One of the more interesting asides to the earnings season was provided by Peter Allen, the boss of Westfield spin-off Scentre Group.
The shopping centre operator could have been crimped pretty badly by the recent failures of Allphones, Marcs, David Lawrence, Pumpkin Patch and Payless Shoes.
But these people were schooled by billionaire Frank Lowy, and they certainly know how to smell blood in the water. Or in Allen's words, know which retailers are in danger of "going dark".
One of the analysts on the conference call for Scentre's half-year results on Tuesday asked Allen about the prospect of future bankruptcies and whether there were any tenants that "might be in a bit more trouble than usual".
"We always have a kind of watch list of retailers in terms of their sales performance, in terms of their payment performance as far as rent is concerned," Allen said.
"I don't want to really get into any details of who those retailers are," he said, while assuring his audience "when we see those issues are rising, we are very proactive".
By proactive, he means replacing these poor performers with better businesses.
Using Allphones as an example, Allen said it had seven or eight stores in its Westfield centres when it collapsed – down from as many as 25 stores just three or four years ago.
"If you look at Rhodes & Beckett, we had a number of their stores. We don't have any of those stores at all," he said.
So, if your favourite retailer starts disappearing from a Westfield shopping centre near you, it might be time to start worrying.
Seven veils
Billionaire Kerry Stokes obviously put in his two bob's worth on the Amber Harrison affair at the Seven West Media results last week.
Ryan Stokes was left to amble through the Seven Group results on Tuesday without any question about the court case – which was due to start during the conference call for Seven's half-year results – where Harrison was trying to remove the Seven West gag order.
"It is its 21st consecutive half of ratings leadership," was as controversial as Stokes jnr got about Seven Group's investment in Seven West.
Never mind that the group slipped to a first-half loss of $41.8 million after writing down the value of its stake in Seven West Media by almost $140 million.
All the fun was left to the courtroom, where Harrison's barrister, Jeff Kennett's former spinner James Catlin, delayed proceedings by getting stuck in CBD traffic.
Not to worry. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and CBD publisher Fairfax Media had their own barrister, Matthew Lewis, seeking leave to appeal the injunction.
And let's not forget Kieran Smark SC, who was acting for a number of women who were mentioned in Harrison's affidavit. The names were suppressed and the relevant paragraph struck out anyway on the basis it was scandalous.
But the knot of silks left Justice McDougall just a little exasperated, and he had to ask the packed courtroom if any one else present would like to join the proceedings. No one dared.
Musical chairs
The joke was, if you closed your eyes in a Wesfarmers board meeting you couldn't tell if it was chief executive Richard Goyder speaking, or of it was his predecessor – who is now his chairman – Michael Chaney.
It's that Wesfarmers' DNA thing.
So it should be an easy transition for the board, and executives, at another West Australian corporate institution, energy group Woodside, when they replace Chaney with Goyder as their chairman next year.
Goyder joins the energy group's board as a director in August and takes the chair from Chaney after its AGM in April, 2018.
"Richard will bring a skill set that complements existing expertise and will take over as chairman at an exciting time for the company as we grow our portfolio in Australia and globally," said Chaney.
That's one way of looking at it.
Another point of view might be that the corporate talent pool is a bit thin on the other side of the Nullarbor. Or is the $723,000 a year chair at Woodside an unspoken retirement perk for departing Wesfarmers chiefs?
It can't be a coincidence that Chaney exited as Wesfarmers CEO in 2005 and took the chair at Woodside within months.
Goyder departs Wesfarmers after its AGM this year.
Woodside chief Peter Coleman was chuffed, as you would expect, at the thought of replacing one retired Wesfarmers boss with another.
"The transition phase ensures the best outcome for the company and our shareholders and is a unique opportunity to work with both Michael and Richard – two of Australia's great business leaders," said Coleman.
Yes Peter, but can you actually tell them apart?
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