Australian icon seeks higher NZ profile

Leslie Janusz Hooker. Photo / Supplied

Sydney businessman Leslie Janusz Hooker, nicknamed LJ, is accustomed to being introduced as LJ Hooker.

But people are often surprised, he says. "They expect to meet someone in his 70s. I'm 40. I say that yes, [the original] LJ Hooker was my grandfather."

The Australian is executive chairman of the real estate franchise that operates here, in Australia and Asia.

With an advertising campaign thanking Mr Hooker for being the best, New Zealanders are selling their houses via an agency which, like Dick Smith, takes its name from an identity with little profile on this side of the Tasman. That identity was originally Sir Leslie Hooker, who died in 1976.

Now, his grandson wants prominence here. "I'm the first LJ in the family since my grandfather ... I was lucky," he said of his name, adding that his father's name is David Hooker.

Known as Janusz Hooker - his mother is Polish - the US-educated businessman visits NZ about once every four weeks and is seeking a media profile to make the name of the business more familiar.

With associates, he bought back the family business last year for A$70 million ($100 million) and was in New Zealand last week to hold a conference with the franchisee's network.

A spokeswoman said the local board had at least one big name.

"LJ will be accompanied at the conference by Wayne Graham, the former All Black, who has been appointed chairman of the board of LJ Hooker Group, NZ," she said.

Hooker said the business had 55 agencies operating in New Zealand, down from about 100 a few years ago. LJ Hooker's best-performing agency is in Palmerston North and its agents sell about 2500 properties a year here.

NZ's housing market had hit hard times, he said, but he is concentrating on preparing it for the next boom.

"Our agents are having to work harder and more skilfully but they are increasing their market share. They might not make more money right now, but this industry is very cyclical and when the market does improve, they will be in a very good position.

"If I knew when the New Zealand real estate market would recover, I would be playing the stockmarket. It's very hard to tell but not in the short-term," Hooker said.

The business claims iconic status for Australians, "exposed to the red and yellow LJ Hooker logo with the tagline 'Nobody does it better' and the now-famous little girl saying, 'Thank you, Mr Hooker', on TV, in newspapers, on franchise storefronts and in the front yards of millions of homes.

The distinctive red and yellow of the brand were inspired by the iconic beach flags and caps associated with lifesaving on Sydney beaches, where Sir Leslie Hooker grew up, and the distinctive colours of the Australian outback," the business says.

An LJ Hooker critic said the New Zealand network's fees were high and set by the Australians. That meant the costs of the operation here were dictated from Sydney.

Hooker said he wanted to ensure the agency was reinstated in the top three in New Zealand, along with Harcourts and Ray White.

Sir Leslie Hooker, whose father was Chinese, changed his surname from Tingyou because he feared that having a Chinese name in 1920s white Australia would be bad for business.

LJ Hooker

* Founded 1928.
* Going 82 years.
* 695 offices.
* 6500 people.
* 8 countries.
* Sells 40,000 places.