And the gong goes to . . . Google
ENTITY OF THE YEAR
Google Australia romps away with this prize. It managed to pay $74,176 in tax on its $1 billion in revenue (or $2 billion, the accounts are a tad unclear) and should upgrade its motto instantly from "Don't be Evil" to "Don't be Good Either".
This 0.0001 tax rate was an increase over last year, so there may have been a slippage in its Australian earnings before they became royalties paid from a Dutch subsidiary to a holding company in Bermuda. Or perhaps Google was just keen to do some non-evil, seeing as its chief executive, Nick Leeder, had exhorted Canberra to expend more taxpayer dollars on developing a "silicon beach" in Australia - besides that $50 billion on the NBN, naturally.
BEST REGULATOR
This year the Australian Electricity Regulator was hard to beat, presiding as it did over another nosebleed rise in power bills. Yet for sheer oversight the prudential regulator was unsurpassed. APRA gets the award for somehow permitting a teetering debenture company to prance about for years with the letters "bank" in its name. In October, Banksia bit the dust owing $660 million to 15,000 hapless investors.
PRESENTATION
Our old darling Energy World Corporation is the most robust of contenders in this category, having filed to the ASX an inimitable pictorial collection. It has become de rigueur for EWC to show a surfeit of photographs in the investor updates of its chief executive, Stewart Elliott, and his trusty finance man, Brian Allen, canoodling with official looking people and standing atwixt large industrial-looking apparatus.
The one that takes the gong is this year's AGM presentation. If you look carefully, the helicopter on which Brian and Stewart embark at the beginning of the trip to an alleged LNG terminal site has a blue tail. However, the helicopter from which they alight at the end of that journey is distinguished by a white tail.
Stewart and Brian "depart for site", says slide six. Stewart and Brian "arrived at Keera site", notes the caption on slide nine. One can only surmise that the helicopter had been repainted midair above the jungles of Papua New Guinea or Brian and Stewart have - readers please conjure up the Mission: Impossible theme song here - changed aircraft mid-flight on the way to the site.
There are still no signs of those many elusive LNG facilities for which shareholders have been pining.
INVESTMENT BANK
Arthur Phillip has been without peer. The boutique bank had never achieved the accolades it deserved - until the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings, that is.
Such is the flair of Arthur Phillip that it brokered a deal where, with absolutely no crooked connections to the mines department whatsoever, it turned a $1 million investment into a $500 million coal asset in a few months.
Not only that, but it structured the deal so the Obeid family's involvement in the transaction was hidden without Arthur Phillip's bankers even knowing how it happened.
THE LAZARUS
This is an eagerly fought award. The winner is consumer advocacy group Choice, which had been run for a few years by ASIC commissioner Peter Kell.
Kell is now back at the regulator but look who is remaking Choice: former Macquarie Bank boss Allan Moss and the former ASIC chairman turned vigneron and liquidator Tony D'Aloisio.
Choice's funds had been running a tad thin. They needed to reinvent. So last year they announced they would embrace the financial planning space - licensed, of course.
A month ago, Choice revealed it would become the peak consumer body for banking and so on. It would be funded by none other than Allan and Tony, who plonked $5 million on the table, only to have that matched with a cool $5 million grant from the Treasury.
Tony has now joined "the new black" in insolvency, PPB. Allan works with Anchorage, a group that helps orphans ("orphans are non-strategic businesses of larger corporations") and "fallen angels" such as Golden Circle, Sunbeam Victa and Wormald.
Consumers can brace for a lot more Choice.
INNOVATION
The innovation award goes to insolvency practitioner RSM Bird Cameron, which allegedly deployed Hells Angels to remove trucks and other equipment from the liquidation of Viking Trucks. A novel logistics solution indeed.
DEAL OF THE YEAR
The board of Billabong strived to win this one, batting away private equity bids at $3.30 a share and later $1.45, and raising capital on the way down.
Then, of course, there was the $1.65 billion bid for David Jones by the hitherto unknown EB Private Equity, whose principal John Edgar was found, after a 20 per cent spike in DJs shares, to be lucky to scrape together 1.65 million cents.
But those deals were never to pass. One which did was struck by our dearly beloved opposition, News Ltd, which forked out a historic P/E ratio of 127 times earnings for Alan Kohler's Eureka Report and Business Spectator.
This deal by News Ltd's man at the ABC - Kohler - was even more impressive as the very same Murdoch/ABC finance guru had issued this equally historic:
CALL OF THE YEAR
On December 19 last year: "Correction warning IMPORTANT: I believe the conditions are in place for another major panic sell-off on the sharemarket ... On Monday I will be significantly reducing my already reduced exposure to equities possibly to zero."
Alas, it's up 12 per cent.
Merry Christmas to all.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
According to the article, Google Australia reported paying just $74,176 in tax on about $1 billion (or possibly $2 billion) of revenue — an effective tax rate the piece described as roughly 0.0001. For everyday investors, that raises governance and reputational questions: aggressive tax arrangements (including routing royalties through Dutch and Bermuda entities, as suggested in the article) can attract public and regulatory scrutiny that may affect a company’s operating environment and investment risk.
The article highlights that APRA allowed a debenture company to operate with the word “bank” in its name before Banksia collapsed, leaving about $660 million owing to 15,000 investors. For investors, this episode underscores the importance of checking product structures and regulator protections — name use and perceived regulation aren’t substitutes for due diligence on credit risk and the legitimacy of investments.
The article mocked Energy World Corporation’s over-the-top AGM slides — notably a continuity error where a helicopter’s tail colour changed — and noted there were still no visible LNG facilities despite shareholder promises. Shareholders should be alert to presentation theatrics that might mask a lack of operational progress and insist on clear, verifiable milestones for major projects before relying on management imagery.
The article described Arthur Phillip brokering a deal that turned a reported $1 million investment into a $500 million coal asset in a few months and said the structure hid involvement by the Obeid family. For investors, such descriptions flag potential conflicts of interest and opacity in transaction structures — remind yourself to probe how deals are sourced, who benefits and whether disclosures are adequate.
Per the article, Choice — previously run by an ASIC commissioner — is being remade with backing from Allan Moss and Tony D’Aloisio, who contributed $5 million that was matched by a $5 million Treasury grant, and the group plans to expand into licensed financial planning and banking advocacy. For consumers and investors, the change suggests Choice will play a higher-profile role in financial services debates; investors should monitor how funded advocacy influences policy and consumer protections.
The article awarded RSM Bird Cameron an “innovation” prize for allegedly using Hells Angels to remove trucks and equipment from the Viking Trucks liquidation. While anecdotal, it highlights that liquidations can involve messy asset recoveries and legal risks — investors in companies or debentures exposed to insolvency scenarios should be aware of recovery uncertainty and potential reputational issues tied to receivers and their methods.
The article noted Billabong rebuffed private equity takeover bids at $3.30 and later $1.45 a share while raising capital as its share price fell. It also referenced a $1.65 billion bid for David Jones by EB Private Equity that ultimately did not proceed. For investors, these examples show how takeover speculation, defensive actions and capital raisings can dramatically affect share prices and shareholder value — always consider timing, board decisions and dilution risk.
The article reported News Ltd paid an historically high P/E ratio of about 127 times earnings for Alan Kohler’s Eureka Report and Business Spectator. It also quoted Kohler’s Dec. 19 warning that conditions were in place for a major panic sell-off and that he would reduce equity exposure — a call that, the article notes, was followed by a 12% rise in the market. The takeaway for investors: sensational deals and market-timing calls can be headline-grabbing but don’t replace disciplined, long-term investment planning.
Call 1300 880 160
Start a chat
Schedule a call
