Long-suffering employees of Nauru Airlines have welcomed the return of Geoff Bowmaker as CEO of the Brisbane-based carrier
Staff at the Brisbane head office of Nauru Airlines gave their former CEO a standing ovation when he returned to fly the company through its current patch of turbulence.
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DESPERATE FOR CHANGE
This should tell you how desperate the long-suffering employees of Nauru Airlines are for change inside their Brisbane headquarters.
When it was announced on Friday that former CEO Geoff Bowmaker had been plucked from retirement to return to his old job in an acting capacity, he got a standing ovation from the staff.
The move came just a day after Nauru’s newly-elected president, Lionel Aingemea, quietly flew in to Brisbane with a deputy to meet with the review team he has assigned to examine the deeply-troubled carrier.
Members of the review panel told elated staff that non-executive chairman Trevor Jensen had been stripped of the CEO’s role, which he gave to himself following the suspension of former boss Peter Sheehan in May.
Jensen, who remains as chairman but no longer has executive powers, has allegedly presided over a toxic and dysfunctional corporate culture, according to a detailed complaint sent to both CASA and the Nauru Government earlier this year.
His humiliation was compounded by the fact that he was forced to clean out his office later that day and move to a smaller space.
Jensen, who has denied any wrongdoing in his oversight of the airline, said yesterday he intended to stay on as chairman and supported Bowmaker’s return.
BACK ON THE JOB
Meanwhile, on his first day back on the job, Bowmaker chatted with your diarist as he was in a cab heading out to meet with hangar staff at the airport yesterday. Re-engagement with the troops is a priority, he said.
Bowmaker retired in February 2018 after 11 years running the airline. His departure capped a near 40-year career in aviation that included stints at Qantas and the national airlines of Fiji, Tonga and Namibia.
But the Nauru Government reached out to seek help from Bowmaker last week at his small farm in the Hunter Valley, where he is focused on growing grapes and hanging out with his seven grandchildren.
“I ran it for 11 years without there being any issues. I’m a familiar face, they know me, the style of person I am and the work I’ve done,’’ he said.
“Something obviously needed to be done and I’m very happy to assist. I’m pleased they thought to bring me back. I feel quite chuffed.’’
Yet his return has clearly ruffled a few feathers.
One critic has written to the Nauru Government describing the appointment as “premature’’ and “done without consultation’’. The letter went on to attack Bowmaker as “a tired and exhausted retiree (who) unfortunately left the airline in a very perilous state with some questionable financial arrangements’’.
Bowmaker dismissed the comments yesterday as without foundation.
CLOCK IS TICKING
Brisbane fund manager Luke Trickett has sweetened his proposal to save embattled Silver Chef but doubts remain whether a deal can get over the line.
Trickett’s Blue Stamp Company is a major shareholder in the kitchen equipment leasing outfit and he has boosted his recapitalisation scheme from $50 million to $60 million.
The clock is ticking as the two camps talk.
Silver Chef only has until the end of the month to negotiate with financiers, who have provided waivers to the company for more than a year as it breached debt covenants.
That breathing room was supposed to run to the end of November but was conditional on a now-defunct $28 million privatisation scheme winning investor approval.
Trickett believes his plan to raise cash at 31 cents per share could be launched as soon as September 27.
But other stakeholders aren’t so sure. They say there are substantial hurdles, including whether the banks will go along the proposal and whether there is enough time for key parties to carry out due diligence.
Trickett acknowledges as much. Conditions attached to his scheme call for “accelerated due diligence’’ and bank endorsement of the plan, complete with an “extended waiver’’ on loan repayments.
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