Judge in from cold

Press, 30 November 1989, Page 33

Judge in from cold

NZPA-AAP Brisbane The former Ariadne Australia executive chairman, Mr Bruce Judge, was invited back out of the wilderness on Tuesday almost two years after being forced to resign from the company he founded. Mr Judge was returned to the Ariadne board at the company’s annual meeting. Ariadne was one of the spectacular success stories of the Australian corporate world in the early 1980 s, but floundered after the 1987 stockmarket crash to become Australia’s biggest corporate loser in 1988 when it announced a sAust64o million (SNZBS3M) loss for the year. The National Companies and Securities Commission forced Mr Judge to stand down and a bankers’ task force took over. An NCSC-commissioned report has since criticised Mr Judge's leadership and blamed him for an abortive scheme to sell Ariadne’s share in New Zealand’s Renouf Corporation. A second, unpublished, section of the report recom-

mends prosecution of several people, but Mr Judge remains convinced that he has done no wrong. And it seems that most of the shareholders, despite seeing the value of their shares plummet from a high of sAust3.7o in 1987 to the current price of 20c, feel the same way. Mr Judge was heartily applauded by the 600 shareholders attending Tuesday’s annual meeting, and strongly backed by a show of hands when his nomination was first tested. The managing director, Mr Malcolm Edwards, earned catcalls when he called for a poll, which verified the meeting’s sentiment with a vote of 279.5 M for and 140.2 M against. The Queensland vice-presi-dent of the National Party, Mr Charlie Holm, stood and told the meeting that Mr Judge was a ‘‘progressive gentleman” who deserved a second chance. But the New Zealand-born businessman was not without his antagonists. “Mr Judge might appeal to

the little old ladies, but my mother is a little old lady, and I'd hope she had the sense not to vote for him,” .one shareholder said. Mr Judge’s role will be vastly different from that of two years ago, as the board is now controlled by Sir Ron Brierley, a man determined to liquidate Mr Judge’s creation and put Ariadne to bed — permanently. But that is not the future Mr Judge sees for the company he turned into an international high flyer in just five years. He told shareholders that at the 46c a share net asset backing estimated by Mr Edwards, Ariadne had net shareholders’ funds of sAust3so million (SNZ466M). “that would be the envy of Hooker Corp., Bond or Qintex and quite obviously the compay has always been stronger than anyone has given it credit for,” Mr Judge said. “There’s a lot that could be done with Ariadne, but I’m now the new boy on the board so I’d like to know more about it before I make any statements.’’