Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statement
  • Advertisement
    Companies

    Manufacturing

    Today

    Shareholders will back growth stories, but only if they trust management can deliver them.

    How to build a cash war chest and get permission to spend it

    Thursday’s two big profit results show what investors want from Australia’s big companies. And it doesn’t have to be just buybacks and special dividends.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Incitec Pivot’s new CEO Mauro Neves started in January. He says a two-year transformation phase of the Dyno Nobel explosives business should deliver a strong improvement in return on capital.

    Incitec Pivot blames gas prices for $498m fertiliser write-down

    But the company said it could double returns if it sold those struggling operations to Indonesia’s PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur and focused only on explosives.

    • Simon Evans

    Yesterday

    The Whyalla steelworks is owned by GFG Alliance. Its furnace has been out of action for months.

    Gupta’s $500m Whyalla steelworks upgrade delayed by two years

    A plan to produce green steel will now be pushed out until 2027, the company said. It is already grappling with issues that have shut down the furnace.

    • Simon Evans
    CSR chief executive Julie Coates says Gyprock, Bradford and Hebel are the company’s key brands.

    Aluminium losses hit CSR ahead of Saint-Gobain $4.3b buyout

    Shareholders will vote next month on the bid from Saint-Gobain, which must wrestle with a loss-making aluminium business hit hard by high energy costs.

    • Simon Evans

    This Month

    Orica chief executive Sanjeev Gandhi says some of the company’s high input costs have begun to ease.

    Orica says lower input costs offsetting fall in revenues

    The commercial explosives maker has reported a 10 per cent increase in earnings, beating analyst estimates.

    • Updated
    • Elouise Fowler
    Advertisement
    Orica CEO Sanjeev Gandhi is worried about the cracks he’s seeing in Australian manufacturing.

    ‘Why would I invest a single cent in Australia?’ asks Orica boss

    The explosives giant’s CEO, Sanjeev Gandhi, is getting a little tired of hearing about the Albanese government’s much hyped Future Made in Australia policy.

    • James Thomson
    The Whyalla steelworks has been offline since mid-March because of a blast furnace problem.

    Whyalla steelworkers cop 30pc pay cut as furnace damage worsens

    The major plant, owned by Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, has not been producing for months. South Australian officials are seeking an “independent assessment”.

    • Simon Evans
    The Whyalla steelworks has been offline since mid-March because of a technical problem.

    Sanjeev Gupta calls in rival to help Whyalla steelworks strife

    Steel traders say customers of the Whyalla steelworks, which has been offline for almost two months, are ordering supplies from Asia amid uncertainty over a restart date.

    • Simon Evans
    Austal chief executive Paddy Gregg with the USS Canberra at Sydney harbour.

    Backers of takeover target Austal want Hanwha in the race

    Austal shareholders say the opening shots in takeover battle for the defence ship builder have fallen well short of the mark, but granting due diligence would be a start.

    • Brad Thompson
    The government will invest close to $1 billion in PsiQuantum.

    Tritium collapse a cautionary tale for PsiQuantum support

    Readers’ letters on the possible risks and rewards of investing in a quantum computing start-up; the disappointing demise of Bonza; Norway’s leadership on resource taxes; super funds avoiding liability for scammers; and a call for evidence for new gas developments.

    April

    Raphael Geminder and wife Fiona  at the 2023 Melbourne Cub.

    Pact Group hit by Qenos fallout as Rich Lister circles

    Rich Lister Raphael Geminder extended his buyout offer 12 times for packaging group Pact, a large customer of the failed Qenos plastics resins business.

    • Updated
    • Simon Evans
    Tesla’s profits are expected to fall by 40 per cent.

    Musk sells the Tesla dream, skips the details

    On the car maker’s results call this week, the numbers were bad but the words were dreamy. Perhaps too dreamy.

    • Liam Denning
    Tesla co-founder Elon Musk is expected to deliver a weak set of numbers overnight.

    Elon Musk’s robotaxi dreams plunge Tesla into chaos

    Plans for a self-driving taxi are being prioritised over a cheaper Tesla that investors prefer, company insiders say.

    • Edward Ludlow and Dana Hull

    Look beyond the short term for benefits of Australian-made policy

    Readers’ letters on the need for a long-term view of the Future Made in Australia policy; Anzac Day’s poignant message; the battle with Elon Musk over content; a better way to combat Iran; handouts for rich fossil fuel companies; and a rescue plan for Tritium.

    Chinese electric cars like those made by BYD are gaining market share in Europe.

    How China plans to win the global EV war

    The US and European governments are increasingly alarmed at the potential for China’s EV ambitions to put their own car manufacturers at risk.

    • Updated
    • Jennifer Hewett
    Advertisement

    Will Musk now deliver the ‘biggest value appreciation in history’?

    Elon Musk has a new vision: AI-fuelled autonomy allows Tesla to move beyond its past as a car maker or energy company to become a new style of tech giant.

    • James Thomson
    Oil demand is likely to reach its peak later this decade as electric cars continue to rise in popularity.

    EV charging play ChargeNet hits the road for equity injection

    The company, which bills itself as NZ’s largest EV charging network, is chasing $27.5 million in equity capital to supercharge its growth.

    • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
    China’s booming EV production is giving Tesla co-founder Elon Musk a huge headache, and he has done something very few have been able to achieve - he’s united Australia’s politicians against him and his social media platform X.

    Why Elon Musk faces a $500b ‘moment of truth’ this week

    The market is losing faith in Tesla’s growth. Its CEO must answer one question to win investors back. 

    • Updated
    • James Thomson
    Former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk visits NOJA Power with managing director Neil O’Sullivan during 2020 elections.

    Ellerston Capital plugs into Brisbane’s NOJA ahead of second-half IPO

    Its post-money valuation was just shy of $500 million and an ASX listing is on track for the second-half, investor sources said.

    • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
    Electric vehicle charging manufacturer Tritium went into administration on Friday.

    Australian manufacturing poster child Tritium fails days after Qenos

    The EV charging company was cited by the PM as a “lost opportunity” that could have been kept in Australia with more government support, but it failed in the US.

    • Updated
    • Nick Bonyhady and Tom Rabe