Channel 9 - A Current Affair, page-24

RFG weren't silent - they out a response after the article was published, which was roundly criticised as the mood was strongly anti-management at the time. I don't think it would have mattered what they said really, the response to their media release would have been the same.

And ACA would usually have said something like "we asked RFG for an interview but they declined" - but they didn't, they said they sent RFG a questionnaire (which we didn't get to see) and RFG sent them this response:-

"As a multi-brand company supporting numerous small businesses across Australia, the livelihood and profitability of each and every franchisee is of the utmost importance to us. Our success depends on the success of our franchisees - if they thrive, so do we. We are committed to finding ways to better support our partners, their staff and customers in a challenging and evolving retailing environment."

You can't very well criticise RFG for not participating in the story when they were never invited to do so.

Anyway, it looks to me like all the remaining mum & dad & newbie investors have sold in the first hour. Certainly no professionals would have done so - if they'd wanted to sell they would have been out yesterday given there was advance warning that ACA were re-running the Fairfax story. I don't care about the shareprice though, I care mostly because as I said earlier my friends own a Michels - I'm concerned that ACA have done their business more damage than RFG ever would.