[ Finance | AP | BizWire | PRNews | US Markets | World Markets ]
Thursday 1 July 5:39 PM
EVENING REPORT: Market Closes Up, SPI Indicates Further UpsideThe ASX 200 closed at 3536.9, up 4 points at the close on giant volume worth $3 billion. Out of a strong 1806 issues traded there were 764 higher, 507 down, 342 unchanged and 193 non market. The SPI Futures closed at 3554, +19points, closing on its high on huge volume of 10,641 contracts, some 2000 of which were dealt after the physical closed likely to signal a higher day tomorrow. Aussie 10 year bonds 5.89% and steady, the $A is at 0.6990US$s, more or less unchanged from early levels. *The banks contributed 2.67 negative points to the index with other sectors fractionally changed. ECO NEWS *Retail sales rose 0.5 pct in May in line with expectations to 415.98 bln the ABS reported. Sales of recreational goods rose 1.1 pct, household good sales were up 1 pct while sales at department stores fell 1.6 pct. *Job vacancies rose 26.3 pct in the May quarter the ABS reported. Seasonally adjusted job vacancies totalled 132,200 in the three months to May vs 104,700 in the previous quarter. TOP STOCKS *The excitement in Australian Leisure & Hospitality today after UBS stepped into the market to acquire 37 million shares at $2.75 (said to be for a private equity investment fund) has triggered a report from a widely read newsletter suggesting a takeover may be in the offing, widely expected by the market following UBS' accumulation of 10 pct of the company. A UK fund denied it was the buyer, with speculation then turning to UniTAB and even Woollies. A senior dealer on May 26 told us, (in hotspots) "ALH is a sort of mini Westfield, but what Westfield did with retail outlets ALH is doing with pubs. It also redevelops pubs as a separate business within the group and is looking for acquisition opportunities. ALH floated at $2.50, and at current levels has a yield of more than 6 pct fully franked, going forward". ALH up 27c to $2.75 *Portman has seen 13.429 million shares dealt in one line at $1.72, down 1c to $1.75 on market on 13.8m shares, about 8 pct of the stock, line sold by Scott Foster to Bell Potter. Consolidated Minerals has acquired the stake in Portman. Portman rose 5c to $1.81 on 14.4m shares. CSM also has acquired 14.9 pct in Mithril, 19.84 pct of Reed, the Mindy Mindy joint venture with Fortescue. CSM steady at $1.19 *Amcor lifted today (after being the worst performed of the top 20 last year), which was a surprise, said a senior dealer with 5.7 pct of Amcor's EBITDA related to cigarette cartons, and some issues going on with the cigarette manufacturers. AMC rose 13c to $7.10 on 3.1m shares *Boral was said to be holding a series of meetings today. BLD up 2c to $6.48 on a half million shares. *HHG closed , following on from a broker's upgrade last night in London. HHG was up 5c to $1.24 on 24m shares *Astron closed up 32c to $3 on 159,000 shares after the Sydney Morning Herald said it was the best performed stock on the board over the year. (OUR NOTE: Very tightly held and seldom traded - 2 for 1 split effective on June 30 to improve liquidity). *API's full year profit at $18.4 million is below consensus expectation of $22.6 million, but retaining the dividend is mildly positive said a senior dealer. API down 11c to $2.46 on 198,000 shares. Among the financials, AMP fell 1c to $6.32 on 4.68m shares, ANZ fell 11c to $18.17 on 3.5m shares, CBA fell 36c to $32.22 on 5.6m shares, NAB rose 30c to $30.14 on 6.9m shares, WBC was down 22c to $17.38 on 7.2m shares. Among the TMT's TLS fell 1c to $5.02 on 11.8m shares, NCP gained 4c to $12.72 on 5.9m shares, NCPDP was up 6c to $11.81 on 3.88m shares. SingTel fell 3c to $1.88 on 2.9m shares, Telecom NZ fell 1c to $5.02 on 11.8m shares. Among the resources BHP was down 2c to $12.51 on 12.9m shares, RIO was down 1c to $35.94 on 1.8m shares, AWC rose 9c to $5.37 on 3.7m shares, Sons of Gwalia was up 9c to $2.85 on just under 1m shares. WMR was up 8c to $5 on 8.9m shares. Zinifex rose 4c to 41.82 on 4.97m shares. Among the oils, Woodside was up 11c to $16.78 on ¾ mln shares, Santos fell 8c to $6.85 on 2.5m shares, Oil Search rose 1c to $1.33 on 3.9m shares. Among the golds, Lihir rose 3c to $1.02 on 11m shares, Oxiana rose 3c to 86c on 3.65m shraes, Newcrest rose 31c to $14.09 on 2m shares. Croesus rose 1.5c to 45.5c on under 1m shares. AT THE SMALLER END Great Southern is up 17c to $3.05 on 6.5m shares on the announcement below, Timbercorp is up 2c to $1.57 on 2.17m shares on the announcement below, Wilmott is up 6c to $2.35 on 93,000 shares. ION closed up 9c to $1.83 on 6.48m shares on the report below. QPSX is down 23c to 22c on 1 million shares the report below. Ventracor rose 6c to $1.46 on 2.2m shares. National 1 remaining shares went through at 14c, 105.9 million at the bid price by Lyreco. NEW LISTING/FLOAT *Pengana Stapled Securities (PGN) is trading at $1.05, 2000 units dealt so far. The company is a fund of hedge funds, which invests its shareholders funds in a number of Australian hedge funds managed by boutique fund managers. This provides portfolio diversification, access to a number of hedge fund strategies and reduced risk. Pengana Managers Ltd has entered into binding MOUs with four managers and anticipates signing agreements