Brickworks rejects restructure calls

BRICKWORKS has shut the door on those keen to end the company's decades old cross-shareholding with Washington H Soul Pattinson, vowing not to waste any more time on proposals with little substance.

Brickworks directors said in a letter to shareholders that the board would not waste resources on unsolicited short-term restructuring proposals.

The building products company had rejected calls from major shareholder Perpetual Investments and venture capitalist Mark Carnegie to break up the cross-shareholding.

Brickworks chairman Robert Millner said a restructure was not in the best interests of shareholders and the cost of the reviews during the past two years had placed a heavy burden on the company.

"In a lot of these proposals, people haven't done their homework and they don't stack up," he said.

"We have got limited resources so we had a lot of people spending time on this when they should have been running the businesses."

In a cross-shareholding arrangement in place since 1969, Brickworks holds 42.7 per cent of WHSP, while WHSP owned 45.5 per cent of Brickworks.

Both companies are chaired by Mr Millner.

Mr Millner said investors who buy shares in either Brickworks or WHSP know there is a cross-shareholding in place.

"Nothing has changed since 1969," Mr Millner said.

Brickworks said its annual shareholder return had outperformed the broader market over the past five, 10 and 15 years.

The letter said Brickworks would continue to consider alternatives for its business during the company's annual strategic planning sessions.

Perpetual did not respond to requests for comment.

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Sydney Airport backs calls to ease cap

Sydney Airport has swung back into profitability as passenger numbers grew and revenue increased. Source: AAP

SYDNEY Airport wants the government-imposed cap on hourly aircraft movements raised to improve the operation of the airport.

Sydney Airport chief executive Kerrie Mather says the airport still has plenty of spare capacity, with only 61 per cent of all take-off and landing slots currently in use and that lifting the cap is a "very sensible suggestion".

"By allowing more flights per hour in the peak hours, without even increasing the number of flights per year, the ability of the airport to recover from disruption would be dramatically increased," Ms Mather said at Sydney Airport's results presentation on Wednesday.

"This would improve on-time performance, with benefits for passengers, airline costs and national productivity.

"The environment would also benefit from lower carbon emissions due to reduced circling and reduced ground holding."

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell and tourism bodies have called for the 80 aircraft movements an hour limit at Sydney Airport to be raised to 85.

However, federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese has said previously the cap and the curfew must stay.

Ms Mather said an increase in the hourly cap would also reduce the effect of aircraft noise on Sydney residents.

"Total noise would be reduced as a result of reduced circling," Ms Mather said.

"But perhaps more importantly, the opportunities for noise sharing would be increased as more of the flights take place in the peak hours and fewer in the off-peak hours when noise sharing is possible."

Sydney Airport reported a net profit of $179.2 million for the 12 months to December 31, from a $239.9 million loss in the prior corresponding period.

The calendar 2011 result was affected by a $361 million charge relating to the sale of company's stake in two European airports. Excluding the charge, net profit was up 47 per cent from the prior year.

Revenue in 2012 rose 1.3 per cent to $1.06 billion, with takings from the airport's retail, property, car rental, ground transport and commercial services all up from the prior year.

Sydney Airport said it spent $215.2 million on capital expenditure in calendar 2012, part of a four-year $900 million program to expand passenger terminals, car parks, and add extra aircraft parking stands, gates and apron space to boost capacity.

Ms Mather said 2013 had started strongly, with international passenger numbers up 3.9 per cent so far.

The company declared a full year distribution of 21 cents per stapled security.

Sydney Airport closed up six cents at $3.20.

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Winemaker calls for more govt support

WINEMAKER Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has urged the federal and state governments to provide more support for the Australian wine sector as it battles the high value of the Australian dollar.

TWE chief executive David Dearie said on Thursday that the continued strength of the Australian dollar was making it hard to compete at more commercial and popular price points against wines from other countries.

Furthermore, the impact of the high Australian dollar had been exacerbated by an ongoing lack of investment in rebranding Australia's wine reputation both domestically and internationally.

Mr Dearie acknowledged Wine Australia for its recent effort in securing funding through a partnership with Tourism Australia to start rebuilding 'brand Australia'.

"We need others, including federal and state governments, to do more," Mr Dearie said.

"I urge politicians of all political persuasions to consider additional funding to support those serious wine companies like TWE who do so much to showcase Australian wines internationally, to drive regional tourism and provide much-needed regional and rural employment."

TWE's brands include Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Rosemount, Lindeman's and Beringer.

Treasury Wine on Thursday booked a net profit for the six months ended December 31 of $52.3 million, up 30.8 per cent from $40.0 million.

The result was skewed by one-off items in the first half of the current financial year and the prior financial year.

Excluding one-off items and an accounting adjustment for agricultural assets, TWE's first-half net profit fell 23.2 per cent to $45.0 million, from $58.6 million.

TWE's total volume of wine sold fell 2.5 per cent to 16.5 million cases, mainly driven by some discontinued sales in the United Kingdom.

Net sales revenue fell 3.3 per cent to $816.9 million.

The cost of sales rose 3.8 per cent to $606.3 million, reflecting the impact of the weather-affected 2011 vintages in Australia and California.

Mr Dearie said the first half had been challenging, given that costs had risen and TWE had had five per cent less volume of luxury and "masstige" (mass prestige) wines available to allocate to customers and consumers.

But in the second half of the current financial year, there would be 15 per cent more luxury and masstige wines available for sale.

Mr Dearie said the first-half result was also affected by the tough retail environment and fragile consumer confidence.

Shares in TWE were 27 cents higher at $5.17 at 1157 AEDT on Thursday.

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