Brian Gaynor: Fletcher result poor but boss wants more

Mark Adamson appears out of touch with how Kiwis regard their business leaders. Photo / Dean Purcell

Adamson and his senior executive team may be having a ball but they continue to deliver below average investment returns

This column is about two companies at opposite ends of the NZX.

The first is Fletcher Building, which is our largest listed company with a market value of $6.2 billion and which faces a number of corporate governance challenges.

The other is Renaissance Corporation, which has a market value of just $5 million and is hoping to sell its major asset as it struggles to survive.

Fletcher Building's governance issues came to the fore during the holiday period when the Australian published a major interview with chief executive Mark Adamson.

The article featured on the front page of the Australian's business section.

The central themes of the interview were that Adamson, rather than the board, was determining the group's overall strategy and the chief executive and his management team were seriously underpaid.

Adamson, who joined the group in October 2012, was quoted as saying that he had a "pretty bloody good" relationship with chairman Ralph Waters and after the first few board meetings Waters would say: "I don't necessarily agree with what you are doing but I didn't give you the job to interfere."

The new chief executive went on to tell the Australian that after recent board meetings, Waters had told