Former Salmat boss named new Afterpay CFO

Shares in buy-now pay-later giant Afterpay (ASX: APT) have fallen 6 per cent today following the company's appointment of former Salmat boss Rebecca Lowde (pictured) to the role of CFO. Lowde will start in the new role from 6 October 2020 while outgoing CFO Bortoli will remain with the company in an advisory capacity until the end of the...

The Rivers Restaurant in Thredbo closed after serial COVID-19 safety breaches

Repeated breaches of COVID-19 safety standards have forced New South Wales authorities to close The Rivers Restaurant in Thredbo for one week. It is the second such venue in NSW to be shut down after authorities closed Unity Hall Hotel in Rozelle last month. NSW Police and Liquor & Gaming NSW visited The Rivers Restaurant four times in...

Westpac to pay largest ever civil penalty of $1.3 billion over anti-money laundering law breaches

Westpac Group (ASX: WBC) will pay $1.3 billion in penalties after admitting to breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws on more than 23 million occasions. The penalty, if deemed appropriate by the Federal Court, will be the largest ever civil penalty in Australian legal history following proceedings brought by AUSTRAC. Th...

Australia's Top 10 Startups revealed

Professional social media outlet LinkedIn has revealed its third annual Top Startups series, profiling 10 young and resilient companies where Australians want to work today. The list is based on analysis from editors and data scientists of LinkedIn's 11 million members in Australia. Four main metrics were used to determine th...

Costa Group snaps up citrus, grape farms from Murray River Organics

Dried fruit producer Murray River Organics (ASX: MRG) is selling the farm - or at least part of it - to pay down debt, reaching a deal to sell 390 hectares of farmland to a subsidiary of Costa Group (ASX: CGC) for $4.5 million. MRG is in the thick of a battle to turn its fortunes around, with drought impacts and the effects of a strategy piv...

Redcape Hotel Group resilient in record quarter, reinstates dividends

Redcape Hotel Group (ASX: RDC) has bucked the hospitality blues and forecast a record September quarter after adapting to the new hospitality landscape and COVID-19 restrictions. The company witnessed positive trading in the first quarter of FY21 and hopes to deliver EBITDA ahead of the equivalent period last year, even when proceeds receive...

Rex in talks to secure $150m for launch of interstate operations

Regional Express (ASX: REX) has today announced it is in exclusive negotiations to bag up to $150 million to support the launch of its domestic operations, due to commence on 1 March 2021. The regional flight operator says it has signed a long-form term sheet and is in advanced exclusive discussions with PAG Asia Capital (PAG) regarding a pr...

Rebel Whopper creators expand plant-based range to Woolworths

Australia's answer to the plant-based meat revolution has today announced one of its biggest milestones to date, with v2food's non-meat mince and burgers to be sold in more than half of the country's Woolworths stores. Within a year of creating the Hungry Jack's plant-based 'Rebel Whopper' and subsequent deals with&nb...

Harris Farm Markets plans Brisbane return

One of NSW's most beloved fresh produce retailers will soon do something most residents in the state can't, and that is move to Queensland.  After an almost three-decade absence in the Sunshine State, Harris Farm Markets plans to open two stores in Brisbane starting with Clayfield in November followed by West Vill...

Ambitious $1.5 billion City Deal to revamp Perth CBD

With more than $1 billion to be spent on moving university campuses to the centre of Perth, a new deal has been finalised for a range of projects including a robotics and AI startup hub, cultural facility upgrades and roll-outs, and energy infrastructure. The Commonwealth Government, State Government and City of Perth expect the 'Ci...

A win for ARA as Gary Weiss and Joseph Gersh appointed as Cromwell directors

ARA Property Group's push to appoint Dr Gary Weiss (pictured) and Joseph Gersh to the board of Cromwell Property Group (ASX: CMW) has been successful today, with the vote supported by the family of billionaire Gordon Tang who ARA has previously denied any connection to. At an EGM this morning shareholders voted 51.85 per cent in favour o...

Concentrated Leaders Fund recommends shareholders reject Wilson takeover bid

Geoff Wilson's WAM Capital's (ASX: WAM) off-market takeover bid of rival firm Concentrated Leaders Fund (ASX: CLF) has been shunned by the target's board today following a review of the offer. CLF, an investment manager focusing primarily on ASX 200 listed entities, claims WAM's bid is opportunistic and significantly underval...

Telehealth breakthroughs for Emerald Clinics, MedAdvisor

With telehealth services experiencing tremendous growth due to the pandemic, two ASX-listed medical technology have announced new milestones today.  Perth-based Emerald Clinics' (ASX: EMD) Openly platform will be adopted by a COVID-19 recovery team at one of the USA's most prestigious research hospitals, while Melbourne-bas...

Kogan adds record number of new customers in August

Kogan.com (ASX: KGN) witnessed the largest monthly increase of new customers in the company's history in August 2020 as sales and profit more than doubled. Active customers grew to 2,461,000 as at 31 August 2020, an incremental increase of 152,000. Other highlights for the online retailer in August include gross sales more than doublin...

TM Insight eyes Asian expansion following XAct Solutions acquisition

Supply chain specialist TM Insight will double the size of its team following the acquisition of XAct Solutions, powering the company up to expand in the Australian and Southeast Asian markets. Post-acquisition TM Insight's team of logistics specialists will grow to 110, during what co-founder and CEO Travis Erridge (pictured right) says...

Dreamworld and WhiteWater World reopen in time for school holidays

After six months of closures, Ardent Leisure's (ASX: ALD) Gold Coast theme parks Dreamworld and WhiteWater World have reopened to the public this morning, in time for Queensland school holidays. The two neighbouring parks were forced to close down back in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated health risks to patrons, but ...

Medicision reaches deal to provide avatar-driven precision cancer treatment

Sydney-based healthcare company Medicision has announced a new partnership allowing Australian cancer patients access to biotechnology that tailors treatments to the unique genetic complexity of their tumour network. Medicision has entered into an agreement with London-headquartered My Personal Therapeutics, which will harness the ...

Uniti Group matches First State Super bid in tilt for OptiComm

Shares in telco Uniti Group (ASX: UWL) rose like an acquisition target yesterday at a rate of close to 18 per cent, but in fact the reverse is true. Uniti has been trying to acquire fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network operator OptiComm (ASX: OPC) since June, and successfully completed an oversubscribed $270 million capital raising towards t...

Qantas mulls HQ move as downsizing rolls on

National carrier Qantas (ASX: QAN) has announced further cost cuts to stay airborne during the pandemic, flagging plans to potentially exit its 49,000sqm Mascot, Sydney headquarters as well as Jetstar's head office in Collingwood, Melbourne. Following last month's announcement the airline would outsource ground staff jobs to sav...

Starpharma nasal spray found to be effective at preventing COVID-19 infection

Testing of Starpharma's (ASX: SPL) nasal spray has been shown to inactivate more than 99.9 per cent of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The effectiveness of the treatment depends on its use before or after exposure to the virus. Emboldened by the positive results, Starpharma has expedited production of the spray to make...