Sequoia flags offloading under-performing businesses
Barely a fortnight after acquiring Libertas Financial Planning, publicly-listed financial services group Sequoia Financial Group has foreshadowed offloading underperforming assets.
The company’s interim chief executive and executive director, Garry Crole, has used an interviewed published on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to point to the likelihood of it selling businesses that it does not believe can generate an adequate return on equity.
Crole expressed disappointment in the fact that the company’s share price had dropped from 32 cents to 18 cents over the past 12 months reflecting a move into loss.
“We have $30 million of equity in this business and I think that the type of return that a business like ours should return is 10 to 15 per cent on equity long-term,” he said.
“…the board is looking at every single business that the Sequoia Group’s got to determine whether that particular business can give us a 15 per cent return on equity,” Crole said.
“If it can, we’re going to support that business and grow that business. If it can’t they’re types of businesses that we might divest and use that cash to invest in the businesses that can.”
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