| AAC | Rainfall was well below average for AACo’s northern Australia properties, and is now lower than the 2007 drought. The weather is continuing to affect domestic cattle prices, with the benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) tracking well below 2012 prices due mainly to a decline in demand for re-stocking cattle. Prices also continue to be affected by the Federal Government’s 2011 suspension of live exports to Indonesia and Indonesia’s subsequent reduction in live cattle permits, together with the adverse impact of the continued high Australian dollar. Cattle which would have been destined for Indonesia are continuing to pressure the domestic market. All market categories have fallen significantly in value. Due to the continued depression in domestic cattle markets, AACo expects to incur a negative noncash mark-to-market impact on the valuation of the trading and breeding herds, the quantum of which is currently being reviewed | Company report |
| AGO | Atlas Iron shipped a record 1.86 million metric tons of iron ore in the three months to Mar. 31, despite bad weather lowering output slightly. The company used existing inventories of the steelmaking ingredient and lifted shipments of lower-grade material to make up for the production shortfall, Atlas said in its quarterly report. Operations were disrupted by heavy rainfalls due to Cyclone Rusty and technical issues at its Wodgina mine processing plant in WA, which crimped output of iron ore fines, a high-quality product prized by steel mills for its iron content around 57%. Shipments of iron ore in the third quarter of Atlas’s fiscal year were up 6% on the previous three months. Atlas said it received an average price of US$120 a ton for its material, including both standard and lower-grade iron ore, up around 20% on the previous quarter. | Company report |
| AIX | AIX is expected to make about a $2 billion capital return to shareholders after selling stakes in Australian airports | The Australian |
| ASL | Ausdrill has reviewed its anticipated operating performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2013 in light of the Group’s results during the third quarter of FY2013 as well as prevailing market conditions and expects to report a Net Profit after Tax of between A$90 million and A$96 million for the financial year to 30 June 2013. Ausdrill’s core business comprising of mining services in Africa and Australia has largely continued to perform as expected due to the focus on production related services. However, the Group’s profits are expected to be impacted by the general slowdown in activity in the Australian mining sector that has occurred from September 2012 onwards, and which has not recovered as previously expected. | Company report |
| BHP | The world’s largest diversified resources company, BHP, posted production and sales figures for the March quarter that were slightly below expectations due to cyclone-related weather. However it has posted record iron ore production for the nine month period to March and said it was on track to produce a 183 million tonnes in Western Australian for the year. The world’s third-largest iron ore producer, after Vale and Rio Tinto, shipped 44.4 million tonnes and produced 44.2 million tonnes during a quarter when iron ore prices were high, averaging above $US140 a tonne. Production was five per cent lower than the previous quarter but three per cent higher for the same period last year. Production guidance for the company’s second-biggest earnings division after iron ore, petroleum, for about 240 million barrels of oil equivalent was also unchanged. Production in the March quarter of 55.42 million barrels was below some expectations. It was two per cent below the same period last year and seven per cent down on the previous quarter, reflecting less drilling in the US and less demand in southern Australia where its Bass Strait operations are. However it said its onshore shale operations in the US produced more than five million barrels of liquids during the quarter and Eagle Ford was now its single largest liquids producing field. The expensive and controversial $20 billion-plus US shale acquisitions were hit by writedowns last year as gas prices fell, but have since risen. | Iress |
| CNU | Chorus announced the signing of new contracts with two service company partners – Visionstream and Downer – for the building of the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network. The new contracts relate to the work required to lay fibre optic cables in the streets passing homes and businesses throughout Chorus’ UFB deployment areas. Work that Chorus has estimated will cost $1.7 to $1.9 billion through to mid 2019. Chorus GM Infrastructure Build Ed Beattie said the contracts are significant because they give Chorus and its service company partners new commercial constructs to drive cost efficiencies. | Company report |
