AACo maintains workplace is ‘respectful’ amid bully claims

afr.com:

Beef giant AACo, rocked by internal safety reports claiming some staff showed an “alpha” bullying culture and made homophobic slurs, has maintained it runs a “respectful workplace”.

Chief executive Dave Harris said on Thursday that the culture was high-performing and the company focused on “making AACo a great place to work”.

AACo says underlying earnings were squeezed in a tough market.  Glenn Hunt

He was speaking as AACo, which has almost 430,000 cattle and owns 1 per cent of Australia’s land mass, released results showing a squeeze in earnings amid lower prices for its high-end wagyu beef and cattle.

Brisbane-based AACo also again held off paying dividends, extending a 15-year drought. One investor on an analyst call asked about the prospects of a dividend flowing this year; Mr Harris said he would leave such commentary to the board.

AACo, partly owned by billionaires Joe Lewis and Andrew Forrest, also said it was not planning any share buyback. That contrasted with such shareholder returns announced by GrainCorp on Thursday.

The Australian Financial Review revealed earlier this month concerns were raised in internal reports this year after a contractor who attended one remote AACo property raised claims of “[an] ‘alpha group’ … who routinely bullied, intimidated and harassed their peers”.

The contractor, who was gay, was “routinely exposed to homophobic slurs” and while these were “not directed specifically at [him], it did cause him to be reluctant to speak up in groups”, the internal reports claimed.

AACo has previously refused to confirm or deny the incidents or any outcome of investigations, but said unsafe behaviour was not tolerated. Presenting results to investors on Thursday, Mr Harris said a staff engagement