Brickworks inks multi-year deal with Santos, Bank of Queensland CEO departs and Pilbara Minerals enters JV with Calix

Australia’s largest bricking company Brickworks (ASX: BKW) has signed a new 11-year gas wholesale supply deal with Santos (ASX: STO) from 2025 – bolstering its east coast brick making operations.

Although reduced gas supply and inflationary pressures have driven the deal to a higher price than the previous five-year agreement, Brickworks managing director Lindsay Partridge said the new terms still enable the company to profit from the 500 million bricks it makes annually.

He said securing the extension with Santos was vital given the current market demand.

“Brick manufacturing relies on a significant amount of gas for the high temperatures required during kiln firing,” he said.

“Securing reliable and cost-effective gas is not only critical for our operations, but will also provide relief for young Australians building homes and dealing with rising construction costs across the sector.”

Under the agreement, Santos will supply up to 35 petajoules of natural gas to Brickworks.

Santos managing director and chief executive officer Kevin Gallagher said it was able to offer the natural gas at competitive, stable, CPI-linked prices for 11 years from 2025, with an option to further extend the contract.

“The deal is important to Santos because it provides long-term cash flows that will support our ability to fund future drilling and development in the Cooper Basin, eastern Queensland, and at Narrabri, which will bring desperately needed new gas supplies to the east coast domestic market,” he said.

Bank of Queensland

Bank of Queensland (ASX: BOQ) is searching for a new chief executive officer and managing director after confirming George Frazis is leaving the bank.

The Brisbane-based bank’s announcement saw its share price fall nearly 5%, as Mr Frazis leaves his post following a successful tenure of three years at the helm.

Despite Mr Frazis’ success in the role, Bank of Queensland chairperson Patrick Allaway said a leadership transition was necessary moving forward.

“George Frazis joined in September 2019 and has overseen a return to growth in all key channels across the bank, the successful acquisition and integration of ME Bank, as well as achieving strong progress in the bank’s technology transformation,” he said.

“However, the board has formed a view that different leadership is now required to ensure can continue to build a stronger and more resilient bank through future cycles.”

Moving forward, the focus will be strengthening the bank, transforming its technological side, optimising performance and instilling its values in everyday business operations.

The bank has confirmed Mr Allaway will become executive chairperson until a new chief executive officer is found – signalling the search could take up to nine months.

Pilbara Minerals

Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) and Calix (ASX: CXL) have agreed to form a joint venture for the development of a demonstration plant at the Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia.

The joint venture aims to produce lithium salts through an innovative midstream “value added” refining process leaning on Calix’s patented calcination technology at Pilbara Minerals’ operation.

As part of the agreement, both parties also aim for the potential commercialisation of the “value-added” refining process.

Pilbara Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Dale Henderson said the mid-stream project can become a “game changer” for the industry.

“If successful, we will be able to deliver a superior chemical intermediary product to market compared to spodumene concentrate,” he said.

“This intermediate product offers a higher concentration in lithium and less impurities whilst being produced through a new process that reduces carbon dioxide emissions compared to the traditional process route for hard rock spodumene chemical conversion.”

Pilbara Minerals will take a 55% participating interest in the JV, while Calix will retain the remaining balance.

Sonic Healthcare

Leading healthcare provider Sonic Healthcare (ASX: SHL) has acquired a near 20% stake in junior Microba Life Sciences (ASX: MAP), which saw the small cap company soar around 60% higher this week in light of the news.

Sonic acquired a 19.9% interest in Microba at $0.26 per share, totalling $17.8 million, and aims to secure an additional 5% stake.

Microba focuses on gut health, delivering microbiome testing services to researchers, clinicians, and consumers across the globe.

Both parties agreed to exclusively deliver Microba’s microbiome testing technology in Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium, while also providing non-exclusive distribution into Sonic’s broader network which includes Australia, Switzerland, the United States and New Zealand.

Sonic’s chief executive officer Dr Colin Goldschmidt said the opportunity to invest in Microba was exciting given its potential.

“Sonic prides itself on delivering accurate, reliable medical diagnostics services using leading laboratory and informatics technologies,” he said.

“Our partnership with Microba exemplifies our commitment to invest in cutting edge developments in laboratory medicine.”

“We see microbiome testing becoming a key part of pathology over coming years and are excited about the potential of this partnership and the opportunities that Microba’s technology will provide for Sonic’s global operations, our referring clinicians, and our patients,” he added.

National Australia Bank

One of Australia’s major banks National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) has inked a multi-million dollar long-term deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in an effort to enhance the bank’s cloud-first technology strategy.

The contract, worth more than $100 million over several years, will strengthen the bank’s position as a market-leader in transitioning to the cloud.

Melbourne-based NAB recently became the first major Australian bank to move its business banking online platform to the cloud. It is migrating its Global FX & Trading Platform (Murex) to the cloud, while collaborating with AWS and three other global banks to launch the Global Open Finance Challenge.

NAB chief technology officer Patrick Wright said the bank’s partnership with AWS is pivotal moving forward.

“We’ve had a long and proud relationship with AWS dating back to 2013 and we are excited to extend this collaboration,” Mr Wright said.

“AWS is a critical partner in our technology strategy and is helping us deliver new and innovative experiences for our customers.”

NAB first started accelerating its cloud strategy in 2018 and has now moved 70% of its applications to cloud.

Mr Wright said the bank wants to continue its momentum and get that figure to 80% in the short to medium term.

“I think we are ahead of the Australian banks, and most banks globally, in terms of apps migrated,” he said.