| CRZ | carsales.com and Banco Santander announce that they have signed a binding term sheet and entered into exclusive negotiations relating to carsales’ acquisition of a 30 per cent interest in WebMotors SA, the number one automotive website in Brazil. As part of the transaction, carsales.com Ltd, one of the world’s leading online automotive businesses, will form a strategic partnership with Banco Santander to further grow WebMotors. Banco Santander, one of the world’s largest and most successful financial institutions, will retain a 70 per cent stake in the business. As part of the transaction, carsales will subscribe for a 30 per cent stake in WebMotors on a post-dilution basis for consideration of BRL180 million (approximately A$89 million), with the proceeds remaining to fund the growth of WebMotors. carsales’ investment will be funded by existing cash reserves and bank debt. WebMotors generates positive EBITDA and carsales expects the acquisition to be EPS accretive in FY14. | Company report |
| DOW | Downer EDI announced it had been awarded a contract by Chorus for the building of the Ultra-Fast Broadband network in NZ. Under the contract, Downer will be responsible for building the communal part of the network, installing fibre optic cable in the streets passing homes and businesses. The contract is valued up to NZ$500 million for the duration of the contract, running until 2019. | Company report |
| DOW | Downer EDI announced it had successfully completed the refinancing of its A$ Syndicated Credit Facility. The new facility, totalling A$400 million, has a maturity of four years with options to extend for a further two one year periods and will replace the existing A$420 million Syndicated Credit Facility | Company report |
| EHL | Operating Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) for FY13 is expected to be in the range of $40m to $44m. Earnings in the second half reflect challenging market conditions in Australia and Indonesia and strong conditions in Chile and Canada. In addition: Australia has experienced delays in the awarding of work and a competitive environment which has impacted margins; in Indonesia there is expected to be limited opportunities for utilisation improvements until early FY14, following the expected end of a major contract recently; despite temporary delays mobilising equipment to a new project site in Chile, the fleet in that region totaling $78m is now fully utilised; and as reported in February, Canadian utilisation was above 90% prior to the thaw period and is now following expected seasonal trends. Global utilisation is currently 55% compared with 67% at the time of the half year results | Company report |
| GXY | 386 tonnes of lithium carbonate produced in first half (15 days) of April. Average daily production rate of 26 tonnes, representing 55% of Plant’s design output. Follows monthly production of 425 tonnes in March. Jiangsu Plant ramp-up continuing | Company report |
| HVN | Global Salestotalled $1.28 billion for the March Q. When compared to PCP the increase was 0.6%. Like for like sales for the Q when compared to the PCP increased by 2.0%. | Company report |
| IMF | IMF announces its agreement to fund litigation in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of about 90 local councils, churches and charities against McGraw-Hill Companies, the owner of Standard & Poor’s. The claim relates to investments in collateralised debt obligations (“CDOs”) rated by Standard & Poor’s and distributed by Lehman Brothers. IMF announced that the Liquidators of Lehman have proposed a Scheme of Company Arrangement where admitted creditors may receive between 39.9 and 49.2 cents in the dollar if the Scheme is approved. The Investors’ claims against Standard & Poor’s will be for the balance of their losses after receipt of any monies from Lehman plus interest. | Company report |
| IPL | Incitec Pivot announced that it has approved US$850 million of capital expenditure for the construction of a world scale 800,000 metric tonne per annum ammonia manufacturing plant. Production is planned to commence in the Third Quarter of Calendar 2016. The Plant is sold out from Day One of production commencing with 300,000 tonnes to the Group’s own plants in the US. The balance is committed to offtake agreements with Transammonia Inc. and Cornerstone Chemicals Company. The Group’s US business, Dyno Nobel, is the largest manufacturer of industrial explosives in North America having 9 major manufacturing sites. | Company report |
| JHX | James Hardie announced that the NZ Ministry of Education has commenced a representative action in the NZ High Court against two NZ James Hardie subsidiaries and other parties. The NZ Ministry of Education is claiming weathertightness defects in relation to several thousand NZ school buildings and is seeking repair costs and unspecified and unquantified damages in relation to the alleged defects. | Company report |
