Latest / Best of Business / Andrew Reding: Fletcher Building CEO on the company posting a smaller half-year loss

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Andrew Reding: Fletcher Building CEO on the company posting a smaller half-year loss · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.
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• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Here a duper cls.
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  Speaker 2: So some good news for Fletcher Building. It's posted a
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  Speaker 2: half year operating profit of forty five million dollars, which
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  Speaker 2: is up from last year's operating loss of eighty eight
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  Speaker 2: million dollars. The CEO, Andrew Reading is with us Hi
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Hi. Still a net loss for the business of
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  Speaker 2: eleven million dollars. So how would you describe the business
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  Speaker 2: right now in the turnaround that you're doing.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, it's a journey that we're traveling, and I
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  Speaker 3: think we're making good progress on it. The loss that
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  Speaker 3: we recorded for the half of eleven million was after
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  Speaker 3: fifty six million dollars of significant items, So we actually
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  Speaker 3: posted a net operating profit of forty five million, which
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  Speaker 3: is the first time we've done that since June twenty
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  Speaker 3: twenty three.
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  Speaker 2: Still expecting a tough year this year.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Look, we the first two quarters this year were
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  Speaker 3: very different. So the quarter one, which was coming out
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  Speaker 3: of our financial year twenty twenty five, was continue the
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  Speaker 3: downward trajectory, and then in October we saw things flatten
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  Speaker 3: out and November December started to pick up a bit,
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  Speaker 3: but it's not bubbling. It is just getting better than
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  Speaker 3: very bad. So we're not forecasting great times for our
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  Speaker 3: financial year twenty twenty six, and indeed think that the
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  Speaker 3: calendar year twenty twenty seven is when things start moving.
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  Speaker 3: All things are lined up and moving properly.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I see in terms of staff losses, you've already
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  Speaker 2: cut about three hundred. Is more than three hundred hit
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  Speaker 2: off of staff. How many more are you planning to cut?
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  Speaker 3: Look, that's very difficult to say, because what we have
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  Speaker 3: left is about four hundred and eleven. Of those over
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  Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty are involved in shared service type operations.
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  Speaker 3: So there is a desire to get as much of
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  Speaker 3: our overhead into the business units as possible. But we'll
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  Speaker 3: try and pick up some efficiencies on the way as
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  Speaker 3: we go through that. So it'd be very difficult to
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  Speaker 3: turn around and put any numbers on that.
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  Speaker 2: Has it been quite a significant problem in the business,
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  Speaker 2: just just way too much inefficiency.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think it's unfair to say way too much inefficiency,
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  Speaker 3: because nobody comes to work to fail. But what we've
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  Speaker 3: had is some strategies that have driven cost. So, for example,
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  Speaker 3: we were at one stage going to turn around and
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  Speaker 3: roll out of SAP across the entire business, and we
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  Speaker 3: had to write off one hundred and fifty million dollars
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  Speaker 3: associated with that. But obviously if you're doing that sort
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  Speaker 3: of exercise, you have the people involved to do it.
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  Speaker 3: So this is why since I've been here, we've taken
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  Speaker 3: it from seven hundred and nineteen down to four hundred eleven,
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  Speaker 3: because we've been changing some of those strategies that drove
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  Speaker 3: cost into the business.
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Listen, thank you very much for your time. It's
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  Speaker 2: good to talk to you. Andrew Reading, the CEO of
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  Speaker 2: Litcher Building.
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