Latest news with #royalties
The Australian
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Australian
Bowen Coking Coal faces uncertain future as administrators appointed
Hundreds of mining jobs are in jeopardy after a coal miner struggled to pay back royalties and investors, resulting in the company appointing administrators. Bowen Coking Coal appointed McGrathNicol voluntary administrators on Tuesday after it failed to secure fresh capital and negotiate new terms with its two biggest creditors – BUMA Australia and the Queensland Revenue Office (QRO). The company told ASX the decision to appoint administrators was disappointing and followed the QRO's rejection for a short-term deferral of royalties. Bowen Coking Coal has appointed McGrathNicol as administrators after it failed to find fresh capital and negotiate new terms with creditors. 'The board's decision also reflects the current challenging environment for the coal industry in Queensland from higher costs, lower global coal prices and higher royalty rates introduced by the Queensland government in 2022,' the statement read. 'The Burton Mine Complex (Burton) is a quality asset, and management has been successful in delivering operational improvements that have seen the company transform Burton into one of the most productive and low-cost metallurgical coal mines in Australia. 'The administration process is expected to provide a window which will allow for a sale or recapitalisation to be completed.' The company warned in June it was under extreme pressure from a depressed coal markets and the Queensland government's 'unsustainable coal royalty regime'. Bowen Coking Coal warned in June it was under extreme pressure from a depressed coal market and the Queensland government's 'unsustainable coal royalty regime.' Picture: YouTube Bowen chair Nick Jorss told The Courier Mail soaring state royalties and low prices are to blame for the crisis being felt by central Queensland. 'We're not the only ones on the edge. Quite a lot of mines in central Queensland are cash negative, meaning a lot of jobs are at risk.' Bowen operate Burton which includes operations near Moranbah, Ellensfield South, Plumtree North, Lenton and Isaac. It also has other assets at the Broadmeadow East Mine and Bluff Mine near Blackwater, as well as other projects and joint ventures in Queensland. A statement from McGrathNicol said they had taken control of Bowen's operations and would continue to trade while they looked for a new buyer or fresh capital. 'This includes the operations at the Burton Mine Complex located in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, which will continue uninterrupted,' the statement read. Shares will be suspended during the administration process
News24
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News24
Tyla sued by Water co-writers over royalties and producer credits
Tyla is being sued by two songwriters who worked on her biggest song Water. The collaborators, Olmo Zucca and Jackson LoMastro, both based in California, are also suing Sony Music Entertainment and producer Sammy SoSo. The suit alleges that the defendants have refused to recognise and compensate Zucca and LoMastro as top-line producers. Two songwriters who worked on Tyla's biggest hit, Water, are suing the singer and the producer Sammy SoSo (real name Samuel Awuku) over royalties. The collaborators, Olmo Zucca and Jackson LoMastro, both based in California, are also suing Sony Music Entertainment. 'This lawsuit arises from Awuku's improper and unlawful efforts to take sole credit for production of [Water] and to deprive [Zucca and LoMastro] of top-line producer credit and royalties to which they are entitled,' reads the 25 July filing. Zucca and LoMastro argue that this refusal to give credit has resulted in harm to their reputations and careers and cost them opportunities. The 2023 song currently has more than 1.1 billion streams on Spotify and more than 330 million views on YouTube. The song has also received several awards, most notably the inaugural Grammy for Best African Music Performance. READ | Tyla to perform at Global Citizen Festival in New York, alongside The Weeknd, Shakira The plaintiffs made the same allegations in a previous lawsuit in March, but they dropped the case on 24 July and refiled it a day later in California, with a new attorney, according to Billboard. In the suit, Zucca and LoMastro are named 'co-composers and co-authors,' as well as two of the 'top-line producers' (who focus on melodies, harmonies, and lyrics). The plaintiffs say that during the March 2023 recording session for Water, four producers were present: Zucca, LoMastro, Awuku and Rayan El-Hussein Goufar (Rayo). Zucca and LoMastro produced numerous audio files that were used in the final master recording for Water, which were transferred to Awuku's computer. 'Because all four producers contributed equally to the production of the song, each should be receiving full top-line producer credit and an equal percentage of royalties.' The filing continues: 'In violation of plaintiffs' rights, Awuku has taken sole credit for the entire production of the song, negotiated and entered into a producer agreement directly with [Tyla] Seethal, failed to tell plaintiffs (or Goufar) about it, and failed to cut plaintiffs in on equal terms.' The plaintiffs apparently tried for months to resolve the matter with Awuku, but he 'adamantly refused to negotiate.' The plaintiffs want the court to declare that, among other things, Zucca and LoMastro are top-line producers entitled to full credit. They are also seeking prospective and retroactive royalties, including a 12.5% share of the publishing royalties.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Despite $22bn promise, Adani has paid zero corporate tax in Australia and experts think it won't ever pay a cent
More than three years after Adani started extracting coal from its Queensland mine, the Indian conglomerate has paid zero corporate tax from its Australian project – and tax experts say it may 'never pay a cent'. Adani pledged just over a decade ago to plough $22bn in taxes and royalties into the Australian economy. Industry groups supporting the coal company had also claimed Adani's controversial plans would fund schools, hospitals and other infrastructure for 'almost a century'. Guardian Australia analysis also found that the Abbot Point port, operated by an Adani entity under a 99-year lease signed in 2011, rarely pays tax. Over a 10-year period, it paid company tax on port income on just one occasion, of less than $4m. Adani's Carmichael mine, and rail and port operations, are among the most politically divisive projects in Australia. While critics usually raise environmental concerns, there's also a question over its economic benefits for Australia. Despite recording strong revenue, Adani's Australian assets regularly report annual losses, in large part due to large annual payments to related parties for interest and lease expenses. It also pays for services conducted by other Adani entities as the coal moves through the logistics chain from mine to export. