Business in brief

Press, 14 March 1984, Page 28

Business in brief

Westpac rate Westpac Banking Corporation in Australia will lift its indicator lending rate 1 per cent to 13.5 per cent from next Wednesday. The managing director. Mr Bob White, said the indicator lending rate was used as a base to set loan rates of SAustIOO.OOO and over and changes to the rate were made according to the cost of funding the bank's loan portfolio. Mr White said the cost of funds had risen since the last bond tender, with the market nervous about the tax rundown period and the necessary liquidity being lodged in savings banks and non-bank institutions rather then in the trading banks. Boral result Boral Ltd, the large, diversified Sydney-based construction group, increased its group net trading profit 56.9 per cent to sAust42.9M in the half-year to December 31, reflecting the acquisition of BMI, Ltd. formerly Blue Metal Industries, Ltd. Other income totalled $5.6M ($3.3M previously), and extraordinary losses were $476,000 ($934,000). A strong recovery in the United States economy and the Australian Government's initiatives to stimulate housing had also helped results, the directors said. Turnover rose 39.2 per cent to $670.3M. Tax rose $9.3M to to $28.7M and depreciation SB.2M to $24.9M. A steady interim dividend of $7.5c a share (15 per cent) is payable on April 27. Woodside profit Woodside Petroleum, the major partner in Western Australia’s North West Shelf Gas Project, had a 169.3 per cent rise in profit for 1983 with a substantial contribution by its subsidiary oil explorer, Vamgas. The sAust3.2BM increase in earnings in the 12 months to December 31 came on a massive rise in sales to $29.89M compared to $13.46M in 1982. Woodside directors say the sales jump is mainly due to Vamgas, the 50.6 per cent subsidiary, which is a partner in the $1 billion Cooper Basin gas and liquids scheme. Sales of crude oil and condensate by Vamgas provided $14.56M to the rise in Woodside group sales, with higher gas sales accounting for the remaining $1.87M increase in turnover. Vamgas had a 77.9 per cent rise in its annual earnings. Nicholas Kiwi Nicholas Kiwi, Ltd, the Vic-toria-based maker and marketer of pharmaceutical products which was the result of the, merger between Nicholas Australia, Ltd, and the Kiwi International Company, Ltd, in 1981, has increased its interim dividend from 6c to 7c a share (7 per cent). The company increased its unaudited group net attributable profit 16 per cent to sAustlO.sM in the six months to December 31, on turnover up 10.5 per cent to $167.2M. Tax rose $920,000 to SB.SM and depreciation $470,000 to $2.3M. Extraordinary profits totalled $302,000 (SI.2M previously). The dividend is payable on May 4. Santos loan A wholly-owned subsidiary of Cooper Basin oil and gas partner, Santos, Ltd, has signed a SNZISO million term loan agreement in Singapore, according to the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group, Ltd. An earlier announcement today said the term loan agreement was signed on Monday but an ANZ spokesman later said the statement referred to the planned signing of the agreement next Monday with an embargo until March 6 mistakenly left out. ANZ says the agreement has been signed by Santos Facilities, Ltd, with five Australian and international banks, with the loan arranged and managed by the Singapore branch of the ANZ Bank. Santos will use the funds for its expanding general corporate needs with the loan scheduled to amortise over five years. The loan has been provided by the ANZ, the National Australia Bank, Long Term Credit Bank of Japan, Dresdner (South East Asia), Ltd, and Continental Illinois Bank.