Bill Wavish outlines his Endeavour fix-it plan to investors
Bill Wavish has outlined his “fix-it” plan to shareholders for getting Endeavour Group back on track and recovering some of the $5.6 billion of market value lost by the pubs and liquor business over the past year to “pet projects” and diminished confidence in its strategy.
The former chairman of Myer and Dick Smith set out his agenda in a 22-page slide deck sent to fund managers on Monday. It proposed a two-phased strategy beginning with a review of the Dan Murphy’s chain, which would be led by the board, in tandem with a probe of the financial accounts, including a focus on costs, staffing and rostering.
Phase two entails drafting a plan for the business’s 354 hotels; a review of Pinnacle Drinks; the wineries strategy; and a plan for the BWS liquor chain, according to the presentation.
Bruce Mathieson (above) is backing Bill Wavish to join the board at Endeavour Group. Arsineh Houspian
The $9.4 billion Endeavour was spun out of Woolworths in 2021 as a standalone listed company. Woolworths remains a large shareholder at 9.1 per cent.
Mr Wavish, who is best known as the right-hand man to former Woolworths chief executive Roger Corbett, in September raised concerns about how Endeavour’s liquor store brands were trading. Endeavour’s biggest shareholder, Bruce Mathieson, who controls about 15 per cent, is a backer of Mr Wavish, as is Mr Corbett, setting up a bitter proxy fight.
AustralianSuper, which plans to meet with Mr Wavish’s camp this week, is the third-biggest investor. AustralianSuper has already met with Endeavour’s chairman and CEO. Woolworths is understood to have held preliminary talks with Mr Wavish, but no meeting has been set with new chairman Scott Perkins.
Woolworths so far has remained silent over the
Read more on afr.com
