... It portrayed her as the slayer of costs when in reality Scurrah started that process off before he was knifed by the new owners ...
Scurrah announced that he was cutting costs but failed spectacularly in achieving anything in that arena; non-fuel operating costs actually went up by over four percent when the business was meant to be cost cutting.
His list of documented "accomplishments" include:
- Paying $700 million for 35 percent of Velocity that had been sold five years earlier for $355 million.
- Funding the Velocity transaction entirely by raising debt; a $750 million notes issue at 8 percent interest (notes holders all subsequently took a bath on that). In just that single transaction he managed to send the net equity of the business underwater to the tune of over $100 million.
- Overseeing a headcount increase in the course of a 'rightsizing' program that should have been decreasing it.
- Knocking nearly 40 percent off the profitability of the domestic operation.
- Managing to spend $2.70 for every $1.00 of extra revenue gained.
- Delivering VA's worst half-year result since the GFC; that included a 42 percent reduction in EBIT margin (all pre-pandemic, mind you).