Hubbard sorry for overcharging

By BERNARD ORSMAN

On the eve of being sworn in as Mayor of Auckland City, cereal king Dick Hubbard has made an embarrassing public confession that he overcharged his biggest customer for at least two years.

Mr Hubbard said, under "my watch as chief executive of Hubbard Foods", he charged the country's largest supermarket firm, Foodstuffs, more for cereals than its smaller rival, Progressive Enterprises.

Hubbard Foods settled for a "significant sum of money" during the mayoral campaign. The case was kept under wraps until Tuesday when a press release and public apology to Foodstuffs was issued by Hubbard Foods.

Foodstuffs chief executive Tony Carter said the timing was a "deliberate decision by Foodstuffs, not Hubbard's" because the company was aware it could become the focus of media attention and it was inappropriate for Foodstuffs to get involved in local body politics.

The case did not result in Hubbard's cereals costing customers more at Foodstuffs' New World, Pak 'n Save and Write Price supermarket stores, Mr Carter said.

Mr Hubbard, the subject of a "hatchet job" by the National Business Review and distribution of the articles by then mayor John Banks' campaign manager Brian Nicolle during the most bitter mayoral campaign in living memory, will be sworn in as mayor with 19 councillors at an official ceremony at the Aotea Centre tonight.

Mr Hubbard, who promotes himself as a "good corporate citizen" and "socially responsible", did not believe the case would dent his credibility as Mayor of Auckland City. He blamed himself for making a "commercial error of judgment".

Hubbard Foods chairman David Irving said the case boiled down to a misunderstanding over the terms of trade offered to Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises that were meant to be even-handed.

Mr Irving said the overcharging was picked up by Foodstuffs in July. Negotiations and an agreed confidential settlement took place between September 3 and September 14, three days before NBR published a five-page special about Mr Hubbard's business and personal life.

Mr Hubbard stood down as chief executive in August to campaign as mayor but remains a director of the country's third largest cereal company with an annual turnover of $35 million.

Mr Irving said commercial matters such as this were normally dealt with privately.

Hubbard Foods had taken the step of issuing the press release and public apology given Mr Hubbard's public role and media interest in the company.