Simon Henry’s DGL shares in freefall

AUCKLAND, Friday: Independent current affairs site The Spinoff wnt straight for the jugular in its coverage of foot-in-mouth expert Simon Henry latest comments: “No one had ever heard of boring chemical storage company DGL until this week, ” wrote Duncan Greive.

“Now it’s dominating the news cycle – and could yet force ceo Simon Henry to fire himself.

“The reaction to Henry’s ‘Eurasian fluff’ comments has been extraordinary.

“Since The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman drew broad attention to them with a surgical skewering on Wednesday, the condemnation has escalated into a roar, with the Shareholders’ Association, Kiwi Wealth and Lim’s My Food Bag co-founder Cecilia Robinson all condemning his appalling rhetoric.

“Now the scandalised response spread across the Tasman, with the Australian Financial Review, the country’s reliably conservative home for business reporting, noting acidly that ‘for a business focused on the manufacturing, trucking and warehousing of dangerous and reactive chemicals, who knew the most arresting of its sludge would come straight out of the ceo’s own mouth”.

“All over NZAU, people working in distribution and procurement will be viewing their relationship with DGL in a whole new light.”

“Since Chapman’s withering satire of Henry’s comments, DGL’s share price has declined nearly 10%, representing a paper loss of over $ 60m for Henry.

“When a story echoes this loudly, it’s inevitable that hundreds if not thousands will ask their Kiwisaver provider or managed fund operator if they are invested in DGL, and want to get the hell out if they are.

“This will drive an immediate reactive response, but there is a longer term and more profound danger in play. The immediate sell-off is a reflection of a moral abhorrence at his comments, and the fundamental character they reveal.

“The deeply unpleasant thing is that this is not an isolated incident for Henry.

“All over New Zealand and Australia, people working in distribution and procurement will be waking up and viewing their relationship with DGL in a whole new light.

“They’ll be wondering about their own exposure to Henry’s company and views, and whether their business relationship might now be viewed as implicit endorsement of his explicitly racist and misogynist perspectives.”

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