Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci checks out with steak, chips and $24m in his trolley

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci eating lunch at a Surry Hills cafe. Picture: Michael Bilbe-Taylor / The Australian

When CEOs announce their retirement from billion-dollar corporations, the imagination compels us to believe that they feast in celebration with high-status people at wildly expensive restaurants where Château Latour is drained at scale on the company dime.

Not Brad Banducci. It’s lunchtime on Wednesday, mere hours after the Woolworths CEO’s sensational departure has been made public, and Margin Call happens upon the Fresh Food king sitting alone with an iPad at a neighbourhood cafe in Surry Hills, a steak sandwich and chips en route from the kitchen.

Of all the gin joints, eh?

Not that we believed it at first. There was a double-take, some squinting, two cranings of the neck, a search for his now-infamous nametag (“Brad”), and some rudimentary comparisons with pictures on Google before we could determine, with certainty, that the most talked-about corporate potentate in the country is the fella with the specs hunched over his work in this noisy cafe – on this day of them all.

Outgoing Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci enjoys lunch at a Surry Hills cafe on Wednesday. Picture: Michael Bilbe-Taylor

But if Banducci chose the spot hoping for some discretion, he was badly out of luck. The guy looked terrified as our shadow lengthened over his table, and an audible groan could be heard as we began our enthusiastic interruption (“Hi Brad!”). Two women nearby started giggling at the spectacle.

But rather than stand up and walk out, as we’ve seen Banducci try on a reporter already, he soon eased into light and pleasant conversation once he was satisfied we weren’t Rod Sims.

“Oh, Margin Call!” he said with delight, even relief, perhaps not entirely aware of the vivisections we perform here on occasion, mostly with characters just like Banducci, and especially when they’re retiring and there’s already blood in the water.

Skilfully transitioning to the companion seat opposite, and trying not to crush the collar of his jacket, our first question in this buttonholing was the obvious one, at least to us.

Banducci enjoys his chips with a fork. Picture: Michael Bilbe-Taylor / The Australian

That is: What on earth are you, Brad Banducci, longstanding chief executive of a $44bn corporation, doing at Cook & Archie in Surry Hills on the day of your resignation?

Where’s your table at Machiavelli or Rockpool? Where’s the vino and lashings of vitello tonnato?

Banducci has always been eager to frame himself as a consummate man of the people. There’s his dorkification with the aforementioned nametag, of course, but on Tuesday night he was known to have had a beer with senior staff at the Fiddler, once a famously rowdy pub in Sydney’s northwest. The Mean Fiddler, as it was known in 2009, had the distinct honour of being named the most violent hotel in the state.

Banducci scoffs at the suggestion that a five-star meal is what he wants to mark the occasion.

He looks around and gestures at the wait staff and the sales-and-marketing folk. “It’s about the people,” he says.

Hours after his exit was announced Woolworths chief Brad Banducci hit a Surry Hills local for lunch. Picture: Michael Bilbe-Taylor / The Australian

But why announce his retirement at such a personally vulnerable time, in the same week that his, ah, memorable interview with the ABC’s Four Corners program went to air? Would it not have been prudent to wait a week or two?

Another shake of the head.

“Now’s the right time, it’s been eight years,” he says, although he concedes the ABC interview, in which he momentarily threw and then withdrew a heap of shade at Sims, was regrettable. As was, perhaps, delivering television gold to reporter Angus Grigg by briefly shutting down the interview, walking off and then returning to the set.

But does he regret participating at all? He thinks, then shrugs. He doesn’t know and possibly doesn’t care anymore. “I’m not going to give it energy,” he says. “I don’t care what people think about me – I care what they think about Woolworths.” He does joke, however, of one lesson clearly learned. “I’ll stick to radio in the future.”

A waitress appears with Banducci’s steak sandwich and chips, which he acknowledges is a heart-clogger and a guilty pleasure. The old Turkish proverb – su ićene yilan bile dokunmaz (not even a snake will bother you when you’re drinking water) – impels that Margin Call leave the man in peace.

