BHP Billiton Limited (BHP):
BHP Billiton has plans to double annual copper production over five years from its giant Olympic Dam mine in South Australia using a new extraction technique proving successful at a pilot plant north of Adelaide. The miner announced it had produced first ore from its 15-month underground expansion of Olympic Dam and showed the first cathode of copper from its Wingfield pilot plant, now producing copper daily through a “long, slow, gentle leach” method. The boss of the miner’s Olympic Dam copper mine, Jacqui McGill, said “extraordinary quality” copper has been extracted from the test plant, which irrigates acid on to 12 six-metre tall cribs, each holding 25 tonnes of ore trucked in from Olympic Dam, 560km north of Adelaide. Copper is leached over eight months to a solution before it is recovered through electrolysis to produce a high-quality copper cathode.
Mantra Group LTD (MTR):
The federal government has finally confirmed plans to install the head of Australia’s largest hotel company as chairman of the powerful, publicly funded Tourism Australia. But Mantra chief executive Bob East said there would be no conflict of interest as he takes over the key position at the federal government’s preeminent tourism marketing agency, which is charged with luring millions of overseas holiday-makers to Australia. Mr East said that his new role, flagged last month by The Australian, would have “no impact on Mantra”, which runs 128 hotels under various brands including Mantra, BreakFree and Peppers. Mantra’s recent acquisition of the Art Series Hotel Group brand would add another seven hotels or more than 1000 rooms to the portfolio, when the deal is finalised later this year. Mr East scotched suggestions that he would soon exit his role at Mantra in order to take on the Tourism Australia chairmanship, which has previously been held by former Qantas boss Geoff Dixon, former Coles boss Rick Allert and former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer.
Mirvac Group (MGR):
Diversified developer Mirvac Group is pushing deeper into Brisbane’s medium-density housing market and also advancing plans for a series of highrise towers at Sydney Olympic Park. The NSW government said yesterday it had made a recommendation to approve the company’s $292 million mixed-use state significant development in the suburb of Homebush that will provide 705 new homes. Mirvac is planning four residential apartment buildings, ground-floor retail, a new road and open space. The overall precinct is also slated to include Mirvac’s first build-to-rent project, for which it is seeking funding. “Approving such a key development at Sydney Olympic Park aligns with the NSW government’s goal to renew and grow the supply of social, affordable and private housing in accessible locations,” NSW Planning and Housing Minister Anthony Roberts said.
Self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF)
- Before July 1, 2017, estate planning for your self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) was relatively straight forward. For most husband-and-wife funds we recommended a reversionary pension to either party, and then a nonbinding death benefit nomination in favour of the remaining spouse’s estate. At that point the client’s will would kick in, and the remaining proceeds would be distributed accordingly .Using a reversionary (or death benefit) pension allowed you to preserve wealth in superannuation for as long as possible. But after July 1, 2017, we find ourselves in a very different environment. Now each member of an SMSF has a $1.6 million transfer balance cap, which fundamentally changes the way we need to deal with death benefit payments. The biggest change is the cap of $1.6 million each person can now maintain in a superannuation pension from July 1, 2017. For example if you have $1.6 million in your pension account, and your spouse has set up a reversionary pension in favour of you on their death for their pension, you would not have sufficient ‘‘cap space’’ to receive your spouse’s death benefit as a reversionary pension. In effect, the reversionary pension you set up before July 1, 2017 might be meaningless.
SurfStitch (SRF)
- Barely a week after the collapse of embattled surf and skate wear retailer SurfStitch Group, administrators have received a proposal to restructure and relist the company, an outcome that would preserve some value for longsuffering shareholders. The confidential proposal was received on Tuesday morning before the first SurfStitch creditors meeting at the company’s headquarters at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. Administrator John Park, of FTI Consulting, said the proposal was received from a party who had previously been ‘‘involved’’ with SurfStitch. However, he refused to say if it had come from co-founder and former chief executive Justin Cameron. ‘‘It was submitted on a private and confidential basis at this stage。’
Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC):
Westpac’s sale of its Ascalon funds management business may be heading the way of Hastings Funds Management, with speculation mounting that it is to be called off. There is said to be a big divide between Ascalon buyers over the price they are prepared to pay and the expectations of Westpac executives as to how much the business is worth. The thinking is that the banking powerhouse is eager to secure beyond tens of millions of dollars for the fund manager. However, onlookers suggest its value is likely to be much lower. Ascalon Capital Managers had counted one of Australia’s most influential hedge fund managers in Australia, Damien Hatfield, in its stable, but he recently departed the business.
