BUSINESS

The Thai sugar group Mitr Phol has acquired a controlling stake in four Australian sugar mills through the takeover of MSF Sugar. MSF Sugar was formerly known as the Maryborough Sugar Factory and is based in the far north of Queensland.

No buyback, but BHP Billiton remembered shareholders and lifted dividend 20% after a 5.5% dip in first half profits.

On the even of releasing its 2011 profit later today, Rio Tinto has confirmed that it is determined to continue growing its highly profitable iron ore business, despite a nasty blowout in costs in the past four months.

The slump in property development and not the sluggish home building sector took its toll on the Singapore-controlled developer Australand yesterday which revealed a 15% slide in 2011 earnings.

Borrowers may be jumping ship in droves should banks choose to raise rates following the RBA's cash rate hold.

Bankwest has tipped processing improvements it says will aim to cut its time to approval in half.

Australian stocks have eased on open, following a mixed offshore lead and generally lower commodity prices. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is lower by 27.8pts or 0.6pct to 4335.9.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar is largely unchanged this morning as the market awaits developments out of Greece.

The Australian stock market is perceived to maintain its current bouyant status thugging within its comfort zone range between 4,200 to 4,300 with the absence of catalysts to bring forth a major boost, analysts said.

U.S. stocks pared losses to inch higher as investors digested headlines over a Greek debt-restructuring deal that would allow the euro-zone country to avoid a default.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 5 points while the S&P rose 0.2% to 1349 and the Nasdaq gained 0.4%.We recall that while the private sector holders of Greek sovereign debt ? mostly European banks ? have agreed to take a haircut on their holdings via a debt restructure in which they will receive longer...

US mortgage applications rose in the past week with the mortgage market index lifting 7.5pct, underpinned by a 9.4pct increase in refinancing activity.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaRisk assets have experienced a once-in-a-decade jumpstart into the new calendar year and increased liquidity (thank you ECB) plus improving economic data have been held responsible, finally providing the trigger to see a rapid return of risk appetite.

Just days after Facebook filed papers to go public, a large California pension fund is criticizing the social media giant for having an all-male board of directors.

By end February, residents and travellers plying the routes of China's municipality of Beijing will slowly get to experience inhaling cleaner air as the municipality government undertakes to introduce the first batch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered public buses.

Aussies are vacationing in droves overseas with New Zealand, the U.S. and Indonesia as their favourite destinations. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that in 2011, Australians made 7.8 million international trips.

The soon-to-be merged groups already agreed on a name, Glencore Xstrata International, and executives have settled their corporate positions and roles but the planned marriage appeared to have overlooked an important detail - the expressed consent of independent investors.

BHP Billiton said on Wednesday that its latest half-year results deviated from previous performances, achieving only a net income of $9.9 billion for the last six months leading to the end of December 2011.

National Australia Bank (NAB) announced on Wednesday a strategic review of its U.S. business after the latter suffered from high levels of bad debts.

New research has revealed that workers and managers at the coal face have both the skills and experience to innovate and navigate through change, but are seldom provided the opportunity to do so.

Mining and rail equipment manufacturer Bradken is on track to meet earlier guidance for a 40% lift in full year profit after a 65% jump in first half earnings.

The local share market is trading slightly higher in the early session, on the back of modest gains on Wall Street overnight. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) has added 7.6pts or 0.2pct to 4352.5.

As the market awaits ANZ's promised rate decision this Friday, NAB has vowed to beat its fellow majors on rates for the remainder of 2012, regardless of moves by the RBA.

Westpac has dismissed a Fairfax report insinuating that the bank was holding out on borrowers following last year’s rate cuts.

The Reserve Bank rendered moot much of the discussion surrounding bank funding costs this month when it chose to hold the cash rate steady.

The Reserve bank delivered the bad news to the banking sector yesterday, no rate cut and no chance to rebuild profit margins by hanging onto all or some of the widely expected 0.25% cut.

The Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) this week announced its seizure of over 700,000 chickens to safeguard their welfare at six broiler farms located in Northern Victoria, South West Victoria and West Gippsland.

New research about snackfoods and consumers’ snack food choices, ‘Healthy Snackers’, was released in the U.S on 2 February, 2012 by Mintel Research.

While Australian Food News yesterday reported the strong performance of Coles fresh produce division, the quarterly figures reported by parent company Wesfarmers show that Coles Express non-fuel sales declined by 1.4 percent for the quarter compared with Woolworths positive 4.9 percent increase from the previous year.