Deloitte veteran’s dream to keep Virgin flying

THE man helping to put together a rescue plan for Virgin Australia is not your typical straight-laced accountant. The veteran Deloitte bean counter loves nothing more than rocking out with his corporate colleagues.

FLYING HIGH

JOHN Greig has taken on probably the biggest role in his almost 40-year career at accounting giant Deloitte.

Greig (illustrated), a graduate of Brisbane Boys Grammar and QUT, is part of the insolvency team being sent in to formulate a rescue package for Virgin Australia.

With the Federal Government rejecting any injection of tax-payer funds into the beleaguered carrier, it will be up to Greig and colleagues including Vaughan Strawbridge to attract prospective new owners.

City Beat readers will recall that Greig, who boasts more than 30 years’ experience in corporate restructuring and insolvency as the firm’s managing partner in Brisbane, is not only known for his bean-counting ability but his love of rock music.

John Greig

As part-owner of the iconic Brisbane music venue The Triffid he presides over the annual battle of the corporate bands at the venue that raises money for premature babies.

Music will likely take a backseat in the coming months as Greig helps hammer out a rescue plan for Virgin, whose founder Sir Richard Branson by coincidence got his first big break in business when he started Virgin Records in the 1970s. There are already more than 10 interested parties in the business, described by Deloitte as “sophisticated investors.”

The preferred option was to sell the entire carrier as a going concern under a deed of company arrangement.

VIRGIN TERRITORY

HOW do you make a million dollars? Invest a billion dollars in an airline.

That old joke is probably ringing in the ears of Virgin Australia boss Paul Scurrah who would dearly love for the company’s founder Sir Richard Branson to throw a heap of money at the beleaguered Brisbane-based carrier. But as Scurrah admitted yesterday, Branson has his own problems including trying to save other parts of his transport and tourism empire.

Sir Richard Branson

Branson has even offered to mortgage his private Caribbean island Necker to raise money to salvage the global business. “I talk semi-regularly to him and he cares deeply about the people here (at Virgin Australia),” Scurrah told a media conference yesterday. “He would like be a part of any solution.”

Branson, whose Virgin Group still owns 10 per cent of Virgin Australia, warned about a virtual monopoly in Australian skies if Qantas is the only carrier left.

BUCK STOPS

WHILE Greig and rest of the Deloitte team are no doubt poised to burn the midnight oil as they untangle the Virgin mess, they are going to have to do it for less money.

The accounting giant has announced a 20 per cent reduction in monthly salaries for all employees until 30 September as it battles falling revenue due to coronavirus.

That equates an 8 per cent reduction on an annualised basis. Partners will take a minimum 20-25 per cent reduction in their earnings for at least a full year.

Deloitte says each employee impacted by the short-term measures will receive up to an additional 10 days leave available until 31 January 2021. Deloitte joins a growing number of professional firms cutting salaries in response to the pandemic.

Law firm HopgoodGanim, which has 41 partners and more than 280 staff working out of Brisbane and Perth offices, will cut the salary of staff earning more $65,000 by 20 per cent from next month for a period of six months. Equity partners will also take a 20 per cent cut following an earlier announced 30 per cent reduction in their income.