Pay Cut Has Moss Gathering A Paltry $24.8m

The Age

Wednesday May 21, 2008

Mark Hawthorne

IT'S haircuts all-round at Macquarie Group's Martin Place headquarters, where executive remuneration has taken a big chop.

Not that departing managing director and chief executive Allan Moss and his replacement Nicholas Moore are sporting crew cuts just yet - Moore pulled in $26.8 million total pay for the year, just surpassing the pay packet of his boss, who collected $24.8 million. Moss retires on May 24.

But falling markets and global liquidity woes have taken their toll - Moore's wage is down 19% on his previous year's salary, and Moss' is down 26%.

It's a similar story across the board at the Millionaires' Factory. Total executive remuneration fell from $207.1 million in 2007 to $124.7 million this year. Much of that hit came from performance-related pay, which slipped from $153.6 million to $97.7 million.

But even in these leaner times, Macquarie Group's executive pay provides some impressive numbers. If you axe 104 days for weekends and assume that Moss gets the standard 28 days annual leave like the majority of Australians, it leaves him on a hefty $107,000 per day. If you assume that Australia's leading deal maker works every single day of the year, his pay packet amounts to $68,000 per day, down from last year's $91,000.

To put that in perspective, a teller at one of Melbourne's retail banks gets about $36,000 a year, according to the annual salary survey of recruitment company Hays.

A bank branch supervisor earns $46,000 a year. Even the lending manager at your bank, who issues mortgages, gets by on about $110,000 per annum, according to Hays.

Those Sydney bus drivers who whiz past Martin Place each day do slightly better than most bank staff, earning $55,000 a year. The average pay of a first-year law graduate at one of Melbourne's top-tier firms is estimated at $60,000 a year, rising to $115,000 after four years.

ANZ slips on oil

THE bankers at ANZ have come under fire for not disclosing just how many substantial holdings in ASX-listed companies they ended up with after the Opes Prime collapse.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has asked the Takeovers Panel to look at possible breaches of disclosure rules after ANZ ended up owning large stakes in 88 listed companies.

While ASIC huffs, others are chortling at one deal that seems to have passed ANZ by.

ANZ became a substantial shareholder in Bisan Ltd after the fall of Opes Prime, with 4,548,309 shares, or 11.85% of the company.

Not that many noticed. Bisan was trading at 5? at the time, had a market capitalisation of just $2 million, and any investor who sank $1000 into Bisan a year earlier ended up with a holding worth a paltry $323 on April 7 this year - the day ANZ disclosed its holding.

Little wonder ANZ chose to sell, dumping 1.79 million shares on-market for 4.9? each on May 2.

More Bisan shares held by ANZ have gone at a similar price, Full Disclosure is told, but the ever-busy staff at ANZ Nominees are yet to file the paperwork. But, if only ANZ had held on for a little longer - Bisan just happens to own 5 million fully-paid shares and 27.2 million part-paid shares in oil explorer Eromanga Hydrocarbons, which has just struck black gold in Brazil.

Eromanga's share price soared 50% yesterday as the market digested the news, and Bisan closed the day at 12.5? on the back of Eromanga's rise, after reaching 14? at one stage.

Bisan's stake in Eromanga Hydrocarbons is coveted - the Melbourne-based oil explorer is thinly traded and tightly held by a loyal band of followers.

The company is run by former BHP Billiton executive Phil Galloway.

Wheat's a treat

WHILE the federal Opposition debates the pros and cons of Brendan Nelson's plan to slash 5? a litre off the petrol excise - a nice policy to float while in opposition, with any worries about balancing the budget years away - a story out of Pakistan should put the gripes of the nation's motorists in perspective. After a volatile year for global grain markets, some of Pakistan's flour mills and smugglers are hoarding wheat and charging extortionate prices for the staple - wheat flour is used to make the unleavened breads most Pakistanis eat each day.

Annual inflation in Pakistan hit 17.2% last month, the highest in 30 years, partly due to rising wheat prices. In the US, the wheat price has risen 68% in the past year despite a recent slump, and it touched a record high of $US13.495 a bushel in February.

Due to hoarding, a reported 74 flour mills that supply the city of Karachi have run out of supplies to mill. Pakistan's Government is even offering rewards for information about wheat hoarding.

So, next time you fill up, consider this. US motorists pay $US4 for a gallon of gas (3.78 litres) and $US3.50 for a loaf of bread. Australians pay $1.40 for a litre of petrol and about $3.50 for a decent loaf of bread. In Pakistan, petrol of an equivalent octane level is $1.34 a litre. Which, on the streets of impoverished Karachi, would today buy nine loaves of bread.

Maybe life isn't so tough after all.