THE NEWS WRAP: Victorian government presents plans to keep Toyota in Australia

The Victorian government has presented plans to the federal government to save Toyota’s local manufacturing operations, The Age reports.

It says Victoria wants the federal government to make a “significant contribution” to Toyota to ensure it builds the next generation Camry in Melbourne beyond 2017.

Ford and GM Holden have already said they will cease manufacturing in Australia.

Big companies fight to save R&D tax breaks

Some of Australia’s largest companies are fighting federal government plans to deny them tax breaks for research and development.

The Australian reports that Telstra and Caltex, as well as industry group the Minerals Council of Australia, have written to the Senate in a bid to block the $1.1 billion in cuts.

“The removal of the incentive will, we believe, have negative flow-on effects on the Australian labour force; not just those employed by the largest companies but also those smaller Australian companies that undertake R&D on behalf of the large companies,” Telstra wrote.

Hungry Jack’s franchise company profit surges

The company behind the Hungry Jack’s franchise, Competitive Foods, has reported almost a tripling in annual profit over the past financial year, The Australian reports.

It says the company booked a profit of $21 million on revenues of more than $1 billion.

But the company’s owner and chief executive, Jack Cowin, said the surge in profit overstated the company’s performance.

“We’re a private company, so the way things get moved around and charged can’t be analysed in the same way as a normal public company, because in private accounts you work towards maximising the cash and writing things off where you have to,” he said.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.1% at 16,194.88 points and the Australian dollar is buying US87.6 cents.