This Month
The fundie who unexpectedly became CEO of a wine company
James Williamson has temporarily jumped the fence to run Australian Vintage, and is agitating for M&A. His fund owns shares in the listed wine group.
- Simon Evans
Olam bid for Namoi Cotton doomed, says former competition boss
Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Allan Fels sees no way Olam can get approval for a takeover of Namoi Cotton.
- Brad Thompson
In ‘diabolical trouble’ – How big wine brands fell out of favour
Wolf Blass, who set up his eponymous wine brand almost 60 years ago, says the cheaper end of the wine sector is in ‘diabolical trouble’ but the cycle will turn positive again.
- Simon Evans
Nufarm shares plunge after profit downgrade
The company was hit hard as it backtracks on guidance issued three months ago based on weak prices for farm chemicals and lower than expected returns on omega-3 canola oil.
- Brad Thompson
Penfolds owner lifts dividend, revamps global arm
Treasury Wine, Australia’s biggest wine group, is merging two of its divisions by mid-2025 to create a global premium brands unit.
- Simon Evans
Treasury Wine to offload Wolf Blass, Lindeman’s, Yellowglen
Australia’s biggest wine group will cop a $354m impairment and shop around its cheaper wine brands as part of a strategic reset for the Penfolds owner.
- Simon Evans
Elders makes biggest wool investment in 20 years with robot handlers
Boss Mark Allison is rolling out the robots as the agribusiness makes a high-tech return to wool handling 185 years after its founders started out in the game.
- Brad Thompson
July
John Setka – finally – leaves Incolink
No individual is bigger than the union, but Setka thought he was bigger than a CFMEU redundancy fund for a while.
- Hannah Wootton
Court ruling rejecting weedkiller link to cancer welcomed by farmers
Federal Court rejects class action linking Australia’s most widely used farm chemical, glyphosate, to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
- Brad Thompson
ASIC says Beijing-owned agriculture giant manipulated wheat contracts
COFCO placed improper trades on the exchange in 2022, improperly affecting the futures’ settlement price, ahead of the Ukraine war, the corporate regulator alleges in court filings.
- Max Mason
Global beef players line up for Australian Meat Group
Street Talk understands Brazilian giants Minerva Foods and Marfrig, and China linked New Hope are getting their ducks in a row.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
End of the road comes in two-decade saga over sandalwood group Quintis
The company once known as TFS Corporation will be split up and liquidated after KordaMentha failed to find a buyer for the entire business.
- Simon Evans
Pernod Ricard exits Australian wine making, sells to Bain consortium
The French giant’s portfolio of local brands – as well as those in New Zealand and Spain – will be combined with Accolade Wines, the company behind Hardys.
- Kylar Loussikian
Seppeltsfield buys up as Australian Vintage offloads two vineyards
The ASX-listed producer behind McGuigan and Tempus Two will exit one property in NSW and sell another in South Australia to its privately owned rival.
- Kylar Loussikian
Incitec Pivot ditches fertiliser sale talks with Indonesian buyer
The chemicals giant said it shelved the negotiations due to transaction delays as it flagged a $900 million on-market share buyback would still go ahead.
- Carrie LaFrenz
Giant farming co-op looks to exit flour mill partnership with Salim
Australia’s biggest co-op, farmer-controlled CBH, wants to sell its stake in a network of flour mills in South-East Asia owned with the Indonesian family.
- Brad Thompson
- Agriculture Winner
- Sustainability Leaders
A farming revolution built on down-to-earth thinking
Increasing carbon levels in grazing lands could remove 10 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere says the winner of the Agriculture category.
- Tom McIlroy
‘No water equals no milk’: big dry, cold snap hit farmers
Victorian farmers have been hit by a combination of dry and cold conditions as dairy producers also face a 15 per cent cut in farm gate milk prices as of July 1.
- Gus McCubbing
Treasury Wine US exec in restraining order row with Napa official
A restraining order has been filed against Debra Dommen by a Napa Valley politician, Belia Ramos, who says the Treasury exec opposed her re-election.
- Staff
Agribusiness sells livestock vessel and share price jumps 117pc
Paul Holmes à Court-backed Wellard is selling its oldest carrier, the Ocean Ute, in a move that has more than doubled the company’s share price.
- Brad Thompson
