Gee there is some anger regarding VET's lack of disclosure!
The Australian Financial Review
If my mother hadn’t raised me better, and The Australian Financial Review’s lawyer had not cautioned against it, I would call Mark “Thor” Hutchinson a dirty rotten fibber. This column has written a dozen items flagging problems at the John Dawkins-chaired training provider Vocation, which has been the subject of a review by the Victorian Department of Education – as was first revealed in Rear Window and later, sheepishly, admitted by the company on the ASX. Since we began asking in August, managing director Hutchinson has ducked our questions, swotted off our “press speculation” and said the outcome of the funding review would not be “material”. That last claim was rubbish, as Vocation finally admitted on Monday after the market closed. The review is in fact material to the tune of $19.6 million, which the company is “forfeiting” for inappropriately enrolling students and not properly running its third-party operations. Further material consequences include the closure of two of its training businesses BAWM and Aspin. They will shut once currently enrolled students finish their courses. In addition, Vocation’s entire Victorian operations – the engine room of its business – will be reorganised. Third-party operators will no longer be used. The senior management team will be overhauled. Forecasts for earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation have been cut by 10 to 15 per cent. So, Mark, it would seem that your protestations of immateriality were complete bullshit – or so I would say if my mother had not raised me better.
VET Price at posting:
99.5¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
