PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - Jan 30

Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)

-- Surfwear company, Quiksilver, has appointed investment bank, JPMorgan, to initiate a sale process for its ski and snowboard brand, Rossignol. Quiksilver acquired Rossignol, a French brand, in 2005, but the business has consistently underperformed ever since. The company wrote down the carrying value of Rossignol by US$166 million ($192 million) in the financial year ended October 31, 2007. Rossignol, along with Quiksilver's three other winter sports brands, represents 16 percent of its total revenue. Page 16.

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Manufacturer, GUD Holdings (GUD.AX), yesterday posted an 18 percent increase in net profit to A$17.5 million for the half-year to December 31. The company, which makes Victa lawnmowers and Sunbeam appliances, reported a 31 percent rise in earnings before interest and tax to A$38.3 million. However, managing director, Ian Campbell, warned that the possibility of a recession in the United States and rising interest rates in Australia created a more subdued outlook for the second half of this year. Page 16.

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A proposed merger between mining companies, Mineral Securities (MXX.AX) and CopperCo CUO.AX, is set to be completed by the middle of this year. Robert Champion de Crespigny, the chairman of Mineral Securities, will take over as chairman of the merged group, which will have interests in Queensland, Europe, Asia and Africa. CopperCo managing director, Brian Rear, said yesterday that the A$530 million merger would help the company diversify beyond its "one commodity, one mine business" into platinum and gold and increase shareholder value. Page 16.

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West Australian conglomerate, Wesfarmers (WES.AX), is working to improve on-shelf availability at its Coles supermarkets. Wesfarmers, which completed its takeover of Coles Group last November, has been monitoring supplier performance and putting pressure on grocery suppliers that have been failing to deliver on time. Coles supermarkets' 9.5 percent slide in earnings to A$693.3 million last year was largely blamed on inadequate on-shelf availability. Wesfarmers shares were down A$1.37 yesterday at A$36.63. Page 16.

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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)

-- Troubled finance group, MFS MFS.AX, could be hit with millions of dollars worth of compensation claims linked to three New Zealand investment companies that have collapsed in recent months. Among the fixed interest debenture investments that an MFS New Zealand subsidiary, Vestar, promoted to investors were Bridgecorp, Property Finance Group and Capital + Merchant Finance, all of which have failed since July. Page 19.

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Beleaguered company, Centro Properties Group (CNP.AX), opened an Internet 'data room' yesterday as it launched its sell-off. Centro, which has seen its shareprice plummet after encountering a A$3.9 billion funding crisis late last year, is offering a 50 percent share in its A$4.8 billion Centro Australia Wholesale Fund and 45 percent of its A$1.2 billion Centro America Fund, but a sale of the entire group is also on the table. The wholesale fund is believed to have attracted bids of between A$1.8 and A$2 billion from the likes of Industry Superannuation Property Trust. Page 19.

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Iron ore miner, Mount Gibson Iron (MGX.AX), entered a trading halt before the sharemarket opened yesterday, saying it had been informed over the weekend of a 'potential transaction concerning a material shareholding.' Hong Kong-based APAC Resources is the largest shareholder in Mount Gibson with a 20 percent stake. Normally, a takeover offer is expected after the 19.9 percent threshold is crossed. Besides APAC, market observers have mentioned Oxiana Resources OXR.AX and Zinifex ZFX.AX as possible suitors of Mount Gibson. Page 20.

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Telecommunications group, Optus, has this week begun talks with wireless broadband company, Unwired, linked to a regional wireless spectrum deal. Earlier this month, Optus had bid A$60 million for a wireless spectrum from pay-television group, Austar, but a covenant attached to the transaction stipulated that any owner of the licence was required to build a network matching the one proposed by Unwired. Analysts said yesterday the covenant could add up to A$100 million to the cost of Optus's planned OPEL broadband network. Page 23.

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)

-- Financial services firm, MFS Limited, yesterday halted redemptions in its largest unlisted investment vehicle for six months. The A$770 million MFS Premium Income Fund has 11,000 unit holders. "There's been a significant increase in the number of redemption requests in the past week or so," said the chief executive of MFS Investment Management, Guy Hutchings, in justifying the freeze. Mr Hutchings dismissed fears over how the fund would fare if MFS itself collapsed, claiming that "the assets of the fund are independent of the group." Page 19.

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Nine Network has fallen from its pre-eminent position in the television advertising market to third place behind rivals, Seven and Ten (TEN.AX). Official figures released yesterday for the six months to December showed Seven had a 38.55 percent market share, while Ten had 30.84 percent and Nine 30.81 percent. Media buyers forecast Nine's revenue share to drop further in the next six months, although it was likely to recover to second spot by June as most of Ten's high rating content was scheduled for the second half of the year. Page 19

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Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd NWS.N has signed an agreement under which rival group, Fairfax Media (FXJ.AX), would manage the sale of dealer listings for its website, Carsguide.com.au. The deal with Fairfax, owner of the rival automotive site, Drive.com.au, would create a client base of 2,000 car dealers in the A$80 million online car classifieds market, which analysts forecast will grow to A$190 million within two years. PBL Media's Carsales.com.au is the market leader. "We think this will help us compete with Carsales," Fairfax Digital head, Jack Matthews, said yesterday. Page 21

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Oil Search (OSH.AX) and its joint venture partners in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are likely to decide by March whether the project will progress to the two-year front-end design and engineering phase. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) expects to start marketing LNG on behalf of the other partners, including Oil Search, AGL Energy (AGK.AX), Santos (STO.AX) and Nippon Oil (5001.T), once the decision on the next stage is made. Meanwhile, Oil Search yesterday flagged lower production at its PNG oilfields, pushing down its shareprice A35 cents to A$4.25. Page 23.

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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)

-- Queensland billionaire, Clive Palmer, has announced a A$100 million foundation to provide infrastructure and support for Aboriginal families in Western Australia's iron ore-rich region of Pilbara. His company, Mineralogy, will set up the foundation with money it receives as part of a major iron ore deal signed with China's Sino Iron. Professor Palmer said that the giveaway would eventually total A$1 billion. "We believe that from those to whom much is given, much is expected," he said yesterday. Page B1

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Bendigo Bank (BEN.AX) said yesterday that it remained on track to increase earnings by 12 percent this financial year, despite the prevailing uncertainty in sharemarkets that was now spilling over into the wider economy. Bendigo recently completed a A$4 billion merger with Adelaide Bank. At a meeting called to approve a change in the combined entity's name to Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, chairman, Robert Johanson, noted that 'these are turbulent times' but backed the merger as viable. Bendigo shares fell A37 cents to close at A$12.85. Page B2.

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ERG Ltd ERG.AX yesterday asked the Australian Stock Exchange again to suspend trading in its shares while it 'clarifies certain issues' following the termination of its contract for Sydney's integrated public transport ticket system, the Tcard. New South Wales (NSW) Transport Minister, John Watkins, cited failures by ERG to meet targets set out in their agreement as he cancelled the contract. The NSW Government is now planning to take legal action to recover the A$95 million it has already paid to the Perth-based company. Page B3

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Yahoo!7, the joint venture between Yahoo! and Seven Network (SEV.AX), is set to launch a new email service with unlimited storage and usernames that customers want. Chief executive, Rohan Lund, said the launch of the y7mail.com service would overcome the problem of users finding that the email addresses of their choice had already been reserved by Yahoo! customers in the United States. "In Australia we hadn't talked about mail, and we ran the risk of people thinking of us as a TV website," Mr Lund said yesterday. Page B5 --