| LEI | Visionstream, part of Leighton Contractors, has today announced a contract extension with Chorus worth over NZ$500 million to continue construction of New Zealand’s Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) network in the greater Auckland region. The contract with Chorus places Visionstream as a key supplier for the delivery and roll out of UFB for the next six years as part of the eight year project, deploying communal fibre network infrastructure past homes and businesses in Chorus’ UFB area. | Company report |
| NCM | NCM, Australia’s largest goldminer, believes it can cope with the declining price of gold despite suggestions it may have to revise production targets or close its Papua New Guinea mine should the precious metal’s value continue to fall | AFR |
| ORG | Origin Energy announced the successful pricing and allocation of €750 million seven and a half year medium term notes (Notes) issue under its Euro Medium Term Note Program (Program). The Notes have a coupon of 2.50 per cent and will mature in October 2020. The proceeds have been swapped into Australian dollars. | Company report |
| PAN | Group production back on budget – 4,706t nickel produced, up 8% on the previous quarter. Group production guidance for FY2013 – narrowed to 18,500-19,000t nickel. Costs below budget – Group payable cash costs down 13% to A$6.20/lb (including royalties). Cash flow – $9 million in free cash flow from operations, inclusive of Perth Office costs | Company report |
| PDN | Strong sales revenue of US$106M for the quarter, selling 1.92Mlb U3O8 at average price of US$55.22/lb.Continued solid quarterly production, with year to date production for FY2013 versus FY2012 at a record high. Langer Heinrich production of 1.230Mlb (558t) U3O8 achieving 96% of nameplate for the quarter. Kayelekera production of 761,992lb (346t) U3O8 achieving 94% of nameplate for the quarter. FY2013 production guidance of 8.0 – 8.5Mlb U3O8 remains on target | Company report |
| PIR | Papillon Resources is pleased to announce the results of a further 27 holes from its 2013 drilling program at the Company’s flagship Fekola Project, located in south western Mali, adjacent to the border with Senegal. The Project currently hosts a Mineral Resource Estimate (‘MRE’), which comprises 54.97 million tonnes averaging 2.38 g/t gold for a contained 4.21 million ounces of gold at a lower cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t gold. Assay results from 27 recent drill holes have continued to highlight extensions of mineralisation outside of the current Mineral Resource Estimate (‘MRE’) area; Shallow mineralisation encountered along strike to the north and south of the current MRE area including 12 metres @ 2.22 g/t from 5 metres; and Broad zones of mineralisation encountered down dip including 72 metres @ 2.65 g/t from 219 metres. | Company report |
| PRR | Prima BioMed is pleased to announce that it has been granted a patent from the Japanese Patent Office that protects methods used in the manufacture of CVac | Company report |
| RIO | RIO says the pit wall failure at its Bingham Canyon copper mine in the United States will significantly lower its copper division earnings, making the miner more reliant on Pilbara iron ore operations | AFR |
| RIO | Rio Tinto’s cost cutting program is hitting its targets as the global miner posts a better than expected quarterly iron ore production report. The world’s second-largest iron ore producer said global iron ore production increased to 61mt in the March quarter, up 6% on the same period last year. But bad weather caused a 5% fall in production compared to the December 2012 fourth quarter result. Analysts had expected a steeper fall in iron ore shipments after three tropical cyclones ripped through the Pilbara region of WA in the early part of 2013. Despite the temporary closure of ports, mine sites, and rail lines the company continued to operate at close to capacity throughout cyclone season. Chief executive Sam Walsh said Rio’s operations achieved a solid performance in the first quarter, recovering rapidly from seasonal weather disruptions. “Our two major growth projects in the Pilbara and in Mongolia achieved significant milestones in the first quarter,” Mr Walsh. Both projects remained on track for production this year. He said the company was making good progress in achieving its cost reduction targets for 2013 as staff cuts and productivity gains occurred. Rio, whose portfolio is heavily weighted to iron ore, has been slashing jobs after reporting a 2012 full-year net loss of almost $US3 billion in February. The company has been criticised for its near total dependence on iron ore. Still the company’s 2013 iron ore production guidance remains unchanged at 265mt from global operations in Australia and Canada, subject to weather constraints. Rio said the expansion of Pilbara capacity to 290mtpa remains on budget and on time to achieve the accelerated completion date in 3Q13. The miner added that its forecast copper production was being re-assessed following the recent mine slide at Bingham Canyon. As a result the company estimates that 2013 copper production at Kennecott Utah Copper will be less than previously anticipated by approximately 100,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, commercial production remains on track at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine by the end of June 2013 subject to discussions with the Mongolian government. | Iress |