with up to four more within six months of the offer. Roger Davis is chairman of Pengana Managers Ltd and Malcolm Turnbull is chairman of Pengana Capital Ltd. The offer was for upto 100 million Pengana Listed Securities at $1 each consisting of a share in Pengana Managers Ltd and an interest in Pengana Managers Trust. *SunnyCove Mgt Ltd (SCV) closed at $1.05 on 180,000 shares, high of $1.12. SunnyCove Management Ltd offers lifestyle rental accommodation for seniors. It has five projects under development in Townsville, Rockhampton, Cairns, Forest Lake and Gladstone and has negotiated with property funds manager Clarence Property Corporation Ltd which will enable SunnyCove to sell the five projects once completed. SunnyCove has also entered into contracts to purchase management rights and real property associated with three existing communities in Brisbane and Mackay for $1.8 million. The issue was at $1 per share with free attaching options on a 1 for 3 basis. Andrew Kemp is chairman. *Village Life Trust (VTR) closed at 99c on 277,000 units dealt so far. The Village Life Trust will initially own 22 villages and 7 managers units in five states of Australia which will be leased to the lessee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Village Life. A total of 48.2 million shares were offered at $1 per unit. The cash distribution yield is forecast at 8.25 pct from allotment date to June 30 2005 and 8.5 pct for the year to June 30 2006. The cash distribution per unit is forecast at 8.25c for the year to June30 2005 and 8.5c for the following year. NTA per unit is 94.3c. The Trust is being launched to enable Australian investors to gain exposure to the growing market for managed affordable rental accommodation for Independent Seniors, a demographic group rapidly increasing in size, and with 75 pct of seniors dependent on government pensions and allowances. Superannuation and investment form the main source of income for only 19 pct of seniors. *Quay Magnesium Ltd: Quay Magnesium has announced a $A45 million IPO marked for the construction of a 30,000 tpa magnesium alloy plant in China with operating costs expected to be at around 11Usc/lb. A prospectus for the issue of up to 60 million shares at 75c a share to raise $45 million has been issued. www.quaymagnesium.com NEWS OF THE DAY Stockpile report: In dollars per tonne for three month metal, Copper rose $67 to $2,650. Grupo Mexico's Asarco units in the US voted in favour of strike action. Also Collahuasi workers, jointly controlled by Falconbridge and Anglo American, overwhelmingly rejected a final wage offer but are still in negotiations with management. Stockpiles fell 800 tonnes to 104,575 tonnes. Aluminium rose $26.50 to $1,721.50. Stockpiles fell 4,150 tonnes to 942,925 tonnes. Nickel was up $738 to $15,200. Stockpiles fell 30 tonnes to 8,430 tonnes. Zinc rose $5 to $992. Stockpiles fell 900 tonnes to 731,125 tonnes. Lead gained $47 to $837. Stockpiles fell 350 tonnes to 45,475 tonnes. Tin was up $220 to $8,770. Stockpiles were unchanged at 5,635 tonnes. LARGE CAP INDUSTRIALS *ANN: Ansell Ltd announced the appointment of Douglas D Tough as CEO of the company, replacing Harry Boon who retired on June 30. Mr Tough, 55, joined Ansell as CEO designate in May 2004 after 17 years with Cadbury Schweppes plc. He is based at Ansell's headquarters at Red Bank, New Jersey. *API:Full year profit down 21.7 pct, fully franked dividend steady Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd announced a profit before tax of $27.380 million for the financial year ending April 30 2004, down 24.1 per cent on last year. Profit after tax was down 21.7 per cent to $18.444 million. On revenue up 18.6 per cent to $2.946 billion. The dividend for the full year of 13c fully franked (final dividend 6.75c) was maintained. EPS was 8.2c vs 11c last year. The company said in the report the 2004 profit was affected by a number of significant one off expense items including the continued impact of the voluntary suspension of the company's TGA licence in September 2003, higher redundancy costs due to the restructure of management in API Pharmacy and the inclusion this year of a charge relating to the development of a new information and warehouse management system. The total one off expenditures was $14.247 million. In addition API has increased its provisions for doubtful debts and obsolete stock by $4.576 million in the 2004 financial year. Revenue included API'S acquisition during the year of Halas Dental, PSM Manufacturing and Pro Pharma, while sales revenue also improved in Hospital Supplies of Australia. Offsetting the profit generated from the full year contribution of these companies was the absence of a contribution from API Finance which sold its loan book to BankWest in April 2003. API Finance contributed a profit before tax of$3.493 million to the result last year. *CBR:Strong first quarter 2005, lifts full year forecast Constellation Brands, Inc reported record net sales of $US927 million, a 20 per cent increase, for its first quarter ended May 31 2004. Pro forma net sales for the quarter which include $US31 million of sales from Hardy for March 2003 increased 15 per cent driven by growth across all categories - imported beer, spirits, wine and the UK wholesale