It shouldn't be too hard to find a replacement for Sydney Airport's retiring boss, Kerrie Mather.
Chairman, Trevor Gerber, could start with the following job ad.
Wanted: Chief executive to run a gold-plated monopoly. Base salary of previous CEO $1.8 million, plus incentives that delivered remuneration of more than $7 million over the previous two years.
And that does not include the $25 million worth of shares Mather will drag out the door after a 15-year association with Australia's largest airport.
"Aviation is one of the most dynamic and exciting industries in the world. It's changing rapidly, led by constantly evolving technological advancement and customers' needs," said Mather in the ASX statement announcing her plans to step down once a replacement is found.
Luckily for Sydney Airport investors, airport operators are not buffeted by the cut-throat industry dynamics that ensure airlines operate on razor-thin margins.
If that was the case, Australia's vampire kangaroo - Macquarie Group - would not have acquired a 99-year lease on the monopoly asset back in 2002 for $5.6 billion. The company is now worth $15 billion.
According to an ACCC report this month, Sydney Airport reaped aeronautical profit of $331.5 million last year at a profit margin of 46.7 per cent.
But that was nothing compared to what it earned on its car parking business.
The airport operator made a profit of $98 million on its car park operation with a profit margin of 73 per cent. That's right, 73?? of every dollar customers paid for car parking was profit for Sydney Airport.
"This is the airport's largest car parking profit reported in real terms since privatisation," says the ACCC report.
It makes you wonder why Mather is leaving. Oh, that's right. A decision is pending on that pesky proposal to build a second Sydney airport by 2026. And whether Sydney Airport wants to build and operate the new airport.
The Sydney Airport board has probably made up its mind on whether to build the second airport given it has to give the government its decision by May 8.
Mather has subtly hinted that she is not a fan of the proposal, given the federal government is not willing to help fund the construction.
In February, she told investors that it would be a "deeply uneconomic investment decision" for the company to build the second airport without federal funding.
She said it would be decades before the new airport delivered a reasonable return. Mather knows about reasonable returns, given she had just announced Sydney Airport had delivered a 13 per cent rise in net profit to $321 million.
Green machine
Industry super fund Hostplus has launched a new fund for angelic investors called the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) option.
"The SRI option creates a distinct choice for members who wish to specifically address environmental, social and governance factors in their superannuation," said Hostplus CEO, David Elia.
It tosses out some of the fun investment stuff such as nuclear, cluster, chemical or biological weapons manufacturers, as well as saying it "seeks to limit exposure to companies which have a material exposure to the most carbon intensive fossil fuels".
So we can safely assume that Hostplus director and former Nationals leader, Mark Vaile, will not avail himself of this investment option given he is also chairman of Whitehaven Coal and owns more than $5 million worth of stock.
Big stage
Sally McManus continued her eventful start as the new ACTU secretary with her debut at the National Press Club (NPC) on Wednesday.
"We are living through a time when corporations and the very rich have become far too powerful and this has happened so quickly that our laws and rights - and the things that keep things in balance - have not kept up," said McManus in a pre-NPC press release that would have roused the faithful.
"Today Australians are less secure in their work, living costs are rising, and wages have not kept up. At 1.9 per cent, wage growth is pathetic and not even keeping up with inflation."
A quick trip to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Canberra office would have enlightened the new union boss to the fact that Australia's CPI was an even more paltry 1.5 per cent for the 2016 calendar year.
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