4 Corners 29 Jun 2020 Aviation
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[QUOTE=Vorsicht;10826336]There was a good interview with JB a few years back. He was presenting to a forum at Sydney uni I think. Anyway, at one point he went on to speak with great pride how his father used to challenge him to sell a specific dish to customers in his restaurant when he was a boy. Usually the steak because it was the most expensive. JB spoke with great pride about the lessons he learnt about selling people something they didn’t really want. And that really is all you need to know about JB, In his own words, he’s pretty much just a salesman, and a damn good one. So good he managed to con multiple major airlines into tipping billions into a loss making business, he conned his board into believing he knew what he was doing, for a period he conned his employees as well, and he definitely conned the media during his tenure. Only one person called him out and that was Chris Luxon, when all the time he was just an upstart mailboy with some sales experience. He used to take great pride in telling anyone that would listen that he only had high school education. He truly was an imposter, that pulled the wool,over everyone’s eyes for 10 years.[/QUOTE
interview happens to be sponsored by Deloitte in 2013
interview happens to be sponsored by Deloitte in 2013
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Just too much static/crap around what he's saying - so can't be bothered reading.
Maybe it's just me!
Cheers
Section 28- BE seems to type in the manner that a pontificating geriatric English public school tw@t who has just consumed 3 bottles of Wine would speak, i.e. drunken stream of nonsense.
But that's just my take.
But that's just my take.
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Section28's a unique individual and that should be admired in todays society. The posts are cerebrally stimulating and quite refreshing, especially from some of the narcissistic diatribe posted on here.
Basically what S28 was saying:
S28 wasn't going to say much, because S28 was afraid it might offend some people. S28's question was in relation to the conduct of the Board RE: Legal Obligations/Compliance and, if there could be a case for 'Misconduct' to be put forward to the Court by the Creditors.
Happy to interpret
Basically what S28 was saying:
S28 wasn't going to say much, because S28 was afraid it might offend some people. S28's question was in relation to the conduct of the Board RE: Legal Obligations/Compliance and, if there could be a case for 'Misconduct' to be put forward to the Court by the Creditors.
Happy to interpret
The Board didn’t have the guts to bone borghetti because they couldn’t without a fight. Borghetti was a Director. He had a right to full information on everything and authority to attend and vote at all meetings. He had shareholder backing which is why he was on the Board. He was an effing Director, NOT an employee of the company. To remove him if he didn’t want to go would have required the Board to lobby the shareholders, get the votes to requisition a special general meeting, call for nominations, probably for all positions and get the shareholder to vote JB down. The name for that is a #$#@ fight and it would have has to be done in the full glare of publicity which wouldn’t do morale or revenue much good either.
non -state Actor, true. The buck really does stop with the directors. They have to deal with whatever comes up. A public fight over Borghetti would have stuffed the company share price anyway. Fights like that are very rare because of the damage they do. That is why you need to be extremely careful of what you are getting into when you are offered a Board seat and be ready to vote with your feet if you don’t like what’s going on. Only one guy from the ANZ had the brains to see where this was heading and the balls to leave.
EB and the rest are wishing they never heard of the airline because there are few excuses for what happened in my opinion. Borghetti should never have been a Director.
My Board beat the crap out of me on a number of occasions in the process of educating me about what my job was and how it’s different from their job. Pity no one taught EB the same lesson.
EB and the rest are wishing they never heard of the airline because there are few excuses for what happened in my opinion. Borghetti should never have been a Director.
My Board beat the crap out of me on a number of occasions in the process of educating me about what my job was and how it’s different from their job. Pity no one taught EB the same lesson.
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Rumour on the legal street is that the Board and Scurrah are being lined up over the November bond raising for misleading and deceptive conduct over the financial representations they made to investors. The real situation of the accounts was not properly disclosed. Watch this space...
As opposed to rewarding good behavior, like bailing out a foreign owned and controlled airline who claimed they were a day or two away from bankruptcy, and then breaks the law by announcing an expansion without briefing the ASX first..
... targeting a reduction of 750 corporate and head office roles, representing $75.0 million in cost saving by the end of FY20.
... This initiative will be cash flow positive to the Group for FY20.
... This initiative will be cash flow positive to the Group for FY20.
By Christmas, most of the 750 in headcount reductions, designed to shave $75 million from Virgin's cost base, will be complete.
Come late February 2020, Scurrah is announcing the worst half year results since the GFC (all pre-coronavirus). In the ASX publicity release we're told that,
The Group’s workforce reduction program remains on track to remove 750 roles from the business and annualised savings of $75.0 million by the end of FY20.