AGL Energy (AGL):
AGL Energy's determination not to extend the life of its Liddell coal-fired power station in NSW has not been matched by some other generators, with the owner of the large Vales Point plant insisting that generator will run for many years beyond its rated life.The Turnbull government's declaration it is discussing with AGL extending the life of Liddell after 2022 has been given short shrift by AGL chief executive Andy Vesey, who has spent the past two years repositioning as a clean energy company. But AGL has reaped the benefits of its low-cost coal-heavy generation portfolio and soaring power prices, with its wholesale electricity business the biggest driver of its 14.4 per cent increase in full-year profit in 2016-17, to $802 million. Mr Vesey tweeted: "We're getting out of coal. We committed to the closure of the Liddell power station in 2022, the end of its operating life.’
TZ Limited (TZL):
Former chief financial officer of ASX-listed technology company TZ Limited has been jailed after being extradited from Thailand to face charges of defrauding the company of $6.3 million. John Falconer has been charged with 16 counts of using his position as a director dishonestly to gain advantage for himself or others and two counts of giving false or misleading information to the ASX, the corporate regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission said on Wednesday. ASIC alleges on two occasions, in 2008 and 2009, Mr Falconer lodged with ASX financial reports which failed to disclose the true nature of certain payments.
Bingo Industries (BIN):
Waste management and recycling firm Bingo Industries is spending $53 million on an initial expansion into Victoria and says if Queensland introduces a landfill waste levy it will step up its expansion plans in that state. Bingo listed on the ASX on May 3 after raising $440 million in a float, where most of the members of the extended Tartak familysold down their stakes in a business built up by the family from 2005. The issue price of the shares was $1.80 and the shares lifted about 2.6 per cent in early trading on Tuesday to $2 after the company announced its maiden full-year profits as an ASX company were slightly above prospectus forecasts. Bingo's net revenue for 2016-17 of $209.7 million was 3.1 per cent higher than the prospectus forecast, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $64.1 million was 1.2 per cent above forecasts.
(Source: AIMS)
BHP Billiton has plans to double annual copper production over five years from its giant Olympic Dam mine in South Australia using a new extraction technique proving successful at a pilot plant north of Adelaide. The miner announced it had produced first ore from its 15-month underground expansion of Olympic Dam and showed the first cathode of copper from its Wingfield pilot plant, now producing copper daily through a “long, slow, gentle leach” method. The boss of the miner’s Olympic Dam copper mine, Jacqui McGill, said “extraordinary quality” copper has been extracted from the test plant, which irrigates acid on to 12 six-metre tall cribs, each holding 25 tonnes of ore trucked in from Olympic Dam, 560km north of Adelaide. Copper is leached over eight months to a solution before it is recovered through electrolysis to produce a high-quality copper cathode.
Mantra Group LTD (MTR):
The federal government has finally confirmed plans to install the head of Australia’s largest hotel company as chairman of the powerful, publicly funded Tourism Australia. But Mantra chief executive Bob East said there would be no conflict of interest as he takes over the key position at the federal government’s preeminent tourism marketing agency, which is charged with luring millions of overseas holiday-makers to Australia. Mr East said that his new role, flagged last month by The Australian, would have “no impact on Mantra”, which runs 128 hotels under various brands including Mantra, BreakFree and Peppers. Mantra’s recent acquisition of the Art Series Hotel Group brand would add another seven hotels or more than 1000 rooms to the portfolio, when the deal is finalised later this year. Mr East scotched suggestions that he would soon exit his role at Mantra in order to take on the Tourism Australia chairmanship, which has previously been held by former Qantas boss Geoff Dixon, former Coles boss Rick Allert and former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer.
Mirvac Group (MGR):
Diversified developer Mirvac Group is pushing deeper into Brisbane’s medium-density housing market and also advancing plans for a series of highrise towers at Sydney Olympic Park. The NSW government said yesterday it had made a recommendation to approve the company’s $292 million mixed-use state significant development in the suburb of Homebush that will provide 705 new homes. Mirvac is planning four residential apartment buildings, ground-floor retail, a new road and open space. The overall precinct is also slated to include Mirvac’s first build-to-rent project, for which it is seeking funding. “Approving such a key development at Sydney Olympic Park aligns with the NSW government’s goal to renew and grow the supply of social, affordable and private housing in accessible locations,” NSW Planning and Housing Minister Anthony Roberts said.
