Melbourne Racing Club gallops to a $15m loss; Pogust Goodhead founder dumped from board

MRC chairman John Kanga and wife Stephanie at the 2024 Caulfield Cup. Picture: Jason Edwards

There will be plenty to talk about at Melbourne Racing Club’s annual general meeting at Caulfield on Thursday night after the club slumped to a $15m loss for the year.

Not that you’d know if from chairman John Kanga’s upbeat message to members in the club’s annual report.

No, that was full of talk about “new focus, bold decisions, and forward momentum”; like the option to sell $195m worth of land to Mount Scopus Memorial College, announced in late 2024, but yet to materialise.

When it does, though, it will retire MRC’s $178m in debts, which are up $24.2m for the year, according to the annual report.

It was left to interim chief executive Tanya Fullarton to deliver the bad news at the bottom of her own message to members, when she quickly noted that the club had recorded a “net deficit” of $14.7m for the year.

That’s an after-tax loss, for those more used to reading the business pages than the form guide. The previous year’s net deficit was $8.8m.

Still, it’s not all bad news. Kanga has made good on his promise to boost the club’s membership and attendance – up 8 per cent to about 15,700. The membership churn is down and 85 per cent say they’re happy about the place.

Revenue was also up by about $9m for the year, although most of that was through MRC’s pubs and clubs.

To be fair, the bulk of the difference in the final figure was a $6.2m writedown on the work done by MRC’s previous leadership to redevelop the Caulfield racetrack and sell off Sandown – plans abandoned when Kanga and his Save MRC faction were swept into office in 2024.

It’s the cost of running the club that’s likely to get a few pointed questions to the treasurer on Thursday, as the cashflow statement shows a sharp $30m increase in the annual bills.

Sure, MRC had to fix the grandstand which was affected by a fire in late 2024. But it also got a $4m insurance payout to partly offset the costs. And redundancies for the 50 or so staff members who left during the year – including most of the senior executive team – would have cost a bit.

But even financially savvy MRC members were scratching their heads on Wednesday and struggling to work out where the cost increases came from in the club’s notoriously complicated financial statements.

Sadly, the MRC didn’t answer our query before deadline, so we’ll just have to hope members can get some clarity from the treasurer on Thursday.

Neither Pogust nor Goodhead, as law firm sinks further into debt

There’s more trouble for UK lawyer Tom Goodhead, who appears to have been pushed from the board of the UK law firm he founded, Pogust Goodhead.

That’s according to disclosures to UK regulators on Tuesday night, noting that he had been terminated as a director of both the firm’s corporate owner and its legal arm on September 11. That means neither of the firm’s eponymous founders are on its board, after Harris Pogust retired last year.

Tom Goodhead is no longer on the board of the law firm he founded.

At the same time, it looks like Pogust Goodhead has sunk further into debt to US hedge fund Gramercy, which this week registered yet more security over the firm’s assets, clients, revenue and property.

Remember, Pogust Goodhead tapped Gramercy for another $US65m only a month ago to help keep the wheels rolling on its mammoth class action lawsuits – primarily against BHP and a collection of carmakers involved in the so-called Dieselgate scandal.

It’s not clear how much more has been borrowed in the latest round, but Pogust Goodhead already owes Gramercy about $1bn, to be repaid from the fees from its $55bn case against BHP over the Samarco tailings dam disaster.

A decision on whether the UK courts will hold BHP liable for the losses of Brazilians affected by the tragedy is imminent, but it doesn’t look like Goodhead will be around to celebrate the firm’s success.

Mind you, the law firm’s website still lists Goodhead as its executive director, and he’s yet to update his social media profiles to reflect his departure from the board.

Still, if Pogust Goodhead has borrowed more money from Gramercy, perhaps there will be enough sitting around to cover the bills they’ve left behind them in Sydney.