Qantas chief Alan Joyce gains altitude

TAKEOFF tonight for resurgent airline miniature Alan Joyce, when Qantas hosts its Christmas bash at (deep breath) the Theatre Bar at the End of the Wharf in Sydney’s Walsh Bay.

Margin Call hears all the flying roo’s top brass, including Captain Joyce, will be at the shindig.

True to its name, the venue is indeed at the end of the wharf — not to be confused with the end of the runway, which is where many thought Qantas and Joyce were a few months back.

It’s also not to be mistaken for the restaurant at the end of the universe from science fiction series Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where punters enjoyed the apocalypse nightly over the main course.

With cost cutting and plunging fuel costs putting air under Qantas’ wings, talk of the end of the world is off the in-flight menu (for now).

A bob each way

FORMER REA chief executive Greg Ellis’s ownership of shares in the property listings group has raised eyebrows among some following the signing of a new deal between PropertyGuru and Fairfax Media’s Domain.

Ellis is believed to own about $2.9m worth of shares in REA, which is majority-owned by News Corp, publisher of this newspaper, and runs the popular realestate.com.au.

Under a recent agreement, Asia portal PropertyGuru will connect property investors in Southeast Asia interested in Australian residential and commercial property to Domain’s sites here.

PropertyGuru is half-owned by Scout24, Germany’s largest real estate portal, which has 40 per cent.

And Scout24 is where you’ll find Ellis — he became CEO late last year.

This leaves Ellis in the happy position of being on the winning side no matter who triumphs.

Tinkler jets in

IT is little wonder Singapore’s favourite son Nathan Tinkler popped up in Perth on a balmy Friday night.

The former coal-mining racehorse magnate has a bit more time on his hands these days, but of course Tinkler still owns A-League’s Newcastle Jets. It only takes about five hours to fly direct from the island city-state to Perth. That’s a little easier than the eight-and-a-half-hour Singapore to Sydney stretch for a Jets home game. (Of course, that’s before the two-hour drive up the M1 to get to Hunter Stadium). And Tinkler’s host for the evening? None other than mining entrepreneur and Perth Glory owner Tony Sage. Incidentally, Glory beat the Jets 2-0.

From Lynas to minus

As if things weren’t bad enough for Sydney’s Curtis family.

Not only is stockbroker Oliver, the husband of socialite PR Roxy Jacenko, facing jail over insider trading charges; now, malcontents reckon Lynas, the rare-earth mining company chaired by Oliver’s dad Nick, is running out of cash.

Investment newsletter The Motley Fool stuck the boot in on Thursday, asking whether it was “last orders for Lynas”, and posters on stockmarket scandalboard Hotcopper have also been running amok.

The title of one thread, “calling in the administrators”, gives the flavour.

And another poster estimates Lynas will have $22m left by New Year’s Eve, which “won’t last another quarter”.

“This company is in trouble, no doubt they will approach the market for money, but this time investors will run for the exit,” the poster, who goes by the moniker “theone”, wrote.

All those negative Nancies appear to have driven the share price down from 5.5c last Monday to as low as 4c on Friday, prompting a “please explain” letter from the ASX. This from a company where shares changed hands for more than $2.20 as recently as three years ago.

Company secretary Andrew Arnold told the ASX he could not explain the latest share price slump, but noted “that there may be some online speculation concerning the company’s current cash balance”.

He said the current balance was “in excess of $60 million”. So that’s all right then.

PS: A couple of weeks ago Curtis Snr announced he would be stepping down as chairman. “My job is done,” he said.