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Iluka adds rare earths to mineral sands for a bigger bang

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 & 20 : 8-Feb-21

Australian mineral sands producer Iluka Resources is seeking to expand into the rare earths sector. The company is hinting that it wants to become an integrated producer of heavy and light rare earth oxides, with the next step in its rare earths goals involving spending $35 million to boost the product from its mineral sands mine at Enebba in Western Australia to a 90 per cent concentrate. It could consider sending this concentrate to Lynas Rare Earths’ cracking and leaching plant in Kalgoorlie. Goldman Sachs has suggested that Iluka is capable of developing the first fully integrated rare earths operation on Australian soil by 2025 at a cost of around $1.2 billion.

CORPORATES
ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ILU, LYNAS RARE EARTHS LIMITED – ASX LYC, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

The three most likely: Nine’s search for new CEO narrows

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich, James Madden
The Australian – Page: 19 : 8-Feb-21

Nine Entertainment Company is widely tipped to appoint an internal candidate to succeed Hugh Marks as CEO. Oscar Oberg of Wilson Asset Management and Brian Han of Morningstar both expect either Nine’s head of publishing Chris Janz or Stan CEO Mike Sneesby to get the job. However, Carl Fennessy of Endemol Shine Australia is believed to be the leading external candidate to replace Marks, who has stepped down in the wake of revelations of his relationship with a junior executive.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, ENDEMOL SHINE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Nine faces ad hit with diminished Australian Open

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 25-Jan-21

Ben Willee from advertising agency Spinach says advertisers are worried what impact delaying the Australian Open tennis for three weeks might have on Nine’s audiences for the event. Nine has a $300 million, five-year broadcasting deal with Tennis Australia, on which it has sought concessions because of the delay, and it has won a discount of over 10 per cent on its $60 million payment for this year. Katie Rigg-Smith from media agency Mindshare notes television networks traditionally use live sport in the first quarter of the year to promote new and returning shows.

CORPORATES
SPINACH ADVERTISING PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, MINDSHARE

Lynas shares surge on US rare earth plant agreement

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Weekend Australian – Page: 21 & 26 : 23-Jan-21

Shares in rare earths producer Lynas Corp closed up 13.7 per cent at $5.56 on 22 January after it advised it had struck an agreement to construct a $60 million processing plant in Texas to produce rare earth products. The US Defence Department will pay half the cost of the plant, which will make products for US strategic stockpiles. Lynas is the only non-Chinese refiner of rare earth products, which are used in the manufacture of equipment such as missile systems and high-­performance magnets, and the increased tension between the US and China has seen the US keen to reduce its reliance on China for the supply of such products.

CORPORATES
LYNAS RARE EARTHS LIMITED – ASX LYC, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF DEFENSE

Murdoch son raps media for toxic politics

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Original article by Alex Barker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 24 : 18-Jan-21

James Murdoch has launched his strongest attack on the US media since leaving the family media company started by his father Rupert. When asked if Fox News had played a role in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, James Murdoch claimed that media organisations had amplified election disinformation, resulting in a significant part of the US public believing in a "falsehood". He did not make specific reference to Fox News, his father, or his brother Lachlan, who is the CEO of Fox Corporation.

CORPORATES
FOX NEWS, FOX CORPORATION

Printing body blasts Ovato over restructure, redundancies

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 12-Jan-21

Listed printing and marketing services firm Ovato has attracted further scrutiny over its restructuring plan. Taxpayers will bear most of the cost of 330 redundancies at Ovato, via the federal government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme; this follows the company’s decision to transfer these workers to corporate entitles that have insufficient funds to pay creditors. Members of the print industry have described Ovato’s restructuring plan as an ‘asset strip’, while Print & Visual Communication Association president Walter Kuhn says the government should have stepped in and insisted that Ovato must pay all redundancy costs.

CORPORATES
OVATO LIMITED – ASX OVT, PRINT AND VISUL COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION

No going back: AusPost delivers as online shopping takes off

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Original article by Yolanda Redrup
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 11-Jan-21

Australia Post has advised that it delivered a record 52 million parcels during December, which is 20 per cent higher year-on-year. Acting CEO Rodney Boys says the postal service recorded strong growth in parcel deliveries throughout 2020, noting that the structural shift to online shopping is likely to be sustained. Boys adds that Australia Post hired an additional 5,000 people and ramped up its fleet of delivery vans to meet the December rush, and many of the extra resources will be retained. He says it will also bring forward some of its future investment plans.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA POST

Pioneering economics writer Alan Wood dies aged 76

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Original article by Andrew Clark
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 6-Jan-21

It has been revealed that highly regarded economics journalist Alan Wood passed away on 27 December at the age of 76 after a short illness. He began his career as a copy boy, before moving on to become a cadet and then finally a graded journalist. He worked for ‘The Australian’, ‘The Australian Financial Review’, and ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’, and his work has been attributed as playing a significant part in the push to reduce tariffs and open up the Australian economy in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Nick Scali upgrades profit as retailers end 2020 on a high

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Original article by James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 6-Jan-21

Shares in furniture retailer Nick Scali rose to record highs during trading on 5 January after it advised that it expected its profit for the six months to 31 December would be $40.5 million, double the result for the previous corresponding period. The company also stated that its sales for the past three months were up by 58 per cent. Meanwhile, Sydney retailers other than those in the Sydney CBD have indicated that they saw strong foot traffic for the Boxing Day sales; National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb noted the Sydney CBD had been a "ghost town".

CORPORATES
NICK SCALI LIMITED – ASX NCK, NATIONAL RETAIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Masks go on in malls but shoppers are nowhere to be found

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Original article by Natasha Gillezeau
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 5-Jan-21

Sydney retailers stated there were few shoppers to be seen on 4 January, but those that were about seemed to be complying with new mask rules. Marianne Davies, the owner of Victoria & Albert Antiques and Jewellery, says the new mask rules are a bit "annoying", while some retail workers said they had not been given any official communication about the new rules from their head offices. Shopping Centre Council of Australia executive director Angus Nardi said initial feedback from its members was that compliance with the new rules was good.

CORPORATES
SHOPPING CENTRE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA