It only took a $1m bonus and a respectable hike in his salary for Elders chief executive Mark Allison to toss out his retirement plans and stay at the company until 2025.
Forget all that talk of six months ago when Allison solemnly agreed that the timing was right for his departure, that the company was in need of a “leadership refresh” for the “next phase of growth”.
Rubbish, of course. Having performed a masterful reverse-ferret on Monday, it seems Allison isn’t quite ready to air out the cave of the Elders board just yet.
Instead he told shareholders he’s “delighted” and “energised” to remain in the job he’s held for about nine years and wanted to kick to the kerb in November. A global search for a replacement was still in the works just three weeks ago, according to chairman Ian Wilton, who said the business was attempting to identify “a suitable successor”.
Margin Call understands Elders’ had been busy trying to recruit Quinton Hildebrand, the CEO of listed animal feed business Ridley Corporation.
Analysts seemed to regard Hildebrand as a logical takeover target to succeed Allison.
Alas, those negotiations evidently broke down not too long ago, judging by Ridley Corp’s announcement to the market last week that Hildebrand would, apropos of nothing, be given a one-off cash payment of $1m, 1.5 million performance rights, and yet another short-term bonus based on 150 per cent of his fixed pay. This all on the condition that he stays with the company for the time being and extend his notice period from six months to a year.
Sound familiar?
It would certainly seem that Ridley worked double-time to outmanoeuvre Elders and keep their man in place.
At least Allison, suddenly renewed of his vigour to keep working, can console himself with the knowledge that he’s basically irreplaceable. Well, almost.
No comment from Elders, of course.
King’s abdication
In March we floated the distinct possibility that Myer CEO John King was heading for the exits, and this ultimately came true on Monday when King announced he would resign at some point in the latter half of 2024.
That timeframe leaves the outgoing jefe with plenty of room to qualify for the Myer performance rights he was issued for the 2021 financial year; to receive them he needed to remain on the company books until at least January 31, now a virtual certainty.
What’s curious about that date is that it was brought forward earlier this year by Myer chair JoAnne Stephenson.
Meanwhile, King’s executive apartment at Melbourne’s Freshwater Place was advertised as available from October 1.
Talk about giving the game away!
Yet we’re hearing (but not necessarily believing) that King made the decision to step down and provide his minimum 12-months notice only after much soul-searching over the weekend. His plan from here is to move to the speedway state of Indiana, in the US, rather than droopy Florida where he’s been spending much of his time of late, in Orlando.
As expected, the outgoing CEO was feted on Monday for doubling the department store’s profit during his five years in the role. A highlight, to be sure, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that Myer has paid just 12c per share in dividends during that time – and, no, that’s not an annual figure.
Perhaps it’s a sign of how much King is respected internally, or how little anyone covets his role, but there were precious few executives inside Myer rushing to put up their hands to replace him on Monday.
As for an outsider, former David Jones boss Mark McInnes’ is an obvious name to mention, especially given his working relationship with Myer’s largest shareholder, Solomon Lew. But he currently on the bench – and overseas at that – and we’re led to believe a revival of McInnes’ career at Myer is shaping as a most unlikely prospect.
Consider: the guy stepped down as the CEO of Lew’s Premier Investments to spend more time with his family just two years ago. Ambitious as he is, our guess is that McInnes would very well consider the role at Myer for himself. But when the company is 24 per cent owned by Premier?
Our guess is Lew won’t be having any of that.
More wrongs than rights at the AHRC?
A case of curious priorities over at the Australian Human Rights Commission where hand-picked appointee Giridharan Sivaraman seems to prefer playing politics over action on anti-Semitism.
Freehills partner given notice over synagogue tweet
Herbert Smith Freehills leaders have voted to remove one of its longstanding partners, Damien Hazard, over a ‘deeply offensive’ tweet targeting Jeremy Leibler.