Australian Market Report of May 19, 2010: Goodman (ASX:GMG) to Participate a Business Park Project in China

The Australian shares continue to suffer a stock market downturn caused by debt crisis in Europe. Yesterday the Australian market closed nearly unchanged in a day of fluctuating trade. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index Wednesday shed more than 1.5 per cent in early trade after Wall Street resumed its slide on a surprise move by Germany to restrict some financial transactions against banks.

Economics data to be released on Wednesday includes international merchandise imports data for April and the labour price index for March, both by Australian Bureau of Statistics; and the Westpac/Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Sentiment for May.

Company News

Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China's Langfang municipal government to participate in the development of premier business and logistics hub for the greater Beijing-Tianjin area in northern China. Goodman will participate as coordinator and master planner for a mixed use business park project over 5 square kilometres, and will take a fee for service role. Goodman says it expects to generate fee income over the life of the project and will also consider making further investments for itself and its investment partners in the development of logistics and business park product on the site on a case by case basis.

Hastie Group Limited (ASX:HST), an international service provider for building and infrastructure sectors, said today that it has received contracts for four projects in Qatar with a total value of A$66 million, confirming its increasingly strong market position in the Middle East. The group currently is undertaking work in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Two of the new projects relate to infrastructure. Hastie will provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing services for a A233 million water infrastructure project with nine reservoirs and provide pipeline reticulation for office cooling systems as part of the US$2.6 billion Energy City project.

ThinkSmart Limited (ASX:TSM) has signed an exclusive five-year agreement with DSG International (LON:DSGI), the UK's largest consumer electrical retailer with over 700 stores, to offer rental finance to UK consumers. The agreement will open up both the consumer customer base in DSG's PC World stores, plus introduce ThinkSmart to the Currys chain, which has over 500 stores, for the first time. ThinkSmart is also working on a project with DSG to integrate its products into DSG's checkout system known as Eclipse.


Related Companies

ThinkSmart Limited
      

Hastie Group Limited
      

Goodman Group
      

DSG International plc