'Unreserved apology' from CTM chief as $162m refund bill threatens to wipe out cash

What started as a routine audit change has exposed Corporate Travel Management as potentially having "more cockroaches in the kitchen" than any company analysts monitor.

Corporate Travel Management founder and managing director Jamie Pherous.

So Corporate Travel founder and managing director Jamie Pherous has issued an “unreserved apology” for the absolute mess that the Brisbane-based company is in.

His mea culpa on behalf of the company comes in the wake of an update following the discovery of auditing errors dating back years and a trading halt since August 22 which is expected to continue into 2026 if the financial regulator agrees.

Saying sorry is OK but it would be enough for the thousands of shareholders currently on the CTM white knuckle ride?.

It all started to unravel for Pherous (illustrated) and CTM after Deloitte took over the audit from PricewaterhouseCoopers’ which had signed off on its results for the last 14 years.

The business travel specialists – with a valuation of $2.35bn – then engaged KPMG to sort it out and it continues to assess some 47,000 documents and data analysis of over 1.5 million sales.

CTM’s chief executive for UK and Europe has stood down on full pay and the company told shareholders on Friday that a review process was under way to determine the exact amount of customer refunds, that is expects to be in the vicinity of $162m.

Corporate Travel Management founder and managing director Jamie Pherous.

What a mess. But the company has been accumulating plenty of red flags over the years so it’s no surprise to many market watchers.

Chief investment officer at GCQ Funds Management Doug Tynan says he first shone a light on what he described as the “shenanigans” at CTM back in 2018.

“As well as a host of accounting red flags, our 176-page presentation showcased questionable claims of patented technology and a global office network that was hugely overstated,” he says.

“Seven years later, the misrepresentations have only become more egregious. For a while there, Corporate Travel was claiming its European business had higher margins than MasterCard. It just didn’t add up.

“We never believed a word of that. Those European margins will look a lot different after customer refunds evaporate the entirety of the company’s $148m cash balance, and the bean counters are still hard at work.

“There is never only one cockroach in the kitchen. Corporate Travel ticks more boxes on our GCQ Fraud Checklist than any other company we look at. My guess is that today’s update is just the beginning.”

And more might be revealed with another CTM update due on 19 December.

Bucket list

Haymes Paint Shop has supercharged its commitment to blue-collar counselling service TIACS to encourage Aussie tradies to ‘spill ya bucket’ on mental health.

For every eye-catching green touch-up bucket sold, Haymes Paint Shop will donate to TIACS, helping to ensure they can continue to provide free counselling services.

The Haymes Paint Shop network of 59 stores has set a $10,000 fundraising target for TIACS at a time when demand for its free and confidential phone and text counselling services is soaring.

Haymes Paint director Matt Haymes says they are proud to support TIACS for a fourth

year, helping to make a real difference to the mental wellbeing of those in the painting and broader blue-collar industries.

“It’s vital that trade painters don’t brush off their mental health, and the Haymes Paint Shop

partnership with TIACS, helps ensure they get the mental health support they need, when they need it,” he says.

Originally published as 'Unreserved apology' from CTM chief as $162m refund bill threatens to wipe out cash