I’m back! Due to shoulder surgery, I’m typing this blog one-handed; a skill I thankfully developed going through puberty in the early days of dial-up internet, so please excuse the brevity. Yes, I know it’s not even been three weeks, but when you write a blog every week (without fail I should add), this seems like an age. Probably not for you lot admittedly, but I realise that bashing one out on a Friday morning is hugely cathartic for me (I can then focus on writing a blog). Let’s have a look at what I’ve missed….
Firstly, there’s Hudson Australia. So back in June, I wrote that Hudson had lost, or was in the process of losing, its labour hire licence. I also said there was no coming back from it. I’d love to tell you I was wrong. I’d love to tell you that all debts were made good, the regulator was charmed by a night at the local strippies, and that Hudson, like Steven Seagal’s excellent 2001 surprise hit “Exit Wounds“, made the best comeback since boot-cut jeans. I cannot tell you any of those things.
What I can tell you is that on 24 June, creditors voted in favour of a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA). Three proposals were on the table. The administrators recommended the internal management buyout, led by Hudson’s own CEO and CFO, over rival offers from ASX-listed HiTech Group and a company called WorkPac. The Aussie Tax Office, owed approximately $20 million and presumably not in a magnanimous mood, voted against it. The creditors went with the old CEO and CFO anyway. So the same people who drove it into administration are buying it back. But…they’ve changed. They’re sorry. You know they only do it when they’re drunk. And because they don’t like other men looking at you.
Then, less than 48 hours later, and this is the fun bit, Victoria’s Labour Hire Authority (LHA) cancelled Hudson’s licence. The LHA Commissioner, a fella called Steve Dargavel, did not appear to be celebrating the DOCA result. “Enough is enough,” he said (probably through his nose, like they do), which is very stern talk for a government agency, even in Australia. His list of grievances was long: $8 million in unpaid super and wages, $20 million owed to the ATO, active criminal proceedings from ASIC, failure to declare the CEO and other executives as decision-makers within the business, and the small matter of $11 million in debt forgiven in the lead-up to administration, including a $7 million loan to Hudson’s own holding company, Apache, that simply disappeared off the books. The administrators flagged both of those last items as likely breaches of directors’ duties. The Commissioner flagged something else: that the DOCA itself would extinguish creditors’ and workers’ claims against the company, leaving the people owed money with less chance of recovering it. So the plan to save Hudson also happened to be the plan that made it hardest to hold Hudson accountable. A coincidence I guess. For more excellent coverage on this, keep an eye on Ross Clennett’s blog.
In May I said I don’t think Hudson Australia can last 12 months. I now think they’ll do well to get through 3. I’m not on the ground, but this is starting to seem less like incompetence and more like a corporate grift.
In more local news, last week saw official confirmation that Shay Peters has left Robert Walters, and has NOT been abducted by aliens as many have claimed. Apparently the size 8 espadrilles and traces of hair gel found in a smoking heap on Hunter Street were just coincidental. Peters put in 17 years at Walters, which is a cracking innings for anyone in this game. Best of luck in whatever he takes on next. And on the subject of disappearances, the eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted the departure of firstly Paul Cameron, and then Angela Cameron from Consult. LinkedIn suggests that Angela stopped being a Director last month, and Companies Office confirms that she ceased her directorship on 2nd June. Angela Cameron has “stepped away” from the CEO role previously only to return on an interim capacity, but this time, it seems more permanent. According to all the recruiters at Consult who love my blog, an email went out confirming she had left with immediate effect. Although not on our Christmas card list here at Rice & Co, we wish Angela, whose moral compass spins like a chip shop ceiling fan, all the best in her next endeavour; be it in illegal clamping, pay-day loans, or working in an advisory capacity for the Netanyahu regime.
Anyway, I think we’re all caught up. Have a great weekend.
^SW
