Suncorp ‘lolly’ coming early next year

Suncorp shareholders will have to wait a bit longer for promised cash flowing from the $4.9bn sale of the insurance group’s banking business to ANZ.

Suncorp boss Steve Johnston lifts annual profit.

Suncorp shareholders will have to wait a bit longer for promised lolly from the $4.9bn sale of its banking business to ANZ.

Announcing an 11.7 per cent increase in annual profits to $1.19bn on Monday, Suncorp boss Steve Johnston told investors they would enjoy a showering of dividends and buybacks next year.

Suncorp has enjoyed a relatively benign period with subdued natural catastrophe losses coupled with price rises for insurance policies helping the bottom line.

One sore point was Queensland’s compulsory third party (CTP) insurance scheme, with Suncorp booking a $39m onerous contract provision for its CTP business.

Rival insurers NRMA and RACQ pulled out of the scheme last year, with Johnston noting the CTP program had become dysfunctional.

Suncorp is expected to return most of the $4.1 billion in net sale proceeds from the bank sale to shareholders via capital returns.

Of that about $1 billion will go to its more than 158,000 mum and dad retail shareholders - almost half of them Queenslanders - by way of share consolidations and a fully franked special dividend.

Johnston says the returns will probably occur in the first quarter of next year after shareholder approval is sought at the insurer’s annual general meeting in October and other regulatory issues are dealt with.

He says about 90 per cent of the return will be in the form a share consolidation with the remaining being a special dividend.

Johnston, who has been showered with kudos since helming the sale of the bank to ANZ, says he’s happy to stay in the CEO role, telling City Beat he is relishing the challenges ahead.

Hair raising

Sanctuary Cove was the place to be for a bad hair day last week. More than 120 franchisees from national salon chain Price Attack, along with support staff and haircare suppliers descended for the first national conference since the end of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Price Attack chief executive John Pascoe says that while online meetings helped fill the gaps during the pandemic, nothing beats the coming together of people to connect.

The conference had an international flair with product manufacturer AG Care chief executive Graham Fraser flying out from Vancouver.

Price Attack Orion franchisee Jenny Chapman picks up major award.

The haircare sector in Australia is worth $2bn and growing at nearly 5 per cent with Price Attack on a growth trajectory sitting in the top two providers in the country. Springfield Orion Price Attack’s Jenny Chapman was awarded franchisee of the year – scooping the pool with three awards including salon of the year.

Sharing their success with charity partner Friends with Dignity, a not for profit assisting survivors of domestic violence with refuge and crisis centres, chief executive Manuela Whitford was in tears as the group raised close to $30,000 at their charity auction.

Property hire

Gadens partner John Nicolas has been appointed to the Property Council of Australia’s Queensland division council. A retail leasing specialist, Nicolas has spent the past eight years on the Property Council’s Queensland retail committee lending his expertise and knowledge to a variety of commercial and advocacy opportunities. As a recognised industry expert Nicolas has chaired and presented at numerous conferences throughout his career and is often called to consult on regulatory and industry issues.