Tilting against the well-paid Spotless twins in 2001
January 14, 2008
This Christopher Webb story in The Age accompanied the release of the Spotless annual report and notice of meeting on October 15, 2001. 2001.
Brian Stuart Blythe and Ronald Barry Evans - the Spotless Group twins - have cemented their positions as among the best-paid managing directors in the country.
Accounts just to hand for the outfit show that the pair moved through the $2 million mark in the June year.
Now anyone glancing at the company's profit and loss statement and seeing earnings of $36 million therein might assume they got $1 million each.
Not so. Blythe collected $2,246,941 while Evans got a bit more than his old mate, pocketing $2,434,976 for the year.
Included was a $1,202,693 bonus-incentive payment to each of them which was described as relating to short and mid-term earnings performance.
Not a bad effort, eh? To give the pair their due they have presided over a scrip price that has increased by some 35 per cent compound over the past six years or so.
But Spotless' performance using various traditional yardsticks - including pre-tax and tax-paid earnings - has been not been that flash over the last couple of years.
However, the measure the group prefers to use at least as far as the impressive series of graphs in the annual report were concerned related to earnings before goodwill amortisation.
Excluding the goodwill factor makes Spotless' earnings and earnings-per-share figures look a whole lot better.
Maybe that measure is preferred by the various institutions who fell over themselves to participate in various Spotless issues during the year.
The first was booked at $6.80, the more recent one was done at $7.25 and together they raised $177 million.
Lovely timing by the Spotless crew who struck while demand for the scrip was white-hot but, alas, those institutional folk are now looking at paper worth $6.18.
Meanwhile, getting back to figures that were on the rise, the latest moolah flowing to Blythe and Evans compared with slightly less than the $2 million that they each received in 1999-2000.
Also getting the same sort of dollar increase was Peter Wilson, the man who presides over the global plastics division, which produced an exceptional result.
Wilson's salary, including bonuses and other benefits, improved from $1,209,839 to $1,498,695.
Wilson also features in the Spotless' annual meeting agenda to be held next month.
The New York-based Wilson is lining up for 1,500,000 options exercisable at $6.30 apiece and directors noted the quantity was based on their perception of what was needed to attract and retain senior management.
"Mr Wilson carries much of the responsibility for the successful international expansion of the group and the number of options proposed is commensurate with this responsibility," they said.
Presumably no one would be arguing with the options allotment as the offshore plastics division has exhibited strong growth.
By contrast Spotless' Australian activities booked higher sales but lower earnings. Local earnings are now less than half group earnings.
Also lining up at the annual meeting is finance director John Bongiorno who is in line for 500,000 shares under the group's share plan.
Three directors are standing for re-election to the board.
The aforementioned Evans, Brendan O'Brien and Ian McMullin - McMullin, 75, a non-executive director was paid $173,322 - carry the boards' imprimatur, unlike blow-in, Stephen Mayne.
Mayne, an internet newsletter owner, is standing for the Spotless board as he thinks the company "needs to have a majority of truly independent non-executive directors and an independent chairman in line with accepted corporate governance practice."
Blythe and co will be voting against Mayne.
"Your directors consider Mr Mayne would add nothing constructive to the Spotless board," they stated.
"Other companies have apparently had similar views, as Mr Mayne has sought to be elected as a director of some 10 Australian public companies and failed at each attempt."
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