$15m for Harvey Norman co-founder

Filings lodged with the corporate regulator show Dimbulu paid a $14.6 million dividend in 2009 to its only shareholder, a private company controlled by Ian Norman and his wife Shirley.

Mr Norman, who remains a non-executive director of Harvey Norman and its second-largest shareholder with a stake worth some $630 million, received a $17.9 million dividend the previous year.

Dimbulu, which operates as Mr Norman's family private investment company, reported a net profit of $20.9 million in 2009, down from $23 million in 2008, earning its income from a steady stream of dividends, distributions and interest.

While most of the revenue comes from dividends payable on Dimbulu's 175 million Harvey Norman shares, the accounts show the Normans also had a sizeable investment portfolio. Among investments are $5 million of shares in Westpac and $2 million worth of shares in each of Paperlinx, Commonwealth Bank and IAG.

Dimbulu's accounts also detail two unsecured loans as "non-current receivables" to Harvey Norman directors John Slack-Smith and David Ackery.

Mr Slack-Smith, an executive director of Harvey Norman, has an unsecured loan at call payable with interest to Dimbulu worth $5.3 million, up from $5 million the previous year. Mr Ackery, also a Harvey Norman executive director, has a $1.5 million loan, down slightly from the previous year. The interest terms on the loan are not disclosed.

Mr Norman was ranked number 90 in last year's BRW Rich List.

For his part, Mr Harvey's stake in Harvey Norman would have earned him $34 million in dividends last year, a million-dollar executive chairman's salary, plus the near $2 million in dividends earned by his wife, the chief executive Katie Page, and her $1.3 million salary.

Mr Harvey was ranked 24 on last year's BRW Rich List.