Bruce Mathieson backs Bill Wavish in board seat push at Endeavour

afr.com:

Former Myer chairman Bill Wavish is making a boardroom run at Endeavour as an independent non-executive director with the support of the hotel and liquor chain group’s biggest shareholder, Bruce Mathieson.

Endeavour is the largest owner of poker machines in Australia, and also runs the Dan Murphy’s and BWS chains. The company told investors last month it was targeting $200 million in cost savings over the next three years after reporting a 6.9 per cent rise in net profit in the last financial year.

Billionaire Bruce Mathieson says Bill Wavish should be elected to the board of Endeavour. Arsineh Houspian

Mr Wavish told The Australian Financial Review that he had engaged with the Endeavour board, led by chairman Peter Hearl, over the past month – then called Mr Mathieson and asked for his support.

Speaking from Hawaii, Mr Wavish denied acting for Mr Mathieson. “This is me,” he said. “I know this business really well. It’s a travesty to see the amount of money that’s being lost. I bought some shares in the belief that I can make money, but also I’ve got a particular soft spot for Dan Murphy’s.”

Mr Mathieson controls 15 per cent of Endeavour, and his son, Bruce Mathieson Jnr sits on the board. In 2021, Mr Mathieson Jnr stepped down from running the company’s hotels division four months after Endeavour was spun out from Woolworths and listed on the stock exchange. The supermarket chain remains a 9.1 per cent shareholder.

Mr Mathieson said Mr Wavish would be a “wonderful addition” to the board which he called a “disgrace”. “We need people on that board who can turn the company around from just bad management. And that’s what’s happened. We’ve lost about $4.5 billion in capitalisation under this management in the last two