Brisbane : Country town no more

new list released recently shows the level of commercial activity in brisbane- and who the big fellas are; it appears that its doing a decent job of transitioning from a dustbowl mining town to a more diversified player as the list shows only 1 mining company in the top 20.
2017 BRISBANE TOP COMPANIES REVEALED
Importantly, the commentry highlights that a lot of these non-miners are pushing ahead quite well, with investments in new projects (especially tech driven), which should flow onto further job creation.

 

Great news. .i would not have described bne as a dustbowl mining town though. .Not for many decades

 

Business investment was down 4.5% as of December 2016 quarter. This quarter likely worse. Unemployment is trending up too

Home page: Queensland Government Statistician’s Office, Queensland Treasury

Dream on if u guys must.

 

I love Brisbane & I have no plans of leaving, but its not exactly a hot bed for business, Which is why most people who want a big corporate career go south.

Looking through the top 10 we've got:

1. Suncorp - Our gold medalist. A bank that isn't in the big 4 and doesn't even make it into the ASX 20.

2 Aurizon - a profitable government enterprise that got flogged off to plug a budget black hole. State Government trading solid long term income for a quick fix with future negative impact for taxpayers.

3. Tatts Group - A company that we bribed to relocate to QLD with a short term exclusive license and a 25 year operating license... We sold away the ability to ever pass any sort of meaningful state level gambling reform for a few hundred jobs. They had 110 staff when they moved here, I know its bigger now as they are doing so well

4. Domino's Pizza Group - Think 711 was a **** show when the media finally started to catch onto the fact that every single one seemed to be full of international students working 60 hours a week? There are skeletons in this closet too. They qualify for the list because of their huge retail presence, the actual non-pizza shop headcount is a few hundred in the HQ.

5. BOQ - Now we're just getting depressing. ASX 72, I have no idea how BOQ is even still a thing.

6. Star Entertainment Group - Yay, our second gambling entrant in the top 10. Yay for casinos and sketchy deals between state governments! Now Brisbane's shoreline can be dominated by a $3,000,000,000 casino larger than 12 football fields, just what our CBD precinct needs!

7. Flight Centre Travel Group - This company baffles me. I have no idea how travel agents are still relevant in 2017. Even from a convenience perspective, I've tried to use them and they seem to be staffed entirely by mid to early 20's part time students who've done a few contiki trips and won't actually do your visa application and have no skills other than the ability to read an ITA matrix and alphabetise brochures. Their HQ is still the weirdest office I've ever been to.

I'd keep going but 1-7 is 2x subpar banks, a sold off government asset, 2x gambling companies, a pizza chain and a travel agency that is almost always right near a food court or subway (why is that?) and it only just gets more depressing.

Bring back the miners.

 

^^ Agree with a lot of that, except Dominos. It's an exceptionally well run business (used to work there). There's a reason why their shares went from about $3 to nearly $80 at its peak in less than a decade. Don't recall anyone being underpaid, exploited etc.

 

I understand what you are saying..but that is the reason why it's 50% cheaper than Sydney!! Your rationale has been factored into the price of admission.
The other thing to note is that, as the article correctly states, it's more in transition from the digger and dealer backwater it used to be to a more stronger and diversified corporate sector - this takes time.

 

True. I'm somewhat hopeful that a combination of:

- Cheap housing for staff

- Probable cheap commercial rent with all the new stuff going up

- The ability to go from a nobody to a top 10 largest player

Will lure a few more of the ASX 50 - 200 up here.

 

Not a fan of Suncorp from a shareholding perspective (the insurance business is not firing on all cylinders in a low interest rate environment), but they're in the ASX20 last time I checked.

Also, Flightcentre is more than the retail outlets you see in shopping centres too (though again, not enticed to own shares in them).

It'd be nice to see some companies setting up in Brisvegas focused around developing/selling products with significant intellectual property components, like biotechs, software, materials science etc. I can't see it happening through any concerted efforts from government or industry though.

 

Yes these will factor..as will a growing population as well as that in gc - combined, it's pushing 3.5 Mil..and both are growing.
More diversification also means more (and different) corporate customers, whilst lowering risk. This is what Sydney and Melbourne have done so well...
I don't think you will see many asx move their hq..rather will see intl players expand more into seq enticed the the above and cheaper rents as you mentioned.
It needs the critical mass - both in terms of individuals and businesses to be more attractive than the Mexican caps who although are more expensive, have significantly higher revenue potential for a new entrant due to the size and number of individuals and businesses. Eg why Amazon went to Sydney.

 

Read the full list..already is..but yes I do agre not enough.. Although a lot are also there that are unlisted eg biotechnology and those that are part of global / interstate outfits eg arup, aurecon, cimic etc.