set the record straight

Firstfolio chairman, Eric Dodd, says he’d like to ‘set the record straight’ when it comes to the group’s financial results released earlier this week - and the media feeding-frenzy that followed.

Dodd tells Australian Broker a swarm of negative publicity surrounding the release – particularly that surrounding a potential default on CBA funding - which he claims likely stemmed from competitors aiming to stir up business, is largely false or, at the very least, misleading.

“I just wanted to update you with where we are at the moment. We are, as far as the board is concerned, comfortable with our position at the moment…We announced a recapitalisation a while ago which is proceeding as planned and CBA is aware of that and certainly very comfortable with that. From the company’s perspective we’re proceeding very well and will likely procure at least twice the capital we need.”

He says Firstfolio’s specific strategy is to raise $57.6 million by June.

“We had a strategic review of what is necessary…and that’s closer to $20 million, so the level that is brought in is probably two to three times what is needed.”

Dodd says concerns surrounding the aggregator’s broker retention strategies are also being addressed
“It certainly is something we’re working on and we don’t resign from the fact that our company’s had some issues and this has been very much a clean-up job from my perspective. Retention is well in hand but, more importantly, strengthening our company’s balance sheet is something we’ve worked on very carefully and CBA is certainly comfortable with it. Major shareholders have certainly indicated very strong support for capital-raising.”

That said, Dodd refers to brokers as a crucial component and says Firstfolio is working to improve broker retention.

“We certainly are in constant contact with brokers, we’ve improved our service levels…and we certainly ensure our staff are aware they need to be in constant contact with brokers. They’re the life blood of the company, they need constant care and they might not have gotten that in the past -but they’re certainly getting it now.”

From Australian Broker Online 1/3/13