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Jason Ward, the principal analyst at the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, says the level of related-party transactions at Adani's Australian operations is 'pretty unprecedented'. 'My judgment on this is that this company is absolutely set up to never make taxable profit,' Ward says. 'The related-party transactions are so big and wild and all over the map that this company will never make a profit on paper and will never pay a cent of tax.' Adani's most recent accounts for the Carmichael coal operations, for the year ended 31 March 2025, record $1.27bn in revenue. This gets dialled down to a $461.7m loss after various expenses, resulting in no tax payable. Details of the 2024-25 accounts were first published by the Australian Financial Review. Adani Mining's immediate parent company is in Singapore, which has a low corporate tax rate. Its ultimate parent is the India-based Adani Enterprises. Ward says similar structures are used at other multinationals, and there is no suggestion Adani has acted illegally. But he says governments rarely hold companies to account for promises of how their operations will benefit the public purse. 'In the future, approvals should be on the basis of fulfilling promises made, with clawback mechanisms that can be put into contracts,' Ward says. Adani's Australian mining business is branded Bravus Mining and Resources. A spokesperson for Bravus says the company complies with the corporate tax system, which he said was designed so corporations pay tax on profits made after deducting operating costs, interest expenses, previous years' tax losses and other allowable deductions such as depreciation on capital investment. 'Corporate income tax is just one part of Australia's complex taxation system, and it is misleading to focus solely on corporate tax paid and ignore the contribution to the Queensland and Australian economies of the millions of dollars in combined GST, payroll tax, superannuation, royalties and more we paid in FY25,' the spokesperson said. 'Our operations make a significant ongoing economic and social contribution to both the people who do the work and earn the money, and to the prosperity of their home towns in regional Queensland where they spend their wage.' The accounts show Adani Mining paid a $78.6m royalty during the last 12-month reporting period. Royalties are payments made to governments to extract state-owned minerals. It also paid a $36m royalty to a related party. Guardian Australia analysis of company accounts and disclosures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) found the mining project has not paid corporate tax since opening in 2021. Adani's accounts show that even though revenue has been rising from the Carmichael operations, it has enough interest on related-party loans and other expenses to keep reporting losses. ATO disclosures for the Abbot Point terminal business, now named North Queensland Export Terminal Holdings, between 2013 and 2023 showed just one record of the Adani entity paying tax, which was for $4m in 2017-18. The port regularly generates annual income of between $300m and $550m. Tim Buckley, a former investment banker and the director of Climate Energy Finance, says that given Adani has not paid tax during recent periods of surging coal prices, it probably never will. 'If not now, when?' Buckley says. 'Adani has an extremely complex, opaque corporate structure in Australia. I'm comfortable saying they never will pay tax, given the state of the balance sheet.' In 2014, the then head of Adani Mining, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, said the Australian operations would deliver $22bn in taxes and royalties to be invested 'right back into frontline services'. Adani's contested coal proposal was supported by various representative bodies, including the Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association which said in 2017 the project would 'provide taxation and royalties that will fund schools, hospitals and other community infrastructure for almost a century'. The Minerals Council of Australia said in 2018 that 'through mining taxes and royalties, the Carmichael mine will generate billions of dollars for taxpayers over decades to fund nurses, teachers, police, hospitals, roads and other services and infrastructure for Queensland families and communities'.
Zawya
6 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Rising platinum prices to benefit South Africa's fiscal plans
A platinum price rally and increased mining royalties should ease the pressure on South Africa's fragile coalition government ahead of its October budget, Old Mutual Investment Group, one of the country's largest institutional investors, said. The government, led by the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, is attempting to balance competing interests across parties, and political analysts say that painful trade-offs, such as higher taxes or spending cuts, could fracture the coalition. South Africa is, however, the world's largest producer of platinum group metals - including palladium and other precious metals as well as platinum - that have rallied this year, meaning increased mining royalties could provide relief for the government ahead of its mid-term budget. "Given the role that PGMs play in revenue collection ... this could be a bit of a gift horse windfall to the government of national unity," Meryl Pick, portfolio manager at Old Mutual Investment Group, said during a briefing. She said a repeat was possible of South Africa's mining tax windfall in 2021 when revenue collections exceeded budget projections by R100bn, helping to narrow the fiscal deficit. Spot platinum prices touched their highest levels since August 2014 earlier this month, extending a record second-quarter rally fueled by a rise in demand and drop in supply. Some analysts have said the rally might not be sustained, given global economic uncertainty that may affect demand. But Old Mutual Investment Group analysts said prices were likely to keep rising on the basis of slower adoption of electric vehicles in Western markets, steady demand for hybrid cars, and constrained mining supply due to years of underinvestment. One of the major uses for platinum and palladium is to curb emissions from vehicles that run on fossil fuels. Old Mutual has more than R400bn of assets under management, and its funds have a significant allocation to resources and mining shares. The commodity rally has also buoyed South Africa's other markets. South Africa's MSCI index is up more than 32% since the start of the year - double the around 16% gain in the wider MSCI EM index.
Bloomberg
22-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Recognition Music Group to Sell Bonds Backed by Justin Bieber, Shakira Royalties
Recognition Music Group, which manages a broad catalog of popular music, is selling $372 million of bonds backed by royalties from the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Journey, Justin Bieber, and Shakira. The Blackstone Inc. -backed business, which operated as Hipgnosis until March this year, plans to sell bonds secured by publishing and recording rights from more than 47,000 compositions and recordings, according to a Kroll Bond Rating Agency report. More than 76% of the music was released over a decade ago.
