Seven Group boss Ryan Stokes has signalled his support for the group's struggling media business and has described Australia as the best place for the company to invest.
Seven Group boss Ryan Stokes has signalled his support for the group's struggling media business while also reaffirming his support for nuclear energy.
The Seven Group Holdings managing director also spoke about his approach to leadership and management in a wide-ranging presentation today.
ASX-listed SGH, which owns a mix of mining services, construction and energy businesses, has been a strong performer over the past decade after emerging from the mining construction downturn.
One segment that has not performed well is its media business, which is housed in SGH subsidiary Seven West Media.
Mr Stokes, who is a director of Seven West alongside his father and company chairman Kerry Stokes, said the media still plays an important role.
“The fourth estate has a critical role,” he told a breakfast event hosted by Seven West.
“That role is changing.
“Print has evolved accordingly, it has been through a pretty dramatic structural change.
“Television is going through that.”
Mr Stokes said he was fascinated by the notion that “nobody watches TV”, saying there are still more than 17 million people watching.
“It’s still the most powerful form of connecting an audience, of building a brand,” he said.
The industry has enjoyed CPI-plus revenue growth for 50 years but he acknowledged that has changed.
“The issue is how do we make sure we have an efficient cost structure to support that," Mr Stokes said.
“It needs to reset the model and that’s what we are going through.
“It’s a structural change.
“It is challenging and painful but we will emerge from that.”
He said SGH continued to focus on opportunities in Australia for its various businesses, which include WesTrac, Boral and Coates Hire.
“International growth can be challenging without a unique product or offering,” Mr Stokes said.
“There are numerous opportunities for growth within Australia.”
He expressed concern about regulation, restrictive labour laws and political risk in Australia.
“Among these risks, the most significant concern is the excessive layering of red tape, particularly at a federal level,” Mr Stokes said.
Not surprisingly, this aligns with a theme pushed prominently in the news pages of Seven West's local masthead The West Australian.
He contrasted that with WA’s whole-of-government approach to supporting projects.
“Despite these factors, we are optimistic,” Mr Stokes said.
“We still believe Australia is the best place for SGH to deploy capital.”
Asked about his declared support for nuclear energy, Mr Stokes suggested the “competition” between states to host nuclear submarines signalled a shift in public opinion.
“Historically, they’d be protesting against them,” he said.
Mr Stokes declared that 100 per cent renewables was not feasible.
“No-one can possibly believe it’s free. There’s no such thing as free lunch, no such thing as free energy, there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” he said.
“In the future, we can’t have 100 per cent renewables, unless you build a ridiculous amount and then waste a bunch of energy.”
He also highlighted nuclear energy’s environmental credentials.
“Nuclear is a carbon-free power source, so it makes sense to be talking about that to reduce carbon emissions.”
Mr Stokes suggested people living near nuclear power stations could be offered free electricity,
Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton has proposed building seven nuclear power stations at decommissioned coal power sites around Australia, including at Collie.
On the theme of leadership, Mr Stokes said from his experience, effective leaders need three key attributes.
They must be operationally oriented, embrace accountability while displaying humility, and most importantly they need an owner’s mindset," he said.
“The best leaders are in the detail, they are the doers, connected to their teams, accountable for outcomes, and leading while working alongside others, sleeves rolled up.
“At its core, the owner’s mindset is about increased level of commitment, passion, and a vested interest in the end outcome.
“In practice, the mindset promotes a commitment to the outcome over the action or excessive process.
“Execution ultimately trumps strategy.”
While criticising excess bureaucracy and slow decision making, Mr Stokes emphasised the importance of meetings.
“Counter to prevailing logic, when conducted with precision and purpose, meetings can be powerful tools for achieving organisational objectives,” he said.