Accolade merger option
Recently refinanced Australian winemaking giant, Accolade Wines, is now looking at expanding its operations by teaming up with the Australian Vintage Group.
Already Australia's second biggest wine business, Accolade's ownership changed last month when new financial backers, led by US private equity group, Bain Capital, paid $1 billion to buy its debt from The Carlyle Group.
Australian Vintage, owner of the McGuigan, Nepenthe, Tempus Two and Passion Pop brands, began looking at strategic options for its future about nine months ago, recently confirming exploratory discussions with Accolade, which owns the Banrock Station, Hardys and Petaluma labels.
It emphasised, however, there was no certainty of a transaction eventuating.
French giant Pernod Ricard has also been considering options for its popular Jacob's Creek brand.
Cost pressures and global oversupply in the mid- and low-price range wine market have squeezed Australian wineries, particularly after China's tariff wall was imposed in 2020 to effectively halt exports to that big market.
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Bunnings most trusted
Hardware and home supplies retailer, Bunnings, has reclaimed the title as Australia's most trusted brand, dethroning Woolworths which had a grip on the ranking from research group, Roy Morgan, for more than three years.
Woolies' supermarket rival, Coles, has also slipped in the consumer trust rankings, down from third place to fifth, with Aldi taking third spot and Kmart in fourth.
Bunnings was previously in first place until May 2020.
Within the top 20 placings, Bendigo Bank, at 15th, was the only brand to move up two spots, widening the gap against insurance giant, ING (18th), and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (19th), while national broadcaster, the ABC, slipped two places to 17th.
Australia's most distrusted brands, based on Roy Morgan research in 2023, were telecommunications company, Optus; social media giant, and former long-standing most distrusted business, Facebook/Meta; embattled national airline, Qantas; private health insurer, Medibank, and media giant, News Corp.
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Jerseys down under
The World Jersey Cattle Bureau will stage its annual World Jersey Conference in Australia in 2025, the first here since 2011 when the event shifted from tsunami-hit Japan at the last minute.
The conference will start onApril 6 and finish at Sydney Royal Show's Jersey dairy cattle judging on April 21.
A preliminary conference tour itinerary will take visitors through Victoria and the NSW South Coast, starting at Gippsland's Jersey Autumn Fair and Western Victoria before moving to northern Victoria where the Dairy's Finest sale will be a feature, then continuing to Bega and north to Sydney.
About 100 visitors from Europe, North America, New Zealand and Asia are expected to join local Jersey farmers on the tour.
A highlight of the Australian program will be a Future Leaders Forum with Jersey organisations around the world sponsoring a potential future leader to attend.
This year's world conference is in Denmark, after being hosted by Guatemala in 2023.
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Organic boss resigns
Australian Organic Limited's chief executive officer, Niki Ford, is to leave the job in July ending six years at the helm of the industry body.
As the longest serving CEO of AOL and the first female in the role, she has navigated a demerger, restructured the organisation and established strong relationships with government and industry while championing the organic industry in all aspects.
Ms Ford has led the charge for organic regulatory reform, with Australia being the last developed country in the OECD without a consistent regulatory framework around the use of the word 'organic'.
Last year all of Australia's organic certification bodies and major industry groups joined to create the Organic Development Group to present a united voice for change, buoyed by the formation of the Parliamentary Friends of Australia's Organic Industry co-chaired by the Liberal Party's Aaron Violi and Labor's Dan Repacholi.
Ms Ford's strong connection to farming and sustainable food was forged from her upbringing on the outskirts of Toowoomba, and while working as a chef and in various fast moving consumer goods roles.
Details of a likely successor are still to be finalised.
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Rex does Etihad deal
After being tempted to team up with Turkish Airlines, regional carrier Regional Express has signed a shared services agreement with the United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways.
The deal means Rex passengers using its regional or metropolitan domestic services will be able to seamlessly connect to Etihad's international network to 72 destinations via Sydney and Melbourne airports.
Passengers will not need to collect and transfer their baggage in Sydney or Melbourne for their onward connecting flight.
Passengers arriving on Etihad flights from overseas will also be able to transfer to Rex' domestic network.
Etihad operates two daily services three times a week from Abu Dhabi to Sydney and Melbourne and another single day service.
Meanwhile, Neville Howell, has stepped back from his executive director's role on the Regional Express Holdings board, although continues in his management job as chief operating officer.
Mr Howell, an experienced pilot and instructor, has worked with Rex since the company founded 20 years ago, and prior to that with Hazelton Airlines.
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Elders' community grants
Elders has opened applications for 14 grants of up to $20,000 each for grassroots initiatives which promote sustainable, focused, and long-term change in rural and regional Australian communities.
The grants are designed to align with one of six goals, including investing in people and regions; environmental consciousness; innovation; and healthy bodies and minds
A people's choice grant will be voted on by Elders employees.
Managing director, Mark Allison, said the grant program aimed to kickstart innovative initiatives and projects which may begin to start addressing challenges faced rurally.
Application information is available on Elders' website, prior to the May 10 closing date.
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Churchill Fellowships
Churchill Fellowships for 2024 have opened, offering opportunities to travel overseas for up to eight weeks to explore a topic or issue applicants are passionate about, so they can return to share knowledge to help their community.
For nearly 60 years Churchill Fellowships have generated well-known innovations, ranging from Canberra's Questacon to unit pricing in supermarkets and Neighbourhood Watch.
Fellowships have supported study in a vast variety of areas, from beekeeping, river health, viticulture and grain markets, to violin making, opera and oyster farming.
Churchill Fellowships are open to Australian citizens or permanent residents aged over 18.
No academic qualifications are necessary - just curiosity, a desire to learn and to make a difference.
More details are available at www.churchillfellowships.com.au
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McKillop joins MaxSil
Brisbane-based crushed glass to fertiliser business, MaxSil, has lined up prominent agribusiness director, John McKillop, to join its board.
The silicon fertiliser producer is in the throes of finalising a capital raising with a planned cornerstone investor, which will then see Mr McKillop moving from an advisory role to director's seat.
Recently appointed chairman of Consolidated Pastoral Company's Queensland, Northern Territory and Indonesian 280,000-head beef business, he has more than 25 years' experience at the helm of agribusiness operations spanning the cotton, grain, dairy, wool and red meat industries.
Mr McKillop is also the current chairman of the Red Meat Advisory Council
MaxSil has been proven in cereal, sugar cane and fruit and vegetable trials over the past decade to boost yields, mitigate against frost, drought and lodging, while improving nutrient uptake.
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Ag Innovation directors
Australian Pork Limited chairman and executive advisor, Andrew Baxter, has joined the board of Agricultural Innovation Australia, the not-for-profit company promoting joint investment and collaboration in agricultural issues of national importance.
AIA's members and investors include Australia's Rural Research and Development Corporations .
Mr Baxter's experience as a business, marketing and communications professional includes currently being a senior Advisor at BGH Capital and an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Sydney.
He is also deputy chairman of Sydney Symphony
Orchestra, and has directorships with GrowthOps, BirdDog, Foresters Financial, OzHarvest and The Queen's Fund.
AIA's recent annual general meeting also ratified the 2023 appointment of board member Ian Haliday, the former Dairy Australia managing director prior to 2018.
Until last August Mr Haliday was Australian Consul-General to Dubai general manager of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission for the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan and has also been chief executive officer of KR Castlemaine Foods.