business. Currency contributed six per cent to the increase. Net income for the first quarter rose 31 per cent to $US51 million, diluted earnings per share rose 10 per cent to 45US c per share. First quarter 2005 reported results included restructuring and related charges and net unusual costs of $US8 million after tax or 7US c per share. EPS was negatively impacted by additional shares outstanding primarily as a result of the company's equity offerings in July 2003 which paid down debt. Chairman and CEO Richard Sands said CBR's recent beer price increase was well received in all channels resulting in a quicker volume rebound than anticipated and its spirits business posted another quarter of sales growth that exceeded expectations. The wine business continued to experience healthy growth. CBR raised its full year outlook to $US2.42/2.52 diluted earnings per share from $US2.06 actual for the previous year. *FGL: Foster's Group Ltd announced its Australian beverages business Carlton & United Breweries has changed its name to Carlton & United Beverages which reflects CUB's evolution to become a multi beverage company including spirits, wine, cider, juices and other non alcohol drinks along with beer. *MPR: Macquarie ProLogis Trust announced it has acquired a 90 per cent interest in a portfolio of seven high quality North American industrial properties, valued at $US59.8 million. The portfolio was purchased from ProLogis at a 2.2 per cent discount to independent valuation, reflecting a 9.2 per cent initial yield. ProLogis will retain a 10 per cent equity interest. The new properties also enhance geographic diversification, including exposure to a new market in Mexico, Juarez, its fifth largest city. *TAH/TAB: Over 50 pct of TAB in acceptances TABCorp Holdings Ltd had 42.41 per cent has 47.23 per cent of TAB Ltd, change on June 29. UBS Securities Australia ltd is acting as an acceptance collection agent for large institutional shareholders in TAB Ltd in relation to the TABCorp offer. As at 9 a.m. on July 1 UBS in its capacity as an acceptance collection agent for the institutions had 27.39 million shares or 6.07 per cent of TAB Shares. UBS acknowledges receipt of a letter from the Bidder confirming that delivery and implementation of acceptances will result in the Bidder acquiring more than 50 per cent of the TAB shares. *TOL:Agrees framework for Crown control of National Rail in NZ Toll Holdings Ltd announced Toll and the Crown in New Zealand last night reached agreement covering the terms for the sale of the National Rail network back to public ownership. Toll will continue to manage the network for an interim transition period expected to be two months while the Crown will continue to appropriately resource a new entity. In line with prior commitments Toll and the Crown will invest significant capital towards upgrading the rail infrastructure and rolling stock. Chairman Mark Rowsthorn said the company was satisfied it has reached an acceptable framework for a strong relationship with the Crown. *UGL: United Group Ltd announced the company has extended its executive services agreement with CEO Richard Leupen for a further five years to September 2008. Current base salary of $880,000 per annum subject to annual review with a short term cash incentive up to 60 per cent of the base salary based on delivery of annual profit and growth targets and various long term share incentives. If Mr Leupen's contract is terminated without cause or due to constructive dismissal he would become entitled to 18 months base salary and vesting of incentives. *VRL:Buyback of 10 pct of ordinary shares to commence tomorrow Village Roadshow Ltd announced it proposes to commence an on market share buyback on July 2, which at the request of the Takeovers Panel is one trading day after the date of this announcement. The company currently has 234.418 million ordinary shares and 110.129 million preference shares on issue. Directors believe the present capital structure of the company has the effect of inhibiting the distribution of income on a consistent and sustainable basis to holders of both ordinary and preference shares. Directors believe the recent on market buy backs of preference shares has gone only part of the way in addressing the inherent issues with the capital structure. Directors have concluded it is unlikely that a further significant buyback of preference shares would be successful at this time, having already exhausted at least for the time being the preference shares available to be bought back at a reasonable price. Accordingly on May 28 the company announced an on market buy back of up to 10 per cent of the ordinary shares on issue. The buyback of ordinary shares will be funded primarily out of the ANZ Facility and a new $US25 million secured facility with CIBC Inc. LARGE CAP RESOURCES *EMP/DRD: Lifts offer by 14 pct to 5 for 22 EMP, declares offer final Durban Roodeport Deep has lifted its offer to 5 for every 22 Emperor shares from 1 for 5 Emperor shares, up 14 per cent on the previous offer and has declared its offer final, meaning that there will be no further increase in its Offer terms. DRD has also waived all but one of the conditions of the previous offer. The remaining minimum acceptance condition of 90 per cent has been effectively