Follow the leader - but where to?
What do all these immortals have in common? They have been privileged enough to share space with two other great leaders, Woodside executives Peter Coleman and Vince Santostefano, on giant banners dominating the foyer of the gas producer's Perth headquarters.
Each enormous placard features an inspirational quote, designed no doubt to provoke Woodside's employees to ever higher peaks of achievement. For example, Curie's poster quotes her as saying: "The way of progress is neither swift nor easy." That's something those working on Woodside's gargantuan Browse project or its pantagruelian Sunrise field would already know.
There are murmurs abroad that Browse, Australia's second-biggest LNG project (after ginormous Gorgon) might not go ahead, while Sunrise has long been mired in disputes with East Timor.
The North Korean-style display apparently formed part of the "Woodside Compass", a little blue book of maxims to live by that includes aphorisms as catchy as: "We make and execute decisions in line with our business priorities and our values."
On Saturday, alas, the banners came down, leaving Woodside worker ants to struggle on as best as they can.
Fare go, guys!
IN SENATE estimates last week, competition czar Rod Sims was asked by Victorian Liberal senator Scott Ryan whether new laws against unfair contract terms have had any impact yet. Ryan was particularly interested to know if the ACCC had turned its eagle eye to refunds from large airlines.
It turns out airline ticketing policies are not a big area of focus. Unfortunate, because one of CBD's colleagues is still reeling from news it would cost $667.11 to redeem a Qantas voucher worth $475. Yes, $667.11 on top of the fare paid.
The problem is the ticket was originally booked in the spouse's name. Here's how one of chief Qantas pilot Alan Joyce's helpful staff broke it down: a $65 change fee plus a $40 local service fee plus an $80 name change fee plus $482.11 to upgrade the original saver-fare to a fare that can be changed. No, no unfairness here.
Glory-ous move
IT'S not just the Australian Federal Police who have taken a shine to Perth Glory owner Tony Sage.
Readers may remember that the boys in blue dropped around to Sage's Perth offices for a cup of tea and a bikkie before Christmas as part of an acronym soup operation involving ASIC, the ATO and the ACC. A raid of a different kind on Thursday probably represented more welcome news: an unknown party piled into the market to snap up more than 5 million shares, worth about $1.1 million, in Sage's Cape Lambert Resources.
The unexpected buying spree, believed to be run through Commsec's institutional desk, sent shares in the mining explorer skyrocketing, climbing from 23¢ to touch a dizzying peak of 27¢. Alas, on Monday it closed at 22.5¢.
Heavy load
VETERAN company director Sue Thomas has quit the board of mining explorer Inca Minerals and sold down her stake in the company after the rest of the board refused to let her load up on shares at a steep discount to market price.
Inca stock usually trades at 2¢ or 3¢ each but the announcement of very positive drilling results at its Chanape project in Peru on February 6 pushed the price up to as much as 17¢.
At the company's AGM the same day, shareholders approved the issue of up to 50 million new shares, with Thomas entitled to buy up to 20 million. Thomas asked the company to issue her the 20 million shares . . . at 5.44¢ each.
CBD goes to the drily magnificent statement company secretary Justin Walawski issued to the exchange the next day: "The board did not agree to Ms Thomas' request and noted that, with the company's share price trading as high as 17¢ and closing at 14¢ on February 6, 2013, it was not in the interests of shareholders to do so.
"Ms Thomas has today notified the company she has resigned as a director of the company."
Thomas, who also sits on the boards of Clearview and Grant Thornton, also sold 13.5 million of her 40.3 million shares, reaping $1.68 million.
CBD would hesitate to call this a dummy spit but the pacifier has definitely exited the mouth.
Managing director Ross Brown didn't want to expand on the circumstances behind Thomas' departure beyond saying "the board decided not to take up her offer".
He did let on that the Chanape result was "exciting", even if a lot more work is needed to stand it up. "We think we have a copper-gold deposit," he said.
Got a tip?
bbutler@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
Woodside had displayed large placards in its Perth foyer featuring executives Peter Coleman and Vince Santostefano alongside famous inspirational quotes (for example a Marie Curie quote). The banners were part of the company's internal culture push called the "Woodside Compass". According to the article, those banners came down on Saturday, leaving employees without the giant posters.
The article notes there are murmurs that the Browse project — Australia’s second-biggest LNG project after Gorgon — might not go ahead, and that the Sunrise field has long been mired in disputes with East Timor. These are reported operational and political risks mentioned in the piece, not formal company announcements.
The "Woodside Compass" is described as a little blue book of maxims and workplace aphorisms meant to guide behaviour and decision-making at Woodside. It included large inspirational posters and slogans such as "We make and execute decisions in line with our business priorities and our values." It’s essentially a corporate culture initiative referenced in the article.
According to the article, airline ticketing policies have not been a big focus for the ACCC under the new unfair contract terms laws. In Senate estimates, competition chief Rod Sims was asked about the impact of the laws and whether airline refunds were a target, and the response was that airline ticketing hasn’t been a major area of attention so far.
The article gives an example where redeeming a $475 Qantas voucher cost an extra $667.11 because of multiple fees tied to the original booking being in a spouse’s name. The staff breakdown cited: a $65 change fee, a $40 local service fee, an $80 name change fee, plus $482.11 to upgrade the original saver fare to a fare that can be changed — adding up to $667.11 on top of the fare paid.
An unknown party reportedly bought more than 5 million shares (about $1.1 million worth) in Cape Lambert Resources, believed to have been executed via CommSec’s institutional desk. That unexpected buying pushed the stock from about 23c to a peak of 27c, although it later closed at 22.5c.
Sue Thomas resigned after the Inca Minerals board refused her request to buy up to 20 million shares at 5.44c each under an approved issue of up to 50 million new shares. The board said issuing shares at that level was not in shareholders’ interests given recent trading as high as 17c. Thomas then sold 13.5 million of her 40.3 million shares, realising about $1.68 million.
The Chanape drilling results were described as "very positive" and pushed Inca’s price up to about 17c. Managing director Ross Brown called the result "exciting" but cautioned that more work is needed to confirm and develop the find. The company said it believes it has a copper‑gold deposit, but the article makes clear further work and validation are required before drawing firm conclusions.
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