Veteran developer Kevin Seymour has faith in property

Forget the property downturn. Kevin Seymour laughs and asks for “a youth pill” so he can get restarted in the industry.

Kevin Seymour of the Seymour Group. Picture: AAP

Forget the property downturn. Kevin Seymour laughs and asks for “a youth pill” so he can get restarted in the industry, so excited is he about the long-term outlook for the residential market.

Kevin Seymour

• Age: 78
• Lives: Brisbane
• Net worth: $874 million
• Source: Seymour Group, property development
• Secrets of success: Sticking to Queensland but also diversifying into many stocks.

A doyen of the Queensland property scene, his Seymour Group has been so successful at developing and owning a mixture of residential, commercial and industrial assets over more than four decades in the business that he claims he’s “not had one project that’s gone sour”.

He is also a prominent member of the inaugural edition of The List — Australia’s Richest 250, published in this Saturday’s Weekend Australian in a special magazine, and is one of 68 people on the list who have made their money in property.

Yet, while house prices slip this year after a dipping in 2018, Seymour tells The Australian the fundamentals of the sector should remain strong for developers, as long as they are building in the right location.

“I don’t believe these prophets of doom are right,” he said.

“If the population increases by 30 per cent in the next 20 odd years, how are we going to house these people? This country has enormous growth potential. If I was a young person today like my grandkids, I’d say to not take any notice about the people who want to be negative about markets.

“If all the projections are right, the population of Queensland will increase by 30-40 per cent by 2040. That’s going to put an enormous strain on residential living or apartments close to the city. The only way we’re going to cater for the population increase is not to send people out in the suburbs or to create more traffic chaos.”

Seymour said his group was careful to “only build on rivers, parks and areas regarded as top end locations” and only close to central locations. Not “in the suburbs or in North Queensland”.

Seymour also admitted to diversifying his portfolio.

“Some developers just buy properties and develop things with no regard for the future. I have a different view,” he said.

So enthusiastic is Seymour about the stock market that he once set up a funds management business, only for his plans to be scuppered by the 2008 global financial crisis.

But Seymour still has a substantial stake in the listed gaming company Tabcorp as a result of its 2018 merger with Tatts Group, the lotteries company he was once a director of. Tabcorp shares are up 9 per cent this year.

Seymour also has shares in companies ranging from developer Ariadne Australia, which has tracked sideways this year, to junior oil and gas explorer Blue Energy, which is up 19 per cent since January 1, poultry company Inghams Group and Sigma Healthcare, up 2 per cent and down 4 per cent respectively.

But the stock he is most excited about is online lottery ticket seller Jumbo Interactive, which has surged by 94 per cent since January 1 to make it one of the best performers on the ASX.

“I think Jumbo’s a great investment. When you look at the fundamentals of Jumbo you can see there’s some great growth there. It’s a reseller of online lotteries and as the sale of online lotteries increase, so does Jumbo’s profit.”

Stocks are just one of five assets Seymour has his fortune spread over.

“We always keep a lot of cash on hand. We are very large investors in the stock market. We have a good development business. The fourth arm is that we lend to other developers and [we have] a substantial lending book,” he said.

“The fifth leg is oil and gas [which] is one of the things we’ve done over the last eight to 10 years. We have a petrol permit in the Eramonga Basin, a large number of gas permits and quite a few coal permits. We continue to keep ourselves in good company. With the coal, we’re in a 50/50 joint venture with Queensland Coal investments — which is Gina Rinehart’s company.”

At the age of 78, Seymour admitted he had turned his attention to succession planning.

“My term in business is certainly slowing down and will come to an end over the next few years. I’m trying to teach my grandkids how to be successful in business and how to make money,” he said

“I don’t want to die wondering. I don’t want to die with a big pot of money not knowing if they can manage it.”

The inaugural edition of The List — Australia’s Richest 250, will be published in The Weekend Australian this Saturday, March 30.