reduced to 50.1 per cent. As of its last notice dated May 13 DRD was entitled to 26.2 per cent of Emperor's shares on issue. Directors of Emperor advise ACCEPTANCE of DRD's final, revised offer and each of the directors intends to accept the offer for their own shares. *IVN: Ivanhoe Mines Ltd has issued a short form prospectus for the issue of 20 million common shares of Ivanhoe at $C 7 per share, traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange. The price of the common shares at the close of business on June 29 2004 was $C7.07 on the TSX and $US5.19 on Nasdaq. The TSX has conditionally approved the listing of the common shares to be distributed pursuant to the offering. *JBM: Jubilee Mines NL in an update on its exploration activities in the Cosmos area including the recently discovered "1200" target, said final assays received from diamond drill hole BJD061B at the 1200 target intersected 2.95m at 8.4 per cent nickel including 1.65 metres at 14 per cent nickel. Follow up drilling has commenced. At the Anomaly 1 disseminated nickel sulphide deposit, the initial resource estimate is 36 million tonnes at 0.74 per cent nickel containing approximately 270,000 tonnes of nickel. A higher grade zones of 14 million tonnes at 0.98 per cent nickel containing approximately 136,000 tonnes of nickel exist within the resource. Chairman Kerry Harmanis said in the report the company will embark on intense exploration of the "1200" target zone while continuing further deep exploration drilling and scoping studies at Anomaly 1 as part of its broader exploration and development strategy. Recent exploration work including the 1200 target has demonstrated that Cosmos, Cosmos Deeps and Anomaly 1 are part of a more extensive and highly mineralised nickel sulphide system. *TAP: TAP Oil Ltd advised the Monet 2 development well has commenced production at a gross rate of 11,000 bopd (1,345 bopd net to TAP). The well is located in TL/1 and was drilled from the Simpson Bravo Platform. The Monet oil field is relatively small however the rapid cycle time from discovery to first oil production using existing infrastructure makes economics robust. The Monet Oil Field was discovered less than three months ago and typical of these types of Flag sandstone fields, production rates will decline from present levels within a few months with the field expected to have a life of around two years. TAP 12.2229 per cent, Apache Energy Ltd 68.5 per cent, Kufpec Australia Pty Ltd 19.2771 per cent. MID TO SMALL INDUSTRIALS *ABI: Ambri Ltd announced it has completed testing of an innovative Data Management System, making it the first medical diagnostic device in Australia and one of th first in the world, to successfully demonstrate compliance with POCT-1a, the new international connectivity communication standard for Point-of-Care medical diagnostic instruments. *AGX: $1.128 mln START grant for ThromboView Agenix Ltd announced its wholly owned subsidiary AGEN has been awarded a $1,128,758 R&D START grant by the government to be used to further fund the development of ThromboView. The START grant will help AGEN accelerate commencement of clinical Phase II trials later this year, AGX MD Don Home said in the report. A key potential competitive advantage of Thromboview over other imaging technologies is its ability to image both Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Emboli using a single test. Pulmonary Emboli is the third largest cause of cardiovascular death after heart attacks and stroke and kills an estimated 60,000 each year in the US alone.. *AHG: Advance Healthcare Group Ltd announced the offer for Alchemist Healthcare Ltd ordinary shares closed at June 30 20-04 with relevant interests in 99.9978 per cent of the Alchemist ordinary shares on issue. Advance will be proceeding to compulsory acquisition in relation to the balance of the Alchemist Ordinary Shares. *AML: Amrad Corporation Ltd announced the temporary suspension of its share buy back to enable Amrad to calculate entitlement of Amrad shareholders to shares in spi off Avexa on a pro rata basis. *ATZ: Allied Technologies Group Ltd announced it has completed its on market buyback, 225,000 shares were bought back, the highest price paid was 27.5c on June 7, June 8 and June 9 2004. The lowest price paid was 26c on June 30 2004. *BAX: Baxter Group Ltd announced it has acquired two new property sites adjacent to the company's existing Victory Road and Deals Road Landfill sites which will provide the company with an increase in current sand reserves, to be mined by existing plant and equipment, provide additional land resources to introduce alternative waste management and recyclable products and other advantages. *BPG: Byte Power Group Ltd announced it had finalised a $12 million equity facility with UK based Global Emerging Markets' Global Yield Fund (GEM) . Byte Power chairman and CEO Alvin Phua said the equity line will allow the group to take advantage of existing opportunities and pursue new opportunities in the regional IT&T markets. The subscription price of shares issued to GEM will be equal to 90 per cent of the closing bid price of Byte Power Group on the ASX over 10 consecutive trading days and will be activated at the time GEM is notified by Byte Power Group that it