Yahoo Finance Wesfarmers bosses given £760,000 payoffs despite soured Homebase deal
Two top executives at Wesfarmers, the Australian owner of Homebase, got huge termination payoffs as they left the business shortly before it revealed massive costs from its failed attempt to overhaul the British DIY business.
Former chief executive Richard Goyder and ex-chief financial officer Terry Bowen got almost A$1m (£760,000) each when they left Wesfarmers in November 2017.
Three months later the company, parent to Homebase-owner Bunnings, revealed it was taking £584m of write-downs on the business - more than the £340m it paid for the chain in 2016 when it bought it from Home Retail Group.
Wesfarmers acquired the 241-store chain with 12,000 staff with the aim of relaunching it under the Bunnings brand, which had been a hit in Australia.
However, British consumers did not embrace the concept and Wesfarmers took a total hit of almost £800m when it sold the business to turnaround specialist Hilco in May.
About 1,500 jobs at Homebase are likely to go and about 40 of the stores are expected to close as the business tries to get back on track.
Neither Mr Goyder nor Mr Bowne received cash bonuses as problems related to Homebase meant they missed targets.
The previous year Mr Goyder got A$4.1m in cash bonuses and Mr Bowen received A$2.2m.
Including the A$968,720 termination payoff for Mr Goyder, he received total pay and equity awards of A$2.8bn for five months of the year he worked, down from A$12.1m the previous full-year.
Mr Bowen, who got a payoff of A$950,196, received total remuneration of A$1.9m, down from A$6.7m.
The payouts to the executives were revealed in Wesfarmers’ annual report. It showed the company’s post-tax profit for the year dived 58pc to A$1.2bn due to its troubles in the UK. Group revenue for the year rose almost A$2bn to A$66.9bn.
In the annual report Wesfarmers chairman Michael Chaney called the company’s misadventure in the UK retail market a “disappointing investment”.
He said the division was sold “on terms that represent a compelling financial outcome compared to the alternative of retained ownership”.
