Eat, drink, make merry as the shares slide
A FEW guests at Friday's Million Dollar Lunch function at Crown's Palladium Ballroom quipped that not much work would be happening in Melbourne's boardrooms during the day, given the number of business heavyweights gathered at the event.
A FEW guests at Friday's Million Dollar Lunch function at Crown's Palladium Ballroom quipped that not much work would be happening in Melbourne's boardrooms during the day, given the number of business heavyweights gathered at the event.At $1000 a plate, Melbourne's business community dug deep and raised $1.2million for the KOALA Foundation, which helps with the support and care of kids with cancer and their families.Surnames such as Grollo, Pratt, Fox, Waislitz , Gudinski, Fahour, Korda, Casey and Butterss could be found on the philanthropic guest list, often in multiples.Foster's Group provided booze for the event, but Full Disclosure couldn't help but note that there was one spare chair almost all afternoon at the company's table. We tried to see if there was a name card for one Trevor O'Hoy, but with no luck.While Melbourne's business elite supped at a six-hour feast, prepared by chefs including Neil Perry, Jacques Reymond and Philippe Mouchel, the sharemarket duly tumbled.Guests at the Foster's table logged some hefty BlackBerry time during the lunch. When they left the office, Foster's was trading at $5.06 a share. By the time the entrees arrived, at 12.52pm, the share price had dipped to $4.83.The news wasn't much better when the Wagyu beef arrived for the main course, with the share price at $4.87. At least it rose a tad before dessert, to finish at $4.90 a share. That might have been on news that there were a few remaining cases of the top-shelf Wolf Blass wine Foster's had supplied for the lunch.Foster's woes pale when compared with the afternoon of NAB's Ahmed Fahour, who was siting at the Grollo table.When the chief of the NAB's Australian operations was still at the office, the share price opened down a whopping 9% at $27.94. The previous day's close was $30.70.It was downhill from there. By the time the entrees arrived, NAB's share price was heading towards $26. When the mains hit the table, it was $25.80.By the time Eddie McGuire was rushing through his charity auction duties, to direct guests to the bar, any NAB shareholders in the room needed a drink - the closing price was $25.56, down 13.5%.The market crash may also explain why this year's Million Dollar Lunch raised $300,000 less than last year's, held in the final days of the bull run.It's also worth noting that, on a day when the KOALA Foundation raised $1.2 million, Foster's shareholders ped $320 million and NAB a whopping $7 billion. That could certainly affect digestion.Maybe a few should have taken a leaf out of the book of Vodafone's boss for Victoria and Tasmania, Paul Guerra. His company has lost $31.5million amid the Bill Express saga, which it will wipe off the bottom line.That didn't stop Guerra from being the top bidder for the day, after he splashed $250,000 on an advertising and promotion package with Fairfax Media.Maybe Bill Express hasn't drained the kitty as much as first thought.Poison emailBANKS and rumours. Amid a global credit crunch, there's no end to the number circulating.The latest focuses on Queensland's Suncorp-Metway, and suggests that the bank and insurance group has pulled the pin on lending for "vehicles, plant and equipment" through its national network of finance brokers.One Melbourne-based broking firm, which lists Suncorp as a major source of finance, even sent an email to staff stating that "Suncorp is now no longer in a position to do any new lending at all. Existing approvals will be honoured but not broad lines of credit. Escrows in progress, residuals and rollovers will be funded. This goes for all brokers, and they are unsure how long this will last."Problem is, Suncorp says the rumour is completely untrue, and has spent the better part of the weekend trying to kill it. "I'd like to see those emails," said Suncorp spokeswoman Michelle Barry."The fact is that there is no credence to this. Look at the APRA figures for the past two months and you will see that there is no truth to this. Just two weeks ago Standard & Poor's reaffirmed our A rating."Suncorp provides the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority with three liquidity disclosure reports at the end of each month.So what is the cause of the rumour? Given problems with the shorting of bank stocks in the US and Britain in recent times, mostly on the back of rumour campaigns, it's little wonder the emails about Suncorp have caused concerns. Suncorp doesn't report until August 26, which gives potential shorters four weeks to manipulate the share price.Barry refused to be drawn on whether the bank suspects market manipulation."I will say we are deeply troubled by this," she said. "We are aware that the rumours and the emails have been circulating since late last week, and we are certainly taking action to try and identify the source of the rumours."Qantas woesSOMETIMES you just can't help bad timing. Merely hours before the exploding gas bottle woes of the national carrier, Unisys put out a news release titled "Qantas ranked as one of the world's most trusted airlines by Asia-Pacific air travellers".The Unisys Trusted Enterprise study, released on Friday, even included a line from Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon."Qantas has built its trusted reputation, both in Asia-Pacific and globally, through the commitment and focus we as an airline have put on safety, security and customer service. In a region where the number of low-cost carriers is rapidly increasing, the trust in our brand plays a critical role in our competitive differentiation," Dixon said.They must be less superstitious at Qantas these days - in 1988 the airline refused to screen the film Rain Man as part of its in-flight entertainment, because of a line from Dustin Hoffman's character that "Qantas doesn't crash".YOUR chance to be connected.Come across any corporate stupidity or serendipity? Contact Full Disclosure.mhawthorne@theage.com.au
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