Insights

A march down memory lane

Women's fashion retailer Specialty Fashion Group, whose portfolio includes Katies and Millers, will branch out into menswear for the first time after it agreed to buy the Rivers shoe and apparel brand for $5 million cash. The deal will add $180 million in revenue to Specialty for fiscal 2014 as well as 160 Rivers stores across Australia.

Mortgage Choice has been fined for false advertising, after it wrongly claimed customers had saved an average of $10,000 over five years by refinancing their home loans. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said the claims were based on calculations made by a group of 300 customers.

The dollar has recovered slightly after slumping to an almost three-month low on Thursday, following better-than-expected business spending figures that reduced the odds of further interest rate cuts.

ANZ could emerge as the largest shareholder in Forge Group following a deal that has allowed the troubled engineer to continue trading after its balance sheet was hurt due to two bad contracts.

The fight for Warrnambool Cheese & Butter could reach skyscraping heights, topping $10 a share, if the company's board endorses a fresh bid from Murray Goulburn.

Polo in the City is a fascinator-free day, writes Rachelle Unreich.

Seek chief executive Andrew Bassat says the company has to float its Chinese employment website Zhaopin to take advantage of a preference from local workers and government towards listed companies.

Consumer foods company Goodman Fielder could close another seven plants in the next two years as part of a plan to boost earnings per share by 6 per cent and lift return on capital employed to at least 13 per cent.

At first blush it is hard to see what all the fuss is about.

The sharemarket pared early gains to close flat on Thursday, as investors stuck to the sidelines before the US Thanksgiving holiday, with the US markets closed overnight.

Industry superannuation funds are pushing back on proposals to appoint independent directors to their boards and to allow their for-profit rivals to compete for business via industrial awards.

Leighton Holdings has rejected a Fairfax Media report that it had been advised its Middle East joint venture would struggle to recover $1.1 billion it is owed.

Local market little changed after falls in mining services, strong capex data.

Unexpectedly strong capital expenditure and a slower-than-expected decline in mining investment will put less pressure on the Reserve Bank to provide relief to the non-mining sector.

Collins Foods jumped to a near two month high following acquisition news and the release of its half-year result.