Copper miner Turquoise Hill on Monday evening rejected Rio Tinto's $2.7 billion takeover proposal, saying that it failed to fully reflect the company's fundamental value. Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) made an offer to buy out the rest of the Canadian-based miner for C$34 per share on 14 March.
The bid was a 32 per cent premium to the C$25.68-a-share closing price of Turquois Hill on 11 March this year. The refusal of Rio’s approach will prevent the Australian miner from gaining control of Hill’s Mongolian copper mine Oyu Tolgoi. The mine could be the fourth-biggest copper mine in the world, producing 500,000 metric tons of copper a year.
Rio’s snub follows news that BHP Group (ASX: BHP) did not get what they wanted out of the takeover of Oz Minerals (ASX: OZL) last Monday. “Copper is increasingly in the crosshairs of mining companies as demand for the transition to cleaner energy grows,” said equity analyst Jon Mills. Rio Tinto opens 1.38 per cent lower on Tuesday but recovers by the close to finish the week 3.3 per cent higher.
Find yourself a man who can do it ALL, like ScoMo.
For a man who became famous for declaring ‘it’s not my job’, ex-PM Scott Morrison had a few jobs to begin with. The former Prime Minister was identified earlier in the week amid allegations he assumed five extra ministries privately. "But not only was Mr Morrison the Prime Minister of Australia but he was the Minister for Health, for Finance, for Resources, Home Affairs and of course he was the Treasurer.
The former PM then hardened his resolve in a 2GB radio interview in which he said it was ‘the right decision’ as a ‘safeguard’ to take on the portfolios during the pandemic. When the scandal broke most elected officials had their opinions on the matter.
The next Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews (who didn't even know she was doubling up her gig with Morrison) flashed out a resignation request the second she read the news.
The current prime minister, Anthony Albanese, called Morrison’s actions an “unprecedented thrashing of our democracy.” Memes of the incident have been shared on social media with some photoshopping Morrison into images of different professions, with people including models, professionals and truck drivers saying the man can do it all.
Unlike some politicians, Morrison has not been shy of the backlash, and has even taken it upon himself to respond to many of the memes. It’s amazing that someone as time poor as Mr Morrison (six jobs) found time to go on holiday in Hawaii.
Why the ultrarich still come to buy luxury wine
Her method: Get these men to believe they're forgetting something.
Treasury Wine Estates’ (ASX:TWE) announced on Thursday it would offset higher expenses by raising prices across all its product divisions in the 2023 financial year. Chief executive Tim Ford said wine was an 'affordable luxury' even in difficult economic times and he still expected sales to be robust.
The Australian vintner posted a 5.3% rise in full year profits to shareholders, even as Chinese tariffs mounted. In its annual report, the company said it is still “growing [it’s] multi-country origin portfolio and investing more fully across our range of markets.” And they mean what they say.
TWE has been growing sales (outside of China) at 106% over the last 12 months. Just two months ago, the Chinese official Wang Webin reiterated the sanctions of 2020 and reddened Garcia, calling them “legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach.” The wine maker turned the other cheek. The stock is currently trading at $13.42, 8.5% above a week ago.
The post-pandemic winner
Underlying profits have increased at Cochlear (ASX:COH), 18% prettier over the full year while 12 month sales leapt 10%. Service revenue at the company also increased during the period, climbing 15% to $503.9 million.
The Australian medical device manufacturer says profits quadrupled thanks to interest in products and services unavailable in the pandemic. Shares are currently trading at $218.86, down 1.7 percent since the start of the year. Profits fell in 2020 to $153.8 million, a 42 percent slide from 2019 levels.
Strong consumer demand, the company says, has it feeling good about the future. Cochlear anticipates ‘trading conditions to improve gradually throughout the year, with periodic COVID-induced hospital or region specific elective surgery interruptions expected to persist.’
Profits slide at AGL
Profits at AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) are down 58.1% in the year-to-date, as expected. The profit fall was due to lower retail prices, higher peak demand costs and no contribution from revenue from the Loy Yang Unit 2 generator, which has been out of action since April this year.
Outages, market volatility, and consumer switching also contributed to the declining profits, however, the company admitted. Underlying EBITDA was down 2.7 per cent over the year and total consumer services did not grow, staying flat at $4.2 billion.
Although it missed market expectations, the QBE believes its earnings in FY23 will hold up firmly with its size and diversity of the customer base, low-cost business model, and strong risk management. AGL ended Friday at $7.84, falling 7.8% since the start of the week.
Australian unemployment ticks lower again
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released labour force figures on Thursday that revealed the unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in July, the lowest rate of joblessness in 48 years. The previous time the unemployment rate was this low, Australia had only recently converted road signs from the imperial system to metric. With prices up and mortgages costing more Australia’s unemployment rate has continued to edge lower.
