Stock Takes: Fyfe wins award for navigating through turbulence

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe won the Beacon award. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe has won the Shareholders Association's annual Beacon award.

Chairman John Hawkins said the association usually chose a director or chairman but had decided to give the award to Fyfe for "navigating Air New Zealand through some of the most turbulent times in corporate and airline history".

"Not only has Rob shown great skill in handling the financial and operational requirements of the position in what can only be described as a commercially brutal industry, but he has managed to incorporate a human face to the marketing and communications efforts that are surely the envy of most companies."

Last year jeweller Michael Hill won.

PATCH SCRAP

Pumpkin Patch's annual meeting on Tuesday could be a heated event with some high-profile shareholders calling for chairman Greg Muir to be voted off the board after his involvement with finance company failure Hanover.

Commentator Brian Gaynor, activist fund manager Paul Glass and the Shareholders Association want him removed.

But loud voices might not be enough to make a difference with large shareholders including Fisher Funds' Carmel Fisher, who owns around 6 per cent, and directors Maurice Prendergast, Sally Synnott and Chrissy Conyngham all standing behind Muir.

Muir, who was back in the country on Tuesday, did not return calls from the Herald this week to discuss the concerns raised by shareholders.

NOT ON THE CV

Muir's re-election profile in the Pumpkin Patch annual report makes interesting reading, but more for what is not in his CV than what is.

He is obviously a very busy man with chairman roles, not just at the children's clothing retailer but also for Tourism New Zealand, Pioneer Capital Management and the Blues Super franchise.

Muir is also managing director of electric fencing company Tru-test.

But one obvious omission is his role as chairman of Hanover.

He was appointed chairman in December 2005 and resigned in October 2008 - three months after Hanover Finance and sister company United Finance froze interest and principal repayments to 16,500 investors owed $554 million.

Stock Takes also notes that Muir's role at Hanover has also been omitted from his biography for his directorship role on the Eden Park Trust board.

Pumpkin Patch shares were steady yesterday at $1.85.

PAY PACKET

One question that many are asking is how much Muir got paid for his role at Hanover.

Despite raising money from the public, Hanover's accounts do not reveal how much was paid to Muir as chairman.

One source said he knew someone who had been offered the job before Muir, and had turned it down, and it was likely Muir had been offered a similar deal.

The pay packet was "significant" and also included a potential allotment of shares should Hanover list.

Some have speculated it could have been as high as $900,000. But it's likely to be one figure Muir will never be keen to talk about.

TIME WARP

Westpac's New Zealand shareholders had to wait two extra days to receive the annual report, which revealed chief executive George Frazis' record pay package of $5.59 million.

The annual report was posted on the ASX on Monday but did not make it on to the NZX until Wednesday afternoon.

A Westpac spokesman said there was no particular reason for the delay.

But it seems Westpac isn't the only bank to be tardy about filing its annual reports in New Zealand.

ANZ filed its report a day later this week while ASB, which does not have an equity listing in New Zealand but has listed debt, was the worst offender.

It waited a whole week after its parent company Commonwealth Bank of Australia filed the report on the ASX to put it up on the NZX.

BNZ was the only bank to put its report up on the same day.

An NZX spokeswoman said that under its rules overseas-listed issuers were required to give the NZX the same information on the same day that it was required by their home exchange.

But investors will remain in the dark about whether the NZX is doing anything about the delays as the stock exchange operator does not comment publicly on any specific cases or companies about which it may or may not be considering taking action.

SALARY GAP

If size of business relative to salary is anything to go by, then former ANZ New Zealand chief executive Jenny Fagg should be feeling pretty aggrieved about her salary package compared with that of Frazis.

ANZ has 32.7 per cent of the banking assets in New Zealand through its ownership of both the ANZ and National Banks while Westpac is the second largest on 19.4 per cent, according to the Banking Ombudsman's report.

But Fagg, who left ANZ at the start of September because of illness, was getting far less than her rival.

Her package for the 11 months was just $2.72 million, less than half of Frazis' $5.59 million.

Massey University banking expert David Tripe said Frazis had either done a very good job of negotiating his contract or Fagg had done a very poor job.

GOLDEN OLDIES

A record half- year result from Ryman Healthcare has failed to impress all its investors.

The retirement village operator yesterday said it had made a net profit of $52.3 million for the six months ending September 30 - up 36 per cent on the same period the previous year.

It will now pay an interim dividend of 3.4c a share up from 2.7c a share.

Ryman shares were steady yesterday at $2.16.

Mint Asset Management's Shane Solly said some shareholders might have been disappointed by the mix of what the company had sold during the period.

But Solly said the result was consistent with the past performance of the company and it continued to be an attractive investment.

Ryman completed 190 retirement village units and 117 rest home beds in the past six months and has said it is keen to expand into Australia.

Chairman David Kerr said the company was on track to achieve a target of 15 per cent growth in realised profit for the full year.

There are not many companies in New Zealand producing that kind of growth at the moment.

LONGEST WAIT

AMP's bid to take over AXA's Australian and New Zealand business finally looks as if it might go ahead after more than a year of manoeuvring for the insurance and fund manager.

The A$13.3 billion deal came a step closer yesterday after the one opposing director on AXA Asia Pacific Holdings' board caved in and agreed to support recommending it to shareholders.

The deal already has regulatory approval and appears to be just a formality now.

In New Zealand it is likely to result in an anxious wait for staff to see who will keep their jobs once the companies are merged.

There are crossovers between the companies in both investment and insurance areas of the business and AMP has already confirmed that staff cuts are likely.

ALL SMILES

Meanwhile, the folk at rival fund manager Tyndall Investment Management seem to be pretty happy about their buyout by Japanese asset manager Nikko from Australian insurer Suncorp.

Nikko doesn't have any existing business in either New Zealand or Australia so that has alleviated any consolidation concerns and the company has made the acquisition with expansion in mind.