Icon Group’s Stuart Giles set to join marathon elite in Tokyo

As he closes in on his half century, Icon Group chairman Stuart Giles is set to join the global elite of marathon runners when he heads to Tokyo this week.

Icon Group chairman Stuart Giles.

ON THE RUN

YOU would think that after running five of the world’s great marathons you could curl up on the couch with a big bag of chips and watch TV.

But not Icon Group chairman Stuart Giles who will be running in next Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon after which he joins an exclusive club having already completed the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City marathons.

That entitles him to the Six Star Finisher Medal, an honour held by less than 4000 people as of last year. Wife Cathie Reid, the co-founder of the cancer clinic group, tells your diarist that Stuart always wanted to finish his sixth marathon before his 50th birthday, which falls in September this year.

Icon Group’s Stuart Giles and Cathie Reid.

By coincidence, Cathie was born only a day earlier than her husband. “He always jokes that there is a 48 hour period every year where he has a wife who is older than him,” says Cathie, who has less earth-bound ambitions than hubby. City Beat readers will recall she has a seat booked on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space craft.

DOG GONE

THE backslapping that greeted Jamie “Working Class Man” Pherous’ Corporate Travel Management half year result on Wednesday lost a bit of momentum yesterday with the stock down 2.6 per cent to $28.50.

Pherous’ adversaries at Sydney-based fund VGI Partners are keeping their heads down for now, but City Beat spies say there is speculation that the firm that launched a short-selling attack last year has another report ready to release.

In the meantime, it seems some other serious number crunchers mightn’t have been as enthralled by the result as the Pherous cheer squad at Morgans and Ord Minnett.

A hard-hitting report being passed around from Diogenes Research appears to be putting some in the market in a more sceptical mood.

The pointy heads at Diogenes are asking about the basis for the company’s weak cash flow and its remarkably high profit margins.

Are they being boosted by the company’s recent acquisitions, such as the Lotus Travel Group in Hong Kong?

Put it all together and they reckon you’ve got a “highly unstable dynamic” and where it’s “very hard to justify” the current share price multiple. But should we take any notice of the low-profile Diogenes?

Probably. Headed up by a couple of former Goldman Sachs JBWere partners in Melbourne, “the Dog” (as it’s affectionately known) led the pack in identifying problems at Slater & Gordon and Blue Sky Alternative Investments. Corporate Travel now appears to be on their radar.

BEAMER ME UP

CHAMPAGNE and nibbles were partaken of on Thursday night as Brisbane BMW gave car lovers a sneak peak of their new luxury models, including the BMW 8 Series coupé and convertible and seven-seater BMW X7.

Founder of CarAdvice Alborz Fallah was one of the many experts to attend the preview. Also spotted in the crowd was former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore.

Brisbane-based Moore, who works as an executive at North Australian Pastoral Co, has been a brand ambassador for the German marque since his footy days. But he tells your diarist that he didn’t always have such expensive tastes in motor cars. “My first car when I was 19 was a second-hand Mazda,” he says.

AMERICAN EAGLES

A CONTINGENT of powerful American lawyers descended on the boardroom of local law shop McCullough Robertson this week as part of an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission into an as yet unknown Australian-based company.

Retired lawyer Tim O’Dwyer had to swear in the witness who then answered questions from investigators in the US via Skype. We hear O’Dwyer was quite impressed by the number of top Yank legal eagles, who included Greg Miller, the SEC’s assistant chief litigation counsel. We can only wonder who is in the firing line of the world’s most powerful corporate regulator. City Beat has contacted the SEC but has yet to receive a response.