Winton\u2019s announcement early last month that Meehan had resigned<\/a> as chair and chief executive with immediate effect.<\/p>\nThat announcement followed reports of multiple personal grievances or written complaints from staff about allegedly aggressive behaviour.<\/p>\n
In March last year, the Employment Relations Authority ordered Winton to pay Meehan\u2019s former executive assistant Leah McCann $100,846, including $74,846 for lost wages, compensation of $25,000 and a penalty of $1000.<\/p>\n
McCann had taken a case against Meehan over the way she had allegedly been treated, including his alleged reaction to a business-class seat on a long-haul flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the worst f***ing flight I have ever f***ing taken, how the f*** did I end up in seat 29 between the bar and the toilet?\u201d he told her over the phone, according to evidence to the authority.<\/p>\n
Winton told the NZX in July: \u201cMr Meehan has resigned during the concluding stages of a board-led employment process (unrelated to Winton\u2019s performance or financial reporting) and following taking leave for health reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Meehan remains a director of Winton and will consult to the company on major development projects, as required.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Joyce and Fergusson said: \u201cOver recent months, it has become clear to us that there is a fundamental misalignment of expectations between ourselves and the company\u2019s majority shareholder with regards to matters relating to corporate governance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an attempt to address this issue, amendments to the company\u2019s constitution were proposed to the majority shareholder to provide minority shareholders with a direct say in board representation and provide a mechanism for independent advocacy for the interests of the company and all its shareholders. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe proposed amendments were not supported by the majority shareholder.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said they had given the matter \u201cconsiderable thought\u201d and did not believe they could continue to discharge their responsibilities as independent directors including, in Joyce\u2019s case, as chair and, in Fergusson\u2019s case, as chair of the company\u2019s audit, finance and risk committee.<\/p>\n
They had \u201ctherefore concluded that it is appropriate for us to resign\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not taken this decision lightly,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout our time on the Winton Land Limited Board, we have sought to act in the best interests of the company and all its shareholders and to exercise the independent judgment expected of us as directors.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to the NZX yesterday, Winton said: \u201cThe board thanks Mr Joyce and Mr Fergusson for their respective contributions to the board and their support and expertise for the company\u201d.<\/p>\n
Joyce, a former National Party Government minister who now holds a number of directorships and is also chair of Herald publisher NZME, said on a Winton investor call yesterday that he and Fergusson had announced their resignations that morning.<\/p>\n
The resignations are effective from Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to thank our fellow directors and the Winton team for their support during our time on the board. We don\u2019t plan to answer any further questions in regards to that at the moment,\u201d Joyce said on the investor call. \u201cBut we\u2019ll have more on that later.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair said of their departures: \u201cImportantly, our decision to resign does not reflect our confidence in the company\u2019s people or their commitment to its future. Throughout our time on the board, we have seen very high levels of professionalism, resilience and commitment across the organisation. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe particularly want to acknowledge the senior leadership team, who have led the company with skill, calm and integrity. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a genuine privilege to work alongside the Winton team. We would like to thank them for their support during our time on the board and wish them well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winton\u2019s financial results<\/p>\n
Winton is a property development firm, which owns and operates the Ayrburn restaurant and hospitality precinct near Arrowtown, and is developing and planning residential or retirement village projects at multiple locations including in South Auckland, W\u0101naka and Te Kauwhata.<\/p>\n
Winton yesterday announced a net profit after tax of $22.7 million for the 12 months to June 30 – a 119.6% increase on its $10.3m profit in 2025.<\/p>\n
That came on the back of a 21.5% increase in revenue – to $188.8m. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (ebitda) for the period was $45.6m, a 114.1% increase.<\/p>\n
Winton also released its annual report, showing Meehan received $1,958,477.42 in the 12 months, in his role as chief executive, and a further $107,921 for his role as chairman.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarket conditions across New Zealand were decidedly mixed, with the Auckland market remaining subdued while conditions in other regions proved more resilient,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe New Zealand economy looked set to improve early in this calendar year, but the war in the Middle East provided a significant setback to the trading environment for Winton as it did for many other companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst that backdrop, a higher volume of residential settlements and a full year of trading across the Ayrburn venues, together with the opening of Bravo at Cracker Bay, supported a significantly improved profit result for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Winton's]()
Winton’s Chris Meehan at the Ayrburn hospitality precinct near Arrowtown. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham <\/p>\n
Joyce referenced Meehan\u2019s earlier resignation as chief executive and chair, saying the board had started a \u201ccomprehensive process\u201d to find a new CEO.<\/p>\n
He said the board had confidence that the senior leadership team would continue to successfully deliver on Winton\u2019s plans and performance. <\/p>\n
\u201cJulian Cook, executive director of retirement, has assumed an expanded role in an interim capacity to support the senior leadership team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winton also continued to pause dividends \u201cto maintain financial discipline during the current softer market conditions but is actively considering how and when it might resume dividends to shareholders\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinton is cautiously positive about an improvement in trading conditions in the year ahead, but the level of economic uncertainty remains high,\u201d Joyce said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company will remain focused on converting its landbank into settlements, progressing its major projects at Sunfield and the Ayrburn Screen Hub, and optimising its commercial and retirement offerings. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe board will shortly review projects for investment and will update shareholders on any specific decisions made as a result of that process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winton shares have fallen by almost a third in value over the past 12 months. They were at $1.29 on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chairman Steven Joyce and director Guy Fergusson announced their resignations yesterday, citing a \u201cfundamental misalignment\u201d with majority shareholder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,696,138,37432,3937,8608,27564,170,3936,6948,6259,1644,1138,25337,7803,11551,5511,11556,111,139,69,10932,3111,814,3044,223,165,51560,139174],"class_list":["post-581386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-announced","tag-business","tag-chair","tag-chief","tag-comes","tag-departures","tag-development","tag-director","tag-directors","tag-door","tag-financial","tag-firm","tag-firms","tag-follows","tag-hours","tag-just","tag-losing","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officer","tag-out","tag-property","tag-resignation","tag-the","tag-their","tag-upheaval","tag-winton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}