As he folds away his napkin and stands up to leave, there’s one line he’s happy for us to include. “You can say that I went back to work straight after.” Oh, and there will be one small indulgence later to mark the occasion. “I will be making sure to have a Negroni,” he says.

But does a true man of the people insist on eating fries with a fork, as we spotted Banducci doing through his meal?

One for the people themselves to decide.

The rent’s covered

He’s leaving amid controversy, but really, with the prospect of $24m worth of Woolies shares lining his pockets, might exiting Banducci even care that his reputation’s been somewhat sullied at the finish line?

Margin Call’s back of the envelope calculations reveal the retail chief, who will leave the supermarket giant in September after what will be eight-and-a-half years at the helm, has already accumulated fully-paid shares in the $44bn corporation that could be worth $10.6m.

Based on his most recent share disclosures to the market (made last November), Banducci, 59, also has share rights that are not subject to any performance hurdles that at today’s trading price would be worth $1.8m.

Banducci, who has worked at Woolies since 2011 and been the boss since February 2016, also has a package of 351,743 rights that will vest if performance measures are met. Those rights could be worth in the order of $12m — a Margin Call estimate based on available information.

All up, that means the 14-year Woolies veteran is sitting on a portfolio of stock worth something like $24.4m, the value of which will change with the vagaries of the Woolies share price.

Banducci’s portfolio value, almost $8m of which is already held via a tax effective family trust, could also potentially increase as new stock is issued for his remaining six months at the helm of the $70bn-a-year Antipodean retail behemoth.

Don’t forget too the salary that Banducci gets for his final nine months of service.

In the 2023 financial year, his total remuneration was $8.6m. Pro-rata that could mean $6.5m for the current period.

All sweet comfort amid the current negative affect that’s unfolding towards the boss.

How good is a soft landing.

Money man

It’s that time of the year when ego-fuelled sports administrators spruik their respective codes’ financial results towards grabbing headlines and establishing supremacy over rivals.

All pretty predictable really, with NRL boss Peter V’landys the master of trash talk and self- promotion – all in the interests of league, of course.

This week V’landys declared his competition the biggest and best, with the NRL way out in front of the now Andrew Dillon-led AFL.

“To be honest, we are already the number one sport. AFL is number two,” V’landys this week exclusively told our News colleagues Peter Badel and Fatima Kdouh. “They are behind us, despite what they think.”

NRL boss Peter V’landys: ‘We are already the number one sport. AFL is number two.’

Both codes have been distributing their FY2023 financial results to clubs in the lead up to their annual meetings. As the facts bear out, Dillon’s Aussie Rules has been the largest code in the country for some time.

ARLC revenue in FY23 was $701.1m. The AFL was already ahead of that number in FY22 when revenue amounted to $944.4m. Revenue in the past year was $1.06bn, albeit $108m of which was the final instalment of state government funding for the redevelopment of Marvel Stadium. So much for V’landys’ claims that the NRL has dethroned the AFL as Australia’s number one sport.

“They are remarkable numbers – no other sport is near us,” V’landys went on.

“The other sports are battling, but the NRL has never been in a better spot. We are celebrating record revenues.”

At least V’landys is ambitious. “We will get to $1bn in revenue,” he said. “We won’t do it next year, but my aim is to get us to the $1bn mark and I have no doubt we can continue to grow.”

Until we see the codes’ respective annual reports, it’s a bit harder to compare profit.

V’landys has disclosed a FY23 operating surplus of $58.2m. This could compare with what the AFL has said was its underlying operating surplus of $27.7m, but the key word is “underlying” and what costs may or may not have been extracted to arrive at the bottom line. Neither code was prepared to be more specific when it came to earnings.

V’landys is also boasting of his $260m in net assets, bolstered by the purchase of three properties, including Brisbane’s Gambaro Hotel near Suncorp Stadium.

Even on that measure the AFL is ahead with net assets of $441m FY23.

No grandstanding, however, from the league boss when it comes to the pay of his fellow commissioners, with the ARLC asking members at its annual meeting next month to approve an increase in commissioners’ aggregate pay from $750,000 to $1.2m.

AFL commissioners don’t get paid, but do receive an annual $20,000 honorarium, which is donated to a director’s charity choice. Nice touch