wishes to make use of the facility. A fee of 1 per cent of the value of the facility is payable to GEM within 12 months from commencement of the facility. A brokerage fee of 2 per cent of the value of the facility are also payable. *CLT: Cellnet Group Ltd announced it has exercised the option under the convertible note in mobile phone entertainment content provider Mercury Mobility Pty Ltd to take a 55 per cent equity stake in Mercury Mobility. Cellnet has invested over $400,000 in Mercury Mobility under the terms of its convertible note since 2001. *CLT: Former WOW MD Reg Clairs joins the board Cellnet Group Ltd announced the appointment of Reg Clairs from July 1. Mr Clairs has had a 33 year career with Woolworths, including as CEO and MD from 1993 to 1998. He currently serves on the board of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and David Jones. *LAU: Reduces profit expectations to $600,000/1.2 mln before one offs Lindsay Australia Ltd announced with approximately two thirds of the group's revenues sourced from horticultural areas, seasonal factors have a large impact on group profitability. The combination of the lower revenue from existing operating areas and the higher fixed charges have resulted in an estimated loss of $600,000 to $1 million for the six months to June 30. For the full year LAU estimates profit after tax will be in the range of $800,000/1.2 million. This is before recognition of a loss relating to discrepancies between pallet hire balances and physical pallet counts. LAU estimates it has a potential liability of approximately $1.5 million in respect of payments required to be made to compensate pallet hire companies for pallets that LAU hire but do not now have possession or control of. Legal advice is being obtained on the possible recovery of any losses arising from these potential liabilities. (Jun 30) *EPT: EpiTan Ltd announced the establishment of a Level One ADR program has been declared effective by the US SEC. The code for the EpiTan ADR is EPTNY and its CUSIP number is 29427H205. Each EpiTan ADR represents 10 ordinary shares traded on the ASX. *EVM: EnviroMission Ltd announced agreement has been reached on the terms for EVM to exercise the option to purchase the site for the world's first Solar Tower renewable energy power station in Australia. The option has been extended to July 31 2004 to facilitate the legal documentation. Two tranches of fees previously paid to the owners of Tapio Station will form the deposit consideration to secure the purchase of the 10,000 hectare site for the project. *FEA: Sales of woodlots $23 mln, nearly 3 times last year's Forest Enterprises Australia Ltd announced sales for its 2004 Woodlot Project have reached $23 million, nearly three times the previous year's sales at June 30 of $8.3 million and equates to approximately 4,000 hectares of new plantings in Tasmania, NSW and Queensland. The sales in the 2004 Project are in addition to the $2.8 million of sales occurring during the financial year from the 2003 Woodlot Project. Mr White confirmed the 2004 Project will remain open for further subscriptions. CEO Andrew White said in the report FEA is now being recognised as having a clear point of difference in the market. The development of new hardwood sawn products from processing fast grown eucalypts, the application of state of the art technology together with the commencement of plantation woodchip exports to Japan have firmly positioned FEA in the market as a provider of environmentally sustainable product. FEA Plantations made a further distribution from thinnings of the 1994 project this year. Investors in this project have had over 65 per cent of their initial investment returned in proceeds from thinnings. *GNC: GrainCorp has amended div policy from flat 65 pct to min 70 pct NPAT GrainCorp Ltd announced its board has determined to amend the company's dividend policy from a flat 65 per cent to a minimum of 70 per cent of NPAT after reset pref share dividends. GrainCorp also reaffirmed its forecast NPAT for the 2003/04 year of $24/26 million. Therefore the forecast ordinary dividend payout for 2003/04 is between 38/41c including the special 10c dividend reported in May. The company also reported seasonal conditions across its oeprating regions continue to improve. *GTP:Lifts total sales strongly, will lift plantation for next year Great Southern Plantations Ltd announced it has achieved total sales in respect of its Eucalypt plantation projects of approximately $224 million for the 12 months to June 30 2004. This follows the success of the group's first viticulture project, which closed over subscribed on May 31 after raising approximately $16 million, bringing total sales in respect of its MIS projects for the year ended June 30 2004 to approximately $240 million, up 120 per cent over the previous year and the second consecutive year of sales growth in excess of 100 per cent. Great Southern will plant more than 20,000 hectares of Eucalypt trees in targeted areas of Australia over the coming months and will establish more than 170 hectares of grape vines in the Frankland region of Western Australia. The company secured extensive land holdings from the Challenger group in March and has recently concluded negotiations with WRF Securities