James Packer’s private empire in good shape

Australia’s richest sharemarket investor, James Packer, has emerged from a year in which his business acumen was questioned with his private business empire in good shape.

The latest accounts for Packer’s private family Consolidated Press Holdings show the company reported a 6% rise in net profit for the 2008-09 financial year to $155.2 million, although revenue fell from $512.7 million to $405.5 million, according to a report in The Australian.

The dividend paid from the company to Packer – a key source of his personal income, given he does not draw a salary from his role as chair of Crown Limited or Consolidate Media – fell from $82.6 million to $56.1 million.

The Consolidated Press Holdings empire contains a number of Packer’s private businesses, including the Pretty Girl Fashion retail clothing business (which owns the Rockmans and Table Eight chains), the Perisher Blue ski field in NSW, a stake in amusement business Living & Leisure Australia and a stake in the cosmetics company Jurlique.

Consolidated Press chief financial officer Tim Johnson told the paper that the total debt across the group was “significantly below $1 billion”.

Packer spent much of last year pruning his business empire after watching his wealth halve from $6 billion to around $3 billion in mid 2009.

He sold his family’s cattle and agriculture business Consolidated Pastoral for around $400 million, and then sold off stakes in listed companies Challenger Financial Services and Sunland Development Group, raising more than $400 million in the process.

Packer also sold Consolidated Media’s stake in online recruitment business Seek Limited and an office building owned by the company, boosting that company’s cash reserves by $500 million.

Packer is now cashed up for a big move, and speculation that he could look to privatise either Crown or Consolidated Media is likely to continue for some time yet.