Boral chief Vik Bansal reiterated expectations that cost pressures would linger for 12 to 18 months,but price rises wouldn’t be as steep as last financial year.
The construction materials maker is pushing up prices for its key products cement,gravel and asphalt to keep up with its rising expenses.
For most public companies,Vik Bansal would seem cultural kryptonite – but not for the Stokes-controlled Boral. Bansal would be on the “if only” wish list for most boards.
The mining equipment and media magnate is the big winner from Boral’s $3 billion return to investors following the sale of its troubled businesses in the US.
A small group of powerful men,and increasingly women,dominate the boards of Australia’s biggest companies. And some fear the group is too small.
It’s the Claytons resignation that will save him from signing board papers,maybe free up a bit of time,but it won’t signal that he has taken his hands off the rudder.
Ongoing COVID lockdowns are not expected to stop companies opening the purse strings to pursue acquisitions or return cash to investors via buybacks and dividends.
Seven Group chief executive Ryan Stokes is the new Boral chairman,while the Stokes family investment vehicle has upped its board representation to two after claiming a 70 per cent stake in the company.
The Stokes father-and-son tag team didn’t need this level of ownership to exert control over the building materials company but it’s paid for it anyway.
Billionaire Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group is edging closer to victory over Boral’s management,picking up a 38 per cent stake in the buildings materials supplier.
Boral largest shareholder and suitor,Kerry Stokes’s Seven Group,says the company’s management should have pushed for a better price for the asset.