No progress on unlocking holdings

The phoney war between institutional investor Perpetual Ltd and investor Washington H. Soul Pattinson over how to unlock the value tied up in the sprawling investor has gone quiet, with no contact between the two since last year's annual meeting.

Perpetual had sought to prise open the cross-shareholding between Soul Pattinson, one of the country's oldest listed companies, and Brickworks, but was rebuffed by the investor. The cross-shareholding has protected both companies from being taken over, with the likes of Perpetual arguing that shareholders in the two companies would be better off without it.

Soul Pattinson chairman Mr Rob Millner said there has been no contact with Perpetual since the annual meeting late last year. Additionally, at an analyst briefing on Thursday, Perpetual did not raise any questions, in public at least.

Soul Pattinson's year to July net profit fell to $105.4 million from $143 million, with the final dividend raised to 28¢ a share from 27¢.

It is developing two logistics centres for Super Retail Group through a new internally managed logistics fund, amid optimism it will be able to develop additional properties for the same client.