Super Rugby stars seek meeting with RA

As an employer not having discussions with your employees at all in this time is just a disgrace and gross management incompetence. The usual cosmetic crap; RA employees taking a pay cut. There are currently a lot of people in Australia that would be happy to take a pay cut and keep their jobs. An announcement they made that they figure will hose things down. Seems familiar? Fans might have accepted that the players take massive cuts this year while they are not playing. On top of everything else they are not going to accept administrators featherbedding themselves. A lot of detail of RA and state union employee numbers and roles will have to be disclosed to justify themselves which will only cause more angst amongst fans. I guess the RA Board is dependent upon renegotiating a broadcast deal, borrowing from World Rugby or funding from the government. They will want to avoid the former but the latter two should be coming with conditions on the governance of the game.

I was under the impression China was almost back to normal, after losing 1-2 months. I’m basing this on delays in construction materials.

But right now China doesn't have too many markets. Most are shut down.

Surprisingly though TWAS so far the iron ore price is holding up quite well.

Twiggy has 6 x GRR teams to look after first,

Such as we won’t actually give it to you? (Like last time).

So because he has a lot of on paper wealth he’s going to be willing to liquidate some in a lull? My super is worth a lot more than 2015. Doesn’t mean I haven’t lost a lot of wealth right now.

Um that's from an all time high. As an idea the week of the 25th March 2019 - FMG share price was 6.55, basis current market price of 9.82 @ 2.22pm this afternoon - That's a return of 49% in the previous 12 months........ So poor Andrew, has only seen a 50% increase in his personnel wealth in the previous 12 months.... This discussion is becoming a bit embarrassing and not for me.....

I don't know about the government, but I would expect any money from someone like Forrest would definitely come with conditions. Likely the sort of conditions 'Australian rugby' would find completely indigestable.

Won't almost every one of them take a hit with reduced demand? People will try and reduce power bills, eat more frugally, etc. Iron Ore will likely ramp up soon now China is ramping back up, but surely you can't be impact for 2 months of the year without taking a hit in the short term?

Iron ore mines and export are still going strong I understand. Anyway Forrest’s financial involvement in Western Force and GRR rugby is through his private company, although FMG are a sponsor. His private company Minderoo is big in cattle stations, meat, solar and gas energy generation, oyster & mussel farms and some property. Not sure if he would want to bail out the RA at this point with their huge salary bill and falling income. But who knows what could happen in this fast changing world.

If there was ever a time Forrest was least likely to help, due to having his own issues to deal with, it's now.

Could also make the point that in 2015 FMG's share price was down around $1.50 - currently FMG's share price = $ 9.67. So after taking his divedend stream + very large shareholding, Forrest could easily afford 50 odd million... Think his share holding would be worth around 9-9.5 billion in FMG currently.

Doesn't matter if China is the main purchaser and didn't purchase for 1-2 months. No matter what calculation you do, no sales = no money. FMG has taken a 25% hit on it's share price since January.

I'm using Forrest as an example of a White Knight - pick any one of the Super Rich that Oz have. Also in regards Iron Ore, obviously you realize that Iron Ore is priced in USD (only down around 15% from recent highs). FMG is priced in AUD - so when AUD falls against USD, which it obviously has - it's actually very good for FMG and other miners. One reason why some of the miners have rallied hard and being picked up by the bargin hunters e.g. only 20% off all time high.

I love how Forrest is always some magical white knight. With China manufacturing shut down, do you think Iron Ore exports are booming?

In any audited financial report there is a clause covering “events subsequent to reporting date”. In RA’s case, the 2018 clause read: You cannot have an audited report, if the auditors have not signed off. If the auditors have not signed off, this cannot be about the current report.

TWAS - “In the interval between the end of the financial year [Dec 31 2019] and the date of this report [April 2020),

Regardless, RA has provided the majority of their content for the quarter. They would have only failed to provide a month of content. Which is what my point was. As for gate takings. Absolutely. But they've already received many of those (they may have to refund though). They are yet to lose that income. It's highly likely. But as I said, until you know what is happening you don't know what you are losing. Much of what is out in the media is wildly inaccurate. As Geoff pointed out many are talking about a $90M shortfall. That's based on no more content for 2020. And ignoring that if there's no content there's a reduction in costs too. No stadium expenses for one. $4.025M in match payments another. Travel expenses, etc.

I'm not privy to the contract with Foxtel, but would have thought that they get paid monthly or quartely - basis T&C of contract - being paid that way, allows them to control cashflow/budget. By not having any TV - be it Super or Test - RA would be in breach of contract and payments could be withheld. Don't imagine that the contract states Super rugby is worth X and Tests are worth Y - surely would be a wrap around contract detailing comps and amount of TV hours. If anything to Foxtel - Super rugby is probably worth more - more TV Hours and totally on Foxtel - unlike Tests which have to be spread between Foxtel and 10. Obviously re: tests - massive shortfall due to gatetakings etc. At the end of the day however - if your Auditor is not prepared to sign-off on financials as reported - that's pretty serious and might be why they are not talking to players currently. Basically they have to work out their financial position, discuss and agree with Directors (remembering Director fiduciary duty)/board and then move to discussions with Staff/Players. Think this is a very serious issue for RA and no easy resolution unless someone like Forster or State/Federal Govt's come to the rescue etc.