Trust charts course well into the future

It could be another 900 years before they will be able to change their responsible entity, going by the notice of meeting lodged on the website of the group attempting to wrest control of the fund.

"The unit holder meeting is to be held at 10am on 27 July, 2911, at the Grand Ballroom, Sheraton on the Park, 161 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000," said an update on the website of the Bill Moss-founded Moss Capital, which is attempting to be voted in as the responsible entity of the fund.

"This document may include forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties," the notice of meeting said.

HARTO TO HEART

The chief executive of News Limited, John Hartigan, went to more lengths yesterday to remind his staff that they were free to access the media group's editorial code of conduct.

"Yesterday I asked divisional managers to publish the editorial code on each of our masthead websites to neutralise even the most ludicrous assertions that we are somehow afraid to disclose it," Harto said in a message to staff.

He also reminded staff that News Limited (publisher of The Australian) and the British News International (publisher of The News of the World) were completely different companies. He noted how "a major television news bulletin [reported] that News Limited executives were suspects in the phone hacking scandal - they apologised and corrected this the following night".

But, just to be sure everything remains squeaky clean, Harto said he supported the new set of national standards being devised by the Australian Press Council. "I welcome this and News will work with the Press Council and other media outlets to strengthen the council's ethical codes and guidelines and improve its complaints handling process," he said.

BURIED DEEP

Investors unhappy at Qantas and Virgin Australia for not providing detailed enough financial accounts should take a look at the oil rich emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Etihad Airways blurted in a media release yesterday that it had produced "positive EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rentals) in the six months from January 1 for the first time".

"The results mark continued progress towards the airline's goal of breaking even this year and moving into sustainable profitability in 2012," the airline, which is headed by the former Ansett operative James Hogan, said.

But that was all the detail that could be gleaned. A spokesman said Etihad was not required "to publicly release our accounts".

"However, the 40 banks in our lending portfolio are provided with quarterly accounts audited by KPMG and we have always received an unqualified audit report. Our accounts are also audited by the Abu Dhabi Accounts Authority," he said.

Etihad also has the comfort of knowing that its chairman, Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is the head of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The airline's profits are even more impressive on a EBITDARLFA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, rentals, labour, fuel and alcohol) basis.

LORD'S PRAYER

John Elliott's former sidekick at Elders IXL, Geoff Lord, has resurfaced with plans to top up the board of the explorer Copper Strike.

Just one week after the explorer received a $16 million offer for one of its projects from Kagara Limited, deciding to return the proceeds through a capital return, Copper Strike yesterday disclosed Lord, along with four other shareholders, had requisitioned a meeting to install four new directors (including Lord).

Copper Strike in a statement said it saw the requisition of meeting "as an opportunistic attempt to gain control of the company by a small minority of shareholders who as of now are the holders of 5.4 per cent of the shares". .

CBD was unable to get Lord's thoughts on Copper Strike's plans to return capital to its shareholders.

A NICE FIT

A Citigroup analyst, Alex Smith, issued a fairly arousing research note yesterday that discussed the implications of the supply shortages faced by the condom maker Durex on the ASX-listed Ansell. The note said Ansell was "well placed to pick up" some of Durex's lost sales. The note said "this one-time uplift" combined with "softening latex prices" could lead to a better than expected 2012 financial year profit result.

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