Tim Worner, Kerry Stokes to face music at Seven West Media results

Illustration: Rod Clement.

Billionaire Kerry Stokes has packed up his skis and returned to Australia — just in time for Seven West Media’s results today.

What on earth does that mean for his embattled CEO, Tim Worner?

Kerry Stokes and Tim Worner. Picture: John Feder.

The unveiling of the media company’s results — which starts at 10am AEDT — has been billed as a “business as usual” event by a spokesman for Seven.

But with tech giants Twitter and Google the latest to join the expansive club of those on the ­receiving end of Seven’s legal ­action, clearly there’s nothing usual about this sex-expenses-governance scandal, now in its third month and still raging.

While Stokes has been in the US, his lieutenants, led by chief legal mind Bruce McWilliam and newly appointed spokesman director Jeff Kennett, have been fighting governance fires on ever increasing fronts.

Worner was to front analysts and media alone. Now that Stokes is no longer on American ski fields and back in the country, might the billionaire join his under-siege CEO?

If so, expect things to begin with an opening statement claiming all sorts of legal privilege — trying to fend off awkward, anticipated questions — before Stokes hands the microphone over to Worner.

Or might Stokes announce that this is the end for Worner? Surely not.

Seven’s stock was unmoved yesterday, closing at 78c as investors held their breath in anticipation. Let’s see what they make of today.

Days of our lives

Seven West Media might have its blowtorch focused squarely on chief executive Tim Worner’s former illicit lover Amber Harrison, but that won’t be the only thing on investors’ minds come today’s much anticipated interim results briefing.

Seven may have issued an injunction on Harrison for now, but that will be back in court next week when the former executive assistant goes in to battle to have her voice heard.

Amber Harrison’s tweet.

And the empire’s problems extend much further than Sydney.

Over in Kerry Stokes’s home town of Perth, Seven boss Chris Wharton has been on “long service leave” since December, a scenario that was said to extend to next month.

A clutch of other senior execs have also left.

While Wharton’s away, Ernst & Young audit partner Philip Teale is driving proceedings.

Minority shareholders might also want to ask management today about the unfolding embezzlement case against Seven’s former commercial director of programming, John Fitzgerald.

Seven had the exec’s assets frozen in April last year. The matter is set to return to court this month.

Seven successfully had assets of $1 million frozen after Fitzgerald admitted to falsifying invoices, but word on the street is that the amount could be significantly higher. Mid last year Fitzgerald sold his expansive home in Cattai for $2.55m to Deloitte partner Michael Billingsley.

Meanwhile, over in Seven’s Los Angeles office, an internal investigation has been conducted over financial irregularities discovered at the outpost. Seems Seven’s problems have a passport!

Analysts might wonder aloud who is watching the till at Stokes’s shop?

Also of interest may be a wrongful dismissal case brought in Adelaide by former Seven reporter Amy Taeuber. That’s come about because Today Tonight hack Rodney Lohse allegedly called Taeuber a lesbian because Taeuber is a triplet and one in three women are gay.

If that’s true, that would be interesting logic.

The matter’s back in court early next month, with lawyer John Laxon (who was on deck for Mark Llewelyn and Stephen Rice in their workplace disputes with Nine) representing Taeuber.

Meanwhile in the SWM boardroom, director Michelle Deaker is left as the lone female on the board after corporate governance expert Sheila McGregor pulled the plug earlier this month as the internal Harrison investigation report was discussed, while now fellow director Jeff Kennett has been waging a one-man Twitter war with CEO Worner’s former lover Harrison on Valentine’s eve.

Forget Home and Away. When it comes to drama, Stokes’s off-screen team are the ones to watch.

One lump or two?

Treasurer Scott Morrison swelled the hearts of the sooty residents of the Hunter Valley, and frightened the horses of the equine lobby, when he brought a lump of thermal coal in to the parliament last week.

Scott Morrison with a lump of Ivan Glasenberg’s finest.

ScoMo’s office was hooked up with the prop by Brendan Pearson’s mighty industry group, the Minerals Council of Australia, as has been reported.

The Treasurer himself noted in the house that the lump was from the Hunter electorate of Labor shadow frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon (who, for what it’s worth, is the brother of the boss of health insurer NIB, Mark Fitzgibbon).

But where exactly?

In our little effort to help Australian political historians, let us put on the record that the lump of coal came from the Glendell Mine at Mount Owen, part of Ivan Glasenberg’s Glencore empire.

Glencore billionaire Ivan Glasenberg.

Interesting to see the enigmatic South African-born, Swiss-residing billionaire (last valued at $3.33 billion) making a cameo of sorts in Canberra. But, then again, he does have Australian citizenship.

Fahour doubles down

Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour has quietly doubled the local postal service’s investment in Middle Eastern logistics and transport company Aramex to more than 10 per cent. That brings the taxpayer-funded investment to more than
$200m.

Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour. Picture: David Geraghty.

Fahour — who was appointed back when Labor streetfighter Stephen Conroy was the communications minister — has also been given a seat on the $2bn Dubai-listed company’s board and will travel to the desert kingdom in April for the group’s annual meeting. The postman will be hopeful his appointment is approved by shareholders.

The investment follows the Australian government-owned entity entering into a joint-venture agreement last June, which was followed the next month with a $100m investment. The latest increase makes Aussie Post one of Aramex’s biggest single shareholders.

Fahour, who was controversially paid $5.6m
last year, is not drawing directors fees for the Aramex board seat.

That’s in contrast to his gig chairing the Raphael Geminder-backed ASX-listed Pro-Pac Packaging, for which Fahour earns another $100,000 a year.

Fahour’s salary is now under review by the John Stanhope-led board of Australia Post.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, northerner Bob Katter and, between bouts of surgery, breakfast radio terror Alan Jones have each declared they are taking an interest in Stanhope’s findings.

If it wasn’t for the more than $4.3m lump sum Fahour will be entitled to on his eventual exit under a lavish Aussie Post benefit scheme, you’d almost feel sorry him.