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The Australian Business Review
 

Good morning,

The nation’s two largest retailers have pushed back against official probes, with Wesfarmers chairman Michael Chaney complaining that “profit seems to be a dirty word” while Woolworths denounced escalating regulation.  

Meanwhile, billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has defied the trend of falling profits across the corporate sector, posting a bumper $5.57bn bottom line result on the same day it struck a $1.13bn deal to buy gas assets from rival Mineral Resources.

And coal baron Chris Wallin has banked $400m in dividends and revealed he shifted investment away from Queensland because of the former Labor government’s “disdain for mining”.
Perry Williams
Business editor
The markets


Making news this morning
1
ACCC takes on Optus for targeting vulnerable people
The consumer watchdog alleges the nation’s second-largest telco ‘manipulatively’ sold phones and plans to hundreds of customers that ‘they did not need and could not afford’.
2
Political requests for upgrades ‘a daily event’, insiders claim
Travel executives are the least surprised by claims high-ranking politicians including the Prime Minister sought airline upgrades, saying elected officials are not backward about asking for better seats.
3
Linfox posts $80m loss after Armaguard hit
Transport giant Linfox, founded by trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox, has posted an almost $80m loss after taking a hit from its troubled cash distribution business Armaguard.
Editor's picks
MARGIN CALL
‘Tickle from the top’: Curious timing of $20m boost to Fels’ charity
The ghost of Gladys past might come back to haunt the Chris Minns government over a $20m commitment to a not-for-profit linked to integrity guru Allan Fels.
By YONI BASHAN, NICK EVANS
LENDING
Gloves off as private credit gets punchy
There are risks that ‘lender-on-lender violence’, a tactical tussle between banks and other credit providers, becomes more prevalent in Australia as the global private credit market swells.
By JOYCE MOULLAKIS
HOSPITALITY
Politis raises the bar on pub portfolio
Sydney Roosters chairman and billionaire Nick Politis is set to expand his property portfolio with an offer for pubs and shopping centre group Eumundi that its board deemed too good to refuse.
By CHRIS HERDE
Commentary
How ‘Jetstar of health’ NIB forged its own path
By ERIC JOHNSTON
Associate Editor
After a multi-decade career tackling everything head on, an accident meant the NIB boss Mark Fitzgibbon almost didn’t make it to his retirement.
How policy choices could affect US economy
By DAVID ROGERS
Markets Editor
Amid heightened focus on the US election, NAB’s economics team concludes there could well be more downside than upside risk to US economic growth from Donald Trump’s policies.
DataRoom
→ Why Gina Rinehart moved like lightning on MinRes
Chris Ellison, the embattled boss of Mineral Resources, needed money through the door fast. And it was Gina Rinehart who answered the call.
→ Hot healthcare auction starts to cool as bidders reassess I-MED
Some of the bidders in one of the country’s hottest healthcare auctions are asking plenty of questions.
→ Yancoal primed to snap up Anglo coal portfolio
Speculation is mounting that Swiss commodities trader Glencore is betting on a break-up play for the Anglo American coal portfolio, and that it may only be bidding for some of the assets.

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