Brett Godfrey, has announced plans to resign

Monday, 01 March 2010 00:47

Discount airline Virgin Blue’s chief executive officer, Brett Godfrey, has announced plans to resign. Mr Godfrey founded Australia’s number two carrier, with a plan written on the back of a beer coaster from a London pub during 1993. He plans to spend more time with his family. “I’ve learnt that there is more to life than devoting it to a business and I’m fortunate that I’ve done OK out of it,” Mr Godfrey said yesterday.

In other business News.

National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne yesterday confirmed that shareholders were querying the financial institution’s decision to distance itself from residential banking. NAB will instead focus on business banking and wealth management purchases. “There are concerns or interests on will we succeed with the APH (Axa Asia Pacific Holdings) transaction and what any subsequent capital raising will be,” Mr Clyne said.

Diversified company Wesfarmers’ chief executive, Richard Goyder, yesterday announced that he was happy with the Coles group turnaround. When Wesfarmers this month announced an $879 million first-half profit, the market was surprised by the growth of discount retailers Target and Kmart. “We’re well and truly on track - ahead in some areas, marginally behind in others,” Mr Goyder said.

The producer of kingfish and tuna, Clean Seas Tuna, submitted its results to the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday, resulting in a 59 percent fall in share price to A9 cents per share. Around 100 million shares were sold by close of business on the same day. Clean Seas managing director Clifford Ashby denied that the company’s $14 million loss had unnerved shareholders.

Numerous companies are rumoured to be interested in securing office space at Sydney’s proposed Barangaroo development. Major contenders are speculated to include Westpac Banking Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Citigroup. Property company Lend Lease, which won a development contract for the project, is also speculated to be keen to occupy some office space. Lend Lease chief executive Steve McCann last week said that his company had received many enquiries about commercial space at Barangaroo.

Private investment company Australian Capital Equity’s managing director, Peter Gammell, yesterday revealed that he had negotiated a deal with media mogul Kerry Stokes’ WesTrac several years ago. “The contract is a dealer-principal relationship and Caterpillar has a succession plan that goes down our organisation so to speak,” Mr Gammell said. WesTrac sells Caterpillar equipment in parts of Australia and in northern China.

Pay television company Foxtel yesterday asked the Rudd government to examine how free-to-air television businesses managed the broadcasting spectrum, and ensure that pricing schemes were not used “wastefully.” The requests came in a response to the Federal Government’s digital dividend discussion paper, which states that free-to-air networks would receive 224 megahertz of spectrum after moving to digital broadcasting by the end of 2013. “This is more spectrum than they need,” said Foxtel.

Drug maker Sigma’s chief executive, Elmo de Alwis, is expected to announce an earnings downgrade today. Sigma’s customers yesterday speculated that the business would issue its third downgrade since 2007, when the company’s shares emerge from a trading halt. My Chemist/Chemist Warehouse Group chairman Jack Gance said that Mr de Alwis was under considerable pressure.

The Australian Securities Exchange was last week inundated with results from companies attempting to meet the Friday reporting deadline. Between 5pm and 7:30pm, 99 companies sent their results to the ASX. Toy wholesaler Funtastic announced a $52.1 million net loss for the six months to the end of 2009, while scooter maker Vmoto reported a $1.4 million net profit loss for the same period.