Insights

Why does BHP have offices in the sleepy Swiss hamlet of Zug? Why did the Commonwealth Bank previously make such a handsome profit in Malta?

Big business groups have welcomed the federal Coalition's election victory, saying incoming prime minister Tony Abbott has won a "clear mandate for reform" that he must be allowed to fulfil.

Coalition supporters rejoice! The evil incompetents have been banished and the good guys are back in charge. But don't get too excited because by the time we reached polling day many illusions about the difference a change of government would make had been shattered.

China's trade performance was better than expected last month, as stronger exports to recovering overseas economies caused the trade surplus to widen to $US28.6 billion ($31.5 billion), customs figures show.

The private equity owners of Australia's biggest winemaker, Accolade Wines, will pour $15 million into refreshing its flagship Hardys brand to bolster the 160-year-old label's dominance in Britain and prepare for a new assault on the Asian and North American markets.

How would it feel if you could walk into the product testing room for your favourite tipple and have a say on the next product it releases?

It has all the characteristics of any great true crime story: blood, Al Capone, gangsters, prohibition-era bootleggers and a star witness who could spill the beans on an alleged global conspiracy involving billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

Barry Suckling, founder of National Builders Group, is facing a Supreme Court fight over allegations assets were inappropriately transferred or sold off ahead of the company's collapse early last year.

Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti is urging a review of the cap on the number of flights per hour at Sydney Airport as a debate is set to heat up about making better use of the airport.

More than half of Australians check work while away, writes Christopher Niesche.

Ikea is now squarely focused on doubling its Australian store base.

Business groups have welcomed the Coalition's election victory, saying prime minister-elect Tony Abbott has won a "clear mandate for reform" that he must be allowed to fulfil.

Why does BHP have offices in the sleepy Swiss hamlet of Zug? Why did the Commonwealth Bank previously make such a handsome profit in Malta?

Healthcare company CSL is instigating a decades-old legal precedent to try to clear its name, writes Eli Greenblat.

Spray day for an outraged Kouk

Coalition supporters rejoice! The evil incompetents have been banished and the good guys are back in charge. But don't get too excited because by the time we reached polling day many illusions about the difference a change of government would make had been shattered.