A photo finish was needed to decide the winner of the gold medal for the most ridiculous performance at a Senate Inquiry – the contenders being Greens senator Nick McKim for his pertinacious questions on just one particular Woolworths profit measure, or the supermarket chief executive Brad Banducci for refusing to answer.
The sparring deteriorated into an unedifying headbutting contest.
This is because there was no great reveal in the answer – it’s contained in Woolworths’ annual report. And if one can’t be bothered sifting through that 187-page document, a quick Google search will do the trick.
Senator Nick McKim and Brad Banducci in full flight.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
For those not schooled in corporate finance, McKim was doggedly pushing Banducci to publicly state Woolworths’ return on equity in 2023 – which, put simply, is calculated by dividing net profit by the value of its shareholders’ equity.
There is nothing in commercial confidence about it. It isn’t a vital ingredient of Woolworths’ profit-making secret sauce.
So why was McKim so laser-focused on this metric? Because he had become aware that Woolies’ return on equity was two and a half times larger than that of the Australian banks. And he figured that if everyone already thinks the banks are rapacious, then Woolworths must be gouging customers and bear some responsibility for increased instances of ‘dumpster diving’ and families going hungry.
The sparring deteriorated into an unedifying headbutting contest.
McKim wanted this magic metric as evidence supporting his claims that Woolworths “had a licence to print money and was making off like bandits”.
The curious aspect to this brawl is that Banducci didn’t shut it down by simply agreeing with McKim that the number was roughly 26 per cent.
Belting Brad: Senate turns supermarket CEO flogging into Olympic sport
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16.04.2024
A photo finish was needed to decide the winner of the gold medal for the most ridiculous performance at a Senate Inquiry – the contenders being Greens senator Nick McKim for his pertinacious questions on just one particular Woolworths profit measure, or the supermarket chief executive Brad Banducci for refusing to answer.
The sparring deteriorated into an unedifying headbutting contest.
This is because there was no great reveal in the answer –........
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