Jobkeeper ‘not perfect’
1300 Smiles boss defends dividend payments
THE founder of successful Townsville-based dental group 1300 Smiles Ltd, Dr Daryl Holmes, has drilled the media for being “simplistic” and suggesting “something improper” about paying a dividend while receiving government support.
But he has conceded the government’s Jobkeeper program, while good policy and playing a role to carry the economy through a “deeply troubled spell”, “wasn’t perfect”.
The company hit the headlines earlier this year after it was revealed it received $2m in
Jobkeeper payments while delivering $3m in dividends in 2019-20.
Dr Holmes addressed the company’s annual meeting this week, telling shareholders of an extraordinary rebound in revenue that has boosted the company’s September quarter before tax earnings and net profit 200 per cent compared with the same period last year.
He also took aim at the media’s reporting of claims by Labor MP Andrew Leigh that businesses, including 1300 Smiles, had diverted money for workers into shareholder payments.
“This simplistic story suggested there was something improper about paying a dividend while receiving government support,” Dr Holmes said.
“We were able to declare and pay a final dividend because of all our hard work over many, many years.
“Jobkeeper was good policy and we’re grateful for it but it did not pay our most recent dividend.”
Dr Holmes added that there was no way any government subsidy could ever be exactly the right size and that such schemes would always provide too much assistance to some and not enough to others.
“Jobkeeper wasn’t perfect but it played a role in carrying the economy through a deeply troubling spell and we’re grateful for that,” he said.
The company this week announced an agreement to acquire its third dental practice in Bundaberg.
Dr Holmes said 1300 Smiles had “a number of practicelevel acquisitions works”.
On the company’s trading, he said its over-the-counter revenue had seen an enormous rebound since the shutdowns caused by COVID-19 earlier this year.
They were now at levels well above those of the previous year and it had “many reasons to be optimistic”, Dr Holmes said.
He said the company continued to pursue many opportunities in mergers and acquisitions. in the
Since Thursday’s AGM 1300 Smiles’ shares are trading 3 per cent higher at $6.70, valuing the company at $156m.