Balcanoona

Flinders Ranges Park is located 450kms from Adelaide, between the townships of Hawker and Blinman . The park has an area of 95000 hectares and South Australia’s popular tourist destination

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Flinders Ranges Park

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James Packer and Kerry Stokes are reaching a showdown in the battle for a slice of Foxtel, writes Ian Verrender.

Half-truths, obfuscation, outright deception. Australia’s media may aspire to uphold an ethical pledge to report the facts, but those who run the show can stonewall with the best of them.
Stokes was about to launch a takeover for Packer’s last remaining media interest Consolidated Media Holdings, the vehicle that owns 25 per cent of Foxtel and a half-share in Fox Sports.
As James Packer deftly bolstered his defences against a cashed-up Kerry Stokes this week, and as the pair jabbed and feinted before the mirrors, a whirlwind of rumour and speculation gripped the sharemarket and the media.
And through it all, those running the various empires admitted nothing, denied very little and smiled their way through the barrage of questions. Packer was about to privatise Crown, his casino empire that this week turned in a horrendous loss.
The media lapped it up and the public gazed on in wonder.
Well, it’s not really that old-fashioned. This was a good, old-fashioned stoush; a battle for dominance between two television moguls.
Despite all the hype, the endless speculation, the myriad permutations about who might do what when, the entire story rests on one simple fact. .
What isn’t clear is just how he will go about getting his hands on it. Kerry Stokes wants what James Packer has – a slice of the television industry’s future: pay TV.
There’s no doubt Packer needs the cash.
There’s no doubt Packer needs the cash. But it now is clear he will not capitulate without a fight; without drawing blood.2 billion in losses. There is no understating the level of animosity that exists between the two camps, although perhaps loathing would be a more apt description.
And that brings us to the other key ingredient in this saga.
Stokes persisted with the case, which ended in 2007, even when the judge, Justice Ronald Sackville, Continued Page 4
strongly advised everyone to drop the matter; to seek mediation; to cut the losses and just walk away. Let’s not forget the two years and $200 million legal battle Stokes fought against the Packers and the Murdochs, accusing them – along with Telstra – of a conspiracy to kill his very own pay TV venture, C7, in 2001.
Time heals a lot of wounds. Stokes then doggedly set about toppling the Nine Network from its dominant position in free-to-air television, rubbing Packer’s nose in it by using an array of displaced Nine talent, from the network’s boss, David Leckie, down.
“We actually haven’t had any battles on the corporate level I can remember,” he said. But was difficult not to be amused when Stokes told reporters during a conference call this week that Seven had been pretty matey with the Packer family over the years.”
In the opposing corner, there were the chirpy comments from Packer’s lieutenant, John Alexander, on the reasons Consolidated Media Holdings this week quickly raised $500 million by selling its stake in the employment website Seek and the old Packer headquarters in Park Street.”
In the opposing corner, there were the chirpy comments from Packer’s lieutenant, John Alexander, on the reasons Consolidated Media Holdings this week quickly raised $500 million by selling its stake in the employment website Seek and the old Packer headquarters in Park Street.
There were no references to Stokes, or to defending the company.
Instead, he came out with this quip: “You never go broke taking good profits.”
True enough. But the question was: why sell right now, particularly if Seek had such a brilliant future? There was no denying Alexander’s argument that Seek’s share price had risen from $2 in March to above $5 this week. But it was well below the $9.20 peak of two years ago. Continued…

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THE bellwether of the retail property market, Westfield, delivered a set of solid operating earnings result in difficult market conditions, according to analysts. .
The key theme was that conditions remained tough, particularly in the United States and Britain, but falling sales overseas were being offset by the strength in Australia.
New development projects remain on hold until its current $4.
Westfield generates more than half its earnings from its overseas centres. The main two sites under construction are at Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall and the centre at Stratford, London, adjacent to the athletes’ village for the 2012 Olympics.6 billion of deals are completed.
Macquarie Equities’ property team said that while the upside to the company’s 12-month price target was limited, ”we believe [its] leverage to a consumer recovery will drive earnings growth, leading it to outperform, relative to the ASX LPT 200 index”.446 billion, up 18.
For the six months to June 30, the retail juggernaut reported an operational earnings before write-downs of $1.3 per cent on a constant currency basis.1 per cent on the previous first half, or 6.
Citi’s team said that with tough leasing conditions in Britain and the US, future development remained on hold, though Westfield was proceeding with several projects in a pre-development stage.
After taking account of the write-downs, the bottom line loss was $708 million, which was previously forecast by the company. ”With acquisition of the US General Growth Property assets less likely, and a Liberty (Britain) outcome some way off, any major acquisitions are unlikely in our view,” Citi said. ”With acquisition of the US General Growth Property assets less likely, and a Liberty (Britain) outcome some way off, any major acquisitions are unlikely in our view,” Citi said.

