Brickworks Limited (ASX:BKW) today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the Girotto(TM) and Gocrete(TM) precast concrete panel businesses from Boral Limited (ASX:BLD) for A$13.8 million.
Shares in GUD Holdings Limited (ASX:GUD) closed 3.41 per cent higher as it said net profit after tax (NPAT) was up 33 per cent to a record A$46.4 million for the year ending 30 June 2010, up from A$34.8 million in the prior year. The strong result is attributed to a combination of margin expansion, continued tight cost control, a reduction in interest costs and modest sales growth.
Agribusiness Elders Limited (ASX:ELD) said negotiations for the calendar year 2010 benchmark price for Australian plantation grown Tasmanian bluegum woodchip for export to Japan have concluded with agreement that existing prices be maintained.
Results released today from a Phase III trial of the drug SCENESSE (R), conducted by Melbourne-based Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CUV) (PINK:CLVLY), have shown that the drug has the ability to reduce and prevent painful phototoxic reactions experienced by patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP).
Australian shares rallied on Thursday after a strong lead from overseas market, and the gains were fuelled by the better-than-expected employment data in Australia. Total employment was up by 45,900 in June, compared to expectations of an increase of 15,000. Australia's unemployment rate in June was a seasonally adjusted 5.1 per cent, beating the economists' prediction of 5.2 per cent.
Melbourne's Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CUV) (PINK:CLVLY) today signed with a commercial US partner to manufacture its world's first photoprotective drug, SCENESSE (R), under an exclusive arrangement. Following eight years of development, Clinuvel has selected Surmodics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX), a leading Minnesota-based provider of proprietary drug delivery technologies to the healthcare industry, as its first manufacturing partner.
The Australian shares rebounded strongly from early losses on Tuesday, helped by the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to keep interest rates steady at 4.5 per cent. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 54 points, or 1.3 per cent higher, at 4276.1, after hitting a 12-month low at opening. The broader All Ordinaries index gained 49.1 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 4299.7.