On closer inspection, buried in the notes at the bottom of the second last page of the Interim Financial Report we read
In August 2019, the Group announced a workforce reduction program, targeting 750 roles. Of these, approximately 140 employees had left the business before 31 December, the cost of which was recognised in the group's interim result. Subsequent to 31 December 2019, the group has communicated a plan which affects a further 280 employees, who will leave the business by 30 June 2020 at an estimated cost of $10.6 million. Further plans are under consideration with regards to the remaining 330 roles.
Given the numbers touted, Virgin were working on an average of $100K salary per employee being exited and around $38K per payout. For the initiative to be 'cash flow positive to the Group for FY20' they would have needed to have had the whole thing wrapped up by the end of February, early March 2020. So, so much for that commitment.
And just by the bye, that rightsizing program is touted in the VA Notes prospectus as a key element of 'Virgin's business focus'; that one program is the source of the single largest EBIT improvement for the Group. You might think that it might have been accorded some proper stewardship.
Last edited by MickG0105; 4th Jul 2020 at 02:37. Reason: Tidy up
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Why did PS purchase $100k VAH shares on market 2 weeks after VAH announced that S&P gave a negative COVID19 outlook and 5 weeks before administration. There appeared to be no reason for the purchase based on the information at hand in all media, including that media provided by VAH. Was it a confidence trick? A con? From a con man? And where was PS’ due diligence before accepting his position as CEO. Is PS angling for politics? He will get the vote from many minions at VA.
- 13 March. 'The Group currently has a cash position in excess of $1 billion' (ASX announcement)
- 18 March. 'We are well positioned to weather this storm.' (Paul Scurrah, CEO)
- 17 April. 'We are fighting to survive on a day to day basis.' (Stuart Aggs, COO)
- 21 April. 'Our board made a very courageous decision last night to put the company into voluntary administration ...' (Paul Scurrah)
If the reports that they went into administration with only around $150 million ($30 million in free cash, $120 million in restricted cash) left in the kitty are true, that's a cash burn of around $22 million a day. That is truly incandescent for a business that had stood 80 percent of its workforce down for at least half of that elapsed period; for 10 of the 39 days they were only operating two flights a day, Sydney-Melbourne return.
Based on their FY20-H1 interim report, when the business was running at full tilt, it was burning around $23 million a day so something doesn't add up there.
Last edited by MickG0105; 4th Jul 2020 at 06:34. Reason: Formatting
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Yes, and beyond the Pollyanna spin, the chronology is instructive.
If the reports that they went into administration with only around $150 million ($30 million in free cash, $120 million in restricted cash) left in the kitty are true, that's a cash burn of around $22 million a day. That is truly incandescent for a business that had stood 80 percent of its workforce down for at least half of that elapsed period; for 10 of the 39 days they were only operating two flights a day, Sydney-Melbourne return.
Based on their FY20-H1 interim report, when the business was running at full tilt, it was burning around $23 million a day so something doesn't add up there.
- 13 March. 'The Group currently has a cash position in excess of $1 billion' (ASX announcement)
- 18 March. 'We are well positioned to weather this storm.' (Paul Scurrah, CEO)
- 17 April. 'We are fighting to survive on a day to day basis.' (Stuart Aggs, COO)
- 21 April. 'Our board made a very courageous decision last night to put the company into voluntary administration ...' (Paul Scurrah)
If the reports that they went into administration with only around $150 million ($30 million in free cash, $120 million in restricted cash) left in the kitty are true, that's a cash burn of around $22 million a day. That is truly incandescent for a business that had stood 80 percent of its workforce down for at least half of that elapsed period; for 10 of the 39 days they were only operating two flights a day, Sydney-Melbourne return.
Based on their FY20-H1 interim report, when the business was running at full tilt, it was burning around $23 million a day so something doesn't add up there.
What DD did PS do before he accepted his position at the ‘doomed’ VA and what triggered him to by $100k worth of VAH shares during COVID19 and just weeks before ‘voluntary’ administration?
What triggered PS to buy $100k of VAH shares 2 weeks after VAH reported S&P’s COVID19 downgrade and 5 weeks before VA was put into administration?
What DD did PS do before he accepted his position at the ‘doomed’ VA and what triggered him to by $100k worth of VAH shares during COVID19 and just weeks before ‘voluntary’ administration?
What DD did PS do before he accepted his position at the ‘doomed’ VA and what triggered him to by $100k worth of VAH shares during COVID19 and just weeks before ‘voluntary’ administration?
He might have been backing himself to persuade the government to hand over $1.4 billion. I seem to recall that he and Keith Neate assumed control of the Velocity board in March. Some other convoluted play going on there too perhaps.