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”The lower payout ratio confirms what many have been expecting would occur at some point,” the broker said

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MIRVAC’S 2008-09 result was given a tentative thumbs-up by analysts, although some remained concerned about the effect on residential as the first home owners grant disappears later this year.
Mirvac reported a loss of $1. Its operating earnings were $2008 million, down 43 per cent on the previous year but at the top end of the guidance range.08 billion.4c, down 59.
The group’s earnings per security was 13.
Matthew Bertram, from Deutsche Bank’s research arm, expects a solid recovery in 2010-11 thanks to margin improvement, interest reduction and operating cost savings.9 per cent on 2007-08 due to dilution from the two equity raisings conducted last year. ”We forecast net profit after tax from development and investment management [pre-corporate costs] to move from break-even in 2009-10 and out to $44 million in 2010-11,” he said.
”In our view the 2009-10 year is likely to be the low point in residential earnings per security cycle,” he said.
The team expects net operating income growth (mainly rental income) in the investment portfolio to be 2 to 3 per cent.
The Macquarie Equities property team said the group’s investment portfolio would be the chief source of earnings. . ”Overall earnings are expected to improve in 2010-11 due to the absence of one-off costs and a recovery in residential margins to about 20 per cent (from about 16 per cent), improved hotel occupancy and pricing, as well as the reversal of losses in the funds management business.”
Citi’s analysts expect acquisitions to target the distressed residential landbank over the next 12 months. Mirvac is our preferred residential exposure given the 14 per cent total shareholder return.”

. For Mirvac, Citi said, ”Corporate acquisitions are still preferred over direct assets, due to the larger valuation gap

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THE DECISION by James Packer’s Crown Limited to write down its US assets by $1.7 billion has turned the spotlight on the performance of the company’s remaining assets – its Australian and Macau casinos.
Fortunately for the company the Crown Melbourne and the Burswood casino in Perth are both performing well, posting a 5 per cent increase in earnings in the 2008-09 financial year.
While VIP turnover at Crown Melbourne and Burswood reaches new highs, Crown’s chief executive, Rowen Craigie, is less certain about the prospects of the company succeeding in its attempts to grab a share of Macau’s $US14 billion ($16.
This is expected to continue with the main gaming floor of both casinos growing at 5 per cent over the first seven weeks of the new financial year, a trend which is expected to roll on.
Mr Craigie said recent data indicated that the business environment in Macau was improving.6 billion) in gaming revenues, through its 33 per cent stake in the Nasdaq-listed Melco Crown Entertainment.
”Gaming revenues [for the whole of Macau] are up year on year in July, which is the first monthly increase since November 2008,” Mr Craigie said.”
However, this is in contrast with figures released by Melco Crown and other official figures from the Macau government. ”And early indicate that August revenues are well up on the previous August.
An average of 37,000 people a day visited the $US2.
The Melco Crown figures show the number of gamblers visiting its new flagship Macau casino, the City of Dreams, fell by 11 per cent in July.
The most recent official figures from the Macau government, for the three months to the end of June, show gambling revenues in the territory fell 12 per cent to 25.1 billion City of Dreams casino in July, down from 41,000 a day in June, its first month of operation.6 billion patacas ($4.6 billion patacas ($4.
Of most concern to Mr Packer’s Melco Crown was the 19 per cent slump in revenue from VIP baccarat.
This was the third consecutive quarter of negative year-on-year growth.
Updated figures for July, August and September will be released in October. . The average house win each day was $US10,800 per table in the three months to June, compared with $US22,600 in the three months to June last year.
Melco Crown figures also show that over the past three months the average amount of money won by the house on table games at the Altira casino was half of what it was a year ago.
Mass market players are important to the casino because they generate a margin of 26 to 30 per cent, compared with just 6 per cent to 8 per cent earned from the high rollers.
The City of Dreams is also struggling to attract enough mass market players, who bring the highest profit margin.
Crown can’t afford to have another failure after this week having to announce the closure of its Las Vegas and London offices, which were set up to support the failed US and British investments.
City of Dreams management is aiming for about 40 per cent of its revenues to come from the mass market. .

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CHAMPAGNE and truffles on a silver platter are out. Fewer staff and fewer frills are in.
Hospitality companies are quietly stepping back from the expensive struggle to maintain coveted five-star ratings. As corporate travellers dodge allegations of extravagance, luxury is no longer such a selling point for top-name hotel chains. In Europe, Hilton and InterContinental both recently opted against renewing five-star ratings at properties in the Austrian capital, Vienna.
Starwood, the American owner of brands such as St Regis, W Hotels and Sheraton, has admitted it is allowing independently adjudicated five-star rankings to lapse at certain locations until takings in the hospitality industry begin to recover. ”Given the current economic climate, we may allow an individual property to adjust its services to below the agreed star rating,” she said.
A Starwood spokeswoman said the company was letting some of its properties reduce service levels.
Harry Nobles, a hospitality consultant who formerly ran the American Automobile Association’s US ratings system, said it was enormously costly for companies to keep up top rankings.
Experts say the phenomenon is merely the latest attempt by hotels to adapt to tightened corporate expense budgets. As the downturn had effect, he said, hotels had tended to look to cut staff to make the easiest savings.