Travel publishing group Lonely Planet is the latest Australian company to be hit by the shocking rise of the dollar, announcing it will move some of its Melbourne-based jobs to Britain as it faces growing financial pressure.
The company says it is undergoing a restructure across the business, which means jobs in the Melbourne office will no longer be needed.
The company is owned by BBC Worldwide and has around 450 employees, with most of those in Australia.
Some staff in Melbourne will reportedly be offered the chance to relocate to White City in London, although the business says it is still determining all the details.
According to The Australian, chief executive Matt Goldberg said in a message to employees that the higher Australian dollar resulted in a $13 million drop in revenue.
“Despite the fact that we’ve delivered on everything we set out to achieve this past year, the devastating impact of foreign currency exchange shaved over $13 million off our 2010/11 revenues.”
“And at the moment, we have more than 80% of our revenues coming from outside of Australia & New Zealand with more than 70% of our costs located in Australia,” he said.
“We are a good business with talented people deeply committed to Lonely Planet, but this imbalance is not sustainable in the current environment.”
Australian founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler sold their remaining 25% stake of the business to BBC Worldwide earlier this year. They established the company in the early 1970s.
The Australian unemployment rate has remained at 4.9%, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The number of people employed fell by 22,100 people to 11,436,500, driven by a decrease in full-time employment – down 49,100.
The aggregate amount of hours worked fell by 14.7 million to 1.601 billion, with a participation rate of 65.6%, down by 0.2 percentage points.
Australian shares down on Wall Street losses
The Australian sharemarket has had a shocking morning, falling over 1% due to lower commodity prices and a 130-point drop on Wall Street due to poor performances in energy stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 70 points or 1.48% to 4709.5 at 12.10 AEST, while the Australian dollar moved down to $US1.06 after the jobless figures were announced.
AMP shares lost 1.5% to $5.25, as ANZ lost 3.11% to $22.45. NAB shares lost 1.17% to $26.98 as Westpac fell 0.55% to $23.72.
Telco giant Optus recorded a 4.1% increase in March quarter revenue to $2.32 billion, compared to the previous correspond quarter, its parent SingTel announced this morning.
“In a highly competitive environment, Optus delivered continuing EBITDA growth, improved cashflow and strengthened its market position with our mobile customer base exceeding nine million customers for the first time,” Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said in a statement.
Optus EBITDA rose by 8% to $2.33 billion, the company said.
James Warburton must wait until 2012 to start as chief of Ten Network Holdings, the New South Wales Supreme Court has found.
Justice Michael Pembroke wrote in his judgement that there is no real possibility Warburton would be in a position after the January 2012 date to take advantage of confidential information he acquired while at Seven.
“I have reached the view that a restraint for 10 months from March 2, 2011 is an appropriate period that is justified by the evidence,” Justice Pembroke said, according to AAP.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
