Milk and infant formula producer Bellamy’s Australia (ASX: BAL) has reacted favourably to a $1.5 billion takeover offer launched from the fast-growing China market. The company’s board was unanimous in recommending shareholders vote in favour of a $13.25 per share deal, comprised of $12.65 in cash and a 60 cents per share dividend. Shares in…
The South Australian Government has declared a rocket launch site proposed for the lower Eyre Peninsula to be a state significant project. The declaration boosts the hopes of Southern Launch, which is developing the Whalers Way launch site on the coast near Port Lincoln. Suited to launching polar satellites south over the ocean, the site…
Analysis by Peter Roberts This week saw the extraordinary spectacle of an Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, threatening exporters and telling them to cut back on exports. For Morrison to warn alumina producers Rio Tinto and Alcoa to cut back on exports to the United States was strange enough, but the reason for it was…
Australia may not yet manufacture lithum ion batteries in any quantities but companies continue to make progress tackling various parts of the production process. This week Altech Chemicals (ASX:ATC) was invited to construct a high purity alumina (HPA) plant in the German state of Saxony. The company, which is completing a similar plant in Malaysia,…
The Australian Industry Group has attacked Canberra’s ‘big stick’ energy legislation as heavy handed, excessively dangerous and counter-productive. Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox said the government’s bill went far beyond recommendations made by the ACCC inquiring into the energy market, and established new powers never before given the government. Willox said: “The so-called ‘big…
Diversified brick manufacturer, Brickworks (ASX:: BKW) has defied a downturn in local construction and housing to post a record net underlying profit after tax (NPAT) of $234 million. The Sydney company booked revenue up 17 per cent for the 2019 year to $919 million, and an EBIT of $346 million up 12 per cent, according…
The federal government has pledged $3 million to deepen Australian co-operative research with the United States on unmanned defence systems. Defence industry, Melissa Price announced what is seed funding to the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, the University of NSW and Queensland University of Technology. The funding is under the AUSMURI programme, a sister programme…
Comment by Peter Roberts Australia’s business boardrooms need to get serious about innovation, with few recognising the urgent need to prioritise innovation, acording to a new report from the Australian Institute for Company Directors (AICD). Given the current realities of Australian manufacturing, this is a comment that should be taken on board even more urgently…
Medical technology developer LBT Innovations (ASX: LBT) has won European CE mark certification for its APAS Independence laboratory instrument, allowing sale in all European countries. The company has identified 130 priority customers among laboratories in Europe, and will follow its successful strategy of placing its instruments with the laboratories for performance evaluation. APAS is an…
BlueScope Steel managed a 1.2 per cent reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of steel produced in the 2019 financial year, above ts target of a yearly one per cent reduction in emission intensity to 2030. However the drop in production of gases which are affecting climate, revealed in its 2019 sustainability report,…