| SAR | Record Quarter Production – 36,430 oz at cash cost A$991/oz. Mill grade +2g/t for the quarter – the first time since operations commenced. Year to date production of 98,909 oz at cash costs A$993/oz. On track for record production year of 125-135koz at cash costs of $975-1,075/oz. Grades from Deep South of 4g/t approximately 87% higher than reserves. Expansion Projects on track. The Whirling Dervish cut back on schedule and process plant upgrade due for completion by December. Drilling at Red October outside of existing ore reserve returns 5.0m @ 15.3g/t and 2.2m @ 53.9g/t. Gold hedging of 188,300 ounces at average price of A$1,698. Mark to Market value of hedges of A$56m at A$1,300/oz spot | Company report |
| SFR | Stage 2 of the open pit completed in April 2013. Ramp-up of underground mine on schedule to complete the transition to wholly underground operations. Plant ramp-up and optimisation continuing: on track for nameplate production rates from mid-CY2013. Strong performance so far in April with some 3,000 tonnes of copper-in-concentrate recovered for the month to date (15 days). Quarterly copper sales of 12,297 tonnes (Q2FY2013: 22,454 tonnes) and gold sales of 10,115oz (Q2FY2013: 13,184oz). Final high-grade DSO shipment completed in early January 2013, with further lower grade DSO shipments to be completed during the June 2013 Quarter. First shipment undertaken from newly-completed port facility at Port Hedland. | Company report |
| SPL | Starpharma Holdings announced it has been granted three new patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which strengthen and expand the Company’s patent estate for its drug delivery platform. The patents provide “composition of matter” protection for Starpharma’s dendrimer technologies for drug delivery out to 2029 in the United States, which is the world’s largest pharmaceutical market for several important drug classes. China’s patent office has also informed the Company that it has allowed a similarly broad, drug delivery-related patent for Starpharma in this important Asian market. This fourth patent, to expire in 2027, will be granted once an administrative process is complete. | Company report |
| SUN | Suncorp Group announced that following the successful completion of the Bookbuild for its proposed offer of subordinated notes, the size of the Offer will be increased from $500 million to at least $700 million. The Margin has been set at 2.85% per annum over the 90 day Bank Bill Rate, which is the bottom of the expected range of 2.85% to 3.10% per annum. | Company report |
| SYR | Syrah Resources is pleased to advise that drilling at its 100% owned Balama Graphite and Vanadium Project in north Mozambique will commence early next month. | Company report |
| TAH | Tabcorp Holdings’ Queensland Keno licence is to be extended to 2047. The 25-year licence extension was announced last night by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman at the Keno and Clubs Queensland Awards for Excellence in Brisbane. Tabcorp will make a $20 million payment to the State to extend the licence, which currently expires in 2022, to 2047. | Company report |
| TEN | TEN and Cricket Australia have entered into exclusive talks over the network’s $350 million bid to broadcast the sport | AFR |
| WOR | Saudi Electricity Company has awarded WorleyParsons an Integrated EPCM Services Contract for two of its new greenfield combined cycle gas turbine based power plants, Power Plant 13 and Power Plant 14. Each of these two power plants will be capable of generating 1650 megawatts under reference site conditions. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is planning a major power generation and transmission expansion program in the next 10 years which includes approximately 40 gigawatts of new capacity additions. This will be achieved through gas and oil based power projects, replacement/ conversion/modernisation of existing power plants, interconnection of transmission grids and extra high voltage substations. The estimated revenue under this Cost Reimbursable Integrated EPCM Services Contract will be approximately USD 125m with over 1.4 million man-hours of services to be performed. Signing of this Contract is considered a first step in a long term relationship between SEC and WorleyParsons, which could involve entering into other contracts in the future. | Company report |
| WPL | WPL may advance other possible investments due to the lack of local growth opportunities after the company put a halt to its Browse liquefied natural gas project last week | AFR |
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