The growing menace of corruption in global business
11 June 2021 | Siobhan Hennessy & Dean Newlan
McGrathNicol’s Financial Crime Exchange (FCX) recently hosted a webinar highlighting the growing menace of corruption in global business. The webinar followed release of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions (CPI) Index Report 2020 earlier this year. The webinar heard from an expert panel: Serena Lillywhite, CEO Transparency International Australia’ Tim Robinson, Chief Compliance Officer, BHP; and Robin Tarr, Partner, McGrathNicol. The moderator was McGrathNicol Partner and...
Transparency International report highlights COVID-19 linked corruption
2 March 2021 | McGrathNicol & Dean Newlan
Transparency International (TI) recently released its Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 (CPI Index) which ranks 180 countries/territories according to perceptions of public sector corruption in each country. The report described 2020 as “one of the worst years in recent history” with most countries making little or no progress towards fighting corruption and two-thirds receiving scores below 50 (out of 100). Australia dropped 8 points to...
Craft beer: recovering from the COVID-19 hangover
8 February 2021 | Richard Greig, Samuel McCombe & David Barnaby
Mainstream vs craft: what’s the difference? The line between mainstream and craft beer blurred some time ago. Starting with the sale of Mountain Goat to Asahi in 2015, the major players (Lion and Asahi/CUB) have continued to buy up craft breweries to capitalise on the growing demand for craft beer, where industry revenue has grown steadily from FY15 to FY19 by 7.7% per annum. However, recently...
Australian winemakers must get nimble
4 December 2020 | Mark Knight & Rob Brauer
China’s impost of crippling import tariffs, ranging from approximately 107 to 212% on all Australian wine, is expected to cause the high-margin, fast growing Chinese market to dry up overnight and indefinitely. Having navigated the impacts of COVID-19 on supply chains and distribution channels, Australian winemakers are suddenly faced with a potentially more severe challenge to sustain viability. Whilst the Australian wine industry is not...
Is the clock TikTok-ing on bricks and mortar retailers?
3 December 2020 | Maree Portelli, Jason Ireland & Damien Pasfield
Online retail has been a growing part of the retail landscape in recent years, with increasing acceptance across a range of categories and the shifting of sales dollars from traditional bricks and mortar channels, primarily driven by convenience, but also price. Lock downs and distancing restrictions connected with COVID-19 (“COVID”) have resulted in a step change shift towards online, initially out of necessity, and some...
Cyber-attack and corruption the standout financial crimes of 2020
16 November 2020 | Dean Newlan
The two standout financial crimes of 2020 were cyber-attack and corruption. While each was common prior to COVID-19, the pandemic has raised the threat level of both across all sectors. Cyber-attacks frequently reported during the year included: business email compromise, phishing, ransomware and insider threat. Cyber-attack drivers in 2020 included: Pervasiveness of IT within business and the general population; Inexorable pursuit of internet-based interaction with external...
Understanding value during COVID-19
9 October 2020 | Hugh Monaghan
COVID-19 has had far reaching economic impacts across numerous industries. As we move through the first earnings season since the beginning of the pandemic, it is important for companies and investors to understand and assess the true impact it has had on earnings, and ultimately value. In March companies were forced to react quickly to the implementation of lockdowns across Australia and the globe. Some...
Rescuing and recapitalising a business: triangulating your offer
30 September 2020 | Keith Crawford & Christopher Davey
McWilliam’s Wines Group is currently in the process of being recapitalised via a Deed of Company Arrangement (‘DOCA’). Although the press reported members of the McWilliam family had proposed an alternative DOCA to regain control of the business, a private equity firm was ultimately the successful DOCA proponent. Why was the private equity firm’s proposal more attractive to the Voluntary Administrators (‘VA’) than the opportunity...
Early warning signs for commercial property on the road...
24 September 2020 | Barry Kogan, Matthew Caddy & Mark Holland
Australia currently has a “two tiered” property market with the ongoing Victorian lockdown likely to have longer lasting impacts to Victorian property value and returns. However, ongoing tensions between landlords and tenants in many commercial property segments across the rest of Australia will mean they too will not be immune to downward swings in value and return. The last month has seen most major...
