Week ending 29nd Nov 2019

Welcome to my Friday dribble where we talk things agri sport and life.

The dribble is off for the next 2 weeks on a road trip through SA and NSW.

Last week I mentioned WBC and their dirty laundry, so to speak. A couple of extra points worth talking about. On the 5th Nov WBC completed a $2BN share placement. 15 days later they announced the AUSTRAC claim…. Coincidence…??? How do you like these apples….According to the AFR some WBC salaries include; Chairman on $668t per annum, CEO on $5M and non-exe directors from $135t to $343t. But the best job at WBC is ironically Chief risk officer who is on $5.3M…… and clearly, he seems to have a problem fulfilling his job description. By the week’s end the CEO had gone, the Chairman had indicated he will go and the Future Fund is saying the whole board should go….Yikes..!!

You have to love the wholehearted commitment of the Chairman and CEO of milk company A2M. Again, both have been exercising options into shares and again both have been selling. Yee of little faith..!!

Still on dairy stuff and I saw the Beston Foods annual report this week. BFC are a small processor in SA. I have mentioned them before because of the scandalous management fee structure they use. The Chairman and his buddies pay themselves a fee of 1.2%, or $2.44M, of the group’s portfolio value, which is $203M. Only problem is market cap of the business is $37.7M, leaving a $165m gap. Gives new meaning to bleeding a company dry doesn’t it…??

Lastly on dairy and at Burra foods Stewart Carson has been promoted to CEO after more than 25 years in the industry. Congrats to Stewart.

Finally, a feel good story. The hard-working people at the Port Macquarie koala hospital started a go fund me page to help get some extra $$ for koala’s effected by the bushfires, hoping to raise $25,000. At last look their total raised was $1.8M…..good on them..!!