The Northern Territory news Thu 7 Apr 2022
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2022-04-07
English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin.; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin.
News Corp Australia
Darwin
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News Corp Australia
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/869399
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/869663
24 BUSINESS Thursday April 7 2022 NTNE01Z01MA - V1 MAIN DEAL DREAMWORLD owner Ardent Leisure Group has dramatically sold off its US- based Main Event business to rival Dave & Busters in a $US835m ($1.1bn) deal. The move ends its one- time hopes of building a global leisure empire. Ardent says it will now focus on turning round its local theme parks. Ardent expects to return about $430m or about 90c a share to investors. NEW BID VIRTUS Health says its board will consider BGH Capitals $8 cash a share takeover offer that was lobbed Wednesday. The Virtus board, in consultation with its advisers, will consider the BGH takeover bid and update shareholders in due course, Virtus said. Virtus will consider if the BGH bid constitutes a superior proposal to an offer by CapVest Partners. Virtus shares closed up 8c at $8.15. FINAL APPROVALS WOODSIDE has received the final two approvals to progress its WA joint ventures US$12bn Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 developments. The Commonwealth-WA Joint Authority has granted an offer for the pipeline licence to build and operate the Scarborough pipeline in Australian waters. Approval has also been granted for the Scarborough Field Development Plan. Woodside shares fell 19c to $33.74. Rate fears scare off investors Federal Reserves balance sheet could begin as early as next month, and at a much faster pace than previous efforts. In Australia, economists now expect the RBA to lift the official cash rate as early as June. Deutsche Bank had previously flagged an August rate hike but now pencilled in a June increase. We still expect that the liftoff hike will be 15 basis points, taking the cash rate back to 0.25 per cent, said the banks economist Phil ODonaghoe. Deutsche Bank then expect three 25 basis point rate hikes in the second half of 2022, one more than previous, taking the cash rate to 1.0 per cent by the end of the year. UBS economists have also priced in a 15 basis point hike in June. The prospect of tighter monetary policy in the US sent bond yields soaring overnight on Tuesday and the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunging 2.26 per cent as investors pivoted away from growth names. A similar pattern repeated in Australian equities, with a swath of tech and payment firms copping a beating. Afterpay owner Block Inc fell 6.9 per cent to $178.27, while buy now, pay later rival Zip Co was 4.2 per cent lower at $1.48, and Sezzle fell 1.8 per cent to $1.34. Accounting software firm Xero lost 2.9 per cent to $104.88, Wisetech Global dropped 1 per cent to $52.70, Appen was 2.7 per cent down at $6.83, and Altium shed 2 per cent to $34.69. OANDA Asia-Pacific senior analyst Jeffrey Halley said a massive drop in Chinas Caixin Non-Manufacturing PMI proved to be another weight on regional markets, as were continued concerns around the Shanghai Covid-19 lockdown. Against the backdrop of harsher sanctions on Russia and yield curve inversion, it was enough to see investors have second thoughts and move to the sidelines, Mr Halley said. Among the miners, BHP lost 1 per cent to $51.41, Rio Tinto shed 1.2 per cent to $118.85 and Fortescue Metals eased 0.3 per cent to $21.66. THE Australian sharemarket softened on Wednesday as the prospect of steeper-thanexpected rate hikes both at home and abroad sent equity investors to the sidelines. Technology and mining stocks were particularly weak as the benchmark ASX 200 recorded its worst session in three weeks, dropping 37.8 points or 0.5 per cent to close at 7490.1. The index fell by as much as 1.2 per cent in the first hour of trade. The broader All Ordinaries ended 44.9 points, or 0.6 per cent lower at 7788.3, while the Aussie dollar eased back from a 10-month high to US75.72c at the local close. The negative market momentum that began with Tuesdays Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) statement was exacerbated by similarly hawkish commentary on interest rates out of the US. US Fed Governor Lael Brainard a usually reliable dove sent traders scrambling overnight when she suggested a reduction of the m a r k e t s Alex Druce Tech, mining drag down market MORE than 20 professional athletes across AFL, soccer, rugby league and cricket are the latest to invest in the booming online pet supply retailer Pet Circle. World Cup champion cricketer Alyssa Healy invested in Pet Circle with husband and fellow cricket star Mitchell Starc. She said the company was instantly appealing as an investment, given how regularly the couple shop on its online platform. When the opportunity to invest in Pet Circle came up, we jumped at it as we shop with them all the time, she said. You need to believe in the company you are investing in, and Pet Circles vision to improve the lives of pets and i n v e s t i n g DAVID SWAN Sports stars back unicorn Pet Circle Pet Circle founder Mike Frizell. Picture: John Appleyard We want to be the best in the field Mike Frizell Coles signs deal with Singapores FairPrice COLES has sealed a landmark agreement to export its growing portfolio of home brand groceries to Singapores largest supermarket chain, FairPrice. Executives from the National Trades Union Congressowned FairPrice were in Australia last week to finalise the export deal, with the Singapore supermarket co-operative keen to gain access to Coless high-quality private label foods. FairPrice has a 60 per cent market share of the Singapore supermarket sector and annual turnover of just over $S4bn ($3.88bn). FairPrice will stock a range of products including Coles Ultimate Biscuits, the Coles Urban Coffee range, a selection of its Wellness Road health foods and the Coles Soup range. FairPrice chief procurement officer Tng Ah Yiam said Australian food and groceries were well respected in the region for their quality and price. Coles shares fell 7c to $18.01. US inflation headed into double digits INFLATION in the US is just getting started and will get well into the double digits, peaking at 15 to 16 per cent as it did in 1980, strategist Larry Jeddeloh warns. Speaking at a UBS event on Wednesday, the founder of influential US-based The Institutional Strategist newsletter and advisory service TIS Group, also tipped oil prices could hit as high as $US300 a barrel. He warned of the potential for markets to lock up as the US Federal Reserve tries to tame runaway inflation. We think inflation goes higher over a more confined period of time, not 17 years like the cycle ran in the 1960s through to 1980, he said. But we do think its going into double digits now, and it may approach the peaks that we had in 79-80, so around 14, 15 or 16 per cent. Inflation, were just getting started, is the way I would put it. Mr Jeddeloh predicted the WTI oil price would push well past its 2008 high of $US147 a barrel, in part due to a lack of capital expenditure in the sector. This was a deliberate ploy to make renewables look more attractive, he said. Cheers brewers in cash as public shouts AUSTRALIAS equity crowd funding industry has defied whats typically the quietest period of the year, growing by 89 per cent year-on-year in the latest quarter. Equity crowd funding volumes exceeded $10m for the three months to March 31, representing 89 per cent growth compared to a 57 per cent decline for broader equity capital markets according to data from crowd funding platform Birchal. Amid whats traditionally a sluggish period for the industry, Gold Coast brewer Black Hops had one of the standout crowdsourced funding (CSF) campaigns, raising $2.2m. The CSF industry contin ues to go from strength to strength, Birchal managing director Matt Vitale said. Total funding volumes for the financial year to date exceed $57m across 65 successful CSF offers, about double the total funding volume of $28.4m at this time last year. r e ta i l ELI GREENBLAT c r o w d - f u n d i n g DAVID SWAN eco n o m y Cliona ODowd POWERED BY THEAUSTRALIAN .. IN BRIEF