for the acquisition of approximately 3,000 hectares of high quality land suitable for the establishment of Eucalypt plantations, so that more than 2/3rds of the expected land requirement for the next nine months has already been achieved. *IAT: Impressive tie up with Japanese hi tech HREM Iatia Ltd announced its pioneering Quantitive Phase Technology (QPI) has enabled a leading Japanese electron imaging company, HREM, to successfully to present atomic resolution images at a recent international conference. IATIA has provided a revolutionary step in helping to characterise nanotechnology materials, which according to the US government, is one of the most important new scientific areas with a potential commercial market of $1.5 trillion by 2015. HREM operates in a specialised market in which high value electron microscopes sell for $US500,000 each. There are around 4,000 such units throughout the world. HREM is so impressed with IATIA's technology that it has taken the license to use and sell IATIA technology to the world market. IATIA, which listed in April 2002, is a Melbourne based company whose technology was invented by scientists From the University of Melbourne and further developed by IATIA. *IMH: IMT Holdings Ltd announced with the imminent availability of Phoslock granules, significant enquiries have been received from around the world from potential licencees and distributors. Discussions and negotiations have commenced with a number of those companies. IMT has today entered into an agreement with a Dutch company, Aquifer, which will obtain regulatory approval for the importation and use of Phoslock in waterways and for industrial uses in the Netherlands, identify one or more pilot projects for Phoslock, seek the support of the Dutch government and potential customers to finance the implementation of one or more pilot projects and subject to all of the above, commence active marketing of Phoslock in the Netherlands for a commission on all sales. Aquifer is an environmental engineering and consultancy company whose main customers are public organisations responsible for municipal wastewater treatment and surface water quality in The Netherlands and Belgium. The problems with phosphorus are worst in the south of the Netherlands. *ION:Wins 5 year $A180 million order from China ION Ltd announced it has secured a contract for the supply of 4speed automatic transmission and transmission control units to a new Chinese based customer, worth at least $A36 million a year for the next five years. Managing director Graeme Salthouse said the contract just signed with the Shenzhen Minghe Trading Company (SMT) marked the successful opening of the company's first portal into China, following 12 months of development work and negotiations. The Abbey manufacturing plant now has four principal customers, Ford, Holden, Ssangyong and now SMT, with Holden and SMT becoming new customers in the past 12 months. SMT will on sell the units supplied by ION to nominated original equipment manufacturers in China. Further non binding volume increases off the initial base are expected between 2005 and 2009 which could increase the number of transmissions sold up to a maximum volume of 100,000 units per annum, with SMT paying the cost of tooling in advance. The SMT contract will be recognised at a function at ION's Albury manufacturing plant on July 1, when the first container shipment of product bound for China will be despatched. *NAL:Options exercise adds to $20 mln cash, chairman sells some Norwood Abbey Ltd advised all of the options in the money expiring as at June 30 2004 have been exercised raising $10.1 million. As a result of the options exercise the Norwood Abbey Ltd Group including 83 per cent owned subsidiary Norwood Immunology Ltd cash holdings as at June 30 2004 have increased to in excess of $20 million. As part of the options exercise process options held by chairman P Hansen have been made available to allow the introduction of three institutional investors from Australia and the US. *PPR:Profit this year seen as $6.7 mln strongly higher, revenue up 16 pct Penfold Buscombe Ltd confirmed its growth potential in the print communications market with the announcement of a strong increase in profit and sales revenue for the year ended June 30 2004. Based on the unaudited results to May 2004 and current expectations for June trading the company expects to report a net profit before tax for the year of approximately $6.7 million on sales up approximately $16 per cent. This compares to a profit before tax for the previous year of $1.77 million, or $3.07 million when restructuring costs are excluded. The printing business acquired from Pongrass Communications Group Pty Ltd with effect from April 2 2004 is performing in line with expectations. *PSD: Further patents being granted further extending uses of BioSilicon pSivida Ltd announced its UK operating subsidiary pSiMedica Ltd has been granted a new Australian patent for BioSilicon, providing protection for an orally administrable pharmaceutical product whose application potential includes treatment of overdose patients who have consumed large quantities of a pharmaceutical product, where it is essential that information about the drug taken, if possible dosage and batch number as