Secrets of Australia’s most reclusive richlisters finally revealed
The inner workings and business dealings of some of Australia’s more mysterious and elusive billionaires and richlisters can now be laid bare.
The secrets of some of the more mysterious and elusive billionaires and richlisters can now be revealed.
All thanks to some changes to the Corporations Act in late 2022.
The inner workings and business dealings of some of the biggest names and privately owned corporations in Australia had previously been exempt from lodging annual financial reports with the corporate regulator under what was meant to be a temporary plan first put in place by the Keating government in 1995.
That loophole was finally closed by federal parliament in 2022 with hundreds of so-called “grandfathered large proprietary companies” having their exemptions from Australian Securities & Investments Commission reporting requirements ended.
It has resulted in a slew of fiscal documents and extensive annual reports lodged with ASIC for the first time regarding the most recent 2023 financial year.
The documents show huge revenue and profit numbers for some of the nation’s biggest and well-known companies and brands, and details of extensive assets and holdings.
Here are the details of some of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs and families for the first time:
Ray White
Chairman Brian White
Some insight into the inner workings of the huge real estate group chaired by Brian White was finally gained with the financial report lodged by a company called Group Administration Australia in October.
Owned by White and his family, the company is their central holding in Ray White. It made a net profit of $26m in 2023, after a $42m result in the previous year. Revenue dropped from $178m to $15m. The White family received about $33m in dividends over the two most recent financial years.
Even bigger in revenue terms at least is mortgage aggregator Loan Market Group, also controlled by the White family. LMG’s most recent financial report, for the year to June 30, 2022, shows net revenue of $1.38bn and a $3.5m pre-tax profit, down from a $30.5m profit in 2021.
Fletcher Group
Founder Roger Fletcher
Fletcher is an agriculture industry legend, building the family business from Dubbo in western NSW into a globally focused exporter. He has even built his own train to take his lamb and sheep processed meat from Dubbo to Port Botany in Sydney for export.
Now we know just how huge Fletcher Group is after a slew of financial documents were lodged by the business last year.
The latest financial report is for 2022, showing net profit of $107m from $1.1bn revenue. About $885m worth of sheep products were sold for the year, and another $219m in grain sales.
There are $301m in net assets on the Fletcher balance sheet, including $172m in property, plant and equipment.
Manildra Group
Chairman Dick Honan
It is only recently that details of Honan’s huge flour manufacturing empire have come to light. In 2023, his GOTW Pty Ltd, the company that lodged a financial report for Manildra, showed a $203m net profit, from $2.3bn in revenue.
Honan and his family received a $20m dividend for the year. Manildra’s four mills in NSW process more than 1 million tonnes of wheat a year. The business also has facilities in the US.
Jayco
Founder Gerry Ryan
The caravans king has long been a generous backer of many sporting teams, ranging from his part-ownership of the NRL’s Melbourne Storm, professional cycling outfit Team Jayco-AlUla and women’s basketball side Southside Flyers.
That is all due to the profits Jayco, the caravans manufacturer Ryan started in 1975, makes every year. Financial accounts lodged by Jayco Holdings in 2023 showed yearly revenue of $561m for the 2022 financial year, from which the business made EBITDA of about $75m.
Myer family
Chairman Sidney Myer
Myer Family Investments is a diversified investment house and the family’s primary business given its links to the Myer department chain that is synonymous with the Myer name are long gone.
It reveals the billions that are invested in the Myer name these days.
Chaired by Sidney Myer and run by CEO John Russell, MFI had a net asset value of almost $1.51bn at June 30, according to its 2023 annual report, up from $1.41bn a year earlier.
MFI made a statutory net profit of $107m, including big gains on the value of its assets and $23m in dividend and distribution income.
It has about $104m worth of investment properties on its balance sheet, $173m in listed equities and about $1.3bn in unlisted company shareholdings. MFI also has no borrowings.
WIN Television
Deputy chair Bruce Gordon
Light has been shone on the until-now private financial affairs of billionaire Bruce Gordon’s regional broadcaster WIN Corporation, revealing that it has not been immune to the headwinds buffeting the media sector.
The financial accounts of WIN, deputy chaired by the 94-year-old, Bermuda-based Gordon, show that WIN turned over $200m for the year to June 30, 2023, down from $207m the previous year.
The company reported a net profit of $8.3m, down 39 per cent on the previous year. WIN did not pay a dividend in the most recent two financial years.
Toga Group
Owners Ervin and Charlotte Vidor
Ervin Vidor and his family have built a hotel and property development empire, shown in the sheer scale of Toga in its 2023 financial report. Toga has $1.16bn in net assets on its balance sheet, including $102m in cash and $814m in property, plant and equipment. Its investment in the Toga Hotel group joint venture with Far East Hospitality is worth $395m.
The group had $145m in revenue, including construction, hotel and property management income, but made an $11m loss for the year. Toga management noted its development and construction business was hit by higher costs and that it had 12 per cent vacancy across its commercial property portfolio.
Winten Group
Founder Garry Rothwell
Property and cattle have proved profitable ventures for Rothwell, who started his development business in 1972. Winten’s 2023 financial accounts show a $37m net profit from $284m revenue. Winten has about $2bn worth of property projects planned or under way, and has a 60 per cent stake in the Southern Australian International Livestock Services business that exports livestock around the world.
PGA Group
Founder Peter Gunn
Having made his fortune with transport services firm Cubico, Gunn’s private investment firm PGA now owns commercial property assets, trucking and transport firms, and a diverse range of other holdings such as a stake in indoor trampoline business Bounce and the Arthurs Seat Eagle gondola ride service on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
PGA made a $69m net operating profit in 2023, and it has more than $1.2bn net assets on its balance sheet. That includes about $819m in listed equities.
Coogee Chemicals
Exec director Gordon Martin
Having earned a chemical engineering degree, Martin tried making copper sulphate using scrap copper, but a farmer-owned company called Coogee Chemicals beat him to it. But when it went broke in 1971, Martin bought 45 per cent and later took control. As well as making chemicals, Coogee has tank terminals and transport and chemicals handling divisions. Its 2023 accounts show a $37m net profit – the same as in 2022 – from $339m revenue.
Olbia
Co-founders the Salteri family
The Salteri family co-founded Transfield in 1956 with the Belgiorno-Nettis family, before the company was split. The Salteris took the defence contracting operations into their Tenix, with Tenix Defence sold to BAE Systems in 2008 for $775m. The rest of the company’s assets were sold to Downer EDI in 2014 for $300m. The Salteri family fortune is now found in property, infrastructure and private equity assets managed via their Olbia, which has more than $1bn assets on its balance sheet – including $517m in cash and $138m equities.
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