Elizabeth Knight will have this in 'SMH' in print...

Elizabeth Knight will have this in 'SMH' in print tomorrow:

"...There is little point in Joyce’s revisionism on his record on employee and passenger popularity. There is no Alan 2.0. Rather Joyce will need to rely on reminding shareholders of this earnings stewardship and the extent to which he has crafted the future of the airline to reap profits from decisions he made during his time.

It certainly sounds like an easier sell. At least it did until a week ago.

That’s when the market learnt that Joyce had sold more than 80 per cent of his stake in Qantas. The shareholder faithful would have felt understandably concerned.

The explanation that he needed the money to buy an apartment was a little hard to swallow given he placed his more valuable Mosman mansion on the market at the same time.

While it is tough to criticise any executive for selling stock because it is fair for them to want to diversify their investments, the timing of the sale of Joyce’s Qantas shares sends a message that the airline share price is overpriced and at its peak.

Team Qantas has been pushing back against a number of investment industry detractors over recent months who have questioned how it will fund the billions of dollars in investment in new aircraft (following years of profit-boosting underinvestment).

The investor day six weeks ago appeared to have convinced the sceptics that Qantas was able to walk and chew gum: that the margin expansion it is currently experiencing is structural, that fares would remain stronger for longer. Qantas mounted a compelling narrative that it would be generating enough cash to keep the shareholders happy because the new aircraft were more efficient, allowed the opening of new routes and would be popular with passengers.

It was convincing enough for shareholders to believe selling Qantas shares at this time would be a mistake.

But Joyce? He must not have been tuned in to his own presentation."