KEY POINTS:
Sir Ron Brierley today signalled his departure from Guinness Peat Group, the investment company he built up with colleagues after losing control of Brierley Investments.
Brierley, 71, is planning to retire as chairman of GPG in 2010, the year of the company's 20th anniversary.
He sees "a substantial
release of value" to shareholders by then.
The question of whether GPG will carry on without Sir Ron remains an open one.
Brierley said he regarded 2010 as a natural time for him to retire.
"What happens after that is largely up to my colleagues," he told NZPA.
Brierley said one of GPG's strengths has been the small size of its team. The team members all knew each other well and worked previously at Brierley Investments or IEL, the Australian arm of the company.
"That's been the strength of the company but it is also its weakness because obviously no group of people can go on forever and there has to come a day when the group is no longer a cohesive group because one or more people have gone in other directions.
"I think at 20 years it is time for me to set the lead and say to the others you work out what you want to do after that," he said.
The company hoped to be able to give shareholders the rewards it had been talking about for decades.
"I reckon between now and 2010 we are going to have two of our best years," he said.
There would be a very good situation in 2010 where there would be something for everyone, he said.
Brierley today paid tribute to the company's New Zealand-based executive Tony Gibbs, who has suffered from ill health in recent years.
"Tony has done a fantastic job given the health problems he has had. Most people would not appreciate what he has been through," he said.
He said the company's half year result reported today was one of its worst.
GPG posted a £42 million ($112.4 million) bottom line first half loss, with the result affected by share writedowns and international accounting rules.
The investment company's performance compares with a net profit of £94m in the corresponding period a year earlier.
The company had a profit of £15m from normal trading sources and sales of shares, before share portfolio writedowns of £35m. Hence the overall loss for the period was £20m.
Brierley does not use public relations executives to write press statements so today's report was classic Sir Ron.
There was a deferred tax adjustment of £22m which was "purely IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) nonsense and can be safely disregarded as a legitimate inclusion in any proper analysis of the result", Brierley said.
"GPG's portfolio has not been immune from the worldwide sharemarket shakeout and to that extent, we believe most of those losses will be recovered and more.
"The majority of GPG's investments are sound strategic long term holdings where we are confident of intrinsic value regardless of share price fluctuations," he said.
Asked if a sell off of assets and wind up of the company was on the cards, Sir Ron said he hoped not but it was an option.
Brierley still walks regularly and is fit and well.
"I think it is essential that one keeps active both mentally and physically," he said.
- NZPA
