Federal Government grant to build new technical learning facilities and update student and staff facilities in an attempt to attract more local and overseas students.

THE Western Australian branches of the Property Council of Australia and the Urban Development Institute of Australia have released a planning processes review study outlining more

WORKPLACE Relations Minister Kevin Andrews has told Federal Parliament that the Building Industry Taskforce will become a permanent policing body, a year after the Royal Commission

IINET managing director Michael Malone has secured the top individual honour at this year’s Western Australian Information Technology and Telecommunications Awards.

VAL Morgan may not think cinema slide advertising is a profitable venture in Western Australia, but a former senior executive Tony Brooks believes there is a strong market for the 15-second still ads.

A PHOTOGRAPHY feature commemorating the Bali bombings for Melbourne’s The Age newspaper has earned Perth photographer Tony McDonough a WA photography award.

DALE Alcock Homes has returned to mainstream advertising ahead of an expected slowdown in the housing market in six months’ time.

CAMBRIDGE Media has merged its print division with Optima Press in a move designed to propel the Leederville-based publisher into a new business phase.

He may have a familiar family name but John Mead’s determined to do things his way, from an understated vibe to fur on the walls, as Julie-anne Sprague discovered.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Alexander Downer was in Perth last week for talks with local business and economic groups about the benefits of free trade.

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.

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.

STATE Government moves to implement a Coastal Planning and Coordination Council to determine appropriate development along the coast has received a mixed reaction from local government authorities.

WOODSIDE Energy Ltd and the Department of Foreign Affairs are in discussions to win approval from the East Timorese Government for the development of large natural gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

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

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.

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

LONG-TIME State Scene readers may recall a March 2001 column highlighting research by Dr Bob Catley, then of New Zealand’s Dunedin-based Otago University.