well as expiry date is identified as soon as possible. The information carrier would comprise a semiconductor chip or a silicon chip BioSilicon is an ideal biomaterial for such an application. It has high levels of resistance to gastric corrosion and is able to impart large quantities of information on an extremely small surface. A further patent has also been granted in New Zealand for the use of BioSilicon as a vehicle for transferring material into a cell providing additional protection in drug delivery applications. The pSiMedica Intellectual Property portfolio continues of 21 patent families, 16 granted patents and over 85 patent applications. ing r v*QPX: German Federal Patent Court disallows QPX application QPSX Ltd announced the German Federal Patent Court has found the claims presented by QPSX Europe GmbH with regard to the German SAR patent could not be maintained over prior art cited by Deutsche Telekom. In the German court system, issues of patent validity and infringement are considered by different Courts so the ruling today is separate from the infringement case continuing in the Munich District Court. QPSX will consider whether it is necessary to appeal the decision. QPSX continues to draw support from the Lloyds insurance facility it has in place for both German proceedings (undrawn balance $US2.6 million). A DM 125 million writ against Siemens and Deutsche Telekom for infringement of the patented Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) technology was filed in April 2001. A global licence to Ericsson was agreed in August 2003 which represents a multi million dollar revenue stream to QPSX annually and is currently the subject of a separate Federal Court hearing in Perth. The SAR licensing program is one of five active intellectual property assertion programs in the QPSX portfolio, including the JP Morgan Chase litigation program with a trial date set for June 2005. *RBS: Roberts Ltd announced it has purchased a majority shareholding in livestock and real estate agent Southern Australian Livestock. This follows the recent purchase of a majority shareholding in Victorian livestock agency Stevens Egan Johnston and means that Roberts now has interests in livestock agency operations in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Directors of Southern Australian Livestock Graeme Cotton and the board of the company welcomed Roberts as a shareholder. The transaction is expected to be immediately earnings positive. *SKG: SkyNetGlobal announced it has received written permission and confirmation from the Australian Communications Authority to operate in building powerline communications networks, a first in Australia's telecommunications industry. SKG's W Home network is the first company in Australia to offer innovative telecom services via powerline. The company presently has exclusive powerline access agreements with 51 buildings covering more than 10,000 homes. Eight more large buildings will be connected by July 7 2004 with many more to follow. *STP: SteriCorp Ltd asked for suspension pending an announcement. *TER: Terrain Australia Ltd announced it has acquired the Queensland based finance broking business of Interstate Finance & Leasing Pty Ltd for a total consideration of $1.55 million, including $970,000 in cash and $580,000 in Terrain shares. The acquisition together with its existing operations consolidates Terrain's position as the largest independent asset finance brokers in Australia. *TIM: 50 pct increase in net profit forecast, to pay 2c fully franked int div Timbercorp Ltd forecast a 50 per cent increase in net profit after tax to more than $40 million for the year to September 30 2004. This represents eps of around 17c vs 11.1 c last year. The increased profit will be driven by the company's highest ever project revenues of more than $162 million, up from $112 million in 2003. Record project revenues will be based on continuing growth in recurring contractual revenues from past projects(annuity style revenues) of more than $85 million (up from $65.4 million in 2003) and new sales revenues of $77 million for the nine months to June 30 2004 (up from $55 million over the same period in 2003. The 2004 sales will contribute to further growth in annuity style revenues to more than $110 million in 2005. CEO Robert Hance said the board has reintroduced an interim dividend due to the increased level of earnings growth. The dividend for the half year is 2c per share fully franked, record date is August 16 2004 and payment on August 31. Having achieved a sell out of all six projects in 2004, Timbercorp is now focused on bringing increased project offerings to the market next year. *TSE: Transfield Services Ltd announced it has completed the acquisition of the Serco Group's NZ subsidiary Serco NZ effectively doubling the size of Transfield's operations in New Zealand. Serco NZ provides a range of property and asset management services to government, local authorities, traffic and the commercial sector. *VCR: Ventracor Ltd's heart technology has been awarded to Australian Research Council collaborative grants to the value of $1.227 million. The grants allow VCR to further its clinical research and product development with the Uni of NSW and Uni of Technology in Sydney. (More to