Sydney, Sept 27, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Woodside Petroleum says it's agreed to sell its Mauritanian assets to Malaysian oil and gas producer Petronas. Woodside said in a statement that it had sold the assets for US$418 million. The move comes as the firm looks to focus on more lucrative LNG projects. Woodside is Australia's largest independent oil and gas producer. Woodside Petroleum has produced positive earnings over the past four financial years.
Macquarie Bank says it will buy Canadian investment and brokerage firm Orion Financial. The deal is set to be worth $146 million and will consist of both cash and stock. Macquarie says the impact of the acquisition on the bank's Tier-1 capital ratio is expected to be limited. Orion specialises in the resources sector, which Macquarie believes is a good fit with its broader global resources strategy. Macquarie Bank produced record earnings in 2007.
And Building materials company Brickworks has reported an increase in its annual profit. Earnings for the company rose $102.2 million to $107.5 million, that's an increase of just over 5 per cent. Managing director Lindsay Partridge said the results were encouraging, given the current pressure on the Australian home building industry. He said they expect the building industry will continue to face tough times until interest rates start trending down and affordability improves. Brickworks experienced its earnings highlight in 2004.
The full report is available at the following video and audio links.
Video Link
http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/L4WPQS04Audio Link
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6PKA601DSource: Finance News Network © 2007
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