Self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF)
- Before July 1, 2017, estate planning for your self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) was relatively straight forward. For most husband-and-wife funds we recommended a reversionary pension to either party, and then a nonbinding death benefit nomination in favour of the remaining spouse’s estate. At that point the client’s will would kick in, and the remaining proceeds would be distributed accordingly .Using a reversionary (or death benefit) pension allowed you to preserve wealth in superannuation for as long as possible. But after July 1, 2017, we find ourselves in a very different environment. Now each member of an SMSF has a $1.6 million transfer balance cap, which fundamentally changes the way we need to deal with death benefit payments. The biggest change is the cap of $1.6 million each person can now maintain in a superannuation pension from July 1, 2017. For example if you have $1.6 million in your pension account, and your spouse has set up a reversionary pension in favour of you on their death for their pension, you would not have sufficient ‘‘cap space’’ to receive your spouse’s death benefit as a reversionary pension. In effect, the reversionary pension you set up before July 1, 2017 might be meaningless.
SurfStitch (SRF)
- Barely a week after the collapse of embattled surf and skate wear retailer SurfStitch Group, administrators have received a proposal to restructure and relist the company, an outcome that would preserve some value for longsuffering shareholders. The confidential proposal was received on Tuesday morning before the first SurfStitch creditors meeting at the company’s headquarters at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. Administrator John Park, of FTI Consulting, said the proposal was received from a party who had previously been ‘‘involved’’ with SurfStitch. However, he refused to say if it had come from co-founder and former chief executive Justin Cameron. ‘‘It was submitted on a private and confidential basis at this stage。’
Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC):
Westpac’s sale of its Ascalon funds management business may be heading the way of Hastings Funds Management, with speculation mounting that it is to be called off. There is said to be a big divide between Ascalon buyers over the price they are prepared to pay and the expectations of Westpac executives as to how much the business is worth. The thinking is that the banking powerhouse is eager to secure beyond tens of millions of dollars for the fund manager. However, onlookers suggest its value is likely to be much lower. Ascalon Capital Managers had counted one of Australia’s most influential hedge fund managers in Australia, Damien Hatfield, in its stable, but he recently departed the business.
AGL Energy (AGL):
AGL Energy's determination not to extend the life of its Liddell coal-fired power station in NSW has not been matched by some other generators, with the owner of the large Vales Point plant insisting that generator will run for many years beyond its rated life.The Turnbull government's declaration it is discussing with AGL extending the life of Liddell after 2022 has been given short shrift by AGL chief executive Andy Vesey, who has spent the past two years repositioning as a clean energy company. But AGL has reaped the benefits of its low-cost coal-heavy generation portfolio and soaring power prices, with its wholesale electricity business the biggest driver of its 14.4 per cent increase in full-year profit in 2016-17, to $802 million. Mr Vesey tweeted: "We're getting out of coal. We committed to the closure of the Liddell power station in 2022, the end of its operating life.’
TZ Limited (TZL):
Former chief financial officer of ASX-listed technology company TZ Limited has been jailed after being extradited from Thailand to face charges of defrauding the company of $6.3 million. John Falconer has been charged with 16 counts of using his position as a director dishonestly to gain advantage for himself or others and two counts of giving false or misleading information to the ASX, the corporate regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission said on Wednesday. ASIC alleges on two occasions, in 2008 and 2009, Mr Falconer lodged with ASX financial reports which failed to disclose the true nature of certain payments.
Bingo Industries (BIN):
Waste management and recycling firm Bingo Industries is spending $53 million on an initial expansion into Victoria and says if Queensland introduces a landfill waste levy it will step up its expansion plans in that state. Bingo listed on the ASX on May 3 after raising $440 million in a float, where most of the members of the extended Tartak familysold down their stakes in a business built up by the family from 2005. The issue price of the shares was $1.80 and the shares lifted about 2.6 per cent in early trading on Tuesday to $2 after the company announced its maiden full-year profits as an ASX company were slightly above prospectus forecasts. Bingo's net revenue for 2016-17 of $209.7 million was 3.1 per cent higher than the prospectus forecast, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $64.1 million was 1.2 per cent above forecasts.
(Source: AIMS)
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