follow) *WFL:Woodlot sales up 85 pct on previous year, record NPAT expected Willmott Forests Ltd announced that Woodlot sales for the financial year ending June 30 2004 have reached $35.7 million. The result is an 85 per cent increase on the previous years' woodlot sales result of $19.3 million. CEO Marcus Derham said in the report over the last 10 years Willmott Forests has delivered sustained growth in excess of 15 per cent per annum in the key areas of sales, plantation resources, assets and profit. Of the $35.7 million Woodlot sales revenue $5.4 million will be recognised as income at June 30 2004 and the balance of $30.3 million will be carried forward to full year 2005. With strong revenue growth, a stable cost base and predictable earnings Willmott Forests expects to record NPAT in excess of $8 million in full year 2004 with 25 per cent further growth in NPAT in full year 2005. MID TO SMALL RESOURCES *BDG: Bendigo Mining NL asked for suspension pending an announcement. *BPT: Hedges half 2004/05 forecast oil production Beach Petroleum Ltd announced a stronger hedging position which will underpin up to half of its forecast oil production in 2004-05. The new hedge rate of $A54.95 per barrel is approximately 20 per cent higher than BPT's average price per barrel of oil equivalent for the financial year just concluded. MD Reg Nelson said today the company's expected production for 2003/04 should be in excess of 960,000 barrels of oil equivalent compared with 907,000 boe for the 2002-03 financial year, despite disruptions due to rain and the flooding of the Cooper Creek. Beach said while it believes oil prices are likely to remain firm for the coming 12 months, its approach is to use prudent hedging to protect base revenue, saying it would be unwise to second guess such price sensitive outcomes as the strength of the new Iraq government, OPEC production commitments and the pending US Presidential election result. *DNL: 80 pct of highly prospective Falconbridge tenements in Botswana Discovery Nickel Ltd announced an agreement with Falconbridge Exploration (Botswana) for DNL to earn up to an 80 per cent interest in the North East Botswana Brownfields Nickel Project for minimum commitment of $A800,000 over 12 months. Falconbridge has a clawback option to a 51 per cent interest in a Declared Resource Area by completing a Bankable Feasibility Study or spending $A25 million on a feasibility study and reimbursing DNL its expenditure. . The project consists of four prospecting licences surrounding the nickel deposits in the Selebi-Phikwe area of Botswana, currently being mined by BCL Ltd. It has two main areas of nickel prospectivity, new large high grade (5Mt tonnes at 2.5 per cent Ni) nickel sulphide deposits associated with untested existing soil geochemical anomalies or new targets generated from the flying of an airborne EM survey and a nickel resource to be defined at the Dikoloti prospect, where work to produce a JORC compatible resource estimate will commence immediately. The entire project is within 45 km of the concentrating and smelter facility at Selebi-Phikwe. Little or no modern exploration has been conducted in the project area which is highly prospective. Discovery Nickel is planning an aggressive exploration program. *GUN: Gunson Resources Ltd announced drilling commenced on June 22 to upgrade the approximate 110 million tonnes of inferred resources at the southern end of the Amy Zone deposit in the Coburn mineral sand project. Drilling on a 500 metre traverse spacing is also scheduled to upgrade another 100 million tonnes of inferred resources to indicated, immediately north of the Amy South detailed grid. This would bring the overall indicated resource to about 340 million tonnes sufficient for 10 years production on 14 million tpa in years 1 and 2, 28million tpa in years 3 and 4 and 42 million tpa in years 5 to 10. A third phase of drilling is scheduled to convert part of the Amy South indicated resource to measured. A six hole groundwater drilling program to establish water quality, water table depth and sustainable supply is scheduled to commence on July 7 2004. This program comprises two deep holes to about 425 metres each at Amy Zone South and four shallow holes to some 50 metres each in the northern part of Amy Zone. Completion is estimated in late August 2004. Final mineral products from a metallurgical test work program designed by Roche Mining commenced on June 21 and will be provided to potential customers in September 2004. Former Consolidated Rutile mining engineer Phillip McMurtrie commenced work on the BFS mining study this week. *WSA: Western Areas NL announced it has reached in principle agreement with Hartleys Ltd to place $5 million to international and domestic institutional and retail investors. A Prospectus to raise up to $5 million at $1 per share has been lodged. The main use of funds will be for an exploration campaign at the Forrestania project to build on the company's resource base and test a number of new targets. Western Areas will also proceed with a non renounceable rights issue on a 1 for 20 basis at 95c per share. The intended date of lodgement of the rights issue prospectus is July 9.
S&P / ASX 20
Copyright © 2001 InvestorWeb. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
|
