Sam Henderson: from financial advice to hamper delivery

Cartoon: Rod Clement

After a spectacular departure from the financial advice industry, Sam Henderson has gone into the online hamper business.

Such is the transformative power of Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission.

Margin Call can reveal that only four weeks after Henderson’s financial planning career encountered a Rowena “Shock And” Orr-shaped obstacle at the royal commission’s combustible wealth round, the 45-year-old North Curl Curl resident set up a new company called Hampercorp, of which he is the sole ­director and shareholder.

Margin Call understands the new company is the parent group for Henderson’s recently acquired online hamper empire, which includes Everything But Flowers (an online seller of keyrings, cat books and gift-packed wine), Men’s Gift Store (a one-stop shop for “Borat Mankinis” and novelty bottle openers) and The Baby Gift Store (for those after an “organic owl-patterned blankie”).

Whatever the special occasion, Henderson’s online hamper empire has just the thing.

The name of the new company is a departure for Henderson, who has previously favoured more self-regarding names.

Other vehicles on the Henderson roster include Hendo Property Investments, Hendo Super Fund and, the one that shot him to prominence, Henderson Maxwell Home & Investment Loans.

That last one was the wealth shop that gave financial advice to Fair Work Commissioner Donna McKenna, which she told the royal commission was “risible” and would have triggered a $500,000 loss.

Hope he sends her a “Sorry” hamper.

Grinding on

Police investigations can grind slowly.

Too slowly, it seems for ­Sydney businesswoman Helen Rosamond, who has fielded inquiries from NSW Police as part of their investigation of an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud at the heart of Andrew Thorburn’s National Australia Bank.

In early April, police raided Rosamond’s Potts Point home in Sydney and the offices of her events business, the Human Group, which was a long-term supplier of services to the $77 billion bank.

No charges have been made and Margin Call is not suggesting any wrongdoing has taken place.

The ongoing fraud investigation also involves Thornburn’s former chief of staff Rosemary Rogers, who was one of the NAB chief executive’s most trusted lieutenants until she suddenly left the bank in December.

Rogers had been in the all-seeing, all-knowing COS role for nine years. No charges have been made and Margin Call is not suggesting any wrongdoing has taken place. It has now been three months since the police raids and subsequent revelations about the extensive multimillion-dollar portfolio of property and other assets accumulated by both Rogers and Rosamond.

There’s still no news on the status of the police investigation, which Margin Call understands remains a work in progress.

The 43-year-old Rosamond is getting on with business.

Just a few weeks ago, the UK-born Rosamond created a new vehicle, GEPM Consulting. She’s the sole director and company secretary.

Its sole shareholder is another corporate vehicle, Oliwilwins, created in 2015, which is another of the businesswoman’s corporate vehicles.

Rosamond also remains a director of the company at the heart of the fraud investigation, along with a string of other connected vehicles.

In the meantime Rogers, who lives in Melbourne’s Williamstown with her husband and young family, is keeping a low profile.

She still describes herself as “manager” of Rosemary Rogers Consulting, for which there is still no formal company structure.

Sign of the times

Oh, the humiliation.

New imported Myer boss John King is getting on with slashing and burning at the now $350 million retailer.

That means a significantly reduced headcount at the Garry Hounsell-chaired department store group’s Docklands head office on Melbourne’s Collins Street, where the Myer livery proudly hangs atop the shiny eight-year-old building that boasts 10 levels of office space.

New Myer chief executive John King.

But one corporate loss is another’s gain, with Myer’s cotenant, the soon-to-be-floated Latitude Financial Services, set to take over the floor space that Myer is set to relinquish.

That’s not all that the rapidly growing former GE Money, run by Sean Morrissey, will take over from King and Hounsell.

Margin Call understands that Latitude is close to securing naming rights to the A-Grade Victoria Harbour building, so that the Myer signage will disappear from the Melbourne skyline in favour of Latitude’s neon. It’s all bold change for King, 56, who formerly ran House of Fraser in the UK and who started with Hounsell six weeks ago, but who day by day is already accumulating wealth thanks to his employment contract.

Myer’s head office at Melbourne’s Docklands. Picture: Paul Trezise

For each month that ticks over with King at the helm, he collects about 68,000 rights to Myer shares that will vest after he’s been three years in the job.

At Myer’s share price of 42c, that’s wealth of about $28,000 to King, who is yet to move into permanent accommodation in Melbourne.

For now he’s based in a serviced apartment in the clouds at nearby Freshwater Place that — if Hounsell is paying for it — is costing Myer shareholders about $70,000 a year.

If King makes it to the end of his three-year deal, he’ll get a total of $1m of free Myer shares if the stock price stays at the current 42c.

The rights will be worth even more if he can get the Myer share price up.

That remains a big if.