Victory Offices executives jumping ship

WITH the resignation of its CFO, chairman and non-executive director, the ASX-listed co-working space operator Victory Offices has been evicted from its Sydney CBD locations and halted all trading.

Victory Offices confirmed its group chief financial officer, Keith Pollocks, has now resigned following the closure of four loss-making Sydney locations, that make up the company’s full Sydney CBD footprint.

In a trading update released on 31 May, Victory Offices framed the ceasing of operations at its 300 Barangaroo Avenue, 85 Castlereagh Street, 100 Mount Street and 420 George Street locations as having a positive impact on the company’s portfolio office locations, as they would likely have continued to operate at a loss.

Reportedly, landlords of these assets including Mirvac, Dexus and Investa evicted Victory from these locations over the last six weeks, apparently as a result of over unpaid rents.

With AMP Capital reportedly claiming that Victory had not paid rent since before the pandemic, and had defaulted on rent in 2019.

With tenants said to be locked out of the last remaining Barangaroo precinct office last Friday, following the group’s termination of its sublease with KPMG.

Though the group also anticipates this will have a negative impact of revenue for this financial year, while “not expected to have a significant impact on profitability”.

The flexible workspace provider had in February reported initial signs of recovery with workers again leaving home to work, then expecting to move to profitability in the 2023 financial year after posting a first half loss of $25.9 million.

The group also confirmed that previous closures in Sydney and Melbourne were historical, having shut their doors in early July 2021.

While the 567 Collins Street location in Melbourne was not operating prior to the 26 May 2022 closure.

Pollocks resignation comes after that of now former chairman Steve Bracks after five years and non-executive director Kelly Humphries, who had only been in the role since December 2021.

While Pollocks replacement is yet to be announced, Victory Offices’ chief executive, Dan Baxter, has now assumed the role of chairman.

Before pausing trading on 1 June, Victory’s share price dropped to just 3.6 cents, an approximate market value of $5.68 million for the company which floated on the ASX in 2019 with a market capitalisation of around $80 million.

This latest drop follows an 80% plummet over the last six months, falling to 4.7 cents only days ago, after peaking at $2.14 in 2019.