Briefcase: Business Snippets from around South Australia
In this week’s Briefcase, SA trains return to public hands and Argo outperforms the ASX200. Plus the latest business events.
- Winners of inaugural SA Grain Awards crowned
- Nova Eye completes $6.6 million placement
- Mighty Kingdom flags staff cuts
- Nominations for 20th SA Volunteer Awards open
- SA trains return to public hands
- Argo outperforms ASX 200 and posts profit
- MyGigsters raises $1.1 million
- New healthtech innovation hub opens in Adelaide
- SA leads the nation in ‘Housing Scoreboard’
Winners of inaugural SA Grain Awards crowned
The top contributors to South Australia’s grain sector have been announced at the inaugural South Australian Grain Industry Awards.
Hosted by Grain Producers SA (GPSA), the event recognised outstanding growers, researchers and industry professionals, alongside the first five South Australian Grain Industry Hall of Fame inductees.
GPSA chief executive officer Brad Perry said the event was a momentous occasion that celebrated both the present and the past.
“The talent and dedication within our industry is inspiring, and it is wonderful to see the hard work and innovation recognised,” he said.
- Innovation Award (sponsored by CropLife Australia)
Winner: Sam Trengove - Sustainability Award (sponsored by the SA Drought Hub)
Winner: Tim Paschke - Women in Grain Award (sponsored by Viterra)
Winner: Lou Flohr - Industry Impact Award (sponsored by Cargill)
Winner: Prof Chris Preston - Young Grain Producer of the Year (sponsored by PIRSA)
Winner: Jock McNeil - Grain Producer of the Year (sponsored by Elders)
Winner: Andrew Polkinghorne - South Australian Grain Industry Hall of Fame inductees
John Ridley, Richard and Clarence Smith, John Lush, Dr Allan Mayfield, Ken Schaefer
Nova Eye completes $6.6 million placement
Adelaide medical technology company Nova Eye Medical has raised $6.6 million to expand its operations and enhance its glaucoma treatment solutions.
It comes as the company’s global sales have grown by 39 per cent in the United States, reflecting increasing adoption of its iTrack Advance product, while its glaucoma segment is expected to be profitable in the second-half of FY25.
“The strong support for this capital raise highlights the market’s confidence in Nova Eye’s strategic direction and growth potential,” Nova Eye Medical managing director Tom Spurling said.
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Mighty Kingdom flags staff cuts
Adelaide video game developer Mighty Kingdom has flagged further staff cuts as part of a review process which will also make “significant changes to the management structure of the company”.
“It is anticipated there may be a significant shift in overall staff numbers which will have a material effect on the overall cost base of the company,” Mighty Kingdom said.
It follows the release of the company’s quarterly results which showed a 10 per cent increase in quarterly game revenue to $1.3 million, driven by the newly launched Power Rangers Mighty Force game and continued with work Google, East Side Games Group and Spin Master.
Nominations for SA Volunteer Awards open
Nominations for the South Australian Volunteer Awards are now open, with various categories recognising those that play a role in strengthening communities.
It is the 20th year that the Awards have been held, with the 2025 edition to take place on 22 May at the National Wine Centre, coinciding with National Volunteer Week.
Nominations close on 30 March. For more information visit vsant.org.au/savolunteerawards.
SA trains return to public hands
Adelaide’s train services are once again owned by the state government, reversing the Liberal government’s privatisation of the network.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said bringing the privatised service back into public hands was “a remarkable achievement and one that will benefit South Australians each and every day”.
“We were very clear when the former Marshall administration abandoned its pledge for no privatisations that, if elected, a Labor Government would bring these services back into public ownership,” the Premier said.
“Today we honour that promise – and in so doing we are creating a lasting public transport legacy of rail services owned and operated by and for South Australians.”
CEDA: Energy Security SA, a discussion about the future of South Australian power at the National Wine Centre on 17 February.
2025 South Australian Tourism Summit, aims to instil business confidence, inspire collaboration and a shared focus on key priorities and will discuss development, investment and emerging opportunities in South Australian tourism on 20 February.
Property Council SA: SA Outlook Breakfast, featuring a panel of industry leaders, across a variety of asset classes to provide valuable insights into the current market, key challenges and upcoming opportunities in South Australia on 21 February at SkyCity Adelaide.
International Women’s Day Breakfast, a Committee for Adelaide Event with Anna Meares, Grant Stevens, R M Williams COO Tara Moses, and Future Women founder Helen McCabe, at SkyCity on February 27.
_SOUTHSTART, the South Australian festival of start-ups, innovation and future thinking, held across multiple venues, will feature speakers such as Phil Morle, partner at Main Sequence Ventures, and Allys Todd, co-Founder and CEO at ValAi from 4-6 March.
2025 AEDA Business Summit, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas will attend the summit and will be joined by a stellar lineup of business leaders and industry experts on 20 May at the Adelaide Oval.
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Argo outperforms ASX 200 and posts profit
One of Adelaide’s largest companies recorded a $121.2 million profit in the first half of FY25 and outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 in the 2024 calendar year.
The company’s investments gained 11.7 per cent, beating the ASX 200’s 11.4 per cent, in 2024. Over the six months to 31 December 2024, Argo returned growth of 6.3 per cent, below the index which rose 6.9 per cent.
Argo said the most significant positive contributor to performance was its holding in Technology One, with its share price up more than 65 per cent during the period.
Looking forward, the investment firm said “we remain generally optimistic about the outlook for the domestic economy”.
MyGigsters raises $1.1 million
Adelaide-based tech scaleup MyGigsters, founded by InDaily 40 Under 40 alumni Benjemen Elengovan, has raised $1.1 million from angel investors and customers.
Elengovan said the funds came “at the right time as we focus on enabling gig platforms and operators to provide embedded financial services to gig workers”.
MyGigsters was founded in 2021 to help gig workers earn more and become financially secure.
“This investment is close to my heart as it was entirely supported by our existing, new angel investors and our customers, who believed strongly in our vision and obsession to solve the problem,” Elengovan said.
New healthtech innovation hub opens in Adelaide
AusHealth Ventures has opened a 300-square-metre innovation hub in Underdale called The Accelerator.
The new entity, backed by $5 million per year, aims to support medical research and create health tech companies that are Australian-made and investment-ready.
“Australia has long been home to brilliant medical research, but as a nation we’ve never been very good at profiting from those ideas,” AusHealth COO Dr Justin Coombs said.
“AusHealth Ventures is changing that by supporting research and helping interested parties translate their medical research ‘from the bench to the bedside’ – in other words, turn their findings into a commercial proposition.”
Australian states ranked by their ability to counter critical housing supply issues. Image: Housing Industry Association
SA leads the nation in ‘Housing Scoreboard’
Rankings released by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) have deemed South Australia “the best” at addressing the housing crisis.
The HIA Housing Policy Scoreboard ranks each state and territory against ten key policies designed to speed up housing supply and support the National Housing Accord.
HIA noted planning reforms, technology, skills investment and affordability initiatives as reasons for their scoring.
HIA senior economist Matt King said South Australia, followed by Western Australia, was “the best at understanding the problem and initiating actions to improve the supply of homes”.
However, King added, despite these steps neither state is on track to build the number of homes required to meet their contribution to the $1.2 million homes target.
