Global miner Rio Tinto Ltd
(ASX:RIO) says it will rebuild a smelter furnace at its Kennecott Utah Copper operation in the U.S.
Rio says the rebuild is scheduled for October 2009 and May 2010.
The miner says the Kennecott Utah Copper operation is the second largest copper producer in the U.S. and also has valuable gold, molybdenum and silver streams.
Rio says the Kennecott labor agreement expires this month and is in wage agreement talks with employees at the moment.
The company says it has a good relationship with its workforce at the operation but has a contingency plan just in case a strike occurs.
According to the Dow Jones Newswires a number of potential strikes at South American operations are causing concern for the copper market. Rio Tinto’s 2008 net profit was US$3.7 billion a big drop from the year before.
Commercial television provider Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN) says major shareholder Canwest Global Communications Corp has completed the sell-down of its 50.06 per cent interest in Ten.
Ten says Macquarie Capital Advisers underwrote and managed the sale to a broad range of institutional and sophisticated investors at a $1.30 a share.
This represents a discount of 5 per cent to the closing price of Ten shares before it went into a halt on September 24 of $1.365.
Settlement of the transactions is expected to occur on October 1.
Ten shares which have been in a trading halt while the sell-down of Canwest’s stake took place, will resume trading today. Ten Network Holdings profit highlight in the last five years was $273.4 million in 2008.
Agribusiness services company AWB Ltd (ASX:AWB) has raised $220 million from institutional investors following the completion of its institutional offer.
The company raised $120 million under the institutional offer and $100 million under the institutional placement.
Managing director Gordon Davis says the institutional offer was significantly oversubscribed with strong demand from both new and existing institutional shareholders.
Mr Davis says the company is pleased with the positive response from shareholders which demonstrates their ongoing support for AWB and the company’s ability to attract new investors.
The new shares will be issued on October 8.
The retail component of the entitlement offer opens on Friday October 2 and is expected to close on October 21, raising approximately $249 million.
Shares will be offered to retail investors at the same price as the institutional offer. AWB has posted inconsistent net profits over the last five years.
Retailer and brand manager OrotonGroup Ltd (ASX:ORL) has reported a 16.1 per cent increase in full year net profit today.
Net profit for the 12 months to July 25 came to $19.4 million up from $16.7 million the year before.
Revenue rose 10.6 per cent to $135.6 million compared to $122.6 million with sales at stores open more than a year up 8 per cent from last year.
CEO Sally MacDonald says despite the challenging economic environment the company continued to perform well reflecting the quality of its brands and consistent execution of the company’s strategy.
Oroton now has 70 stores across Australia, up from 58 a year ago.
Ms MacDonald says that whilst the company remains vigilant to the macroeconomic volatility, Oroton believes there are considerable growth opportunities in the company to expand its domestic store base, product categories and enter new geographies.
OrotonGroup declared a special dividend of 3 cents a share in addition to a final dividend of 22 cents a share, taking the total to 41 cents for the year up 17.1 per cent. After posting a loss in 2006 the company’s profits have recovered increasing each year.
