Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci has announced he's retiring, just days after the ABC aired footage of a heated interview with Four Corners reporter Angus Grigg.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Well, probably not as a shock to the Woolworths board but everyone else was pretty much in
00:05 the dark.
00:06 Maybe surprised.
00:07 It has to be said that Brad Banducci had been chief executive of Woolworths for eight years,
00:12 which is a long time to be chief executive, 13 years with the Woolworths group.
00:17 But of course, a man under pressure this week in particular.
00:21 But like any strong boards, the Woolworths board would have been considering their succession
00:26 planning well before today's announcement, the announcement of the half year results.
00:32 A good time to make this announcement because investors will be concerned about what's happening
00:38 now that Brad Banducci is going, the face of the company.
00:42 It's going to be replaced by Amanda Bardwell, so they have a new chief executive in place.
00:48 But Amanda Bardwell, under a fair bit of pressure, coming up with a big supermarket inquiries
00:53 and some of the pressures that Brad Banducci has faced over allegations of supermarket
00:59 price gouging, bad relationships with suppliers.
01:03 But not an entire shock, but it is probably unusual to see someone who's been a strong
01:10 chief executive and I've had to say, perhaps with the exception of this week's interview
01:15 on Four Corners, a calm and a smooth operator.
01:19 Rod Sims, the former head of the ACCC says that we have one of the most concentrated
01:25 supermarkets in the world.
01:26 Is he lying?
01:27 It's not true.
01:28 And it's, it is not true.
01:30 This community of Ikea, there will be three cold stores within two kilometers of it, at
01:35 least one Aldi store, a series of independents, ability to within 24 hours have a quarter
01:42 of our store delivered to you by Amazon.
01:45 It is an incredibly competitive market.
01:47 The risk people have is that...
01:48 I'm sorry, the former head of the competition commission says, his words are that we have...
01:54 Retired, by the way.
01:56 I don't think you would impugn his integrity and his understanding of competition law.
02:00 I'm just saying the world has got much more competitive.
02:03 He retired 18 months ago.
02:05 He's not...
02:06 Okay, let's, well, can we take that out?
02:08 Is that okay?
02:09 I should, I mean, he is retired, but I shouldn't have said that, Angus.
02:14 Are we going to leave it in there if we are?
02:16 Well, I mean, we're on the record.
02:18 You said it.
02:19 I mean, you know, let's, let's move on.
02:22 But yeah.
02:23 Yeah, no, I think I'm done, guys.
02:24 I do this with good intent.
02:25 You know, I don't do this with bad intent.
02:30 You're walking out, really?
02:31 No, no, no.
02:32 Can we just talk?
02:33 Let me just...
02:34 Let's keep going.
02:35 Well, I'd have to say in the case of Woolworths, Brad Banducci and other chief executives,
02:44 Coles for example, they do put themselves up for questioning by journalists at their
02:50 full year and half year results and other events.
02:53 But yes, they do run very tight, I suppose, spin machines.
02:58 However, the case of the way that Brad Banducci handled that interview is probably now the
03:03 latest case study in PR and media training handbooks.
03:08 You don't walk out on an interview when you know there's a two-camera shoot underway and
03:12 the cameras are rolling.
03:14 When everything is on the record.
03:16 But as I said before, Brad Banducci, an open, a smooth operator, but his replacement is
03:23 going to be facing a fair bit of fire given anger about supermarket prices, those allegations
03:30 of gouging, collusion.
03:33 So it is going to be a pretty tough road ahead.
03:35 Yeah, sure is for the replacement, Amanda Bardwell.
03:38 Now, what are we expecting today then?
03:40 We've got the share market opening, of course, but Woolworths preparing to release its profits
03:44 Well, that's right.
03:45 Woolworths also rolled out its half year results for the six months to the end of December.
03:49 Bit of a sideshow today, I suppose, given the retirement of Brad Banducci.
03:54 The underlying net profit attributable to shareholders for that half year, $929 million,
04:01 only up by 2.5 per cent, which shows the pressures and the challenging environment, particularly
04:07 from inflation.
04:09 So it'll be interesting to see how the market takes that.
04:13 But clearly, when you have a major chief executive moving on, even though he's been chief executive
04:19 for eight years, that's a bit of a jolt for a company.
04:22 But I would say that we've heard about the Virgin Australia chief executive, Jane Hurd-Licker,
04:27 going.
04:28 No replacement announced.
04:30 No search underway yet, which does show that that was a shock, unlike Woolworths, who knew
04:36 this was coming and they needed to have someone in place to have an orderly transition.
04:41 So Brad Banducci finishing up in September 2024.
04:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]