Gary Kleyn

DONNYBROOK has moved a step closer to being home to a new $12 million, one million tonne plantation timber mill.The news follows the release this week of a public environmental review by proponents WA Plantation Resources Pty Ltd.

WESTERN Australian electronic expertise in online tendering processes in use by the WA Government for the past two years is set to be adopted around the world opening new trade opportunities.

WITH gold edging close to breaking the $US300 per ounce barrier, interest in mid-sized Australian producers has been rekindled.

MORNINGSTAR has been the first research house to respond to fund managers’ demands for more cross-sector reviews.

THE State Government has been forced into a major backflip over its Labour Relations Reform Bill in a bid to keep disabled workers employed.

FUND managers with exposure to international equity markets lost more ground in February, with Australian and international share markets producing negative returns of 1.2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.

FARMERS may be expecting the biggest boost to their bank balances in 26 years following strong harvest conditions and surging wool prices, but they’re keeping the bad times of the past firmly in mind

THE Federal Government will need to act quickly if it wants to close a window of opportunity presented to casual workers following a landmark Federal Court decision last year.

MANAGED funds are particularly useful for individuals wanting to progressively build up their share investment over time.This includes investors who employ a dollar cost averaging strategy.

INVESTORS are always told to have a long-term view of markets, and a new study sponsored by ABN AMRO takes that to a new extreme.

HAVING stared off an Australian Taxation Office attack and gained Government support, survivors in the tree plantation promotion industry appear back in vogue with investors and analysts.

Instead of ferals or what some refer to as ‘tree-hugging hippies’, the room was filled with company directors, business academics and financial planners, gathered to hear the virtues of ethical behaviour from Sustainable Asset

AUSTRALIA’S venture capital industry continued to record strong growth in 2000-01, despite the beginnings of a global economic downturn on the back of a 31 per cent increase in registered Pooled Development Fund Schemes.

WA commodity exports stalled in 2001 as the industry combats a dramatic slump in mineral and energy demand in Europe, the USA and Japan and puts a cloud over the Government’s ability to meet budgetary targets.

MORNINGSTAR has expressed concern about two funds that are losing key personal, but have stopped short of downgrading the manager’s overall portfolio.

THE final curtain call for Ansett, following the backward-manoeuvring by Tesna, will in itself have only a small overall negative economic impact, but it will hit the pockets of travellers, industry observers agree.

A DRAWN-OUT 15-year wait for dividends is over for WA-listed gold company Kingsgate Consolidated NL.

INTERNATIONAL uncertainty and low interest rates resulted in a sharp drop-off in Australian float activity in 2001, but it will pick up in the coming year.

THE September Ansett collapse and terrorist attacks have not dented the enthusiasm for investing in airports, which are reliant on airline travel for their profitability, although airports around the world are facing credit rating downgrades.

THE stock market correction in the wake of the September 11 attacks may not have hit investors in the long term, but it proved a major scare for those approaching retirement.

BOOMING caravan sales have pushed WA company Coromal Caravans into its new 8,000 square metre factory at Harrison Road in Forrestfield, which will increase production capacity from 26 to 45 caravans a week.

FOLLOWING an initial drop, managed fund assets more than held their ground during the December quarter in a sector dominated by the Commonwealth/ Colonial Group and National Australia/MLC.

RETURNS to shareholders, once considered the benchmark against which company directors’ decisions were measured, now share a space with non-financial standards for community and environmental stakeholders.

THERE might not be many of them, but stockbroking firms that have gone the route of a stock market listing have generally found the very public journey a painful one.

INVESTORS should run through a simple checklist before making any investment decision to ensure they’re doing the right thing.

PROFIT warnings by public companies have jumped 21 per cent in the past six months and have more than doubled com-pared with the previous period in 2000.

PERTH-based international mining company Gold Mines of Sardinia Ltd has raised $9.4 million through a placement of 25 million new shares in the United Kingdom on the likelihood of a multi-million ounce gold resource –

BORAL Limited is negotiating for the purchase of key assets in Albany as it renews interest in the lower Great Southern town’s building and construction business.

THE rules regarding compulsory superannuation seem to be short changing women in favour of men. And WA women are faring worse then their counterparts in the eastern states.

MANAGED Investment scheme investors are being advised not to take up the Australian Taxation Office settlement offer until things are made clearer by Federal Court rulings.

MAJOR structural changes are planned this week at South Perth-based financial services company Epic Asset Management, with cornerstone shareholder, stockbroking firm Montagu Pty Ltd looking to sell at least part of its stake.

FINANCIAL planners are ignoring opportunities recently created by the introduction of the Managed Investments Act, capital gains tax cuts and the current defensive investment environment, a market review by Property Investment Research indicates.