Suncorp bemoans lack of leadership

This column asked Snowball what he through about the immediate future and his response was as usual succinct and immediate: “Depressing.”

Suncorp (SUN) is based in Brisbane, a city which doesn’t yet know who will be running the State for the next few years, and that’s before you even head to the ongoing political circus in Canberra.

“Big capital-intensive businesses like ours rely some political leadership, which just isn’t there right now. We’ve wasted good opportunities in the process,” Snowball said.

The Suncorp chief has articulated well what a lot of his peers are thinking about the state of the nation, with a slowing economy and political leadership fast disappearing — if it had ever existed in the recent past.

Snowball has won some praise for turning around Suncorp in his years at the company, with the bank now fast approaching formal advanced capital accreditation, which will cut debt-servicing costs, and the general insurance business running well in a virtual duopoly with IAG.

Its stock price was down 2.8 per cent in late morning trade at $14.02 a share after cutting profit guidance from up to 6 per cent to low single-digit growth.

This change he noted was a general reflection on the state of the economy.

The company increased its dividend from 35c to 38c a share after reporting a net profit of $631 million, up from $548 million in the previous corresponding period.