by Jenny Ruth
Boonzaier left Tower five months ago and his replacement still hasn’t been appointed.
"We thought that some of our managers were better than they turned out to be," Beyer said. "We didn’t recognise the impact change recommended by management would have on some of the businesses." Those recommendations were acted on "with some misgivings" by the board, particularly the decision to split the Australian operations into administration, product manufacturing and selling arms, he said.
That turned out to be the wrong thing to do and traditional sources of businesses had been de-emphasised. "There was a failure to recognise that old-style agents still had a role to play," Beyer said.
"The so-called ‘fleet of ships’ had outgrown its time. It was part of an unhealthy control culture. It was too expensive."
Boonzaier "never quite made the transition to leading a listed company," Beyer said. He had tended to concentrate too much on attending meetings, making announcements, meeting major shareholders and trying to boost the share price.
"He should have realised the changing Australian environment was having adverse affects on the business."
As foreshadowed, writedowns of Australian assets accounted for most of the loss announced today. Last year, Tower wrote up Bridges’ value by $17 million.
Beyer said Boonzaier had adopted the ‘new horizons’ strategy too late, "things the board had been urging for years." Boonzaier had also been slow to act in getting rid of poorly performing managers and the company’s information technology investment had been poorly managed and its payback horizons had been too long.
Tower has shed about 90 staff since Boonzaier left, about 50 of them in Australia.
Boonzaier dismissed Beyer’s criticisms. "It sounds a bit like a board making excuses," he said from his home in Wellington. "I very much regret what’s happened at Tower. I think the board is accountable."
Boonzaier said the last result he announced had been ahead of plan. Tower reported a 4.6% rise to $40.7 million in first-half profit and Boonzaier said that result was signed off by both the company’s auditors and the board. "We were ahead of plan."
Beyer’s criticisms are "very unusual, especially in a culture like New Zealand," Boonzaier said.
Beyer said the board didn’t move quickly enough to address the problems but that he won’t be resigning and intends to offer himself for re-election at the next shareholders’ meeting in March.
"Do you want a public hanging," he said in response to suggestions the board might have been at fault.
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