time for plan b , page-20

Jackman nearing closure at Elders as Futuris sale looms
Edited by Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Gretchen Friemann - 04 Jul 2013 00:33:27
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As one of Australia’s oldest companies, Elders, moves closer to selling its automotive division, it’s worth thinking about the future for managing director Malcolm Jackman.

When Jackman came in five years ago, he had a mandate to streamline the company and divest non-core assets. He was also clear back in September 2008 in his views of how long a CEO should hang around in a job. “I have always held the belief that five years – give or take a little bit – is the right time for a CEO to run an organisation,” he said at the time.

Five years later, as Elders’s asset sale process is finally inching towards a conclusion, it’s logical that Jackman and the company should be considering their respective futures.

It is unlikely Jackman will hang around too long past completion of the asset sales and a new financing deal. David Goodfellow, head of Elders’s rural services division is seen as a logical successor. Jackman brought in Goodfellow, former head of Macquarie Group’s rural property portfolio, to run the rural services arm in 2011.

As for the asset sales, Elders’s Futuris automotive division is expected to be carved off in the next few weeks if the company is serious about keeping its promise of sorting out its finances by mid August. Elders, which owes $387 million in ­interest-bearing liabilities against a ­current market capitalisation of little more than $30 million, is understood to be keen to stick to that deadline. Its consortium of ­lenders had demanded asset sales by September 30.

It may be difficult to see past the share price savaging – stock closed at 6.8¢ on Wednesday, compared with the $1.50 at which Jackman raised fresh equity in 2009. But Jackman, who inherited a mess from former chief executive Les Wozniczka, has saved it from collapse. He has failed to restore it to its former glory but has managed to simplify a clumsy conglomerate and lower debt which in 2008 stood at a whopping $1 billion.